Punkzilla Themes
Drugs and Alcohol
When Punkzilla opens, fourteen-year-old Jamie is on a Greyhound bus coming down from doing meth with his buddy Branson. He's not an addict, but he is living a seriously dangerous life—part of the...
Appearances
To say Jamie lacks an editor is an understatement. He has no problem calling girls skeezers, breasts titties, or transgender guys she-men. He doesn't do it to be offensive; he just can't be bothere...
Sex
Time for a shocking revelation: Fourteen-year-old boys spend a lot of time thinking about sex. We know, you're stunned. At the beginning of Punkzilla, Jamie's still trying to figure out the meaning...
Gender
It's safe to say Jamie has a lot of issues in Punkzilla, but one of the biggest is the fact that people are always mistaking him for a girl. He's a late bloomer, and he worries constantly about the...
Mortality
Without mortality, Punkzilla would have no story. This is a road trip novel, yes, but what sets the road trip in motion is Jamie's desire to see his brother P one last time before P dies of cancer....
Criminality
Jamie might not be robbing banks or hiding bodies, but he's definitely on the road to a felony since a sketchy dude named Fat Larkin pays him and Branson twenty bucks a pop to knock out joggers an...
Contrasting Regions
Here's what Punkzilla has to teach us about the Midwest, at least as seen through Jamie's eyes: It's boring. Sure, there are all those state fairs where you can eat fried things on a stick, but roa...
Family
Oof, the Major. Where do we even start? In Punkzilla, Jamie's dad is a horror show, and his three sons go in radically different directions. P becomes a left-wing gay playwright in Memphis; Jamie b...