SHOCKPROOF SYDNEY SKATE

by Marijane Meaker ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 1972

Shockproof's not for those who aren't (that in the interests of a certain readership) but he's got a lot going for him considering he's only 17; and 5'-6""; and that since his parents' divorce, his mother, M. E. Shepley, has ""turned down chicken lane"" (she's gay); and that his father, a swimming pool salesman, signs his letters ""Affectionately, your father, Harold Skate"" and that he's remarried a woman who wears a ""tight little Pat Nixon smile."" During this summer when Shockproof is working in a pet shop, he's falling in love with Alison who is this side of sick (polymorphous perverse) whom his mother appropriates; and he's also banging two less attractive girls; and he reads -- and reads -- and identifies; sometimes he's The Stranger just before the judge condemns him for not loving his mother, but then it's hard to love chic, casual M. E. Shepley. Shockproof is one of those youthful fantasts with a little carnal knowledge supplemented by a lot of observation of the applied experience going on all around him and he occasions a sharp, sad and very, very funny book. It appeals.

Pub Date: March 1, 1972

ISBN: 0060087919

Page Count: -

Publisher: Little, Brown

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1972

Categories: FICTION