Tramps Like Us, Volume 1

Book Description

Life was good for Sumire Iwaya... until the day she discovers her boyfriend is cheating on her, she gets demoted at work and her life spirals toward the dumps. Things take a turn for the better when she crosses paths with Momo, a homeless guy with a colorful past who puts a bounce in her step and a shake in her hips. It takes two to tango, but when Sumire's first love reappears in her life, will this be the last waltz?

Customer Reviews:

Looking for a place to belong.......2006-12-03

The title Tramps Like Us could refer to the fact that the main character, Sumire - a girl in her late twenties, offers to take in a homeless young man for a night as a gesture of goodwill ... but I prefer to think it refers to the characters's quest to find their place in the world. All the characters in this series are "homeless" as they are looking for their place to belong, whether it be at work or in a relationship.

Normally in stories featuring a twenty-something girl, like Bridget Jones, the main character deals with problems such as looking slim and trying to cope with work. However Yayoi bravely gives us a main character who is so attractive she resembles a model, is highly educated, and, apart from a few hiccups, has a successful career. Yayoi shows us the inner thoughts of this "perfect" woman, who is actually very insecure and lonely. She has to cope with her workmates misinterpreting her shyness with being an a cold hearted [...]. Women dislike her because she is so goodlooking, while men feel threatened by her high education, tallness, and career success. After being dumped by her boyfriend, when he makes his secret girl-friend pregnant, she makes a vow never to date anyone who is shorter than her, makes less money, or is not as qualified as she is.

One night she finds a young man living homeless outside her house. After letting him stay one night and, in a bid to make him leave and as a joke, she offers him the chance to live in her flat as long as he agrees to be her "pet." And to her surprise, he agrees! Sumire names him Momo, the same name as her childhood dog, and treats him exactly as she would a dog. She gives him a home, feeds him, and tells him her problems. As she does not think of him as a "man" she is completely at ease to be herself and does not feel the need to pretend to be "perfect" as she does with the men she dates. However, because she thinks of him as a pet, she does not think of the possibility of a relationship with him. Before she realises it, he becomes her confident and her emotional support. Problems arise when she meets up with her first boyfriend/crush, the goodlooking, successful, and really nice guy Hasumi. Her relationship with him in college ended prematurely in college and they both see this as a second chance. However she cannot admit to Hasumi that she keeps a young man as a pet.

Yayoi gives us three dimensional, very human characters. Both Hasumi and Momo, while being completely different in looks and personality, are both sweet, attractive and considerate. Sumire is also very likeable. She is only truly comfortable in jogging bottoms, smoking, playing playstation games, or watching trashy tv. These are her secret vices that only her best-friend and Momo can see. It is a welcome change to read a romance with older characters, from the normal high school stories, and Yayoi delivers honest believable three dimensional characters, attractive art, and a very addictive romantic (and often funny) storyline.

The story is about finding companionship, about how the prospect of love can be so close to you that you miss it, about the difficulties a successful career woman has in a male dominated work environment, about how women are faced with the prospect of choosing between marriage and work, and about finding your place in the world. A place where you can be truly free to be yourself, comfortable in the knowledge that you are loved for your faults as well as your successes.

Unique, Funny, and Adorable!.......2006-10-18

I've read a lot of manga in my time, and this is, by far, one of the best. Tramps Like Us is an off-beat romantic story about a young(ish) professional woman who takes in a 17-year-old boy as a pet. What I really like about this manga is that it doesn't fit into the classic romantic comedy manga format. Speaking about the series in general (not just Volume 1), Sumire does have a boyfriend, an ex that she arguably hasn't gotten over, and issues with her family. But what makes the story (in Volume 1) is when she takes in an injured boy as a pet, naming him "Momo" after her dog that died when she was a child. This causes trouble as Momo seems to have some deeper feelings for Sumire, and suspicion arises when Sumire won't bring her boyfriend over to her house because of her "dog". She eventually has to learn to divide her time between the two, all while keeping her boyfriend from knowing that she's keeping a boy as a pet.

The manga is also very well written and well drawn. I saw the TV series, "Kimi Wa Pet" that was based on the manga, and it was good but it didn't seem to measure up to this manga. I like Yayoi Ogawa's style and use of facial expressions. Also the end and beginning of chapter artwork is always really cute. :) If you love manga, are just getting into it, or want to try it, I highly recommend this series. Even reading through just the first novel gets you hooked. It's sweet, addictive and original...you'll love it!

a funny, insightful and fresh story.......2006-06-15

I was hooked on this series halfway through volume one. The sheer depth of the characters is astounding. Despite the title and the basic plot, this is NOT a trashy story about a beautiful, dominant woman and an equally beautiful young man whom she keeps as a pet. It covers an amazing variety of issues--loneliness and the basic need for companionship, love and infatuation, the impact of being betrayed, and the difficulty of being a strong, well-educated, successful career woman in a world that is still not entirely receptive to independent women. Although Sumire keeping Momo as a pet may initially sound weird and sketchy, nothing objectionable takes place between them. For Sumire, because Momo is her pet, that means that she doesn't have to put up a front of being strong and perfect around him, as she does with everyone else in her life, including her boyfriend. For Momo, who has a dependent, somewhat stray-cat personality, it means that he can stay with someone who needs him without ever feeling trapped.

The characters of this story are really wonderful. Another good quality is that it is very often extremely funny. It has an incredible variety of moods to it. I'm already six volumes in and the story has yet to feel stale. Although there isn't tons of action, but there's always more to find out about the characters--the plot is more about peeling back the layers of their personalities than about external events. As a side note, the art is just lovely.

****sexy & seductive****.......2006-05-06

After reading this book I started to dream how it will be like to be in Sumire shoes. ooh, great novel!!! I'm certainly going to collect the upcoming volume to this series. oh, a guy pet is such an adorable thought for this series. ****love it!!!****

Kimi wa Petto.......2006-02-19

I decided to read the manga after watching the drama on youtube. This story is very cute and original. It makes you wish you could walk into the pet store and say I want a 'Momo'. The front cover was a bit lacking as it didn't have many tones but the inside art is nice as you don't have to worry about color tones there and I guess they are better at the b&w ones.
Its a bit funnier watching him bark and be pettish on tv, but it was lots of fun reading through the story again. If you are not sure about buying the book or you want more after it, you should look up the drama on youtube under kimi wa petto(its fansubbed).
I wish they would produce drama's in America, its lotsa fun seeing your favorite anime/manga characters live.

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Tramps Like Us, Volume 11
Yayoi Ogawa
Manufacturer: TokyoPop
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Comic

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ASIN: 1598161989
Release Date: 2007-02-06

Book Description

When Hasumi heads back to Japan to visit his ailing father, Fukushima follows him to the airport to see him off. But Momo is there too...and he's shocked when he sees the two of them together. Momo may be an expert at keeping secrets, but can he stand to keep this one?"One of the best josei titles available" â€" ListerX"A classic...revolving around people not recognizing the potential in someone who's right in front of them." -Comics Worth Reading

Tramps Like Us Volume 13 (Tramps Like Us (Graphic Novels))

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Only one more left

Tramps Like Us Volume 13 (Tramps Like Us (Graphic Novels))
Yayoi Ogawa
Manufacturer: TokyoPop
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1598168754
Release Date: 2007-10-02

Book Description

Hasumi has a hard time getting over Sumire, but Fukushima offers him comfort. Meanwhile, Sumire worries about Momo's new status as her lover, especially since he's moving to Belgium! Will her former pet leave her behind for his career? And will Rumi take advantage of the distance to move in on Momo?

Customer Reviews:

Only one more left.......2007-10-12

Over the past two years, I've gone from a mildly interested in manga person to being a real fan of the artform. Enough so that I frequent forums about manga, am trying to learn Japanese better to see if there are differences between the original Japanese and the translated (and there are differences but that's another story), and my shelves at home are full of manga where it used to be romance novels and murder mysteries.

The point of the above is that I've read a lot of manga over the past two years. Some good, some not so good, and some really eyescratching awful.

But then there are some manga that are so good that they defy the restrictions of their genre.

So it is with Tramps Like Us (aka Kimi wa Petto). Tramps is not shoujo, but rather, of the josei category which is written more for older teens and young women. but with Tramps, the target audience can easily fit in older women and throw in some guys too.

Why? Because the story is just that good.

The premise is about the only thing that is "out there". Sumire, after having a really bad day, finds a homeless guy in a box at her doorstep. She's takes him in and because he reminds her of her long-gone pet dog, Momo. Hence, he becomes her pet, Momo.

But what happens after that is pure romantic comedy gold with a bit of drama thrown in.

Sumire is a woman who is easy to relate to. Yes, she's beautiful and smart but she's also got her insecurities and personality tics. And it is so refreshing to see a heroine whose natural reserve is part of her charm.

Momo is actually Takeshi Gouda. He's cute but he's also younger than Sumire, shorter than Sumire, less educated than Sumire and he's dancer so he doesn't make much money. In Japan, there are the three Highs - High Education, High Income and High Height. Momo fails all three in relation to Sumire because she's taller, she's more educated, and she makes more money.

But instinctively, he knows that she needs a guy just like him in her life. And he's right.

What follows isn't a quick path to romance. What comes first is friendship and family and disappointments and fun and hurt and finally, romance. The journey that Sumire and Momo take on the road to romance includes a fiance (who is actually a very nice and handsome man), co-workers who are unique unto themselves, family encounters of 'gads, my family is like that too' kind, and hints of a love that could be destined if one just gives it a chance.

But the best thing about this story: The characters, none of them, are dumb or mean when all is said and done. They may do stupid and hurtful things at one time or another, but when the dust settles, they are actually good people.

And that's what reading Tramps Like Us is like: Getting to know some people who are good and interesting.

There are few manga that I recommend higher than this one. In fact, I can only think of three off the top of my head.

But if one is starting out with manga for the first time, especially of the non-action variety manga kind, this is a good one to start with. The art style may be offputting at first, but once you are in the groove, you get used to it. Besides, like any good story, the plot and the characterizations are where it is at and Ogawa has created a contemporary masterpiece.

I look forward to the last volume coming in Feb 2008. And while I wait, I shall re-read volumes 1 through 13 and enjoy them thoroughly.

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Kristen Buckley's Lemonade Of Life ...
save your money
Putting the "New" in New Jesey, Original and Very Funny
I LOVED this book.
I keep laughing even after I finished the book!

Tramps Like Us: A Surburban Confession
Kristen Buckley
Manufacturer: Cyan Communications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1905736231

Book Description

New Jersey native Kristen Buckley travels through a series of catastrophic detours she calls childhood—one that was anything but normal. Set adrift after her parents divorce, Buckley embarks upon an emotional odyssey through the eerie underworld of northern New Jersey, where perverted gym teachers are as big a threat as the local mobsters, and timbale-playing orangutans wield the power to shape the future. Among the colorful cast of chracaters vividly portrayed are her brilliantlly wry mother; two deaf, adopted siblings from Korea; two Jewish stepsisters; and one pot-smoking runaway. After a childhood spent searching for a place to call home, she ultimately finds it and emerges as a truly unforgettable heroine.

Customer Reviews:

Kristen Buckley's Lemonade Of Life ..........2007-08-02

We all know the saying, "When life serves you lemons, make lemonade!" And that is what Kristen Buckley does. I laughed from Page 1 through the end of Tramps Like Us. In my own dysfunctional family (in another state), I had 4 brothers with the same style of wit and humor. Laughing at life become part of the home fabric. Many kudos to Kristen Buckley for her ability to bring these very real, quirky and fun families to others!

save your money.......2007-06-29

i was really disappointed with this book. i thought between the outstanding reviews on this page and being a bergen county girl myself that i would get a kick out of this book. however, i felt it really dragged and wasnt all that interesting. i also felt the ending was abrupt. i definitely forced myself to finish it just hoping it would get better but it never did.

Putting the "New" in New Jesey, Original and Very Funny.......2007-06-05

The childhood memoir done with more smarts, warmth, and decidedly more laughs than usual. On more than one occasion, I literally had to put the down down until my laughter subsided a bit. The most strange and wonderful paradox about Buckley's world is that it seems at once both completely familiar and completely original. It is her skill at storytelling and her fantastic knack for details that win the day. Very funny and smart, smart, smart!

I LOVED this book........2007-05-30

This book is hysterical. Buckley deftly mines her family's stories to great comic effect, while still presenting a warm and affection portrait that always rings true. Everyone is quick to jump on the "dysfunctional family" bandwagon. Finally someone can make us laugh about it! There are parts of this book that are so funny that you'll just have to share with someone. I've been reading whole sections of the book out loud to the assistants in our office and they cannot get enough of it... Funny, funny read and perfect for anyone who was a kid in the 70s or 80s...

I keep laughing even after I finished the book!.......2007-05-25

I blazed through this hilarious book faster that anything I've read in ages! And then, as I began the final chapter I realized my remorse at gobbling up the book -- I hated the idea of finishing it! Buckley's heartfelt, wry and oh-so-wise observations and recollections about her wacky family and their beyond colorful Jersey world repeatedly, successfully took me right back to my own 80's teen life...from the Stouffer's Frozen French Bread Pizza mention to her passion for meeting Sting and The Police, I found myself completely charmed and absorbed. I've told all my high school friends this is a can't miss...right down to the special Index of terms and book lists, which is one of the coolest aspects of the book. What a fun read! Perfect for the beach this summer.

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Tramps Like Us, Volume 10
Yayoi Ogawa
Manufacturer: TokyoPop
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Comic

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ASIN: 1595326405
Release Date: 2006-10-03

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On the Road
We're Not In Kansas Anymore
I loved this book!
Candide hits America circa 1978!
Huckleberry Finn, On The Road, and now ... Tramps Like Us

Tramps Like Us
Joe Westmoreland
Manufacturer: Painted Leaf Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Book Description

TRAMPS LIKE US is a modern day Huckleberry Finn. It's an all-American story, albeit one that isn't told much, if at all. It's about the search for home, for a better life, feeling like a refugee in one's own country. It's about creating a family from a group of misfits. It tells what is was like to come of age in between Gay Liberation and the beginning of the AIDS crisis. In TRAMPS LIKE US we experience the narrator's life from the age of seventeen to twenty-nine, during the years 1974-1986. The book tracks his journey from leaving home in Kansas City, Missouri and hitch-hiking around the country from 1974-1977, then moving to New Orleans from 1978-1979, and finally to San Francisco from 1979-1986. The central theme of the narrator's odyssey follows his relationship with his father. It is a journey away from his dad who had "homicidal tendencies directed at me," toward a true sense of family and self.

The book is also the story of friendship. In high school the narrator, Joe, meets his friend Eddie, who changes his name to "Iqbal" after a brief stint in the Sufi Order of Meditation. They remain best friends, traveling together across the country, accumulating an extended family of friends, coming out, discovering themselves and the new gay world that was blossoming, till Iqbal's death in 1986. The book is a portrait of the times: Joe going to his first gay bar, The Ninth Circle (a famous hustler bar in New York); to being one of the originators of the Southern Decadence Parade in New Orleans in 1978; and finally to San Francisco of the late Seventies and early Eighties where gay liberation was in full force and where his friends started to die.

A lot of people who lived through that period have been embarrassed to admit that, yes, they were the ones indulging in all the practices that contributed to the spread of AIDS. With this novel, the author shows those times in a non-judgmental way. Throughout the book the author tries to balance adversity and humor and interject a little bit of hope. PUBLISHER: Painted Leaf Press

Customer Reviews:

On the Road.......2007-05-25

Westmoreland, Joe. "Tramps Like Us", University of Wisconsin Press, 2003.

On The Road

Amos Lassen and Literary Pride

I just revisited Joe Westmoreland's "Tramps Like Us" and found it to be as wonderful and as honest as it was when I first read it. It's a novel written in the first person, a gay odyssey across the United States. It reads like a memoir and a travelogue rolled into one. We visit the gay scenes in various cities--the New Orleans and San Francisco undergrounds and also spend time in New York, Florida and Kansas City. The details are extensive as are the drugs and sex. We get a look at a wasted life but one full of humor and it works beautifully.
The book is the story of a modern Huck Finn--a guy who searches for a place to call home, for a better life. It is a novel in the style of the American picaresque tradition. Written in straightforward prose which at times is lyrical, its humor takes the reader on a tour of America during the 70's and 80's. Things were wilder then, before AIDS, and out narrator took full advantage of his sexual freedom.
When one feels like a refugee in his own country, he tries to find a place where he can fit. Here is a story of coming-of-age at that era when gay liberation began and the epidemic had not hit.
Simply told in simple sentences "Tramps Like Us" embodies both sophistication and purity (not of body but of mind). Possessing the idea of America's manifest destiny, there is an endless search for spiritual truth. Out two heroes--one who has seen and done it all, the other, a naive beginner remind us of the classic road stories.
During the 70's and 80's, the young traversed America having random sex and experimenting with drugs, concerned about music and style and living only to live. That world is gone now, we have been tempered by the threat of disease and drugs gone bad but as Westmoreland writes of it, it sounds like a place that we should all want to visit. His voice is original yet controlled. Everyone has that desire to run away but few actually do it. It is always interesting to read of someone who is running from something to something. Here our narrator (we never know his name) is running toward self-discovery.
Westmoreland gives an epic look at gay life in America with intensity of vision. Aimlessness was the way during the era of the book and the meanings offered in the book give definition to an age altered by the AIDS epidemic. I remember these years ad how things were. We lived hedonistically and without apology and it was both amusing and appalling, but it was real. Westmoreland shows us that.

We're Not In Kansas Anymore.......2001-09-13

There is a good deal of wonder in Tramps Like Us, Joe Westmoreland's engaging, accessible and only occasionally monotonous first-person novel, a work of fiction that reads like a memoir while functioning like a travelogue. Ripping through a series of fevered gay scenes, mainly in underground New Orleans and San Francisco, and briefly in Florida, Kansas City, and New York, Westmoreland's nose for telling detail is always keen, even as his narrator's stays buried in an endless supply of heroin, coke, and whatever other drugs he can get his hands on, along with a non-stop catalogue of frantic sex, dead end jobs or simply joblessness. Combine these trappings of a wasted life with the raging humor evident on nearly every page of this book, and you have a brilliant mix.

The United States of the 70s and 80s that comes across in Tramps Like Us is a relatively easy place for the aimless, good looking, young men and women who fill its pages, so it's especially fitting that Westmoreland let's his characters' actions speak for themselves. It's admirable also that there's a minimum of authorial comments and editorializing, though Westmoreland does spend a great many words on his own thought processes -- as his drug-addicted narrator, who it's impossible ultimately to separate from the author-would be prone to do.

And it's only initially disconcerting that episodes seem to bog down as if with no discernable trajectory, because it's not until the book's last quarter - and the onset of the AIDS epidemic - that one sees, horrifically, that there has been an ongoing and unspoken direction. What happens to the narrator and his circle, who are not passive so much as resolute in their addictions, does have a cumulative effect. Details do not merely agglomerate: they evince meanings greater than the sum of their parts.

If you're young enough to have missed these turbulent years and this lifestyle (no doubt persevering somewhere), this book may be a welcome and probably rude eye-opener. If you simply don't want to believe that people ever lived as hedonistically and unapologetically as they do in Tramps Like Us, you will be amazed and probably appalled. But you won't begrudge the read.

I loved this book!.......2001-08-11

What got to me most about this book is the author's absolute pureheartedness, despite the hell he's been through. (It's obvious that this is a memoir, despite the disclaimer.) To grow up middle class in the middle west in seeming normalcy, but actually with a psychotic tyrannical father who rapes one's sisters and a mother who does too little too late--and then to maintain one's goodness, well, that's a real achievement, that's something we really should take note of. In that sense, this book reminded me of Dostoyevsky's "The Idiot" because it's about someone who remains good in a world of evil.

Candide hits America circa 1978!.......2001-05-15

What a wonderful book. Honest, funny, poignant, and ultimately full of the sorts of things that sees a thinking person to actually come through rough experiences to some sort of peace. If you ever wanted to read "Candide" hits America in the late 70's and early 80's this is your book. Joe Westmoreland really has something here. Highly, highly, highly recommended.

Huckleberry Finn, On The Road, and now ... Tramps Like Us.......2001-05-15

This is a wonderful book in the American picaresque tradition, a great read that I couldn't put down. Westmoreland's clean, straightforward, often lyrical prose and deadpan humor carry the reader along on his journey through the America of the mid-70's to 80's. It's a tender reminder of wilder times, told by a narrator who you can't help but love whether you're gay or straight, male or female, or ... whatever!

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Tramps Like Us, Volume 9
Yayoi Ogawa
Manufacturer: TokyoPop
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1595324399
Release Date: 2006-06-13

Book Description

For a long time, Sumire has had Momo as a pet--but little does she know that she's not the only one with a pet! How long will this secret relationship be kept from everyone? Meanwhile, as Sumire finds herself falling for Momo, she tries to deny her feelings. Will she ever realize the true love that exists in her heart?"A classic...revolving around people not recognizing the potential in someone who's right in front of them." -Comics Worth Reading

Tramps Like Us: Music and Meaning among Springsteen Fans

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They All Listen To The Same Boss
Quite a bore
I no longer have to write an autobiograpy
Like TRACKS, this is one for the real fans.

Tramps Like Us: Music and Meaning among Springsteen Fans
Daniel Cavicchi
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0195125649

Book Description

As rock critics have noted in the past, Bruce Springsteen's songs exist in a world of their own--they have their own settings, characters, words, and images. It is a world that even those who know only a handful of Springsteen's lyrics can instantly recognize, a world of highways and factories, loners and underdogs, hot rods and patrol cars. And it is a world that stretches far beyond the New Jersey state line. Indeed, Springsteen's attention to the ideals and struggles of ordinary Americans has significantly influenced American popular culture and public debate. As a rock-and-roll troubadour, "the Boss" speaks not only for his many fans but to them, and often with a directness or sincerity that no other performer can match. But what can be said of the fans themselves? Why and how do they relate to Springsteen's words and music? Based on three years of ethnographic research amid Springsteen's fans, and informed by the author's own experiences and impressions as a fan, Daniel Cavicchi's Tramps Like Us is an interdisciplinary study of the ways in which ordinary people form special, sustained attachments to a particular singer/songwriter and his songs, and of how these attachments function in people's lives. An "insider's narrative" about Springsteen fans--who they are, what they do, and why they do it--this book also investigates the phenomenon of fandom in general. The text oscillates between fans' stories and ideas and Cavicchi's own anecdotes, commentary, and analysis. It challenges the stereotypes of fans as obsessive, delusional, and even mentally ill, and explores fandom as a normal socio-cultural activity. Ultimately, this book argues that music fandom is a useful and meaningful behavior that enables us to shape identities, create communities, and make sense of the world--both Bruce's and our own.

Customer Reviews:

They All Listen To The Same Boss.......2004-03-31

If you judge the book by its cover, it looks like a Bruce book. This isn't a book about Bruce Springsteen, nor is it about specific Bruce fans MORE than it is an academic study of people who all like the same artist. It's technical, scientific, and just happens to use specifically-Springsteen fans as the control group.

I believe Bruce was used because his following happens to be notoriously massive, including several generations. This is probably because his music often centers around middle class life.

Several issues:

+ Conversion of a fan - when a person has not always been fond of an artist but turns into a fan. Religious comparisons included.

+ The live experience - what kinds of physical things typically happen, and interviews of psyched concert-goers

+ Community - friendships formed based on fandom, internet communication, etc

+ Participation - things fans outwardly do/behavior study

Now, it's all based on fans of the same subject, so there is a constant reference to Bruce. The people are talking about Bruce - but THEY are the subject of the book.

Know that, before you decide whether or not you want it. I adore these kinds of studies and happen to love Bruce, too - so naturally, I dug this book. But if you're looking for Bruce-specific information, grab something like his Rolling Stone interviews collection.

"In the end, while fans' feelings may fluctuate, connecting with Springsteen means that he becomes a part of each fan, a continuing presence to which they may turn again and again. On the whole, fandom is not some particular thing one has or does. Fandom is a process of being; it is the way one is." --Daniel Cavicchi, the author

Quite a bore.......1999-09-01

This book put me to sleep. Normally I love reading books about rock stars, etc. However, I did not find this "thesis" on Bruce fans entertaining. Rock and roll is not science and in this book the author relies on quotes from psychologists and sociologists to back up facts that we already instinctively know--Bruce fans are passionate about their "BOSS."

If you are curious about this book, check it out of the library or find a used copy. Don't waste 18.95 on it.

I no longer have to write an autobiograpy.......1999-02-03

The book arrived from amazon yesterday and I never put it down. Having been a Bruce Springsteen fan for the last 15 years it was uncanny reading. I could relate to almost every aspect of this work as if the author was describing me. The experiance of being a Bruce Springsteen fan has never been easy to relate to people, I no longer have to, I will just lend them the book. Being a New Zealander it has been a mammoth excercise keeping up with Bruce Springsteen, seeing shows, waiting for albums and the like, we are just so far away, but this book showed me that the experiance of being a fan is the same world-wide. Imagine a book which describes you and your experiances and passions so well that you begin to wonder if someone has been following you for the last two decades taking notes...freaky.

Like TRACKS, this is one for the real fans........1998-12-20

This book came to me as a gift from a friend who knew of my fanaticism for the Boss's music. It is part scholarship and part testimonial, written in the style of the best New Yorker journalism: not quite high brow but a cut above ROLLING STONE et al. It's just great to know that there are deep and abiding tramps like us who can publish a book that talks the talk of ones who have walked the walk, from Asbury Park to L.A. . . . and back again. And now that Bruce & the Band are going to hit the road again, this is JUST the book to prepare for a summer of staying in line for tickets . . . as long as it takes. If you love the Boss and you love good writing, you'll love this book. Thanks Bunny! m.d.

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FIANLLY!
FINALLY, the story is moving forward again

Tramps Like Us, Volume 12
Yayoi Ogawa
Manufacturer: TokyoPop
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Comic

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ASIN: 1598161997
Release Date: 2007-05-29

Book Description

Momo is at a crossroads. Sumire is heading to see Hasumi in Hong Kong again and is too preoccupied to notice him. Then his sister tells him that their parents are getting divorced and complains that Momo is not being of any help at all. Will Momo take matters into his own hands and decide to grow up once and for all? "One of the best josei titles available" â€" ListerX "A classic...revolving around people not recognizing the potential in someone who's right in front of them." -Comics Worth Reading

Customer Reviews:

FIANLLY!.......2007-07-03

Momo fans rejoice in this one! For a while, the past books just seem to drag and drag and I was getting tired of them really. But finally in this one, a real addition to the plot with actual progress in the story! It makes me sad to think that there are only two more books left in this series, but Ogawa left this one with a brilliant cliff hanger and makes you want more!

FINALLY, the story is moving forward again.......2007-06-29

The past two volumes felt like a bit of filler, and seemed to drag on a bit. Let's face it, if we've read this far, we've come to care about the characters and now, FINALLY, things come to a head.

If you'd kind of been on the fence, and had previously been keeping up with the series but stopped mid-way, I think you could safely pick this up. It's quite hilarious, also moving. Yay!

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My Coming of Age Favorite

Tramps like us
Barbara Morgenroth
Manufacturer: Atheneum
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Customer Reviews:

My Coming of Age Favorite.......2006-11-10

I discovered this book as a library "discard" at a fund-raiser and it was the most lucky find of my reading life.
This book spoke to my life. It represented my adolescent experience and thoughts better than any book before or since.
If you're a smart teen who is misunderstood, read this book.
It may be old, but it's not out of date.

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