Grow Up: A Novel

“An amusing, sometimes ironic look at one fairly feckless lad’s coming-of-age…What comes as a surprise is the wonderfully poetic voice Brooks has given his protagonist…Eat your heart out, Holden Caufield [sic].” — Michael Cart, Booklist “Eminently readable… Hyper–self-aware…Filled with black humor and fleeting tenderness… Its protagonist, Jasper J. Wolf, imagines himself as a prettier Holden Caulfield, but the end game reveals that the self-reflective young writer is more along the lines of a John Hughes hero, albeit with volumes more narcotics…There’s a timeless if caustic quality to [narrator] Jasper’s minimalist rants [and] there’s an unexpected humor even to the murkiest sequences. Brooks’ work feels richer [than] the transgressive teen drama Skins…as it explores generational angst and the blue-black damage of adolescence.”  — Kirkus Reviews“Engaging, funny and sharply-written. I loved how [Grow Up] manages to be both brutally uncompromising and gloriously warm-hearted.” — Chris Killen, author of The Bird Room“Ben Brooks is a magical imp who pumps out dark nuggets of poetry and makes you snort with laughter.” — Noel Fielding, co-creator of The Mighty Boosh “Sickeningly good. So confident, so stylish. An unacceptably witty and original debut.” — Tim Key“Liquid Gold.” — The Observer (U.K.)“I thought [Grow Up] was amazing. One of the most hilarious and well observed accounts of teenage debauchery you are ever likely to read….Alarmingly good.  Jasper is great fun, naively perceptive, often LOL-funny company.  A totally convincing portrait of being a wayward teenager now . . . It’s so pertinent it actually kind of trips you out.” — Dazed & Confused“Navigates the travails of school and beyond with a quick wit.” — Independent on Sunday (U.K.)“A sharp and witty exploration of adolescent life…Grow Up is one part serious, the rest is simply laugh-out loud funny….{Brooks] is able to deal with issues such as self-harm and suicide with a tenderness and sensitivity that one would have thought beyond his years….contagiously funny, well-written and no doubt marks the start of a promising career for a talented young writer.” — The Scotsman (U.K.)“Brilliantly captures 21st-century youth.  Hilarious.” — Times (U.K.)“I couldn’t stop reading Grow Up.” — http://www.Volume1Brooklyn.com“Funny from unexpected places.” — http://www.3amMagazine.com“A dirty, dirty book. It is a wonderfully filthy book.” — http://www.Areadinglife.com“A vicious, often hilarious—and hilariously blunt—microcosm of contemporary, ketamine-addicted British youth.” — blacklisted “An undeniably fun read, thanks to the leanness of its prose and its sense of humour, which is as sharp as it is affected. This is Oscar Wilde with a Tumblr account, or Martin Amis remixed by Skrillex.” — http://www.TheStar.com