Grown-Up Fast: A True Story of Teenage Life in Suburban America

It's all true because I was there. Israel perfectly describes the suburban ennui, the drug abuse, the out-of-control partying, the class divisions between girls who were heading to college and the "secretaries." What makes this book such a classic is that Israel has such a great sense of humor about herself and her predicament, and her descriptions of others can be hilarious, especially when she goes to college and hangs with those who regret having missed the '60s. Needless to say, THIS BOOK ROCKS!

If you had a baby as a teenager and had a rough time, please read this book. I read the book and cried, because this happened to me at 17 and I felt all of the same things as the author! I commend her for writing this book. It was like therapy for me! Thanks Betsy Israel

I have read Ms. Israel's book several times, beginning when I was about thirteen years old. I have read it every couple of years since then, as I have gotten older because I have found it is very relevant to my life. I especially enjoyed the candor with which Ms. Israel described her troubled adolescence and teenage pregnancy. I found her account of suburban adolescence to be very accurate and eerily similar to my own. This is an excellent book which taught me a great deal about coming to terms with one's past, and also about learning to deal with the alienation and angst present in the lives of some many people during the teenage years. I would recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of Joyce Maynard or Beverly D'Onofrio, two authors who also wrote candid portraits of troubled female adolescents.

What a pity this book is out of print. Althoug it was published in 1988 and set in the 1970s, the story of a young middle-class woman's social ostracism because she is unexpectedly pregnant is timeless. Betsy Israel's story will resonate with many women who lost their babies to adoption in the 1960s and 1970s. In particular the account of her hospital treatment is most chilling. I was enthralled from the beginning when the author believes that a child she sees in a crowd is her own daughter - an experience which many women will recognise. This book contributes to the wealth of mothers' personal accounts about their adoption experiences and gives strength to their collective voice.