Product Description

'I lost my virginity to a twenty-five year-old man. And on a schoolnight, too.' Sex with an Older Man Parents who don't understand Politics in the playground Blowjobs behind the bike-sheds Skinning up in the schoolyard It's what happens when you reach a Certain Age. Just the hormones kicking in. We've all been there . . . haven't we? A CERTAIN AGE - the reality behind the problem pages. It's what Just 17 never told you about growing up.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #49006 in Books
• Published on: 1998-11-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 416 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Teenager Rebbecca Ray's debut novel paints a deeply disturbing portrait of the life of an adolescent girl growing up in small-town England in the dying breaths of the 20th century. The humiliations of her first day at secondary school soon give way to grudging acceptance as Ray's unnamed heroine learns how to "fit in". Letting boys touch her and hanging out with the misfits and trouble-makers makes daily life bearable. Which is just as well as home life is far from bearable. With a brow-beaten, ineffectual mother, whose own feelings of self-worth have long since been ground to a pulp by a bullying, overbearing husband, it comes as no surprise when their 14-year-old daughter starts dating a man old enough to be her father. Sex, drugs, paedophilia and masochism are all shrugged off by our 14-year-old leading lady whose feelings of self-loathing grow deeper, page by gripping page, until they reach a disturbing, inevitable conclusion. Written in the first person, Ray's narrative is stark and shocking. She describes a life, a family, a society too darkly accurate to be pure fiction. As a novelist, Rebbecca Ray has found a suitable channel for her emotions. Today's teenagers, meanwhile, need help. --Carey Green

From the Author
I want to say thanks.
I've just seen the reader's reviews and it means a lot to me to see that people are responding to the book. I wrote it hoping that others would recognise and be moved by the emotions described inside it. I'm so glad that people have. Thankyou for a) spending the money in the first place. I know it's a lot. b)caring about what is written inside. Reading these reviews has been a very big deal for me.

About the Author
Rebbecca Ray is 18 and lives in Chelsea, where she is working on her second novel

Customer Reviews

Inspiring
This book is brilliant. The writing style, the conversation, the shifts of emotion brilliantly paced and crafted. A book where the nearly final paragraphs are barely taken in whilst galloping to the finish to enjoy the festivities of Christmas with the family! Characters excellently depicted, deep and grittily real (shame about Michael who never seems to be anything but a smaller brother with no impact...) The topics covered self-harm, sex in very realistic teen-girl descriptors, relationships, school and the emotionality of teenage girls magnificently worded and the masterful drawing out of family relationships, especially girls and their "letting-go" dads. A gem of a book I accidently bought for want of something better, the best I have read all year - hope all my future accidents are as lucky!

Starts well, then becomes a bit boring, really.
At first I enjoyed this book immensely. The protagonist's youthful experiences at school were engaging, charming, written extremely well and, above all else, they induced one's sympathy and interest. Then she meets Oliver, a much older guy, and things take a turn for the boring, really, where everyone just seems a tad too dissfunctional (parents included, especially dear mad old dad) and yet not actually that interesting. Not much tends too happen, other than pointless arguments. This stuff is fine if you want to watch Eastenders, but I wanted this book to remain as intelligent and engaging as it had begun. And...don't get me started on the ending, which pretty much went absolutely nowhere and left open-ended questions which, really, I couldn't care less whether they were answered or not. Such a shame as Rebecca Ray obviously has some literary talent (especially writing this at such a young age) but lacks the ability to construct a decent, engaging storyline. Well...at least with this novel, anyway. I hope she tries again one day, with the value of much more experience under her belt. I certainly would (try reading her again) if she had another book in the shops.

Not worth your money...
I really can't think of one good thing to say about this book. The style is irritating and the characters are unappealing, displaying both flat characterisation and unrealistic personalities. The narrator seems to lack any form of common sense (probably due to Ray's attempts to write as a stereotypically naïve, self absorbed teenager) and her parents seem not to care where she is or what she does. I'm sorry but how stupid do you have to be to allow a 14 year old girl that kind of freedom and then, as the icing on the cake, be surprised when she finds herself in undesirable situations?
I didn't find the sex scenes shocking, just a bit desperate and unnecessarily voyeuristic. I'm 18 and was left feeling completely patronised as a reader and, like another reviewer here, embarrassed for the author. Please don't waste your money on this rubbish when there are so many more interesting, appealing and effective portraits of dysfunctional youth available.