 Beautiful Children cover | |
| Author | Charles Bock |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Psychological fiction |
| Publisher | Random House |
Publication date | 2008 |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) (Hardback) |
| Pages | 432 pp |
| ISBN | 978-0812977967 |
| OCLC | 82772602 |
| 813/.6 | |
| LC Class | 2007004166 |
Beautiful Children: A Novel is the first novel by author Charles Bock. The novel was awarded the Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction in 2009 [1] and was selected as a 100 Notable Books of 2008 by The New York Times . [2]
Beautiful Children is about the interwoven lives of several characters in Las Vegas. The story focuses on the issue of homeless teenage runaways. Young Newell has ADD and his overbearing mother Lorraine is not too keen on him hanging out with his older friend Kenny. The Girl With the Shaved Head is looking to fit in with some questionable characters that she just met on the Las Vegas strip. Ponyboy has not always been the best boyfriend and lover to his stripper girlfriend Cheri. Comic book writer Bing Beiderbixxe is just in Vegas for the weekend. These characters' lives intersect in this unflinching tale about lost innocence. [3]
Newell Ewing - A 12-year-old boy who has been diagnosed with ADD. He lives in Las Vegas with his parents.
Lorraine Ewing - Newell's overbearing mother. She used to be a Vegas showgirl until she got a C-section scar from giving birth to Newell.
Lincoln Ewing - Newell's father. He had a chance at a promising career as a Major League baseball player until he suffered from an injury and then took a job in Las Vegas.
Kenny - Newell's friend who is older and has a car. Kenny is socially awkward. Kenny likes comic books.
The Girl with the Shaved Head - A young girl who is a loner. She is looking to make friends.
Lestat - A homeless teenage runaway. He tricks Newell and steals his cell phone.
Danger-Prone Daphney - A homeless anarchist Wiccan. She takes the girl with the shaved head under her wing.
Ponyboy - A rough gutter punk who runs packages around Las Vegas on his BMX bike. He lives at his girlfriend Cheri's house.
Jabba - Ponyboy's ruthless boss.
Cheri Blossoms - A Las Vegas stripper. She is very kind. She is Pony Boy's girlfriend.
Bing Beiderbixxe - A comic book creator who is socially awkward. He meets Cheri at a strip club.
In the last pages of the 2008 hardcover edition there is a list of addresses, phone numbers and web sites that are listed as Resources. The author writes: "If you are out on the streets, or a parent of a missing teen, here are a few places to get help." These resources are for teenage runaways and their families.
The Runaways were an all-female American rock band who recorded and performed from 1975 to 1979. The band released four studio albums and one live album during its run. Among their best-known songs are "Cherry Bomb", "Hollywood", "Queens of Noise" and a cover version of the Velvet Underground's "Rock & Roll". Never a major success in the United States, the Runaways became a sensation overseas, especially in Japan, thanks to the single "Cherry Bomb".
The Outsiders is a coming-of-age novel by S. E. Hinton, first published in 1967 by Viking Press. Hinton was 15 when she started writing the novel; however, she did most of the work when she was 16 and a junior in high school. Hinton was 18 when the book was published. The book details the conflict between two rival gangs divided by their socioeconomic status: the working-class "greasers" and the upper-class "Socs". The story is told in first-person perspective by teenage protagonist Ponyboy Curtis.
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Holly Madison is an American television personality, best known as a former girlfriend of Hugh Hefner and for her appearance in the reality television show The Girls Next Door. She also starred in her own reality series, Holly's World, which ran from 2009 to 2011. She has released two books, Down the Rabbit Hole: Curious Adventures and Cautionary Tales of a Former Playboy Bunny in 2015 and The Vegas Diaries: Romance, Rolling the Dice, and the Road to Reinvention in 2016, where she talks about her life in the Playboy Mansion and her relationship with Hefner.
Daphne Clarke is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Neighbours, played by Elaine Smith. Daphne was created by Reg Watson as one of Neighbours' twelve original characters. The producer had originally wanted Rebecca Gibney to play the role, but she joined the cast of another television series. When Smith came in to audition for a guest part, her appearance, particularly her short haircut, caught the attention of the casting director, who had been looking for an "outrageous image" for the character of Daphne. Smith won the role and she made her on-screen debut in the soap's first episode, which was broadcast on 18 March 1985.
Charles Bock is an American writer whose debut 2008 novel Beautiful Children was selected by The New York Times as a Notable Book of the Year for 2008, and won the 2009 Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.
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