Any highschool teen drama novels similar to movie 'The Last American Virgin' [1982]?

[ymirzosu]

Movie notorious for its gut-punch of an ending. I though it was decent, but wished that it focused more on the drama between the main character, his crush, and his friend instead of the sex comedy stuff (which was okay, but felt it detracted from overall story). Mainly looking for a coming of age high-school drama with an downer ending, love triangles, strained friendships, seedy topics. The older the publication the better.

[ZodWallop]

I don't think this is quite a match, but check out Mike Sacks' Passable in Pink. It's a novelization of a non-existant movie. A parody of the John Hughes teen movies of the eighties.

Passable in Pink deftly sends up the 1980s and John Hughes movies while addressing the vital question: Will Addy Stevenson go to the senior prom?

Addy is suffering through her sophomore year at suburban Chicago's Northridge High. She lives on the "wrong" side of the lake with her father, a struggling advertising copywriter ("Where the hell is the goddamn beef?") and her ever-boozy mom ("Get me another drink, baby, and really make it sing."). Addy's younger brother, Spaz, her soon-to-marry older sister, Princess, and a visiting international transfer student add to the mix.

Her world is turned upside down when she meets Roland McDough, the "most beautiful Richie boy" at Northridge High. Is he actually interested in Addy, or is he just playing a game?

Are you ready to jump back into the cool, neon-glazed, high-topped reality of the 1980s? Do you miss those kick-ass tubular synth-rockin' sounds and delicious phantasma-gaseous smells? When was the last time you put on your Members Only jacket and danced the Safety Dance?

A loving send-up of a bygone era, this is one book in which Every Breath You Take will remind you of How You Used to Be.

[ZodWallop]

For a recommendation closer to what you are looking for, try The Summer of '42 by Herman Raucher.

In the summer of 1942, Hermie is fifteen. He is wildly obsessed with sex, and passionately in love with an “older woman” of twenty-two, whose husband is overseas and at war. Ambling through Nantucket Island with his friends, Hermie’s indelible narration chronicles his frantic efforts to become a man, especially one worthy of the lovely Dorothy, as well as his glorious and heartbreaking initiation into sex.

[issybird]

How about Larry McMurtry's The_Last_Picture_Show (1966)

[issybird]

Or Red_Sky_at_Morning by Richard Bradford (1968)?

[issybird]

Or, for a girl's perspective, The_Cheerleader by Ruth Doan MacDougall (1973).

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by issybird

How about Larry McMurtry's The_Last_Picture_Show (1966)

Oh, good recommendation!