Finished: July 15, 2010
Page Count: 288
Why I read it:
I think I saw the book in Barnes and Noble and took a picture of it on my phone. Months later, I finally looked it up at the library and boy was I pleased with the result.
Publisher's Weekly review:
Portland humor columnist Acito debuts with dazzling comic panache in this story of a teenage would-be swindler and budding drama queen. Edward Zanni is dying to escape boring Wallingford, N.J., for the hallowed halls of Juilliard, and he's got a pretty good chance at it. It's summer, and he's palling around with his fellow Play People, who include his gorgeous girlfriend, Kelly, and his hot jock pal, Doug, and dreaming of stardom. The fly in the ointment is Zanni's money-obsessed father, Al, who pulls the financial plug on Edward's Juilliard dream after marrying a trophy babe, a beautiful, icy Teutonic model named Dagmar. Edward counters dad's penny-pinching by moving in with Kelly's family to establish financial independence for a scholarship, but bombs at several minimum-wage jobs. How will he pay for college now that his audition—really a public mental breakdown—got him in? His devious buddy, Nathan, concocts a plan to steal from gold-digging Dagmar, who's been siphoning Al's cash into a secret account. Edward and pals set up a fake nonprofit designed to award a Juilliard scholarship to someone born in Hoboken (Edward)—but there's a problem. Acito nails his scenes one after another, from Edward's shifting (but always enthusiastic) sexuality to the silly messes he gets himself into. The result is a thumbs-up winner from a storyteller whose future looks as bright as that of his young hero.
What I thought:
This was such an intriguing book about a boy in his senior year of high school, trying to navigate life in musical theater, his father remarrying, his mother's absence, and figuring out his sexuality. It was really funny and interesting, though hard to believe at times (there was a lot of criminal activity that I can't imagine ever doing, though 1984 was a different time in this country). I liked it because I could relate to being in high school even though this book was set in 1984. It wasn't too far in the past but wasn't like the crap I've read lately like Gossip Girl and other such "current" high school stories. I guess I liked it mostly because it was so offbeat- Edward Zanni's life is so totally different from mine yet I understood and could feel for him and his strange life. I think connecting to a character is one of the best responses to get when reading a book and that's how I felt with this.
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