80s Kid: A Memoir of Growing Up in the Last Decade Before Technology Took Over

by Melanie Ashfield

A funny and nostalgic trip through a typical 80s childhood, told through the eyes of a normal (ish) British kid from the Birmingham suburbs. A time when urban exploration on your bike was a day long event, a Wimpy birthday party was the equivalent of a party on a celebrity yacht, Diamond White was a teenage rite of passage and people still wrote love letters and dreamed of winning the pools. Where no one did anything online and the only phones at home were landlines that probably had a lock on. 80s kid tells the story of a different world, even though it wasn't that long ago...

80s Kid is the story of one kid and one family but with memories and social observations that will be relatable to anyone that lived through the decade

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir

114 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 6, 2021

Reviews

[dee · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read

I enjoyed this book a lot as I was a teenager in the 80s and did pretty much all the things described. However, I did find the constant use of the word 'mom' very irritating as it was a book about English people and not Americans.

[my.bookshelf.87 · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5 (rounded up to 4).

A nostalgic look back at a 1980s childhood, this was an easy read which I enjoyed. As I wasn't born until 1987 I am really a 90s child rather than an 80s one but many of the cultural references were still familiar to me since there isn't a great deal of time between the two decades.

[Sarah Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun read and I recognised a lot of it...I'm five years older than Melanie and it totally made me smile. It's made me want to write my own 70s-80s version as Melanie doesn't really talk about the music or TV much, the crap adverts or naff fashion trends (except hair.. Perms and sun in eek, been there) and that's my favourite obsession with the period. A nice, engaging read though...

[David Morris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simple times- Don't you forget about them.

If your around about the fifty mark, this is a must.There are so many things shared and remembered about the best decade.The author gets so many things spot on, but makes this an easy read.

[Mr · Rating 5 out of 5]

A throwback in time for any 80’s kid

An honest and enjoyable account of suburban life in the 80’s. Brought back some fab memories, nostalgic dreams and a few giggles. An easy read with a window on someone’s life in a fond yesteryear.

[Phil Altimas · Rating 5 out of 5]

this took me back to happier times , loved it

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

I grew up in the eighties and loved it. I have read maybe two or three books on life in the eighties and love the nostalgia they bring. This is another one of those 80s nostalgia books.

Except this one failed miserably.

It did mention the eighties and the author's time growing up at that time but the annoying parts for me were the poor grammar, the spelling and the biggest gripe. Americanisms.

This book was supposed to be about Ashfield's childhood in Birmingham, England but her constant use of the word, 'mom', instead of 'mum' really got on my nerves. She mentions 'Garbage Pail Kids' when we had 'Cabbage Patch Kids' and 'eternitised', when talking about boys giving their girlfriends' eternity rings. The list just goes on and on. I can only assume she is trying to entice an American audience with these spellings but even the Americans would prefer to hear about British life when buying a book about growing up in 80s Britain. I mean, that is why people buy the book, I presume!

Missing words and punctuation were also evident here:

For all the time involved in making that plastic snowman and his YTS penguin mate produce a miniscule ice lolly you could have defrosted the freezer, squirted a load of cordial on top of the mess and stuck your head in it.

This was clearly not proofread, or certainly not by anyone wishing to keep their job at any rate.

Long-winded, nonsensical sentences:

First homes were usually family-sized, rather than the matchbox-sized starter homes of today, and could be snapped up by working-class couples, usually on the man’s salary alone, ready to be filled with children, for whom the wife had already planned to give up work permanently in preparation for.

And countless spelling errors:

Incidently, p.20, instead of 'incidentally'.

khol-rimmed eyes p.118, instead of 'kohl-rimmed eyes'.

and the best one in the whole book:

they were starting to wize up p.152. Do I really need to explain this one?

The book was just awful for me. This one topped it off for me:
(in reference to kids being asked to dress up in Jacobean costumes).

Others had concertina paper ruffs around their necks, while one child, who shall remain nameless because their parents were dumb as a box of frogs and had missed the point of the exercise completely, was clad in one large square of cardboard on his front and another on his back with crêpe paper ‘cheese’ bits flapping about and the words ‘Jacobs’ written across him. pp.85-86.

I don't believe this is true at all. Maybe after all the spelling mistakes, bad sentence structure and Americanisms I lost faith in the author completely but I fear this is to make a very boring story sound funny. It didn't work. Not for me anyway.

I am a medium-paced reader. With life and work etc. I can maybe manage fifty pages a day with a good book. This book was 114 pages long and took me nine days to finish. Maybe that tells you everything you need to know.

Sorry but this is the worst book of 2022 for me.

[Deborah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took me back in time

A fun trawl through the 80s. I left school in 1983 so am a bit older than the author, but I was there and chuckled along to a lot of the references with recognition. It jarred me, however, every time she referred to her ‘mom’. In England, it’s ‘mum’ and it made me increasingly cross. If the author is now living in America then that would sort of explain it, I suppose, but that isn’t stated. I know. Petty. But it ruined the flow for me. A good, light fun read otherwise.

[Tara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This memoir has many 80s references which brought a smile to my face and triggered my own happy memories. However, I think the author's experiences were often very different to my own and I found it hard to relate to some perceived prejudices from the time. Generally a pleasant trip down memory lane.

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

80s memoir ... does what it says on the tin. It describes all the things you remember and miss about your childhood. The writing was ok. However i have to say there are other autobiographies out there that keep your attention for way longer.

[David Peat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great memoir

Melanie Ashfield remembered several things but put them into a generally humorous context. Most areas would be remembered by those of a certain age and entertaining for younger readers. A good book.

[Dave Fletcher · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book about growing up in the 80's brought back memories about Blockbister Video, a pint of snakebite, 20/20 and she'll suit's.
I personally think it is a better read for girls that grew up in that decade.

[Nay · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I enjoyed the nostalgia, the book isn't very well written and reads like my diaries when I was 14 and not in a good way. There is a great deal of bodyshaming and punching down which was utterly unnecessary and very much detracted from what could have been an enjoyable book.

[Suzanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

A simple, but enjoyably nostalgic read if you grew up in 80's Britain. I wouldn't recommend it if you didn't as there's no real beef to the story - it's more anecdotes and brands from that period that make you smile and go, "oh, yeah! I remember that!".

[Sian Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nostalgia on every page - loved it!

[Kevin Coaker · Rating 1 out of 5]

Panic buy before my summer holiday. Funny, nostalgia it is not. A paint by numbers journey through the 80s, with a Thatcherite paean at the end.

[Lorraine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed it, particularly as I was from the same area so was familiar with the schools, shops, parks etc. Even knew the Vietnamese priest. A true trip down memory lane.

[Mark waite · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun and nostalgic look back at the 80s , laughs and memories of being a teenager myself in that decade

[Ann Baxter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great fun & local interest made it even more so.

[SheMac · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rounded up ... Funny but uneven. Some topics just didn't interest me that much. vI wanted more pop culture.

[Tommy Maker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brought back a few memories of my childhood. I only missed just 7 months but few days of the 70s, I turned a teenager in the early 80s.

I feel the author could have expanded so much more on this era. Music played a major part of my childhood, yet rarely mentioned. Miners strike and the effect on the economy, also happened then but no mention. Falklands war. Charles and Diana marrying on my 11th birthday.

When computers hit our school, and the new lesson of computer science as it was called came, we had to share between about 10 other kids, we had more than one computer, not sure if donated by Sir Alan Sugar or not, but they were Amstrad ones. I grew up I some London Borough as Alan Sugar, so could potentially been why we seemed to have had more.

Assemblies with teacher who played a piano and flip up glasses, pink custard, tuck shops. CHiPs, Mork and Mindy.

I often look back and think those were the days. Life didn't seem so complicated or stressful back then.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm about 10 years too young to be this books target audience but even so there are plenty of things that weren't limited to only the 1980's that 90's children will also be able to remember and enjoy. It is like a time machine back to the 1980's as the book manages to capture the atmosphere of the time frame perfectly.

I've given it 3 stars because whilst it was a nice enough read I think the format would have been better suited to an online blog, it's a book you read in short bursts rather than one you'd sit and read cover to cover in one sitting and because of this there were times it dragged a little. There were also a few judgemental moments in the book which didn't sit particularly well with me.

Recommended for any readers nostalgic for the 80's.

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you were a child in the 80s, this book is for you. Full of reminiscing about everything in the 80s from food to furniture, to fashion, to days out, and school. I laughed a lot and definitely recognised some the occasions having taken part in our families lives.

[Mandy Innes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great bit of nostalgia, although I am 6 years older than the author some of what she said really resonated with me. It was a fun read

[Tracey Cain · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit of light hearted reading if you were about in the 80's. Brought back some memories, good ones.