With cartoon-type illustrations, this comic collection deals with adolescents in the 1990s, their problems with relationships, with rivalries, with crushes and Bleu's crush on one of her teachers as well as an unfortunate incident at a party.

It's quite fun and reasonably entertaining although would suit the American reader more than others as there are many references to US culture / high school life. It all gets a bit tiresome unless you are into 1990s pop culture.

With cartoon-type illustrations, this comic collection deals with adolescents in the 1990s, their problems with relationships, with rivalries, with crushes and Bleu's fanatical attempt to get Adam Ant tickets. It's quite fun and reasonably entertaining although would suit the American reader more than others as there are many references to US culture / high school life. There are a few of the original short stories at the end.

I'm not sure what to say about Blue Monday, it's one of those books that just works, at least for me. The heroine, Dr Frieda Klein, is not a particularly sympathetic woman. She seems rather closed in, distant from the other characters in the book and distant from the reader. But the book doesn't begin with Frieda, it begins 22 years ago with two little girls.

In fourteen pages French, really authors Nicci Gerrard and Dean French, show the devastation of the family of a lost child.  The guilt, shame, anger, grief.

Fast forward then to present day and Frieda and a missing 5 yr old boy. At page 113 the characters begin to connect but the pace is still what I would call maddeningly leisurely.

I wanted any number of times to put this book down but I simply couldn't and I don't know why. I didn't like Frieda though she did once or twice show enough emotion to become interesting , I didn't like Detective Chief Inspector Karlsson who seemed a little too fast to be rude and dismissive. The only two characters I did like, her niece and the Ukrainian contractor, were not central to the story.  But still I couldn't put this book down.

The not attractive main characters, the slow pace, the lack of tension, all of this should have had me reaching for the next book on the pile and yet I just couldn't. There was something that kept pulling me into the story and the end, while not tidy or particularly happy, was satisfactory.

And I ordered the next book.

Garbage. Complete garbage.

After reading the Hopeless Savages Volume 1 series, I figured I'd give more of Clugston's work a try. And oh my gosh was that a mistake.

The artwork was fine when not depicting teenage girls in their undergarments or wearing shirts that show off their balloon-breasts. But the dialog and the story... what the hell?!?

First of all, I could not figure out if Victor and Alan were friends or just guys who follow the main characters around and sexually harass them. The whole prank war in the first chapter and having "panty shots" of Clover is beyond messed up. I also hated that the females just put up with it. When the boys are outside the window, watching them get dressed, they just tell them to go get ready. Seriously? I almost threw this trash across the room.

Scene after awkwardly-horrible scene depicts the teenage girls being degraded (wet t-shirt contest? Really?) and doing nothing about it. They get mad, but they don't usually speak out against any of the harassment. I am so disappointed that I actually bought this.


I'm not sure if this was supposed to point out sexism's existence since it really didn't play into the plot very much, but if anything it trivialized it. It makes sexual harassment a joke. It gives the message that it's okay to comment of a female's breast size, big or small. It says voyeurism is normal and funny. It is degrading and demeaning. I can't believe I wasted time and money on this. At least I know now that Clugston's other works are not for me.

The short stories at the end were no better. I think "Cuntageously Yours" sums it up pretty well, in which one of the guys accidentally asks an "unattractive" girl to a dance.

The only reason I got through this awful thing was because I told myself once I posted a review, I could actually throw the book.



Update: Throwing the book across the room has made me feel slightly better about my loss of time. I will never get those minutes back, but at least I got to throw something. The only other time I've ever throw a book was when I sunk to reading Twlight, so take from that what you will.