Book Description
Lavender, starting college in 1969, has embraced a student underworld of drugs, image and cooler than thou. But can he hide his past? Because behind his wild and witty persona, Matthew, who has 'made it big' in the university's alternative culture, is a shy and sensitive romantic - a 'feeling type', bullied at school and restricted by parents, who knows absolutely nothing about sex. He finds himself embarked on a number of deeply-felt but unpredictable relationships, learning the hard way about intimacy, self-esteem and commitment. In conflict with his parents, he takes up residence at a commune where he witnesses some supremely laughable examples of 60s free self-expression. He grows and matures, gradually revealing his true, compassionate self through contact with children and his strange but empathetic mentor, Angel. In the end he finds himself returned to his childhood experiences by the sea, learning a whole new outlook on youth, relationships and who he has become. Full of deep characterization, poetic, passionate, ironic and sometimes wildly comic, Aphrodite's Children is a book for lovers of literature and rock culture alike. A searchingly written, clear-eyed account of the 'me' generation, revealing the confusion behind the cool. A window on an era, and a skilfully observed portrait of the intricacies of the heart.
