Funkytown

By: Paul Kennedy

Narrated by: Paul Kennedy

Paul Kennedy's Funkytown is the vivid true story of a year in the life of a teenager leaping into manhood.

It is 1993: a serial killer is loose on the streets of Frankston, Victoria. The community is paralysed by fear, and a state's police force and national media come to find a killer. Meanwhile, 17-year-old Paul Kennedy is searching for something else entirely. He is focused on finishing school, getting drafted into the AFL and falling in love. So much can change in a year.

The rites of passage for many Australian teenage boys - blackout drinking, simmering violence and emotional suppression - take their toll, and the year that starts with so much promise ends with Kennedy expelled, arrested and undrafted. But one teacher sees Kennedy self-destructing, and becomes determined to set him on another path.

Told with poignancy, humour and evoking the brilliant, dusty haze of late Australian summer, Funkytown is a love letter to adolescence, football, family, and outer suburbia.

©2021 Paul Kennedy (P)2021 W F Howes

Critic reviews

"A brilliant story of a young boy told by a man who, in the end, found his way." (Jimmy Barnes)

"Leaps into the joy and fear of coming of age...I love this book." (Sofie Laguna)

"A moving and enlightening account of being 17 and struggling. This is a great read." (Paul Jennings)

A great surprise

I only bought the book as I had watched them talk about it on the ABC morning show. I had no idea what it was about and not something I’d normally listen to but had me in from the start. I would highly recommend.