About this title: It's the early '80s, and Danny, an upwardly mobile Yale student intoxicated with Ivy League life, is in love with Polly, a glamorous and elusive classmate whose background is very different from his own. He spends his vacations not in Aspen or Nantucket but back home in blue-collar New Jersey, where he drives his father's lunch truck (known as the Roach Coach) and also has to contend with not only the local Mafia but his sweet, devoted, very downscale hometown girlfriend. Tom Perrotta, who went to Yale in the '80s, provides a comical and believable take on class differences and post ...
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Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Date Published: 2000
ISBN-13:9780312261849ISBN:0312261845
Description: Good in Good jacket. First Edition. 217-Y-Add. Books rated "Good" may have some notes, underlining, or highlighting. These books also may contain the previous owner's name, stamp, sticker, or gift inscription, or may be library discards. read more
Description: Fair. Purchasing this DVD supports the North Central Regional Library. Thriftbooks and NCRL have partnered to help raise additional funds for the library system. Library ID found on DVD and case. Ex-Library book-will contain library markings. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Very good. Book has appearance of light use with no easily noticeable wear. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Very good. Book has appearance of light use with no easily noticeable wear. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Acceptable. Former Library book. Shows definite wear, and perhaps considerable marking on inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Acceptable. Shows definite wear, and perhaps considerable marking on inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Acceptable. Shows definite wear, and perhaps considerable marking on inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
"This book was a slooooooow starter. I almost stopped reading it. The only reason I didn't was because I liked one paragraph describing working in the dishroom at college that was exactly right. The book had some surprises, but overall I was indifferent to what happened."
"This is the same guy that wrote Little Children, and Election, which is probably more famous as a movie. Anyway, according to the author this novel is based on his own college experiences in the early 80s. We've got a kid from a working class background in New Jersey who is at Yale on a scholarship, casually dating a girl from back home whom he doesn't really want to be dating, and hopelessly pursing another classmate who really isn't available. Also, a cast of wacky roommates. I had mixed responses to this book -- on the plus side, it's very readable and the characters are extremely recognizable -- I think I went to college with most of them myself -- and I think the author was very successful with showing some of the tensions related to that kid who is breaking ground by going off to a prestigious college. However, parts of the book also got into that over-the-top satire that goes over my head, and I get the feeling that this is an example of that thing where otherwise thoughtful people look back at their own college experiences and they get so caught up in their own emotional memories that they can't quite take a step back and figure out which parts are more universally meaningful. I personally have some memories of college that I fondly remember as OMG that was SO funny and SO wild ... but then I also realize that I remember it that way because it happened to ME and other people don't have any reason to find it funny, wild, or even all that interesting. This book feels a little too autobiographical to me, like that guy at the party who is convinced his college stories are much more hilarious than yours, and completely misses the point that EVERYONE feels that way about stuff that happened to them.
Grade: B- Recommended: To people who like higher ed in fiction, probably especially anyone who went to Yale or a similar college."
"Very funny look at the life of a working class student at Yale. He screws up about a million times, is incredibly selfish, gets a girl pregnant, fights with some thugs, and works hard to fit in with both his wealthy peers at Yale and his working class hometown. Amazingly funny and sarcastic situations and characters."
"I picked this up in the bookstore, skimmed it, and bought it. Then I started reading it, and experienced deja vu. I'd read it before, but only vaguely remembered it. NOT a good sign. After finishing it, I now know why. There's nothing memorable about this book. It's got a series of mildly funny events, a ending that's not really an ending, and a main character that doesn't develop in any way. It's an OK read, but it's not going to make you think, and you're not going to take anything away from it. It's like the Big Mac of books."
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