A Review of Joe Meno's Hairstyles of the Damned

by Daren Sanders

Joe Meno writes with sincerity and a very "tell it how it is," "take no prisoners" kind of pace that will keep the readers eyes transfixed on the pages. He makes you remember things that happened only weeks ago and go "wow, it's not just me." In the short amount of time Meno writes about, memories of the good and bad of high school are awakened.

This book definitely isn't for the younger high school student, with descriptions of what's written on bathroom walls, upstairs at a party, and the real conversations teenagers have in the back of a "super bad escort." It could make a protective parent or administrator cringe. If old enough, however, the reader will relate to every word of this book, no matter what crowd they hang out with. The story revolves around "Brian" as he struggles to convince the girl he loves to love him back, figure out the different awkward situations he constantly finds himself in and try to find a group he can identify with. Brian jumps the punk scene ship, finds his way back on and then not so gracefully cannon balls off again in the time span of 270 pages that creates a well-rounded high school experience.

And if you ever want to dye your hair pink step-by-step instructions are included free of charge. If you also want a book that won't be put down once the first page is read then look no further. A fellow teen will be intrigued for weeks.

Even though "hairstyles" is a work of fiction it's clear that a lot of it was inspired by true-life events. If I had this book when I was asked to write an autobiography as a requirement to graduate the process would have gone much smoother and a good grade would have been easily obtainable.

For more information about Hairstyles of the Damned, click here.

Daren just graduated from Castlemont's Business and Information Technology School in East Oakland. He is now a freshman at UC Santa Barbara, majoring in Literature.