DEAR BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN

by Kevin Major ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 1988

Having dramatically surveyed the teen-age wasteland in Thirty Six Exposures, Major here explores the strange changes within one confused, angst-ridden young adult. Readers should be ready for plenty of soul-searching. In a series of unanswered letters to his idol, 14-year-old Terry Blanchard pours out his troubles and restless dreams. His parents are splitting up, he has become a minor rebel at school, and he considers himself a social misfit. To his mother's disgust (his feckless, absent father plays in a band), he gets a guitar and learns how to make it ""talk,"" but he's still on a road to nowhere until he decides to organize a lip-sync concert for charity at school. The concert's wild success lightens his self-image, and he even finds a girlfriend. Unfortunately, Terry doesn't sound much like a teen-ager; his consistent substitution of ""don't"" for ""doesn't"" (as in, ""Man, she don't know you're The Boss"") just calls attention to the fact that otherwise his prose is nearly standard. Worse, he displays only the most superficial knowledge of rock music. The epistolary format serves the story's confessional aspect well, but also robs the concert and other events of immediacy. No satisfaction.

Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1988

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 135

Publisher: Delacorte

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1988

Categories: CHILDREN'S