Included in MTV.com's "These 17 Music-Themed YA Books Could Be Your
Life"
A selection of the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Program.
"Meno gives his proverbial coming-of-age tale a punk-rock edge, as
seventeen-year-old Chicagoan Brian Oswald tries to land his first
girlfriend...Meno ably explores Brian's emotional uncertainty and his
poignant youthful search for meaning...His gabby, heartfelt, and utterly
believable take on adolescence strikes a winning chord."
--Publishers Weekly
"A funny, hard-rocking first-person tale of teenage angst and
discovery."
--Booklist
"Captures the loose, fun, recklessness of midwestern punk."
--MTV.com
"Captures both the sweetness and sting of adolescence with unflinching
honesty."
--Entertainment Weekly
"Joe Meno writes with the energy, honesty, and emotional impact of the
best punk rock. From the opening sentence to the very last word,
Hairstyles of the Damned held me in his grip."
--Jim DeRogatis, pop music critic, Chicago Sun-Times
"The most authentic young voice since J.D. Salinger's Holden
Caulfield...A darn good book."
--Daily Southtown
"Sensitive, well-observed, often laugh-out-loud funny...You won't regret
a moment of the journey."
--Chicago Tribune
"Meno is a romantic at heart. Not the greeting card kind, or the
Harlequin paperback version, but the type who thinks, deep down, that
things matter, that art can change lives."
--Elgin Courier News
"Funny and charming and sad and real. The adults are sparingly yet
poignantly drawn, especially the fathers, who slip through without
saying much but make a profound impression."
--Chicago Journal
"Underneath his angst, Brian, the narrator of Hairstyles of the
Damned, possesses a disarming sense of compassion which allows him to
worm his way into the reader's heart. It is this simple contradiction
that makes Meno's portrait of adolescence so convincing: He has dug up
and displayed for us the secret paradox of the teenage years, the desire
to belong pitted against the need for individuality--a constant clash of
hate and love."
--NewPages.com
"Joe Meno knows Chicago's south side the way Jane Goodall knew chimps
and apes--which is to say, he really knows it. He also knows about the
early '90s, punk rock, and awkward adolescence. Best of all, he knows
the value of entertainment. Hairstyles of the Damned is proof
positive."
--John McNally, author of The Book of Ralph
"Filled with references to dozens of bands and mix-tape set lists, the
book's heart and soul is driven by a teenager's life-changing discovery
of punk's social and political message...Meno's alter ego, Brian Oswald,
is a modern-day Holden Caulfield...It's a funny, sweet, and, at times,
hard-hitting story with a punk vibe."
--Mary Houlihan, Chicago Sun-Times
"Meno's language is rhythmic and honest, expressing things proper
English never could. And you've got to hand it to the author, who pulled
off a very good trick: The book is punk rock. It's not just punk rock.
It's not just about punk rock; it embodies the idea of punk rock; it
embodies the idea of punk--it's pissed off at authority, it won't groom
itself properly, and it irritates. Yet its rebellious spirit is
inspiring and right on the mark."
--SF Weekly
Hairstyles of the Damned is the debut novel of our Punk Planet Books
imprint, which originates from Punk Planet magazine.
Hairstyles of the Damned is an honest, true-life depiction of growing
up punk on Chicago's south side: a study in the demons of racial
intolerance, Catholic school conformism, and class repression. It is the
story of the riotous exploits of Brian, a high school burnout, and his
best friend, Gretchen, a punk rock girl fond of brawling. Based on the
actual events surrounding a Chicago high school's segregated prom, this
work of fiction unflinchingly pursues the truth in discovering what it
means to be your own person.
