Mavo - High School in the 1960s, Freshman Year

Book excerpt: MAVO - High School in the 1960s, Freshman Year OMAVO.O The word is a slur aimed at poor white youths from Portland, Oregon's east side, originating in the early 1960s. Other places called them Hoods or Greasers. In Portland, they were called Mavos. This is the 1965-66 fictional memoir of Patrick Compton, a fourteen year old from a troubled family, who takes an irreverent look at life during his freshman year. With that pivotal period serving as the backdrop to a host of delinquent adventures, MAVO contrasts the schemes and dreams of a precocious adolescent with the bitter realities that rarely fail to curdle the joy of living. Patrick's narrative is a meditation on the notion that misery plus time equals comedy. His engaging outlook and subversive storytelling style conspire to create a truly unique literary experience.