This will be one of those books that many parents will hate...with a passion.
It is littered with jokes about genitals, sex and bodily functions. There are swear words and crude concepts. It was like eavesdropping on my teenage stepsons phone conversation or facebook page - fascinating as a sociological exercise and disconcerting as an indication of our future direction!
As with every generation, there is the idea that they have discovered sex for the first time in history. And as with every generation, those doing the most talking about sex are those not having any!
Obviously the slang and modes of conveying these ideas change with each generation...and that's what Katz does beautifully (if anything about this book could be described as beautiful!)
Katz has obviously spent a lot of time eavesdropping on his son and his friends. Even a jaded 40+ stepmum could laugh out loud at some of the humour, although I did tire of it very quickly and I felt a lot of sympathy for the teachers!
This book will not be picked by school librarians or added to the school curriculum, but I suspect it will fall into the hands of many 15 year olds regardless - to be snickered over on the sly.
I'll let the publisher, Allen and Unwin have the final say...
'S.C.U.M. is great. Danny Katz is one of the hilariest writers I know. Hilariest? Is that a word? It is now.' - Frank Woodley
It is littered with jokes about genitals, sex and bodily functions. There are swear words and crude concepts. It was like eavesdropping on my teenage stepsons phone conversation or facebook page - fascinating as a sociological exercise and disconcerting as an indication of our future direction! As with every generation, there is the idea that they have discovered sex for the first time in history. And as with every generation, those doing the most talking about sex are those not having any!
Obviously the slang and modes of conveying these ideas change with each generation...and that's what Katz does beautifully (if anything about this book could be described as beautiful!)
Katz has obviously spent a lot of time eavesdropping on his son and his friends. Even a jaded 40+ stepmum could laugh out loud at some of the humour, although I did tire of it very quickly and I felt a lot of sympathy for the teachers!
This book will not be picked by school librarians or added to the school curriculum, but I suspect it will fall into the hands of many 15 year olds regardless - to be snickered over on the sly.
I'll let the publisher, Allen and Unwin have the final say...
Danny Katz is a columnist for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. He writes the Modern Guru column in the Good Weekend magazine. He is also the author of the books Spit the Dummy, Dork Geek Jew and the Little Lunch series for kids.
S.C.U.M.
Published: August 2012
Adrian Mole goes to Summer Heights High in this story of hormones, high school and social hierarchy from one of Australia's funniest writers. 'S.C.U.M. is great. Danny Katz is one of the hilariest writers I know. Hilariest? Is that a word? It is now.' - Frank Woodley
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