Grow Up by Ben Brooks

Grow Up

Ben Brooks

Jasper, the 17-year-old narrator, thinks his step father is a murderer and shares his thoughts with his best friend Tenaya who is herself self-harming. Their friendship and mutual support for each other is touchingly described. A novel which is both sad and very funny, sharp but warm, and in the end, not without hope. Written by a teenage author, read it for an authentic insight into growing up in middle class, middle England.

Extract
So far the day's plans are unfolding well. As long as Ping gets the drugs for tomorrow and all the right people turn up then the party will go well. If something has gone well it means that I have had sex, gotten drunk and taken enough of a drug to feel the effects described to us by Mr Gates during Personal Social Health Education. I feel quietly confident that all these criteria will be fulfilled.
Parallels
  • Graffiti My Soul by Niven Govinden
  • King Crow by Michael Stewart
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Violence
Explicit sexual Content