Jasper truly has a lot on his plate. His mother forces him to make schedules about everything, his therapist wants him to open up but he can't help but continue to feed her ridiculous lies and he might be about to father after making the mistake of having a one night stand. Oh, and he's definitely convinced his stepfather actually murdered his ex-wife; and is planning to murder Jasper's mum, and possibly even Jasper to make sure there are no witnesses.

He has a plan though. A plan for each of these things. More or less. The most important one may or may not include sneaking into the backyard of his stepfather's old house to see if his previous wife is buried there.

Well, I certainly had a tough time trying to decide what I thought about this book. At times, I found Jasper almost likable but then he'd have an instant turn with some opinion or action that I just can't support that made me want to groan in a very tired manner.

I wasn't sure how to place him because sometimes he seemed to sincerely care about people and worry about things like racism and homophobia; and the next, he drugs a girl to have sex with her and makes a real odd remark about gay people. I don't know. Part of Jasper seemed very raw and realistic; I could definitely relate to parts of him. But at the same time... Honestly, my biggest issue is the sex scene. He seems worried that he raped her and I feel like the whole scene is in a grey-area that I'm just, no. No thank you.

Honestly, I mostly feel confused after this book because as much as I enjoyed parts of it which were hilarious and hysterical, I disliked other parts just as much. In that way, I guess Jasper felt very much like a real human being. ( )

20 year old Ben Brooks wrote this book about being a teenager in England when he was 17.

His mastery of the novel is stunning. The writing is fucking amazing.

His vivid depiction of sex, violence, confusion & drugs rules!

Jasper is very funny and insightful and totally mixed up all at once, like a real person. Half genius half idiot.

Grow Up is entertaining and moving. Disturbing and hilarious. Like being a kid. This English perspective on teenager-dom is existential and fraught and tangled and not at all fake or sentimental or moralizing or sappy.

WARNING: If you don't want to be inside the mind of a fucked up white middle class teenage boy this book is not for you.

I like this review ( )

In the process of reading this book. The only reason a middle aged housewife like me is reading this is because it is written by a local boy...who is good friends with my daughter's boyfriend's brother. My daughter's boyfriend's name is Jasper and the main character is named after him. Thank God the Jasper we know is nothing like the Jasper in this book although I am enjoying the fictional character...love his sense of humor. Have not gotten too far into the book yet but I hope to continue to like this character throughout. Ben Brooks is a brilliant writer for such a young person and will look for his other works to read in the future. I just hope I can keep both Jaspers where they are and not blur the two otherwise there will be alot of questions that need to be answered...Jasper! :) ( )

I recently went to a friend with the following statement about this book: "Good golly I read a coming-of-age book last night that was so foul languaged and filled with sex, drugs and alcohol that I don't know how to talk about it on the blog.. because I actually enjoyed it."

Then I realized, that's exactly what I wanted to say about Grow Up by Ben Brooks. Frankly, I needed to grow up and face the fact that, in spite of its numerous moral deficiencies, this book tackles tough, hard issues teenagers are facing every single day and it doesn't give them a "hero" to make them feel as if they are losing some kind of battle because they can't measure up.

Grow Up is the story of a boy and a girl, best friends, who make mistakes left and right. They lie, they do drugs, they have sex, they drink, they party, but most of all, they are hurting and it's so transparent it made my heart ache. Because in the middle of all of these harsh realities and the foul language, the boy and the girl, they are there for one another in a bond of friendship so strong it gave me hope.

When I found myself faced with star ratings on review sites, I honestly struggled with myself because, in terms of how potent this book is, and how hard it made me think, and how quickly I devoured it, it rates off the charts. But the other messages being flagrantly broadcast, and here is the deciding factor on that, the lack of consequences for those actions tilts the rating factor to the opposite side -so I end up right in the middle.

Grow Up is not a book for the faint of heart. Don't go into the book expecting warm and fuzzy emotions and tears. Go in expecting to be offended and disgusted - but don't let those emotions overwhelm you because no matter how offensive the teens are in this book, just like the teens you will, no doubt come into contact with, they have something else buried deep in side of them just crying out to be heard. ( )

I liked the book because, even though at times I scoffed at the character's immaturity, that's what happens when you're a teenager--you're immature and you do stupid things. Plus, there wouldn't really be a story if the character never did anything stupid, right? I was really surprised at how well-written the book was at times. Although not a deep book, it was hilarious, and the writing swept me into Jasper's world and left me nostalgic for my own risk-taking adolescence. However, near the end the writing seemed almost sloppy and choppy, like the author was trying quickly to get the book finished. I didn't like that abrupt change of pace--that's really my only complaint ( )