Diary Of A Chav: 1: Trainers v Tiaras: Book 1

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But if you're looking for a brutally honest look at the life of the teenager in working class England, this is your book. Even though most of the characters are ‘chavs’, they are still going through the same emotions as everyone else at a teenage age. Her year at school does a two-week work stint, and while working at a mind-numbingly boring job at a packing plant, Shiraz decides she will try to do the work at school. Shiraz is back in Goodmayes, Essex, revisiting old friends in this, her sixth Chav Diary, and her life is about to get a tad darker . I've seen this book described as a working class version of Louise Rennison's "Georgia Nicholson" novels, and the description is apt, although I think Dent's work has a bit more depth.

Its like putting Kate Plus Eight, Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, and Sixteen and Pregnant, and Jersey Shore in a blender and getting a very bizarre human being (and yes, I know two of those shows are on MTV but essentially they're almost the same network these days). Diva without a Cause is enjoyable enough and may be liked by fans of the more gritty Ballads of Suburbia by Stephanie Kuehnert and The Brothers Torres by Coert Voorhees. Shiraz Bailey Wood is sixteen and goes to Super Chav Academy—actually, Mayflower Academy, but the school has a bad reputation for its chav hijinks. From 2011 to 2017 she wrote a restaurant column for the Evening Standard, and became the Guardian's restaurant critic in 2018. Shiraz has numerous problems including a runaway sister, an obese dog, and a mother who doesn’t seem understanding.This is a slightly different review from all the well known modern books going around at the moment, but I truly believe this series of books needs to be recognised and loved again! Sometimes things felt a bit off, like the author's voice mocking chavs was coming through Shiraz, which didn't fit very well, but generally it was pretty fun. There are many positive messages to be had, but I suspect the 'foreign' lingo may be a tad incomprehensible to some antipodean youth - the book obviously being designed for the English market.

Dent captures the Chav dialect and cadence (to this American reader, at least) while still making it readable. But it balances nicely on the fine line between satire and a genuine story that cares about its characters.

For now, Shiraz is stuck on an estate in Goodmayes, Essex, with her sister Cava-Sue, her nightmare mum Diane and her loved-up mate Carrie.