Ben Brooks (1) (1992–)

Los protagonistas principales son Dan y Adam, dos hermanos que tras el suicidio de su hermana Ellen, asisten y participan del derrumbe absoluto de su ya de por si caótica familia. Ambos hermanos se obsesionan con averiguar por qué su hermana decidió tirarse de aquel aparcamiento, y Dan, el narrador de esta historia, nos convierte en espectadores de su realidad, muchas veces rallando el caos.
Y es que 'Hurra' es una novela que vas a devorar, pero tienes que dejarte llevar por este joven show more escritor. Te vas a escandalizar en más de una ocasión (ya en el funeral del principio intuirás qué te puedes encontrar...), pero también te vas a reír a carcajadas si conectas con su sentido del humor, llegarás a emocionarte y sin duda, reflexionarás con algunos pasajes. Hurra habla de la familia, del amor, de la adolescencia, de la vida y de la muerte. Ben Brooks hace gala de un sentido del humor bastante peculiar que puede no gustar a todo el mundo, pero como digo, has de leerla y dejarte llevar para aceptar que las peculiares vidas de esta familia van a regir tus pensamientos durante las casi 300 páginas de esta loca historia, que no decae en ningún momento ya que en libro pasa de todo en un movimiento constante. Consigue además llegar a un final satisfactorio, pero del que cerrarás las tapas pensando en hacerte con cualquier otro libro del autor, que es lo que me ha pasado a mí. show less

20 year old Ben Brooks wrote this book about being a teenager in England when he was 17.

His mastery of the novel is stunning. The writing is fucking amazing.

His vivid depiction of sex, violence, confusion & drugs rules!

Jasper is very funny and insightful and totally mixed up all at once, like a real person. Half genius half idiot.

Grow Up is entertaining and moving. Disturbing and hilarious. Like being a kid. This English perspective on teenager-dom is existential and fraught and tangled show more and not at all fake or sentimental or moralizing or sappy.

WARNING: If you don't want to be inside the mind of a fucked up white middle class teenage boy this book is not for you.

I like this review show less

Accidentally started reading it on my way to return it to the library for a friend. Super easy to read. Heaps of cute embarrassing funny thoughts about breaking up and getting together and the internet and the separation between real life and the internet and just doing things out of boredom 'because what else'. Like whether acquired taste is really a thing and how to act like a stockbroker who enjoys playing golf on the weekends even though you're a fifteen year old boy and how choosing show more food in restaurants is difficult : "I always want to split into several people and eat various meals then vomit everything back up and become one person again to choose my favourite".

Funny sad thoughts about wanting the internet to be real but being able to be serious online because you know it's not real sort of sums up a major theme running through the book and why I liked it so much.

'I still wish people could climb through computers'
'Me too. Just not to here. You should try'
'I'm trying. My face is against the screen. It isn't working. Maybe there's something you need to press. Like F5 or something' show less

I recently went to a friend with the following statement about this book: "Good golly I read a coming-of-age book last night that was so foul languaged and filled with sex, drugs and alcohol that I don't know how to talk about it on the blog.. because I actually enjoyed it."

Then I realized, that's exactly what I wanted to say about Grow Up by Ben Brooks. Frankly, I needed to grow up and face the fact that, in spite of its numerous moral deficiencies, this book tackles tough, hard issues show more teenagers are facing every single day and it doesn't give them a "hero" to make them feel as if they are losing some kind of battle because they can't measure up.

Grow Up is the story of a boy and a girl, best friends, who make mistakes left and right. They lie, they do drugs, they have sex, they drink, they party, but most of all, they are hurting and it's so transparent it made my heart ache. Because in the middle of all of these harsh realities and the foul language, the boy and the girl, they are there for one another in a bond of friendship so strong it gave me hope.

When I found myself faced with star ratings on review sites, I honestly struggled with myself because, in terms of how potent this book is, and how hard it made me think, and how quickly I devoured it, it rates off the charts. But the other messages being flagrantly broadcast, and here is the deciding factor on that, the lack of consequences for those actions tilts the rating factor to the opposite side -so I end up right in the middle.

Grow Up is not a book for the faint of heart. Don't go into the book expecting warm and fuzzy emotions and tears. Go in expecting to be offended and disgusted - but don't let those emotions overwhelm you because no matter how offensive the teens are in this book, just like the teens you will, no doubt come into contact with, they have something else buried deep in side of them just crying out to be heard. show less