I don’t follow Pamie.com like I used to, my sister usually forwards me the highlights, but she was one of the first blogs I read way back when. I’ve read all her novels and was pretty excited when her first memoir was announced.
Notes to Boys focuses on Pam’s raging hormones while she goes through adolescence in small town Texas. Little Pam (as she affectionately refers to her younger self) is intense. I cannot believe she published some of these letters and poems because they are pretty cringe-worthy; her analysis and elaboration of some of the events she recounts is hilarious and self deprecating. It’s almost like you’re going through the box of notes and letters with her at home because she mentions things like not remembering details about some of the events or her excitement when a letter brings up a long forgotten memory.
Little Pam felt all the feelings and wasn’t afraid to share them. She actually remained friends with a few of the boys she mentions and gets some commentary from them about her letters. And guess what? They were flattered by them!
The best and worst part of Pam’s memoir are the poems and stories from Little Pam’s diary; most of them are awkward and terribly written which makes them hard to read (sometimes almost literally) but putting yourself back into that mind set of raging hormones and unrequited love is a pretty fun experience. I’m just glad I didn’t write and save “first drafts” of notes I wrote from that time in my life.
