Randy

by Jack W. Thomas

When thirteen-year-old Randy becomes pregnant she decides to run away from home.

176 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published December 1, 1984

Reviews

[Andria · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another one that I keep on hand to chuck at people who complain about today's YA being too dark and gritty. I never read this one as a kid, but hot damn I would have LOVED it, and those who did read it in their youth obviously never forgot it, even if they can't remember the title. I discovered this book after identifying it as the solution of a friend's Plotfinder question, and have since seen it turn up on What's the Name of That Book and other places where people search for books whose random scenes have been seared into their memory but the title and author escapes them.

Make no mistake, this book is AWFUL. An unending string of horrific events are visited upon young Randy and she gets swept up and lost in a world of bad decisions and vile people. Poor kid never stood a chance. On her thirteenth birthday her father buys her a bong and "gives" her an 18-year-old boy and access to a bunch of alcohol, after pointing out to the guy his daughter's hot and sexy ass. When she OF COURSE gets pregnant after one night of birthday sex with the college boy, her father tries to induce a miscarriage by practicing his karate moves and repeatedly throwing her, stomach first, onto the mat. I KID YOU NOT. When that doesn't work, he forces her to have an abortion but the lecherous old abortion doctor molests her. AND THEN THINGS ONLY GET WORSE. She becomes a pregnant teenage runaway prostitute and ultimately loses her soul and then her life. It's misogynistic and racist and generally appalling, but yeah, I would have read the hell out this book if I had found it when I was 12.

Jack W. Thomas wrote the grittiest, pulpiest, most graphic shock fiction for teens in the 70s and 80s.

[Khadijah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have never forgotten this book! I had 2 older teenage sisters and one of them had it. I found it and read it cover to cover. I was blown away by the story because I was just two years younger than the girl in the book. I couldn't believe how her parents were with her and it just tore me up at the end. The thing is, stuff like this was truly going on in the US, just like it is today. This was the book that taught me I was blessed with the mess that I called my family. I didn't have it like she did (to my recollection they were probably middle-class or upper middle-class) and it was a shock to the system to see this girl go from all this type of wonderful life to becoming pregnant, running away, being turned into a prostitute and not having any milk left for her baby because the Johns sucked her milk supply dry. Just writing that last part as a grown woman with a grown child sends shivers down my spine. It was crude and it was rude but it was more likely how it was or could have been for a runaway. Eye opening, to say the least!

[Lori Potter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book years ago and it has stayed with me. Very intense and emotional. I would love to get a copy to keep and reread.

[Grace Chan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ughhhhhh. I am actually pretty shocked this book has gotten so many 4 and 5 star reviews, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU, PEOPLE!

Published in 1984, but it might as well have been 1964 with its openly misogynist, racist and sleazy writing. Weirdly, I love 80's exploitation movies such as ANGEL, funnily enough also from 1984. The movie is about a "high school student by day, teenager hooker by night" lol. But unlike Randy, the movie Angel has a lot of heart and humor, and you can feel that the writers had utter contempt for the men who abused women. Also we never see Angel getting brutalized...she's out to get revenge for her murdered hooker friend and justice is sweet when it comes. However you're gonna need ALL the trigger warnings to read Randy. It's like the writer got off on putting this 13 year old girl through every degrading, abusive situation he could dream of, and it's freaking foul.

This book left the most awful impression on me and I'm gonna need a sweet, girly YA palate-cleanser after this one. One star, and one big YUCK from me.