Puberty Blues is a novel by the Australian writers Gabrielle Carey and Kathy Lette. It is their first published book. It has long been controversial with adults but much sought out by teenagers for its depictions of adolescent sex. A film based on the novel was released in 1981. A television series based on the novel began airing in 2012.
Plot summary
The novel is set in Sutherland Shire in the 1970s. Deb and Sue are thirteen-year-old high-school students whose lives are about male surfers, panel vans, straight-leg Levis, skipping school, getting wasted and fitting in. The girls strive to become "surfie chicks", the groupies that hang around the surfer-boy gangs of southern Sydney. Adhering to rules that prevent them from eating or going tothe toilet in the surfers' presence, the girls manage to become members of the most prestigious gang, and are assigned boyfriends, but to the boys they are just sexual objects. After Deb suffers a surprisemiscarriage, and the introduction of heroin takes its toll on their social group, the girls finally become disillusioned with the sexism and narrow-mindedness of their crowd and decide to become surfers themselves.
Themes
Puberty Blues addresses the sexism of surf culture and youth culture in general in Australia in the 1970s. It also deals with what would become common young adult themes such as love, sex and identity.
Critical reception
The novel was the third to be published by McPhee Gribble and thus occupied a special place in the development of Australian literature. There were strong reactions to the depictions of underage sex, rape, pregnancy, drinking and drug-taking. Many were scandalised, while others defended it as a feminist work, with Germaine Greer calling it a "profoundly moral story". As the book was largely autobiographical, it also drew attention from those whom it was based on. But Kylie Minogue spoke for many when she said, "I don't recall reading Puberty Blues so much as devouring it. I was about thirteen, alone in my bedroom with the door firmly shut. I was fascinated." It is now regarded as a classic. The pressures of public attention caused Carey and Lette to go their separate ways.
