Grown-Up Fast: A True Story of Teenage Life in Suburban America

by Betsy Israel

An unflinching account of a teenaged girl's longing to belong in suburbia, her experimentation with sex and drugs, and the painful surrender of the child she bore at the age of seventeen.

Genres: Nonfiction

239 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 1988

About the author

A journalist and former editor who has contributed to the New York Times, Elle, Rolling Stone, GQ, Harper's Bazaar, Redbook, People, Mademoiselle, Vogue, New York, Spin, Playboy, and the Los Angeles Times, among many others. She is a former columnist for Glamour, Us, and New York Woman and was a contributing writer for Mirabella. She has written numerous screenplays and is the author of Grown-Up Fast: A True Story of Teenage Life in Suburban America. Betsy lives in Manhattan with her husband and two children.

Reviews

[Harriett Milnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Betty Israel writes a memoir of her childhood in Long Island. Born in 1959, she grew up in Massapequa. Her middle- and high-school years were filled with pot, along with LSD. She could not face being pregnant during the summer before college and went off to college. Finally, during winter break, her parents told her they were proud of her making Dean's list, and she HAD to go to the doctor because she was pregnant. Funny and so sad at the same time.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I attended a high school on Long Island a few years after Betsy Israel. These could have been my classmates, and there but for chance, I could have been in the same boat. Such a gutsy, honest portrayal of the time. It truly was a wasteland.

[Suzanne]

I could totally relate to growing up in the '70s on Long Island...

[Mary Lillian · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book gave a highly accurate recounting and analysis about life in lower middle class and working class neighborhoods in Long Island in the 1970s. Brava to Betsy Israel. She did an excellent job with this book!