Who’s writing about growing up as a kid or teen in the late seventies/early-to-mid eighties with aplomb? I’m looking for more introspective stuff rather than the sort of “aw shucks, I done never got laid!”-style of joke-memoir that seems to be being pioneered by writers like David Sedaris and Paul Feig. In other words, more “Stop-Time” than Jean Shepherd, more coming-of-age magic set against a backdrop of the Human League and Tron than “My mom, she was so crazy, man, she was like always drinking and I never got laid LOL.”
I just read David Mitchell’s “Black Swan Green,” which kicked this off, and then I followed it with Adam Langer’s “Crossing California.” Both books were kind of exactly what I’m looking for, so more stuff like that. I just started reading “Green Grass Grace” by Shawn McBride, which is waaaaay jokier than I expected based on the rec that I received, but even it still has enough nice introspection and moments of sweetness to keep me reading it.
Hook me up!