Adolescence Horror Revisited

Of all the familiar places, I find myself once again being sucked into the world of teenage horror. Teenage horror from the 1990's, no less. Paying no mind to the authors mentioned on its cover, I picked up a copy of Thirteen at Mike's little store found inside the walls of Georgia's Thrift Shop thinking I was in for a scare. The price was only fifty cents, so why not, right? 

Picking up it soon after I started reading Utopian Literature - another book I picked up at the store - in order to balance out the tedious reading, I wound up being sucked back into a very familiar world. Not that I enjoyed the simple, not-so-complex writing but the read was comforting. It reminded me of better days when I first picked up books to escape reality rather than be reminded of it.

R.L. Stein, of course, being the only author I've read as a kid - his Goosebumps novellas were my introduction to the awesome world of reading - I was reintroduced to familiar names that filled the shelves of my female cousins. Namely, Christopher Pike whose Slumber Party cover always reminded me of a young chick lit gone awry.

It's a four-star read for any adolescent wanting to take a stab of horror at their reading level, or for the adult who wants to reminisce about their childhood. However, the book is a little dated - cassette tapes probably have the Myspace generation scratching their hands on that one ("Why not use a CD and leave it on loop rather than having to rewind the song?"...or better yet, "what's a CD?!"). The advent of electronic mail made me smile - how crazy were we in the year 1991? 

I might pass this off to Izzy to read, or maybe not. I think it's best that she's privileged enough to know that IP Address would probably end the cyber stalker/killer a lot sooner, leaving no room for a story to exist.