Wasted          
Colin Bowles

Penguin Books:
YA Fiction 2001

171p pbk $16.95

ISBN: 0-14-100742-7

Wasted is a Colin Bowles novel and if you have read Going Off and enjoyed it you are bound to love this book. Wasted is a down to earth novel describing and pinpointing the ways of the world during recent times. It shows the problems faced by teenagers at the present. However the lives of the teenagers in this book are a lot hasher than most but also very parallel to the lives of some teenagers.

If you are looking for a good read, this novel, which is a teen issues book, is sure to have you on your seat. It tells of the reoccurring pressures on teens and gives you a deep insight into things such as the availability of drugs and peer pressure. Wasted follows the life of one boy Ryan Connell who also tells the story. He describes his friends, his enemies and his parents. The story line is an easy to follow yet very intriguing one.

I would personally recommend this book to persons from the age 12 and up as some teens may compare their lives to that of the characters. However this novel will not encourage anyone to act in the way the teenagers in the book have because although the story tells of the highs it also tells of the very lows. As a recommendation I would rate the book a nine out of ten.

Victoria, aged 13, Canberra, ACT

Wasted by Colin Bowles, is a realistic novel based on teen-issues.

Ryan Connell is a 16-year-old, straight-A student living out his teenage life. Like every other teenager, he has dreams that he wishes were true; and at the moment, the dream is Tiffany Dellarossi, who is "out of his league". Ryan Connell decides to turn that around but also has to cope with the constant pressures from the people around him.

Based on issues relating to teenagers of today, Wasted is very appealing to adolescents. The storyline is realistic and interesting as it addresses the problems that young people often have to face. Many parts of the story were blunt, yet true, and this made it amusing to read.

I found Wasted very appealing - it was easy to read and comprehend. I recommend it to all teens because it gave me an outlook of teenage life through the eyes of another person.

Julie, aged 15, Adelaide, SA