Hairstyles of the Damned (Punk Planet Books) (edit title)

• Rated 4 stars

“great book”

• Rated 0 stars

“one of the high-school ones i read again. honest. ”

• Rated 5 stars

“One of the best books I've read in a long time. The characters were simple yet well developed and I felt like I lived in the book.”

• Rated 4 stars

“following the awkward years of a teenage boy wasn't the book I thought I would be choosing to read. My boyfriend made me read this just after we had gotten together. He said it was a really awesome read. It helped me to understand a lot about him! ”

• Rated 5 stars

“This is such a high school book, and of course, I didn't read it in high school, but in college. This book seriously made me scared about having kids because teenagers are crazy in the way they see things sometimes. But it was a good read. Reminds you of your high school days.”

• Rated 3 stars

“I don't know if I liked this book because it was actually good or because it was set in a place I understood very well -- the Southwest Side of Chicago in the early 1990s.

In either case, I finished this book in one sitting, unable to put it down as it explored the high school punk rock adventures of its characters as they wasted their youth on sex, drugs and rock and roll. And what's wrong with that?”

• Rated 3 stars

“A rendition of "The Perks of Being a Wallflower", this story tells of a 'Punk' boy life in high school. Mixtapes, awkward romances, rejection. The epitome of high school love.”

• Rated 5 stars

“A very simple and pretty book. ”

• Rated 5 stars

“I found out about this book when I heard Joe Meno on NPR. I was excited that there was a book about a punk rocker at Chicago's Brother Rice High School since I also graduated from Brother Rice and was a punk rocker, so I ordered it immediately. (Of course there are differences: the people in the book graduated around 1991 and I graduated in 1977.)

First of all, as some of the other reviewers point out, this book's setting, Chicago's Southwest side, seems to be one of the main characters in the book. I grew up there and for that reason reading the book was a nostalgic experience. It is fun reading a book set exclusively in places you've been. Also, Meno inserts a lot of music into the book, much of which I am familiar with, so that was enjoyable.

When I heard Joe's interview with Scott Simon my impression was that he was an articulate, intelligent, sensitive individual. When I began reading the book I wondered if that was the same guy - I was frustrated because the first person narrative was in a loose, conversational tone. It was like totally in the teen vernacular, I guess. Okay - that last sentence was an imitation of the style. At first it drove me crazy but eventually I realized he was using the language style to capture the world of his subjects similar to Jay McInerny's Story of My Life.

The main character and narrator, Brian Oswald, is pretty inconsistent. At times he seemed like a decent guy, at other times he seemed despicable. At times he was a wimp, at other times he was a tough guy. He runs a gamut from confused and disenfranchised to insightful and self-confident. This is a portrait of the typical teen-ager as a confused young punk rocker. (Actually Brian Oswald makes a gradual transformation in the book from a heavy metal dude to punk rocker.)

Another frustrating detail: after thirty-five chapters he starts again at chapter one, and one the main characters (Gretchen) is absent. Then twenty-three chapters later we get another chapter one, so the book seems to start three times.

I started to think, "What is this? Just a bunch of half finished junk from his notebooks?" But I also found myself thinking about the book and the characters while I wasn't reading it, and looking forward to reading it each night. In other words the book grew on me and I will tell you all that despite the books apparent sloppy style it is a coherent work with a beginning, middle, an end - and a point. All the loose ends, including the Gretchen situation, were resolved. This book's disorganized structure and narrative is part of the presentation of the world as seen by a high school student - and I found it to be an interesting world. I recommend this book with the warning that although it is a good book it will drive you crazy.

One last point: I can't help comparing this book to the other popular book written about going to Brother Rice High School: Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up? That book came out while I was still at Brother Rice and was locally admired. There was even a musical written based on the book that must have ran for ten years at a local theater. It's still running for all I know. The books are much different, however. The main difference is that Meno's book is much less sentimental. He doesn't seem to be as syrupy about Brother Rice as Powers was. I liked Joe Meno's book. I think I can relate to it, maybe, a little better than I can to John Powers.”

• Rated 1 stars

“The main character of this story is a teenage boy, Brian, trying to discover himself. Brian is lost and angry and confused until, like many of us, he discovers punk rock. He's still angry after this, but not lost or confused. The book basically attempts to show the mental and emotional changes Brian undergoes at this time, the conclusion basically being that once he finds Punk Rock he finds himself. As I stated, this has true for many of us--myself included, so one would think I could empathize and relate to this story.

However, I hated it. Brian's main love interest is his best friend Gretchen. Despite Brian's near obsession with her, he refuses to act on or acknowledge his feelings. Not, however, for an understandable fear of rejection, but because he's embarrassed of what other people would think about him because Gretchen is "Fat." While this Chauvenistic and objectifying mindset is sadly pretty common amongst "normies", Brian never grows out of this, even as he becomes "Punk".

Brians character is very difficult to like because of this and other reasons. One familiar with Punk, such as myself, can easily see him becoming a "Fashion Punk" and eventually a "Drunk Punk. Punk Rock was, and is, more than just an excuse for Meathead Jocks to come around and impose stereotypical and hierarchical gender roles and rules the guise of a "rebellion" that is little more than a different set of Fashion-Only standard's to adhere to.

Brian's Character is pathetic and despicable. Just because he "discovers" Punk music doesn't make him a Punk and it certainly doesn't make this book worth reading.”