Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2013 December 5

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December 5

Help identifying a novel

I'm trying to recall the name/author of a novel that I read many years ago, but I'm afraid I only have the vaguest of details to go on. Here's the few things I know:

1. I read the book in around 1990/91 - certainly no later than '91
2. The edition I read was a paperback, published by Faber and Faber (I'm in the UK, if that helps), and mainly had a dark (blue?) cover
3. The location of the story was either the UK or North America, and may have been set in the 1950s or '60s (but I couldn't say for certain)
4. The plot concerned a (teenage?) boy and his brother who spent the night on a kind of wild rampage/adventure/party in the town where they lived (I think the entire plot stretched across one night, but again I can't be sure)
5. In one scene, the two boys put a pomade-type substance on their hair before flushing their heads in a toilet bowl, so that their hair "came out swirly"

Not much to go on, I know, but it's all I got. Here's hoping....Thanks. — sparklism ^hey! 14:13, 5 December 2013 (UTC)

This may not be it, but it does sound a lot like the writings of S. E. Hinton who wrote The Outsiders (novel).--Mark Miller (talk) 06:14, 7 December 2013 (UTC)

I was going to say the same thing. Hot Stop talk-contribs 06:32, 7 December 2013 (UTC)

Concur, we were assigned that book before the film was made in the 80s. I thought the resemblance was too vague to mention, but given the above comments, I will chime in. μηδείς (talk) 00:49, 8 December 2013 (UTC)

Thanks guys. Actually, that name doesn't ring any bells with me, but it's possibly just my ageing brain. I'll take a closer look when I get the chance - thanks again! — sparklism ^hey! 08:58, 10 December 2013 (UTC)