Bad haircut

Tom Perrotta has created a memorable young protagonist named Buddy in this unsentimental, often hilarious collection of short stories. Bad Haircut follows Buddy's boyhood and adolescent adventures as he struggles to understand the mysteries of race relations, sex, family dynamics - and haircuts. The setting is a working-class town in New Jersey. The time is the overlooked decade of the Seventies, with its vanished cultural landscape of platform shoes, hard rock, and the lingering aftershocks of the Vietnam war. But the joys and agonies of Buddy's coming of age are those of any young person, anywhere, anytime. "In a literary day when too many bland stories of growing up abound, Tom Perrotta's crystal clear and cutting vision shines through," says Bret Lott, author of Jewel and Reed's Beach. Tobias Wolff, author of This Boy's Life and The Barracks Thief, calls Bad Haircut a work of "wit and humanity and cumulative impact." As was the case with Philip Roth's Goodbye Columbus, Mr. Wolff says, "Perrotta's funny and deeply touching collection marks the arrival of a writer who's here for the long haul.". From his unforgettable meeting with the Wiener Man in the opening story to his poigna