Reviews

"There is a lot of nostalgia and fun in here -- but this is a meaningful look at the impact of adolescence spent in a unique American institution."

Booklist

You can take the boy and girl out of high school ... but can you take high school out of that boy and girl, even when adults? In essence this is the provocative question posed by this witty book that manages to use the light touch in probing serious questions of personality development.

Los Angeles Times

Keyes manages to sum up the common denominator of experiences we shared, no matter which high school we attended and the perspective in which we see our high school days now ... a captivating book.

West Coast Review of Books

Keyes brings back the sights and sounds, and most importantly, the feelings, of our high school experience.

Indianapolis News

Beneath the banter, the all-too-vivid recollections of the sock-hop, the prom, the yearbook caption under your photo, Keyes makes a serious and pathetic observation: there are people for whom high school is the peak, the zenith of their success and achievement. After graduation, it's downhill all the way.

Kirkus Reviews

Whether you were jock or bookworm, an "innie" or an "outie" you will relish the shock of recognition and, perhaps, furtively consult your yearbook. Sociology that amuses as it informs.

Publishers Weekly

A delightful book ... both insightful and fun.

Greensboro Daily News

Deliciously titled ... breezy ... very good book.

National Observer

Keyes has turned in a serious psychological study. His book is funny, but it isn't frivolous.

Santa Barbara News-Press

A good, thoughtful, albeit disturbing book about how four years of one's adolescence, consciously or otherwise, affects the following years of alleged maturation.

Philadelphia Inquirer

The book is worth reading, if only to refresh your memory about what you're compensating for.

Charlotte Observer

Witty, angst-ridden confessional of the joyous and heart-rending memories of high school ... will start up hunts for yearbooks.

Austin American-Statesman

Frequently poignant, occasionally profound, and very funny.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Much more than just a pleasant exercise in nostalgia; it's a learning aid -- a piece in that puzzle of what makes us the way we are and why.

San Diego Union

Thoroughly engaging.

Washington Post

Frequently poignant, occasionally profound, and very funny.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Unmarred by academic jargon, more intellectually respectable than pop sociology, more informative than scores of treatises on adolescent behavior, Is There Life After High School? is a joy to read.

School Review

In a humorous vein, Keyes refreshes our memories with numerous interviews, magazine articles, and the findings of social scientists. We are reminded that priorities are seen through a different set of lenses when we are passing through the corridors of high school. Keyes's success in this undertaking is ensured by his use of clever questionnaires and witty nostalgic trips through the past lives of each modern-day generation.

The School Counselor

Remains one of the few books to deal with the sociological aspects of high school.

Doug Carroll, The Arizona Republic, July 4, 2000