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Puberty Blues
Puberty Blues
Bestselling author Kathy Lettes debut novel is available in Britain for the first time. Written twenty years ago, Puberty Blues is the bestselling account of growing up in the 1970s that took Australia by storm and spawned an eponymous cult movie. It also marked the starting point of Kathy Lette's writing career, which sees her now as an author at the forefront of her field. Puberty Blues is about top chicks and surfie spunks and the kids who don't quite make the it recreates with fascinating honesty a world where only the gang and the surf count. It's a hilarious and horrifying account of the way many teenagers live and some of them die. Kathy Lette and Gabrielle Carey's insightful novel is as painfully true today as it ever was.
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First published January 1, 1979
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About the author
Kathy Lette
62 books245 followersKathy Lette divides her time between being a full time writer,
demented mother (now there's a tautology) and trying to find a shopping trolley that doesn't have a clubbed wheel.
Kathy first achieved succés de scandale as a teenager with the novel Puberty Blues, now a major motion picture.
After several years as a singer with the Salami Sisters and a newspaper columnist in Sydney and New York (collected in the book "Hit and Ms") and as a television sitcom writer for Columbia Pictures in Los Angeles, her novels, "Puberty Blues" (1979) "Girls Night Out" (1988), "The Llama Parlour" (1991), "Foetal Attraction" (1993), "Mad Cows" (1996),"Altar Ego" (1998) "Nip'N'Tuck" (2001), "Dead Sexy" (2003) and "How To Kill Your Husband (and other handy household hints)" (2006) became international best-sellers. Kathy Lette's plays include "Grommits", "Wet Dreams", "Perfect Mismatch" and "I'm So Happy For You I Really Am".
She lives in London with her husband and two children and has just finished a stint as writer in Residence at London's Savoy Hotel.
Kathy says that the best thing about being a writer is that you get to work in your jammies all day, drink heavily on the job and have affairs and call it research! (Although her husband says he should have the affair as it would give her a better book!)
demented mother (now there's a tautology) and trying to find a shopping trolley that doesn't have a clubbed wheel.
Kathy first achieved succés de scandale as a teenager with the novel Puberty Blues, now a major motion picture.
After several years as a singer with the Salami Sisters and a newspaper columnist in Sydney and New York (collected in the book "Hit and Ms") and as a television sitcom writer for Columbia Pictures in Los Angeles, her novels, "Puberty Blues" (1979) "Girls Night Out" (1988), "The Llama Parlour" (1991), "Foetal Attraction" (1993), "Mad Cows" (1996),"Altar Ego" (1998) "Nip'N'Tuck" (2001), "Dead Sexy" (2003) and "How To Kill Your Husband (and other handy household hints)" (2006) became international best-sellers. Kathy Lette's plays include "Grommits", "Wet Dreams", "Perfect Mismatch" and "I'm So Happy For You I Really Am".
She lives in London with her husband and two children and has just finished a stint as writer in Residence at London's Savoy Hotel.
Kathy says that the best thing about being a writer is that you get to work in your jammies all day, drink heavily on the job and have affairs and call it research! (Although her husband says he should have the affair as it would give her a better book!)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 231 reviews
December 17, 2020
I saw this movie many years ago when I was a teenager & really enjoyed it. Reading this as adult though & with the benefit of a progressive culture, I had a whole different perception of the story.
It's a raw and honest portrayal of 2 young girls growing up with the surfie culture in the 70's in Sydney, Australia, where underage sex & drugs are rife. There is a lot of exaggerated Aussie slang, some of which even I had trouble understanding, so doubtful it would appeal to those of other cultures. Think Kylie Mole from The Comedy Company!
Its gritty & confronting, really funny in parts & utterly sickening in others, especially with the awareness that a lot of this sad teenage business is or was, pretty authentic. Even though I came of age a bit later than this (& in a different part of the country) I can still kind of relate to some of this scene. Their certainly was some residue of this era of misogyny where I grew up in the 80's & 90's.
Even though for the most part I think we may have stepped too much in the opposite direction, reading this really brings it back to me how much of a mans' world it really was back, then & how glad I am that my daughter will be growing up in a very different social environment. Of course, there is a whole string of different problems now, but females definitely have it a lot better.
The other thing that strikes me is that attempting to get this book published, must have been incredibly difficult & courageous thing for such young girls to do. I disagree with those that appear to see the girls as "using shock value" to make a point. They may have been shining a light on their lifestyles, but I don't believe they were attempting to do anything other than describe their life as they knew it. They didn't have the benefit of hindsight - they were 18.
This is a really important book in Australia culture, much more so than I realised. Its a quick and very readable (albeit uncomfortable) book, but definitely won't appeal to everyone.
It's a raw and honest portrayal of 2 young girls growing up with the surfie culture in the 70's in Sydney, Australia, where underage sex & drugs are rife. There is a lot of exaggerated Aussie slang, some of which even I had trouble understanding, so doubtful it would appeal to those of other cultures. Think Kylie Mole from The Comedy Company!
Its gritty & confronting, really funny in parts & utterly sickening in others, especially with the awareness that a lot of this sad teenage business is or was, pretty authentic. Even though I came of age a bit later than this (& in a different part of the country) I can still kind of relate to some of this scene. Their certainly was some residue of this era of misogyny where I grew up in the 80's & 90's.
Even though for the most part I think we may have stepped too much in the opposite direction, reading this really brings it back to me how much of a mans' world it really was back, then & how glad I am that my daughter will be growing up in a very different social environment. Of course, there is a whole string of different problems now, but females definitely have it a lot better.
The other thing that strikes me is that attempting to get this book published, must have been incredibly difficult & courageous thing for such young girls to do. I disagree with those that appear to see the girls as "using shock value" to make a point. They may have been shining a light on their lifestyles, but I don't believe they were attempting to do anything other than describe their life as they knew it. They didn't have the benefit of hindsight - they were 18.
This is a really important book in Australia culture, much more so than I realised. Its a quick and very readable (albeit uncomfortable) book, but definitely won't appeal to everyone.
September 3, 2012
First of all I'd like to point out I am an Australian, and no we don't actually talk like that, even the teenagers of that generations. The books is a gross exaggeration on all accounts, culture and hyper sexuality.
I was disappointed at how much I had to pay on Kindle for a book that took me just over an hour to read. Don't be misled by the new tv series, the two are nothing alike. The recent Australian TV series is whimsical and innocent and features older main characters dabbling in the ways of teenagehood. The book however is very raw, it's about two 13 year old girls, one who is still physically a child, who spend all their time trying to get into a surfie gang where they are basically servile to the boys, especially sexually. The main character Debbie in her relationship with Bruce, borders on paedophilia, he is a man at 17 with a job, a car, and the biggest penis in the gang. She is 13, just out of Primary School, has a flat chested child's body and hasn't had her period yet. Their continual problem is that he is too big for them to have sex though he does manage to get it in her bum once.
The main themes of the book are girls being completely and utterly servile to boys, doing their bidding and looking pretty. The entire books is underage sex, drinking and drug taking. It promotes not eating (especially in front of boys) to maintain a skinny frame, and countless other hyper exaggerated scenarios. If a young person picked up this booking expecting to learn from it, and expecting a realistic take on their pubescent years, then this isn't it. Actually some might find it scary.
The language is needlessly annoying, replacing 'nerd' with 'nurd' is just unnecessary, and after a while the endless over stylised speech becomes grating, and isn't a fair reflection of Australian teenagers at the time.
I came to this book expecting to love it, but instead I came away hating it. I have lost respect for the writers. This should not be considered a YA novel, if anything it should be sold as an adult book. I am no prude, and I was open to the fact that there would be drinking, drugs and sex, but the way it is portrayed in this book is just wrong, and if this is even a glimpse into the author's lives then I feel very, very sorry for them and their brutalised innocence.
I was disappointed at how much I had to pay on Kindle for a book that took me just over an hour to read. Don't be misled by the new tv series, the two are nothing alike. The recent Australian TV series is whimsical and innocent and features older main characters dabbling in the ways of teenagehood. The book however is very raw, it's about two 13 year old girls, one who is still physically a child, who spend all their time trying to get into a surfie gang where they are basically servile to the boys, especially sexually. The main character Debbie in her relationship with Bruce, borders on paedophilia, he is a man at 17 with a job, a car, and the biggest penis in the gang. She is 13, just out of Primary School, has a flat chested child's body and hasn't had her period yet. Their continual problem is that he is too big for them to have sex though he does manage to get it in her bum once.
The main themes of the book are girls being completely and utterly servile to boys, doing their bidding and looking pretty. The entire books is underage sex, drinking and drug taking. It promotes not eating (especially in front of boys) to maintain a skinny frame, and countless other hyper exaggerated scenarios. If a young person picked up this booking expecting to learn from it, and expecting a realistic take on their pubescent years, then this isn't it. Actually some might find it scary.
The language is needlessly annoying, replacing 'nerd' with 'nurd' is just unnecessary, and after a while the endless over stylised speech becomes grating, and isn't a fair reflection of Australian teenagers at the time.
I came to this book expecting to love it, but instead I came away hating it. I have lost respect for the writers. This should not be considered a YA novel, if anything it should be sold as an adult book. I am no prude, and I was open to the fact that there would be drinking, drugs and sex, but the way it is portrayed in this book is just wrong, and if this is even a glimpse into the author's lives then I feel very, very sorry for them and their brutalised innocence.
January 5, 2016
Beyond the shock of how raw and blunt Puberty Blues is, I don't understand the hype. It just felt like an exaggerated stereotype of what some would call bogan culture sadly.
April 14, 2013
I read Puberty Blues when I was 15, in the early 80's. it was a breath of fresh air. Everything we read at the time was English or American, teens were either awfully middle class or living in poverty in a coal mine. But puberty blues was like a Monday morning conversation at school - who went to whose party, who got drunk/wasted, who was dropped. Surfie boys were kings, sitting outside the library at lunchtime with cool girls (never going IN the library!). and the scandal when someone NOT cool tried to sit with them!
We spoke a little bit different here in NZ, but we talked about molls, and sluts, and "going around with". And when you're 15, and uncool like I was, the ending is great. I don't know if it inspired me, but at 15 I did what Debbie and Sue did, stuck two fingers up to that whole culture. Except I became a punk rocker, in a town of surfie chicks. I was a fish out of water, and lonely as hell, but girls really were treated like shit back then, and the conformity and sexism got to me, even though I don't think I knew what feminism was.
Re reading the book as an adult, it's pretty frank and graphic about sex. Our parents gave us more freedom back then in some ways - they weren't our friends and as involved In our lives as parents are now. It made it easier to lie and sneak out. My parents were really strict, which in hindsight was a good thing. A Teacher friend said the cool kids at her school are the ones with the loosest parents, the kids without boundaries. It's so easy as a teen to want to be popular, to go along with the crowd, to,have no idea of the consequences. I think, in it's wonderful sparse text and non moralistic way, Puberty Blues makes it quite clear what consequences are. And it puts you off having sex in a panel van :)
We spoke a little bit different here in NZ, but we talked about molls, and sluts, and "going around with". And when you're 15, and uncool like I was, the ending is great. I don't know if it inspired me, but at 15 I did what Debbie and Sue did, stuck two fingers up to that whole culture. Except I became a punk rocker, in a town of surfie chicks. I was a fish out of water, and lonely as hell, but girls really were treated like shit back then, and the conformity and sexism got to me, even though I don't think I knew what feminism was.
Re reading the book as an adult, it's pretty frank and graphic about sex. Our parents gave us more freedom back then in some ways - they weren't our friends and as involved In our lives as parents are now. It made it easier to lie and sneak out. My parents were really strict, which in hindsight was a good thing. A Teacher friend said the cool kids at her school are the ones with the loosest parents, the kids without boundaries. It's so easy as a teen to want to be popular, to go along with the crowd, to,have no idea of the consequences. I think, in it's wonderful sparse text and non moralistic way, Puberty Blues makes it quite clear what consequences are. And it puts you off having sex in a panel van :)
November 1, 2014
I don't get it.
What was the point of this book?
To shock?
To antagonise?
Yeah, the terminology is different, but that would have been completely normal in the 70's, that was how teenagers were expected to talk. So what was the point?
There is no plot, no storyline, no character development other than, "How about we stop listening to these sexist idiots and do something for ourselves?"
It's original, but doesn't live up to its potential. Yeah, this was probably a big refresher when it came out, but compared to the fiction we read now this is terrible. I am Australian, I have been a teenage girl, I have lived in Sydney, yet it is completely unrelatable. I don't mean because sex in vans doesn't appeal, but because it has no insight to actual puberty, to what the girls were actually experiencing, it is just a guide to lie back and have emotionless, pleasureless sex. That's all this is.
There is no literary enjoyment behind this, it bored me to tears.
I enjoy the show, which is originally what got me to read it, but it is nothing like the show. The characters never change, all 112 pages are "Gimme a chicko roll" or "Wanna root?" None of them grow at all.
I think this was written based on shock factor, but the problem is, in 2014. people aren't shocked by this, our bestseller list has stuff a million times more explicit or culturally shocking. It has no appeal anymore.
What was the point of this book?
To shock?
To antagonise?
Yeah, the terminology is different, but that would have been completely normal in the 70's, that was how teenagers were expected to talk. So what was the point?
There is no plot, no storyline, no character development other than, "How about we stop listening to these sexist idiots and do something for ourselves?"
It's original, but doesn't live up to its potential. Yeah, this was probably a big refresher when it came out, but compared to the fiction we read now this is terrible. I am Australian, I have been a teenage girl, I have lived in Sydney, yet it is completely unrelatable. I don't mean because sex in vans doesn't appeal, but because it has no insight to actual puberty, to what the girls were actually experiencing, it is just a guide to lie back and have emotionless, pleasureless sex. That's all this is.
There is no literary enjoyment behind this, it bored me to tears.
I enjoy the show, which is originally what got me to read it, but it is nothing like the show. The characters never change, all 112 pages are "Gimme a chicko roll" or "Wanna root?" None of them grow at all.
I think this was written based on shock factor, but the problem is, in 2014. people aren't shocked by this, our bestseller list has stuff a million times more explicit or culturally shocking. It has no appeal anymore.
September 12, 2014
I can't believe this book is 35 years old. It remains a very confronting read, especially now I am an adult with young teenage children of my own. I have given it 4 stars which suggests I really liked it...in truth it pained me in many sections knowing how true to life it was....especially the very under-age sexual experiences of the protagonists. When I first heard about this book I was 13. It was highly controversial and there is no way I would have read it or been allowed to read it. I thought the book must have glorified the sex and drugs of the surfie lifestyle. Having read it from this vantage point (2014) I am unusually inclined to agree with Germaine Greer, that this book is a 'profoundly moral tale.' Reading it as a mature male and remembering the era, I am reminded of the damaging suburban sexism of the era and the casual objectification of women. This is an important book in our literary history as a commentary on the moral landscape of the 1970s and early 1980s.
August 23, 2016
Finally I have read it (and in one night) so now I too can say "yes, I have read Puberty Blues". I think I would have enjoyed it more if I had a read it when I was a teenager.
December 21, 2018
Really quick read. Nothing happened??
March 3, 2022
very clearly captures a culture, a very horrible culture
July 18, 2012
3.5 STARS
Pretty Blues I have to say I mostly love is for not holding back at all, it's content was not sugar coated which I think is one of it's most strongest points.
It doesn't beat around the bush or just hint that something happened, it just is thrown in your face very much like having a bucket of cold water thrown on your face. First you have your sharp intake of breath and eyes widening in shock then after awhile your mind is clear and very aware with nothing that is hazy and uncertain.
After reading this book I came to a realisation that even after over 20 years when this book was first published, teenage girls are still facing these issues. Of course there aren't as nearly a lot of guys who treat girls the same way as they were in this novel (of course there are still exceptions) and girls are less hostile talking to other girls about sex. I guess that is why this book seems ageless and is still loved by many people.
Even though I didn't exactly do any of the things that Debbie and Susan did when I was their age (and was most likely one of the girls they called "the nerds" who sat at the front of the bus and read books) it didn't make it any less enjoyable for me and it was fun reading all the slang (and I admit I started mimicking and saying them aloud to myself).
I didn't like that the book was such a small read, I remember picking the book up from the library and thinking "that's it?" It seemed just when I was really enjoying it the story was over.
Pretty Blues I have to say I mostly love is for not holding back at all, it's content was not sugar coated which I think is one of it's most strongest points.
It doesn't beat around the bush or just hint that something happened, it just is thrown in your face very much like having a bucket of cold water thrown on your face. First you have your sharp intake of breath and eyes widening in shock then after awhile your mind is clear and very aware with nothing that is hazy and uncertain.
After reading this book I came to a realisation that even after over 20 years when this book was first published, teenage girls are still facing these issues. Of course there aren't as nearly a lot of guys who treat girls the same way as they were in this novel (of course there are still exceptions) and girls are less hostile talking to other girls about sex. I guess that is why this book seems ageless and is still loved by many people.
Even though I didn't exactly do any of the things that Debbie and Susan did when I was their age (and was most likely one of the girls they called "the nerds" who sat at the front of the bus and read books) it didn't make it any less enjoyable for me and it was fun reading all the slang (and I admit I started mimicking and saying them aloud to myself).
I didn't like that the book was such a small read, I remember picking the book up from the library and thinking "that's it?" It seemed just when I was really enjoying it the story was over.
March 25, 2017
Some parts riveting, other parts slightly boring. Very Australian, but even I had trouble understanding some of the slang.
RTC ... maybe
RTC ... maybe
January 12, 2019
My god, how did anyone escape life as a teenager. It's been years since I read this, but it's a shocking read post- the #metoo movement.
April 7, 2017
Review originally posted on A Keyboard and an Open Mind 07 April 2017:
I think I can see how this book ended up a cult classic. First published in 1979, it encapsulates the youth culture of 1970s Sydney. But. While the language is completely authentic, it lost me on the content.
Puberty Blues tells the story of of Debbie and Sue, two thirteen-year-olds desperate to make into one of the surfie gangs that hang around Cronulla Beach. As they try to make it to the top of the social heirarchy, they learn about sex, drugs, boys, and ultimately, themselves.
First things first, Rebecca McCauley narrated the book perfectly. She had the Western suburbs accent down pat and this added to the authenticity of the book. There were times when I felt like I was listening to a three-hour Kylie Mole sketch, but this book is exactly the type of suburban Sydney life that Kylie Mole was parodying.
When Puberty Blues was made into a TV show a few years ago, they upped the ages of the main characters to sixteen, and I can see why they did, even if it did cop criticism. There’s something very uncomfortable about listening to a thirteen-year-old character describe a seventeen-year-old boy trying to have sex with her, or casually describing the gang rape of other girls from her school (obviously, the ages don’t matter at all there), or the fact that they would all spend their weekend dealing weed.
There was also the issue that while the characters were very well drawn, there was very little plot. I do wonder if it’s because I didn’t read this as a teenager that I didn’t connect with it. While I wasn’t the sort of teenager depicted in the book, there were certain things that would have still resonated. As it was, I had little to identify with.
(This review is part of the Australian Women Writers Challenge 2017. Click here for more information).
Initial review:
The language in this was so authentically 1970s Australian and ditto Rebecca McCauley's narration. That's why this is getting two stars. the content was pretty objectionable and I haven't quite worked out whether I think it's as feminist as people are saying or not. I wonder if you need to read it as a teenager to really get everything out of it...? full review to come.
I think I can see how this book ended up a cult classic. First published in 1979, it encapsulates the youth culture of 1970s Sydney. But. While the language is completely authentic, it lost me on the content.
Puberty Blues tells the story of of Debbie and Sue, two thirteen-year-olds desperate to make into one of the surfie gangs that hang around Cronulla Beach. As they try to make it to the top of the social heirarchy, they learn about sex, drugs, boys, and ultimately, themselves.
First things first, Rebecca McCauley narrated the book perfectly. She had the Western suburbs accent down pat and this added to the authenticity of the book. There were times when I felt like I was listening to a three-hour Kylie Mole sketch, but this book is exactly the type of suburban Sydney life that Kylie Mole was parodying.
When Puberty Blues was made into a TV show a few years ago, they upped the ages of the main characters to sixteen, and I can see why they did, even if it did cop criticism. There’s something very uncomfortable about listening to a thirteen-year-old character describe a seventeen-year-old boy trying to have sex with her, or casually describing the gang rape of other girls from her school (obviously, the ages don’t matter at all there), or the fact that they would all spend their weekend dealing weed.
There was also the issue that while the characters were very well drawn, there was very little plot. I do wonder if it’s because I didn’t read this as a teenager that I didn’t connect with it. While I wasn’t the sort of teenager depicted in the book, there were certain things that would have still resonated. As it was, I had little to identify with.
(This review is part of the Australian Women Writers Challenge 2017. Click here for more information).
Initial review:
The language in this was so authentically 1970s Australian and ditto Rebecca McCauley's narration. That's why this is getting two stars. the content was pretty objectionable and I haven't quite worked out whether I think it's as feminist as people are saying or not. I wonder if you need to read it as a teenager to really get everything out of it...? full review to come.
January 23, 2016
I just re-read this book after many many years and to be totally honest it horrified me. I certainly don't remember feeling like that back when I was a teenager but perhaps I was more caught up with being immortal then?
This book is a very very quick read. 110 pages I think. It's a cult classic. It's shocking. It's real. Its colloquial. It's written with all the twang and sophistication of a 13 year old Australian girl.
I think it's horrifying because they are 13 year old girls who spend all their time chasing surfer boys, trying to have sex, being groped...and generally disrespected. Their parents seem to have no clue what they are doing and it all just seems really sad. The boys really treat the girls like crap (emotionally, sexually and physically) and that was just how it was. Thank goodness some things have changed.
I grew up in the 70's, not in Cronulla but in a smaller seaside town. I was still in primary school in 1980 so I guess things were not quite the same era for me as they were for our authors. But still, My parents never let me have a boyfriend at that age, go around in cars with boys, they knew all my friends and their parents....let's face it they were strict. And I can remember thinking it was incredibly unfair to have all these rules...but now looking back as a parent myself, older and more world wary - I thank god my parents were strict. I can't imagine my life I'd gotten pregnant or drug addicted so young.
I guess this book wasn't quite a nostalgic walk in the park for me. It stirred up fairly intense feelings of rage and sadness for those young girls....and the many
Others like them. I'd like to think we've fixed all this sort of stuff in society but I don't think we are there yet. We've come along way and I'd like to think my friends daughters, would know more, be more confident, more resilient...better equipped for life - that they'd never let themselves be treated like the girls in this book...but I know that's a bit of a dream still. But I have hopes that one day in the future no girls will be treated this shabbily. They just won't put up with it and the boys just won't think that's the right behavior either...
.
This book is a very very quick read. 110 pages I think. It's a cult classic. It's shocking. It's real. Its colloquial. It's written with all the twang and sophistication of a 13 year old Australian girl.
I think it's horrifying because they are 13 year old girls who spend all their time chasing surfer boys, trying to have sex, being groped...and generally disrespected. Their parents seem to have no clue what they are doing and it all just seems really sad. The boys really treat the girls like crap (emotionally, sexually and physically) and that was just how it was. Thank goodness some things have changed.
I grew up in the 70's, not in Cronulla but in a smaller seaside town. I was still in primary school in 1980 so I guess things were not quite the same era for me as they were for our authors. But still, My parents never let me have a boyfriend at that age, go around in cars with boys, they knew all my friends and their parents....let's face it they were strict. And I can remember thinking it was incredibly unfair to have all these rules...but now looking back as a parent myself, older and more world wary - I thank god my parents were strict. I can't imagine my life I'd gotten pregnant or drug addicted so young.
I guess this book wasn't quite a nostalgic walk in the park for me. It stirred up fairly intense feelings of rage and sadness for those young girls....and the many
Others like them. I'd like to think we've fixed all this sort of stuff in society but I don't think we are there yet. We've come along way and I'd like to think my friends daughters, would know more, be more confident, more resilient...better equipped for life - that they'd never let themselves be treated like the girls in this book...but I know that's a bit of a dream still. But I have hopes that one day in the future no girls will be treated this shabbily. They just won't put up with it and the boys just won't think that's the right behavior either...
.
September 24, 2016
This book follows best friends Debbie and Sue as they try to get into the popular gang with all the top chicks and surfie spunks. It follows their journey with boyfriends, losing their virginity, smoking weed and other hard drugs. Because the book is based on a true story it finishes with a flash forward kind of tell tale into what happened to some of the kids after high school, like who died and who’s in gaol.
The only reason I really wanted to read this book is because one of the characters in it is based on a lady I used to work with. Obviously not one of the main characters but one of the others, she wouldn’t tell me who so I wanted to read it to see if I could guess. And I’m still no closer to working it out!
It was an interesting read on what teenage life was like back in the 70s and what the balance was like between men and women. The chicks couldn’t eat in front of their guys, weren’t allowed to surf, had to get all the food and basically have sex with them whenever they wanted…but not too soon into the relationship otherwise they were known as a mole.
I enjoyed the insight but there wasn’t really much of a plot, it was more just a stream of narrative on what happened, and the only real ending was a few minutes on where people were after high school which was nice but didn’t really wrap up the book satisfactorily. From a story perspective it was a bit flakey but as a historical account (sort of I suppose) it was interesting. In this instance I would probably say the TV show is more interesting.
Read more on my blog.
The only reason I really wanted to read this book is because one of the characters in it is based on a lady I used to work with. Obviously not one of the main characters but one of the others, she wouldn’t tell me who so I wanted to read it to see if I could guess. And I’m still no closer to working it out!
It was an interesting read on what teenage life was like back in the 70s and what the balance was like between men and women. The chicks couldn’t eat in front of their guys, weren’t allowed to surf, had to get all the food and basically have sex with them whenever they wanted…but not too soon into the relationship otherwise they were known as a mole.
I enjoyed the insight but there wasn’t really much of a plot, it was more just a stream of narrative on what happened, and the only real ending was a few minutes on where people were after high school which was nice but didn’t really wrap up the book satisfactorily. From a story perspective it was a bit flakey but as a historical account (sort of I suppose) it was interesting. In this instance I would probably say the TV show is more interesting.
Read more on my blog.
December 18, 2016
I read an excerpt of this book a while back and always told myself to read the full thing. It wasn't until a visit to the library that I finally borrowed the book. It was a short novel, only just over 100 pages, but the content inside this book made me mindblown. I reside in Sydney, which houses Cronulla. And I recently went down to the beach. I was so happy to read a book set in Sydney, but the historical context of this book was what really differentiated my lifestyle to Deb and Sue's. This book discusses the values of teenagers ("Cronullaites") back in the 2oth century. There were alot of chiko rolls, tanned skin, dope, drugs, sex, and sneaking out late. There was ALOT of context in this book and I found out that the reason why there was so much was because the authors wrote from their own personal experiences. I really enjoyed this book. It was really interesting and I finished it really quickly.
My only reason for giving it 4 stars instead of 5 was because I found myself not understanding the speech at some points in the book. There's ALOT of Australian slang, and despite being Australian myself, I found it difficult to figure out a few words. Maybe it's just my lack of knowledge catching up to me, but this made it a bit difficult to read.
My only reason for giving it 4 stars instead of 5 was because I found myself not understanding the speech at some points in the book. There's ALOT of Australian slang, and despite being Australian myself, I found it difficult to figure out a few words. Maybe it's just my lack of knowledge catching up to me, but this made it a bit difficult to read.
September 10, 2012
I am really loving the series on channel ten, Australian tv. I like to know what will happen next so I always read the reviews, however since this is a new show there were none except people discussing the book. I bought the book on itunes and read it basically in one sitting. Wow!! I really understand myself now. Refering to anyone who lived more than across the road from the beach 'a westy' amongst other colourful language ideas. I loved the book to look back on my own childhood - which was 80s & 90s not 70s, but so much remains - so much is so accurate. I love the show for different reasons - particularly the parent's perspectives - which are not in the book. I love that the writers and producers of the show were smart enough to realise their audience is most likely 28 - 45, maybe older. I know my parents think it is boring and my 13 year old daughters' friends make fun of it on chat, they are too young. When I catch my 11 year old sneaking peaks I tell her - that one dies of drugs, that one is a single mum and has a hard life and that one falls pregnant at 13, how awful must she feel. I love the book - I was really disappointed that it was so short!
April 7, 2013
A snapshot of the microcosm of a Sydney beach-side suburb, but also of the time in two girls' lives when they were 13-16 years old. I admired the rawness and honesty. I was shocked and felt bad for many of the characters, especially in light of the listing at the end of the book about who ends up where. The sentences 'That's why nearly every young Australian girl gets deflowered in a car. That's the only place there is.' is one example of how the authors thought that what they were doing was the same as what happened for all other young Australians. I don't doubt that for kids living in the Shire and many other parts of Australia today, that the same sorts of things still go on. But I'm glad I didn't read it when I was 13-16, as those teenage years for me were worlds apart to those described in the book. To read about it then would have made me wonder about whether what I was doing was normal - because of course I assumed at the time that it was the same as what everyone else was doing. What makes this book really exceptional is that it is a completely candid account of a time in their lives that the authors really did live through, which is rare indeed.
September 8, 2014
This was said to be ground-breaking, hilarious and an insight into Australian life when it was first published. Let's just say that I didn't think so, on all three counts, and it was badly written too.
November 26, 2019
Holy crap that was insane. Two young girls being insanely taken advantage of by the local yobbos. Far out.
October 10, 2022
3.25 stars
Got progressively better as I became more attached to the characters. Very realistic and I think the narration was done very well - no sugarcoating or romanticising. I didn't know this was semi-autobiographical, which I thought was interesting! I am definitely interested in watching the show now.
Got progressively better as I became more attached to the characters. Very realistic and I think the narration was done very well - no sugarcoating or romanticising. I didn't know this was semi-autobiographical, which I thought was interesting! I am definitely interested in watching the show now.
November 10, 2022
A wee bit jarring can’t even lie.
August 18, 2025
Quick tiny little read, 4 stars because I love the tv show
July 9, 2012
Deservedly or otherwise, Puberty Blues is a classic of Australian writing. In some cases it's known because it's notorious - for its portrayal of sex, of gender relationships in a particular place and time, for lifting the lid on gender inequalities and gendered behaviours in the southern beachside suburbs of Sydney in the 1970s.
It's the sort of book that many of my peers read in high school, much closer to the age of the protagonists Debbie and Sue than I am. However, I'm really glad that I didn't read it when I was a teenager, as it would probably have scared me even more about high school, peer pressure, and the travails of adolescence than I already was. Reading it now, I'm still horrified by everything the girls go through; horrified by their acceptance of what the boys put them through, horrified by the boys actions and opinions. Thankful that it bears no resemblance to my own adolescence whatsoever.
I did find myself confused by the point of view at times. I found Debbie and Sue difficult to distinguish, and there were certain switches from first person to third and back again that confounded me.
A further point in relation to the particular edition I read. It's the first British edition, so I don't actually know how I got it at the Pan Macmillan firesale (where I got it for 50c). It has two forewords written by Germaine Greer and Kylie Minogue, who are basically chosen for being fellow Aussies who are well known in Britain (as is one of the co-authors, Kathy Lette).
It's the sort of book that many of my peers read in high school, much closer to the age of the protagonists Debbie and Sue than I am. However, I'm really glad that I didn't read it when I was a teenager, as it would probably have scared me even more about high school, peer pressure, and the travails of adolescence than I already was. Reading it now, I'm still horrified by everything the girls go through; horrified by their acceptance of what the boys put them through, horrified by the boys actions and opinions. Thankful that it bears no resemblance to my own adolescence whatsoever.
I did find myself confused by the point of view at times. I found Debbie and Sue difficult to distinguish, and there were certain switches from first person to third and back again that confounded me.
A further point in relation to the particular edition I read. It's the first British edition, so I don't actually know how I got it at the Pan Macmillan firesale (where I got it for 50c). It has two forewords written by Germaine Greer and Kylie Minogue, who are basically chosen for being fellow Aussies who are well known in Britain (as is one of the co-authors, Kathy Lette).
February 9, 2012
I have read this book twice, firstly when it came out and thirty years later.
I should point out when it came out it was regarded as the book that blew a lot of late seventies taboo's out of the water. This book shocked people in the Shire.
I also remember thinking of Lette's association with Cronulla when she was in fact from the less desirable Sylvania Heights (local knowledge here.) The book is written from the perspective that she was in THE group in Cronulla, in truth at this time Cronulla was full of groups of youths who felt this way about themselves. My initial reaction was that it was a poorly written book which dramatised bad behaviour.
Reading it thirty years later I feel differently about it, I don't think it is poorly written and I think the pace of the book is it's saving grace. It is a short book at one hundred and thirty page, I re-read it in an afternoon.
I don't think the book is so much about dating in Cronulla, as it is about young girls chasing alpha males and having the terms of romance dictated to them. This story could have happened anywhere and I dare say it still does happen to this day. Lette's character's behaviour to other girls in this book is appalling.
I can't say I had strong feelings about any of the characters in the book, and as stated by an earlier review there isn't any real evidence of personal growth, but it is such a strong story that needed to be told.
I should point out when it came out it was regarded as the book that blew a lot of late seventies taboo's out of the water. This book shocked people in the Shire.
I also remember thinking of Lette's association with Cronulla when she was in fact from the less desirable Sylvania Heights (local knowledge here.) The book is written from the perspective that she was in THE group in Cronulla, in truth at this time Cronulla was full of groups of youths who felt this way about themselves. My initial reaction was that it was a poorly written book which dramatised bad behaviour.
Reading it thirty years later I feel differently about it, I don't think it is poorly written and I think the pace of the book is it's saving grace. It is a short book at one hundred and thirty page, I re-read it in an afternoon.
I don't think the book is so much about dating in Cronulla, as it is about young girls chasing alpha males and having the terms of romance dictated to them. This story could have happened anywhere and I dare say it still does happen to this day. Lette's character's behaviour to other girls in this book is appalling.
I can't say I had strong feelings about any of the characters in the book, and as stated by an earlier review there isn't any real evidence of personal growth, but it is such a strong story that needed to be told.
July 12, 2012
I first read this book when I was a young teenager and I remember it being a huge book, a big story and the thing I took away from it was the drugs rather than the sex... not sure why that was, maybe more freaked out by heroin that boys. I also read Christiana F and another diary-type book about heroin addiction around the same time, add in a dose of AIDS related propaganda advertising and I was NEVER going to be a smackie!! I think rereading this as an adult (without children), it almost a memoir, although I never got into the back of cars or shot up heroin, I do remember. Remember being a teenager and being obsessed with boys, smoking under the underpass and sneaking out. We always told our parents we were going to Rhonda's house because Rhonda's Mum didn't have a phone so we were basically free for the day and no one knew where we were from sunup to sundown. Puberty Blues is not high literature by any means but like reading your own childhood diary again, the language you use and what was desperately important back then, upon reflection is funny and sad and nostalgic. I am not sure how the TV series is going to go(the real reason I revisited this book) - the fact that this is a true story and that the girls were only 13 (!) when all this was happening may be too confronting for a joe-schmo audience. I imagine being a parent and rereading it, you would never let your daughters out!!!
October 28, 2012
I read the book when it was first published and I was a young girl. I enjoyed it then, it was a different world to what I was living in and I did and didn't want to be part of it. The tv series was excellent, looked forward to it every week and am really glad they are making a series 2. I wanted to read the book again to see how different it was to the tv show and how i felt about it reading it as a mum. First off it was so badly written, I read it in a day because I really couldn't have taken it for another day, thank goodness it was a small book. The clothes they wore in the show were definitely seventies clothes, in the book they made a huge point about always wearing straight Levi's and definitely NOT flares or amcos which is what they wore on the tv. It's sad that some girls think so little of themselves that they do anything to get "in" with the cool crowd and boys think so little of the girls that they only want them for one thing. That sort of thing probably goes on now to a different degree which is scary as I have girls that age.
The book read a bit like twitter, a list of events with a little bit of story.
September 19, 2011
I first bought and read this when I was traveling abroad in Australia. At that point in time I found that having this backstory enriched my traveling experience, as I surfed at some of the beaches along Sydney's coast.
Finding Pubery Blues again in one of my boxes of books, I recently reread it, and just put it into my classroom library--with some hesitation.
When I booktalked this title to my students, I recommended it to students who really liked Go Ask Alice, though it is a little bit tamer in some respects (the drug use) and a little bit more graphic in some respects (the teen sex). I am still hesitant to say that I personally "liked" this book, though I am a big believer in reading about, rather than personally experimenting with making bad choices.
Ultimately, this book is not for everyone, but I do think that some teen readers will come away with a moral lesson: you can quickly go down a slippery slope if you care more about the popularity you have today, rather than the success you could have in the near future.
Finding Pubery Blues again in one of my boxes of books, I recently reread it, and just put it into my classroom library--with some hesitation.
When I booktalked this title to my students, I recommended it to students who really liked Go Ask Alice, though it is a little bit tamer in some respects (the drug use) and a little bit more graphic in some respects (the teen sex). I am still hesitant to say that I personally "liked" this book, though I am a big believer in reading about, rather than personally experimenting with making bad choices.
Ultimately, this book is not for everyone, but I do think that some teen readers will come away with a moral lesson: you can quickly go down a slippery slope if you care more about the popularity you have today, rather than the success you could have in the near future.
August 1, 2012
this book was just ... okay. the language is kind of hilarious, and even though i grew up 20 years after this story is set, i could still relate to a lot of the stuff going on. it's all very australian! it's also only a very short book so if you're feeling curious about surfie culture in the 70s, give it a go. just don't expect too much. :p
there wasn't really that much of a storyline and
in some ways it reminded me of that other famous teen book "go ask alice" in that it doesn't hold back or sugar coat anything, so for that i guess i have to commend it.
there's a new tv show based on this book coming out soon - i'll be interested in seeing how true they stay to the book!
there wasn't really that much of a storyline and
in some ways it reminded me of that other famous teen book "go ask alice" in that it doesn't hold back or sugar coat anything, so for that i guess i have to commend it.
there's a new tv show based on this book coming out soon - i'll be interested in seeing how true they stay to the book!
April 5, 2016
Read this book because a student said it was hilarious and awful. I definitely thought it was more awful than hilarious, but I can see why a teenager would think it was endlessly funny. It just kind of made me sad about teenage girls and their sexuality (admittedly this is set in 1970's Australia, but still).
The book is so Aussie it's almost ridiculous, the slang is above and beyond and I would expect this to be a really difficult read for people in other countries unfamiliar with the bizarre colloquialisms of Australia.
The book is so Aussie it's almost ridiculous, the slang is above and beyond and I would expect this to be a really difficult read for people in other countries unfamiliar with the bizarre colloquialisms of Australia.
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