Coming-of-Age
The genesis of this book may have been a negative response to the portrait of the 1970’s as realized on the TV show The Wonder Years, but in a way that it is exactly what the book becomes. These are years filled with wonder for Buddy, the young protagonist. The primary difference is that the TV show whitewashed racism, sexuality and peer pressure whereas Buddy becomes victimized by them in a way it would have been impossible to air on a 1980’s sitcom.
Peer Pressure
Peer pressure is a major theme running throughout the narrative. Buddy is basically a good kid; maybe only slightly less so than Kevin Arnold on the TV show. But he does show a consistent lack of spinal fortitude and common sense when it comes to withstanding peer pressure by kids who are potentially not quite as fundamentally decent. Among those who tempt Buddy into acts of less than charitable demonstrations of humanity are scouts who find joy in picking on the weak, racists and a girl who makes herself sexually available for reasons not exactly stemming from the good heart she presents.
That 70’s World
Buddy’s story takes place a version of the 1970’s that was written by someone who was there. This isn’t the standard Hollywood version of the decade where disco ruled throughout rather than just for a couple of years at the end and where bell bottoms remain pervasively popular all through the Carter administration. The 1970’s setting rings true from scenes in which real life takes place as the unreality of the Brady Bunch plays out in the background on the TV to the instant referencing of Det. Dave Starsky’s handling of his iconic Gran Torino as commentary on surviving a real-life fishtail spin inside a car briefly out of control. It is also the 1970’s in which racially segregated neighborhoods was the norm and inspired petty acts of inhumanity and where everything in town comes to a standstill until the big game has been played at the high school stadium.
