What do you think?
Rate this book
Where the Hell Were Your Parents?
Where the Hell Were Your Parents? is a coming-of-age true story about what happens when you let your kids run feral ― it’s half Goodfellas, half Stand By Me, and three-quarters Dukes of Hazzard.This comic memoir is an unapologetic romp through the rural South with the Weathington Boys, the most scrumptious delinquents since Huckleberry Finn. Nathan and Brian are identical twin brothers who fight for their lives against gun-toting good ole boys, a sexually aggressive hyena, the FBI, and even Jesus. With a handful of illegal fireworks the boys join forces with the infamous 10-year-old getaway driver Ray ‘Corn Dog’ Womack to form an adolescent version of the A-Team. Years of country chaos ensue, and the boys ultimately find themselves trapped in a high stakes practical joke war. Victory will bring immortality, but one wrong move and they will be taking group showers in a rural Alabama prison.
- GenresMemoir
180 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2014
About the author
Nathan Weathington
5 booksNathan Weathington is the author of Where the Hell Were Your Parents? and Invasion of the Bastard Cannibals (WINNER of the Bronze Medal for Humor at the 2016 IPPY Awards). He has a bachelor of Civil Engineering from Auburn University and an MBA from the University of Victoria.
He has worked as a civil engineer, bartender, math teacher, secretary, GM of UsedEverywhere.com, founder of PostaNote.co.nz, and the publisher of several newspapers in British Columbia. As an up-and-coming media mogul, he responsibly decided to ditch his career to pursue the untold riches of becoming an author.
Nathan grew up in Bremen, Georgia, a small rural town that serves as the backdrop for his first book. While living in The Bahamas, he met his Canadian wife. He now lives with his family in New Zealand, where he pursues his obsession with fly fishing.
He has worked as a civil engineer, bartender, math teacher, secretary, GM of UsedEverywhere.com, founder of PostaNote.co.nz, and the publisher of several newspapers in British Columbia. As an up-and-coming media mogul, he responsibly decided to ditch his career to pursue the untold riches of becoming an author.
Nathan grew up in Bremen, Georgia, a small rural town that serves as the backdrop for his first book. While living in The Bahamas, he met his Canadian wife. He now lives with his family in New Zealand, where he pursues his obsession with fly fishing.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
January 29, 2015
The parents of Brian and Nathan Weathington had a very boys-will-be-boys attitude to raising their children. They pretty much let them run wild. While this may conjure up pastoral images of Tom and Huck, in the Weathington's case, it was more like Butch and Sundance; young men armed to the teeth, with a keen interest in explosives.
We broke down fireworks and reassembled them into proper bombs. It was the country kid's version of the Manhattan Project. Using over the counter Snap n' Pops and some toilet paper we could make a firebomb that exploded on impact. Not many ten-year-olds can make a homemade mortar.
The author then goes on to describe how to make a hand grenade from a shotgun shell. (This may come in handy the next time that groundhog tries to make a home under my shed.)
The boys were also experts at gags, with pranks ranging from the mundane - rubber snakes - to the downright diabolical - all-night efforts to ensure their Georgia classmates got to enjoy a rare snow day.
I honestly laughed aloud at a lot of their exploits. Some of them made me cringe. Others were downright felonious - breaking and entering, destruction of private property, grand theft auto. Their treatment of ANYONE who opposed them was mean-spirited and nasty. Maybe it's because I'm closer in age to Poor Ol' Mr. Wilson than I am to Dennis the Menace, but it's fairly easy to view these high-spirited kids as bullies and thugs.
The other problem I had was the author's snotty, superior tone. He's constantly reminding the reader that HE had a much better time growing up. Actually, he's rubbing the reader's nose in it. While I agree with his negative assessment of today's germaphobic, helicopter parents and super-coddled kids, I don't like having it implied that MY childhood sucked. I grew up in the late sixties and seventies when it was common to spend the entire day away from home. I left the house in the morning and returned at dusk. And I had a great time, riding my bike, playing with the neighborhood kids, floating on inner tubes down the creek and building haunted houses. Never once did I steal a car or blow up anything, yet oddly enough, I don't feel deprived...
I think this book will REALLY be enjoyed by the right reader. And, who is that?
Anyone who had an unorthodox upbringing, or anyone who wishes they did, is my guess. I'm passing the book on to my husband who loves to tell the story of that time when he and his brother stole some fisherman's six-pack of Bud that was cooling in the stream...
They were 9 and 10 at the time.
We broke down fireworks and reassembled them into proper bombs. It was the country kid's version of the Manhattan Project. Using over the counter Snap n' Pops and some toilet paper we could make a firebomb that exploded on impact. Not many ten-year-olds can make a homemade mortar.
The author then goes on to describe how to make a hand grenade from a shotgun shell. (This may come in handy the next time that groundhog tries to make a home under my shed.)
The boys were also experts at gags, with pranks ranging from the mundane - rubber snakes - to the downright diabolical - all-night efforts to ensure their Georgia classmates got to enjoy a rare snow day.
I honestly laughed aloud at a lot of their exploits. Some of them made me cringe. Others were downright felonious - breaking and entering, destruction of private property, grand theft auto. Their treatment of ANYONE who opposed them was mean-spirited and nasty. Maybe it's because I'm closer in age to Poor Ol' Mr. Wilson than I am to Dennis the Menace, but it's fairly easy to view these high-spirited kids as bullies and thugs.
The other problem I had was the author's snotty, superior tone. He's constantly reminding the reader that HE had a much better time growing up. Actually, he's rubbing the reader's nose in it. While I agree with his negative assessment of today's germaphobic, helicopter parents and super-coddled kids, I don't like having it implied that MY childhood sucked. I grew up in the late sixties and seventies when it was common to spend the entire day away from home. I left the house in the morning and returned at dusk. And I had a great time, riding my bike, playing with the neighborhood kids, floating on inner tubes down the creek and building haunted houses. Never once did I steal a car or blow up anything, yet oddly enough, I don't feel deprived...
I think this book will REALLY be enjoyed by the right reader. And, who is that?
Anyone who had an unorthodox upbringing, or anyone who wishes they did, is my guess. I'm passing the book on to my husband who loves to tell the story of that time when he and his brother stole some fisherman's six-pack of Bud that was cooling in the stream...
They were 9 and 10 at the time.
March 1, 2023
If you ever threw rocks at trains or set fire to something in the woods, these two hooligans will show you, or your kids, how to take it to the the next level, in some instances, 5 or 6 levels up. The last chapter alone had me laughing out loud in my doctor's waiting room, I could visualize my brother and I doing something similar.
This brought me back to my own youth growing up in the 70s-80's in an era with parents who didn't micromanage your time down to the minute so you could run free and get into some trouble.
Highly recommend as a family read. You can then discuss what you did as a kid, like putting a 16oz glass bottle filled with gasoline into a campfire to see the plastic cap melt and the super heated gasoline shoot a flame 30 feet into the air, good times, and your kids can then tell you what mischief they've gotten into so you can then punish them. Hey, at least they'll have read a book this year.
This brought me back to my own youth growing up in the 70s-80's in an era with parents who didn't micromanage your time down to the minute so you could run free and get into some trouble.
Highly recommend as a family read. You can then discuss what you did as a kid, like putting a 16oz glass bottle filled with gasoline into a campfire to see the plastic cap melt and the super heated gasoline shoot a flame 30 feet into the air, good times, and your kids can then tell you what mischief they've gotten into so you can then punish them. Hey, at least they'll have read a book this year.
July 5, 2015
This author clearly has opinions. That's all fine. But the pompous, entitled way of writing left a bad taste in my mouth. I expected a coming of age bad behavior book, but instead it came off as arrogant. In the first chapter he takes to task parents who send their child to activities, buy video games, or give their child a cell phone. He does all this without recognizing that this isn't the 80's anymore and one day the children of today will think of their childhood with as much fondness as he thinks of his. He outright calls certain parents lunatics. Next time I'll choose a book that's actually funny and not a commentary on how the author thinks parents should do their job. This book is self serving drivel. It's rare for me to hate a book this much that I have to warn others not to bother.
March 23, 2020
I grew up in Bremen in the 2000s and 2010s and people still talk about The Great Wall. Our family moved to Mountain Shadows when I was a junior in high school and Nathan’s parents still lived there. Mrs. Weathington’s tulips were always the most gorgeous of the flowers in the neighborhood. This book answered any questions I had of the Weathington boys and gave me a good laugh during the CoronaQuarantine.
June 5, 2024
Couldn't finish it .. funny but also the feels like the writer is self centered on the fact he thinks his childhood is better than anyone elses
September 13, 2024
Not for the easily offended but absolutely hilarious
January 8, 2015
Meh. Growing up in the same time period, but different small town, it was definitely reminiscent of the the shenanigans that went on among the boys I grew up with. I did enjoy a bit of nostalgia for my younger days and the way kids would amok. Before cell phones and video games, kids were out and about. My own teens barely leave the house and it saddens me. Some of the exploits seemed downright mean, yet the author, now grown, doesn't express much in the way of remorse. I also would have also liked to see the boys get as well as they gave a few times. Maybe that never happened, so it wasn't in there, but I think it would've rounded the book out a little better
March 10, 2015
Endlessly funny and carefully detailed, as a "free range" child I could absolutely relate to these stories. While I didn't set anything on fire, I was often the "voice of reason" when the boys I grew up with did. Looking back, my healthy sense of self-preservation probably saved a few kids some broken bones along the way. However, I can recall on more than one occasion someone in the group yelling, "RUN!" and peddling as fast as my 8 year old legs would go.
For anyone who ran with a rowdy group of "ruffians" growing up, this book is going to make you laugh, both for the witty recounting and the memories it will conjure up.
I read this book in a few hours on a Sunday afternoon.
For anyone who ran with a rowdy group of "ruffians" growing up, this book is going to make you laugh, both for the witty recounting and the memories it will conjure up.
I read this book in a few hours on a Sunday afternoon.
January 23, 2015
Oh my goodness! What a delightfully wicked tale of two little cherubs-cum-hooligans growing up in the Deep South. I laughed out loud consistently throughout as the Weathington twins left a trail of mayhem and destruction in their wake. Yes, some of the shenanigans are a bit shocking, but I think the author's whole point is that as kids we used to do all sorts of things that were deemed perfectly safe back then, but are probably outlawed in today's helicopter parenting culture. A great laugh from beginning to end and (who would have guessed?) something to think about, too.
October 11, 2023
Probably the funniest book I have ever read. I saw a review somewhere that described this tale of Southern coming-of-age hooliganism as "half Stand by Me and half Red Dawn" and I can't say it better. The subject matter is funny enough, but the genius wit of Mr. Weathington hits the reader one line after another with spicy zingers and hilarious metaphors (although I question whether most characters in the book would know what the word "metaphor" means). Entertaining from start to finish, this is a book everyone should read for a good, light-hearted laugh.
April 20, 2016
I was tempted to look past this book, as the cover didn't appeal to me, but the story recounted was great fun. I, as a nerdy girl child, would have felt dreadfully envious that these two boys got away with so much, but as a mother, I was thankful MY son never traveled the same roads those two boys did. Nevertheless, if you're looking for a good time, read this book. I have a feeling you'll laugh as much as I did (though sometimes ruefully).
May 9, 2016
Where the Hell Were Your Parents? many may ask that exact question.
This was one of those books that was just a hell of a lot of fun! If you want a read to make you smile in all the right ways, this is one for your shelf. Nathan Worthington lays his story of life down well and pretty soon time flies and pages are turning with fun and enthusiasm.
This was one of those books that was just a hell of a lot of fun! If you want a read to make you smile in all the right ways, this is one for your shelf. Nathan Worthington lays his story of life down well and pretty soon time flies and pages are turning with fun and enthusiasm.
June 14, 2016
Getting away with murder without actually killing anyone - coming of age when free range had no limits and kids learned how to be kids and then grown ups. Written in full illustrated unabashed dumbass style (parental guidance too far fetched to suggest). The moral for modern day parents; let your babies grow up as Weathingtons. Can hardly wait for the sequel "where the hell were we as parents?"
June 17, 2016
This is such a fun book! I felt like I was being swept away on a wave of adventure and hilarity. Not only is this book really well written, it was a refreshing change from what I often read. I love the cover too.
November 2, 2016
As a true son of the south so much of this book was like tearing a page out of my own personal history. yes boys will be boys but add gunpowder and a dare factor life gets interesting. a must read for anyone with a twisted sense of humor.
December 10, 2014
A fun set of little stories about kids running wild.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews