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The Madolescents (Paperback)

by Chrissie Glazebrook (Author)
3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 400 pages
  • Publisher: Arrow Books Ltd; New edition edition (7 Mar 2002)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0099410923
  • ISBN-13: 978-0099410928
  • Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 13 x 2.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 511,410 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

The heroine of Chrissie Glazebrook's debut novel, The Madolescents, is a 16-year-old misfit called Rowena, living with her mum and her mum's mega-gross lover Filthy Luker in poorish urban northern England. It is, in Rowena's inimitable voice (effortlessly and splendidly captured by Glazebrook), a situation fit to send anyone "friggin mentally ill", and it duly tips the already nervy, highly-strung adolescent into a genuine bid for lunacy. As a consequence she is then stabled among a bunch of other maladjusted youngsters for the purposes of group therapy--the Madolescents of the title.

What happens to and between the Madolescents is the ostensible subject of this book, and Glazebrook sketches their doings neatly. But it's really the cynical, robust, fragile, sassy character of Rowena herself that shines through and makes the novel work. For in all her tacky teen heroism and self-loathing loveliness she is nothing less than a Catcher in the Rye in black nail varnish and flip flops.

"The spot on my chin's grown into a huge bubo because I tried to squeeze it before it had a proper head!".
"I AM ROWENA. WARRIOR PRINCESS. I am invincible. I think my period's started".
"I heard this squelchy noise coming from Mum's bedroom, it sounded like baby Maggie from The Simpsons sucking her dummy. It was them--doing it!".
These three quotes from a possible infinitude give a good idea of what this novel's like: funny, acerbic, vulgar, smart, likeable, earthy and winningly demotic. --Sean Thomas --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.


Product Description

Living in a Newcastle suburb on a steady diet of Bailey's and chips, Rowena Vincent fantasizes about her absent father and the elimination of her mother's new boyfriend. When it becomes obvious she is losing her grip on reality, she is packed off to a teenage therapy group. Meet the Madolescents.
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The Madolescents
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The Madolescents 3.9 out of 5 stars (15)
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Customer Reviews

15 Reviews
5 star:
 (7)
4 star:
 (4)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:
 (2)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.9 out of 5 stars (15 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant and entertaining., 10 Aug 2002
By A Customer
This is a wonderful comic novel, brilliantly written and laugh-out-loud funny in places. I recommend it wholeheartedly, even though it's not the sort of thing I'd usually read.

The narrator is a sixteen-year old girl, and though I am sure that young people would love the book, it is an adult book, don't worry about that. There is stuff in it about funeral parlours, drug-taking, transvestism, mental illness, shoplifting and vandalism, so it's hardly mainstream. Perhaps that's why a couple of reviewers here didn't like it. But if Glazebrook wanted to write a best seller, she could do so tomorrow, in my opinion, because the story has pace and vivid characters and leaps off the page. Only a gifted writer can make a book do that.

I suppose that the Madolescents is in the tradition of the working-class, slangy, dialect novel, but it's far the best of that genre that I have read. There are more Geordie slang words per page than you'd hear up Bigg Market, but they didn't hold me up (and I am from Cornwall). And bouncing around among the slang are metaphors and similes to die for. Boy, can this author write visually - it's a rare gift:

"[He] makes a steeple with his hands. They're white and wrinkly, like tripe."

"Ash unbuttons his shirt and slips it off, revealing a goldy brown body, totally smooth and hairless, with copper-coloured nipples like rivets on 501s."

and aurally:

"Filthy's snoring like an elephant with catarrh."

It's a joy to find a writer who can knock off lines like that. And she does it on every page.

What's really wonderful and surprising is that the Madolescents, unlike most "working-class" novels, is never depressing (not to me, anyway), despite the in-your-face subject matter. In that respect Glazebrook reminds me of Steven Berkoff - the grosser Berkoff gets, the funnier he is: same with Glazebrook.

This is an absolute gem, this book. Don't hesitate.

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars why not laugh out loud at the horrors of a troubled puberty?, 24 April 2001
This review is from: The Madolescents (Hardcover)
It's the voice and sardonic first-person observations that give this anarchic black comedy it's irresistible ticklish quality - while quite dreadful things are happening. Laugh out loud novels of this quality are far too few and far between..Meanwhile, us in the regions, provinces and other countries are looking forward to reading the sequel and seeing the film.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Earthy, darkly comic. cleverly written,, 23 April 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: The Madolescents (Hardcover)
This is a rare novel which which has appeals for older people and teenagers. The anarchy, the insight into chaotic lives, the sharp writing, the flowing pace make the novel accessible without being trite. In 'Rowena', Glazebook has invented a very special character who has wings and should live beyond this novel. I lent my copy to two fifteen yearolds who consumed it almost in one gulp and asked where was the next one? On a serious note, without 'writing down' or being unneccessarily sociological, this novel validates lives which normally go unrecorded. Perhaps most important, it made me laugh out loud. The film should be a treat.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars If you like Skins, you'll love this!
It has been a good few years since I read The Madolescents but it is a book that has always shone in my mind. Read more
Published 19 months ago by B. S. HARPER

5.0 out of 5 stars fabulous book - very funny!
This is my favourite book of all time. It is a glorious account of the life of Rowena, a 16 year old as she encounters and battles her way through life's problems. Read more
Published on 2 Mar 2005 by a reader

4.0 out of 5 stars The Madolescents
I've just finished this book and I'm glad I read it. Parts of it I could really relate to the main character but I didn't like that she was sometimes so nasty. Read more
Published on 20 Jan 2005

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderfully funny, with a proper storyline too.
The Madolescents has a good storyline and also wonderfully quirky descriptions and inner thoughts from the narrator, 16-year-old Rowena Vincent. Read more
Published on 14 Oct 2004

3.0 out of 5 stars Sometimes funny but sometimes worrying
I have to admit this book made me laugh out loud more than once. And I have to admit it had its plus-points. Read more
Published on 13 Nov 2002

4.0 out of 5 stars A darkly comic side to life
I read this book in a day and a half, try as I might I couldn't put it down!! It's a very darkly comic tale, if slightly predictable, although I was slightly disappointed at the... Read more
Published on 9 Aug 2002 by Mrs. A. Chaplin

4.0 out of 5 stars Just Amazing
This is a brilliant book, i bought it yesterday and have finished it already, i highly recommend it and i no doubt if you read it as well you'll be looking forward to the next... Read more
Published on 31 Mar 2002

2.0 out of 5 stars Hard to read
I don't have a newcastle accent and so it would take several goes at reading some sentances to make any sense of them whatsover. Read more
Published on 13 Jun 2001

1.0 out of 5 stars Tedious, facile, irritating.
This is a badly written book that could have been much shorter. I was hoping for a really good plot and nothing much happened. Read more
Published on 19 April 2001

4.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful, Touching and Rib-Tickling laugh a minute read.
I bought this for my teenage daughter and ended up reading it as well. I highly reccommend this to fathers and daughters alike. Read more
Published on 26 Mar 2001

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