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How I Paid for College (Edward Zanni #1)

3.84 of 5 stars 3.84 · rating details · 2,239 ratings · 318 reviews

It's 1983 in Wallingford, New Jersey, a sleepy bedroom community outside of Manhattan. Seventeen-year-old Edward Zanni, a feckless Ferris Bueller-type, is Peter Panning his way through a carefree summer of magic and mischief, sending underwear up flagpoles and rearranging lawn animals in compromising positions. The fun comes to a screeching halt, however, when Edward's fat...more

Audio CD, 1 page

Published September 7th 2004 by Recorded Books

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Sep 26, 2007 Punk rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: queer

Fiction. It's 1983 (though you really can't tell except for how Reagan's in office) and Edward Zanni's on top of the world. It's the summer before his senior year, he's been accepted to Juilliard, and life just couldn't be better, but everything screeches to a halt when Edward's father tells him he's not paying for his son to go to acting school. So Edward and his friends pull together and make a plan. The title pretty much says it all: nerd power, capers, sexual experimentation, con artists, an...more Fiction. It's 1983 (though you really can't tell except for how Reagan's in office) and Edward Zanni's on top of the world. It's the summer before his senior year, he's been accepted to Juilliard, and life just couldn't be better, but everything screeches to a halt when Edward's father tells him he's not paying for his son to go to acting school. So Edward and his friends pull together and make a plan. The title pretty much says it all: nerd power, capers, sexual experimentation, con artists, and cross-dressing.

I really enjoyed this once I got past the opening chapters. This book starts off with a flamboyant, completely over-the-top tone, and Paula and Edward aren't introduced so much as shoved at us: a stereotypical fag hag and fag. Except Edward thinks he's straight -- I don't know WHERE he got that idea. This is a guy who sings, dances, loves musicals, name-drops Liza Minnelli, and compares himself to Bette Davis. I nearly gave up. But, around the fifth chapter, Edward admits he's attracted to men, and I decided there was hope for him yet and kept reading. I'm glad I did. Edward quickly becomes a real person, not just a one-note queer. He's brave and lazy and likes boys, and girls too, and he's scared about his future, and in love with people he can't have. The nerd across the street -- Natie Nudelman, possibly my favorite character in the whole book -- plots ways to help Edward pay his tuition, and then there's the aforementioned capering. Their group of friends has the jock, the theatre people, the nerd, and the foreign girl, but they're not stereotypes and each contributes something unexpected to the group dynamic. This basically reads just like a young adult novel, but with more actual sex. I just wish Edward could have had more positive experiences with gay sex; the few encounters he did have were mostly a result of coercion, and that's just not sexy fun. Though, for the most part, this novel is.

Four stars -- good for people who like teenage sex comedies, nerd power, dressing up like nuns, (frustrated) gay lust, petty crime, blackmail, musical theatre, lesbians, and making your own family out of whoever's around. I'm already mentally standing in line for Acito's next novel.(less)

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Jan 24, 2009 Alissa rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: humor, teen-books, all-time-favorites, best-books-ever

Absolutely one of the funniest books I've read to date. Gordon Korman meets Ferris Bueller in a story where the characters get caught up in a hilarious and crazy-wacky scheme that totally snoballs out of control, beyond anything they can imagine.

It is the mid-80s, and all 17-year-old Edward wants is to enroll in the drama program at Julliard. But when his father remarries the most psycho of psycho step-mothers, Edward gets kicked out of the house and learns he can kiss his college plans goodbye....more

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Jan 11, 2009 Becca Becca rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book started off pretty good and entertaining but then it went downhill and the plot and storyline got too unbelievable and out of control. I would have enjoyed just reading about the lives and antics of several "play people" high school students. I didn't need all the stuff about money laundering and blackmail.

I ended up kind of skimming the last 100 pages. I did enjoy a lot of the musical theater, pop culture references and it was a fluffy enough read for what I was in the mood for (I ne...more

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Feb 23, 2009 Karin rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adult-ya-crossovers, adult-fiction, audio-edition, books-for-boys, funny, high-school, quirky, realistic, teenagers, young-adult-fiction, borrowed-from-the-library

Edward Zanni, seventeen, wants to study acting at Julliard. It’s been his plan for as long as he can remember. But, his dad throws a wrench in the works when he announces that he’s not going to pay for college unless Edward goes to business school. Thus begins Edward’s year of insanity as he scrambles to find a way to pay for Julliard. Throw in some crazy money-making schemes (Edward can’t seem to hold onto a real job for more than a few days) involving theft, money-laundering, a Catholic Vigila...more

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Oct 02, 2012 Lana. rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: funny-ha-ha, young-adult

Well, my options today were to stay in bed, or to get up. Motivation to get out of bed was slightly lower since, as of yesterday, I finished listening to "How I paid for College: A Novel of Sex, Theft, Friendship & Musical Theatre" by Marc Acito. This book on tape was what kept me sane as I cleaned my room. But as I tried describing the book to Peter - the only reason that it had that effect may be because of how crazy everything was in the book.

Picture 1983 in New Jersey, USA. It was to be...more

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May 08, 2012 Armchair rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: not-my-type

This novel gave me a nightmare about being forced to ride through the Napa hills in the lap of a closeted gay teenage boy driving a motorcycle as his mass of shiny black curls flowed in the breeze. He wouldn’t let me off the motorcycle. I wish I were kidding.

My overall impression of this novel is that it was both aimless and horrifying. There is not a scruple to be found amongst the main characters of this cynical, oversexed ode to theater life in 1983 suburban New Jersey.

Edward Zanni is a large...more This novel gave me a nightmare about being forced to ride through the Napa hills in the lap of a closeted gay teenage boy driving a motorcycle as his mass of shiny black curls flowed in the breeze. He wouldn’t let me off the motorcycle. I wish I were kidding.

My overall impression of this novel is that it was both aimless and horrifying. There is not a scruple to be found amongst the main characters of this cynical, oversexed ode to theater life in 1983 suburban New Jersey.

Edward Zanni is a large Italian-American boy with an even larger singing voice, about to enter his last year of high school before moving on to Juilliard to pursue his musical theater dreams. His ample-in-every-way pal Paula precedes him and he is left to cobble together a social life from the remaining Musical Theater rabble. He scrounges up: his ex-cheerleader girlfriend Kelly (who he routinely dry humps in front of students and faculty alike), jock-turned-actor Doug whom he would also like to hump, ever-present tagalong Natie “Cheesehead” Nudelman, and terminally glamorous Persian transfer student Ziba. This cast of clowns makes a real mess of the book as they clumsily try to have sex with one another in varying configurations, regularly defile a ceramic Buddha (which serves as a motif for the chapter headings), and perform various theater-related tasks in between. Edward’s arts-oriented mother is MIA, having split to find herself years earlier and recently gone off the radar in South America, leaving him to contend with a business-focused father and drug-addled sister.

When Edward’s father abruptly remarries, to a gold-digging German photographer, Edward finds himself edged out of his home and sans one financier for his college education. Luckily his friendship with Natie the Cheesehead has really taken off, because it turns out that Natie is a devious mastermind who develops an evolving strategy to raise Edward’s tuition money via a mix of good old-fashioned hard work (to which Edward is ill-suited, of course) and felonious white-collar crime. The whole gang gets dragged into the hijinks, including Paula up at Juilliard, and things get crazier and crazier right up to the bizarre ending.

The story is not exactly bad, I did finish the whole thing after all, but it is definitely a lot of book. The writing is good but many of the things that are supposed to come off as funny just seem cruel, gross, or (worst of all) stupid. Edward is pretty hard to like despite his struggles with his sexuality, abandonment, self-worth, and even impotence. If he doesn’t want to have sex with a peer, he looks down on them. If he does want to have sex with a peer, they are nothing but an empty vessel for the fulfillment of his carnal desires. For all his nastiness he is rather cowardly. I could see this novel appealing to a certain kind of person who feels very outside: someone with a big personality, struggling with non-hetero-normative sexuality, who really loves the theater and is very self-absorbed. When Edward wasn’t ignoring his father he was making close-minded cracks at his expense, so I found his entitlement issues in regard to college tuition a little hard to take.

The strongest part of the novel is probably the fact that Edward grows up a lot by the end of it. He is able to see the friends he has cast into various stereotypes as real people put on Earth to do something other than fill the stage of his life. He finally gets to know Kelly as a person with personality and talent rather than a stock “pretty girl” who fills out a pair of terrycloth shorts really well. The much-maligned Natie seems destined for things much greater (and perhaps more terrible) than any of the others. So it goes as well for Ziba, Doug, and to a lesser extent Paula.

This is not a bad book but it’s graphically sexual, holds nothing sacred, and is at times just plain mean. I usually read YA to avoid these kinds of attitudes. The fact that Chuck Palahniuk recommended the author for publication says a lot about the novel's sensibility, but I can’t agree with the claim that he is a “gay Dave Barry”.(less)

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Jan 07, 2012 Aisling rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is just a really fun book. It's crazy, not entirely relatable, not particularly dramatic. It's just a fun, fluffy romp that will bring back ridiculous memories to any high school drama nerd. I first picked it up off a discount table when I was living far away from home. I had only graduated from high school about 6 months before, and was missing my friends and the atmosphere of drama society, so it seemed like a good fit. And it was. Over the next few months I read it several times, and lik...more

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Jun 21, 2011 Kerry rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: audio, library

Props to the author/agent/editor/publisher of How I Paid for College for coming up with a subtitle that really encapsulates the entire novel in one breath: "A novel of sex, theft, friendship and musical theater." That's really what it is. No, really.

When Edward finds himself screwed by a new stepmother, overbearing businessman father and no way to pay for his lifelong dream of attending acting school with the best young actors of America, he turns to his friends for support. His friends from his...more Props to the author/agent/editor/publisher of How I Paid for College for coming up with a subtitle that really encapsulates the entire novel in one breath: "A novel of sex, theft, friendship and musical theater." That's really what it is. No, really.

When Edward finds himself screwed by a new stepmother, overbearing businessman father and no way to pay for his lifelong dream of attending acting school with the best young actors of America, he turns to his friends for support. His friends from his lifelong love of musical theater. Who happen to have a flair for the dramatic, so what?

And they may or may not try some not-so-legal methods of obtaining money for Edward's college tuition. And being a male high school senior, Edward may or may not - ok, definitely may - think about sex a lot. And being narrated by Edward, How I Paid for College may include a lot of Edward's thoughts about sex (and sexuality). And being narrated by Edward, it also may include a lot of references to musicals and a lot of disdain for his parents and a lot of "oh-my-god-I-have-the-worst-life-ever-of-any-talented-young-actor-ever."

It's actually a completely accurate (sometimes shockingly so) account of what I think a tuition-starved, desperate, neglected talented young high-school age singer and actor might think, and that is what makes Acito's novel a success. Though it may be overbearing at times (I'll admit to wanting to just slap Edward more than once), it is overbearing in an authentic, I-totally-know-high-schoolers-who-act-like-that kind of way. And though audio may include clips of Edward breaking into song, it's authentic in that musical-theater-nuts-totally-do-that-all-the-time kind of way.

Bottom line (and some notes on the audio): It took me some time to warm up to the narrator's voice, but a few CDs in, he was a convincing Edward, carrying on about the joys of entering senior year and the difficulties of parents who just don't understand. Though Edward is obnoxious, he is also understandable. How I Paid for College is a coming-of-age novel that truly follows Edward come of age and grow into himself; as he comes to understand himself, we come to understand him, too.

The audio is well done, with aforementioned musical clips minor enough so as to be entertaining instead of distracting.

Read the original review at Entomology of a Bookworm(less)

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Jun 19, 2011 Rebecca rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ya

General overview: male senior in suburban New Jersey dreams of going to Julliard for theatre. His father cuts him off and says he won’t pay for his school. Kid fights back and with his friends gets the money from him in other ways. It ends all happy and good, by the way. This book had its good points and bad. Let’s start with the bad. It’s like DUH! Of course the Dude is gay. Male, theatre, wants to go to Julliard? You could spot that a mile away!!! Things worked out a little too easily, sort of...more

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Dec 02, 2010 Laala Alghata rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

“I put on my new glasses to heighten the effect. The glasses have a sort of pinkish tint to them that bathes everything I see in a rosy glow, and I’m pleased with myself for buying something that doesn’t necessarily make me look good to the world (they are a little faggy, I guess) but which makes the world look good to me instead.” — Marc Acito, How I Paid For College

Let me say this from the get-go: if Philippa hadn’t handed me this book, I wouldn’t have ever picked it up; if she hadn’t then hov...more “I put on my new glasses to heighten the effect. The glasses have a sort of pinkish tint to them that bathes everything I see in a rosy glow, and I’m pleased with myself for buying something that doesn’t necessarily make me look good to the world (they are a little faggy, I guess) but which makes the world look good to me instead.” — Marc Acito, How I Paid For College

Let me say this from the get-go: if Philippa hadn’t handed me this book, I wouldn’t have ever picked it up; if she hadn’t then hovered to make sure I read the first couple of pages, it would have gone straight back on the shelf. But she did, and I read two pages and was laughing out loud in the middle of Waterstone’s. The cover, although attractive, wouldn’t appeal to me as a reader, and the title certainly wouldn’t. In fact, the title, and the subtitle “A tale of sex, theft, friendship and musical theatre” are the first things I’d change if I were the publisher. I don’t know what I would’ve picked instead, but I really don’t think it did the book any favours.

But when I started reading it, as I said, I was pleasantly surprised. The book is laugh-out-loud funny, which I don’t find often. When people say “this made me laugh”, they actually mean they found it amusing and smiled, or chuckled for a second. What I mean is I laughed out loud, in the bookstore, on the train, in the park, in my apartment. I tried to suppress myself in public but in private I was gleeful.

It’s well written, funny, and more than a little outrageous. Some of it is far-fetched (you probably would not enlist your friends to help you drug your stepmother and take naked pictures with her as blackmail, for instance), but the relationships between Edward and his friends was a good one, and even the scenes that feel improbable in real life, have a progression in the book that make it believable.

In the end, the only thing I wanted to strike out completely was the final chapter — not because it had anything outrageous in it but because it was entirely unnecessary, as it was there simply to tie up loose ends that didn’t need to be tied up. And that’s exactly what it felt like. In fact, if I tore out those pages and handed someone the book, I bet they would think the penultimate chapter is the final one.

It’s a light-hearted book, filled with sexual conquests and exploration, unlikely friendships and modern life, and it will be a book I revisit when I want a good laugh.
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Mar 07, 2010 Trion rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: kids...nah just kidding

Recommended to Trion by: google

First three paragraph are not review; thats my view. So rather not curse me later.

Was in a search of book with Humour as base, google it and came across "How I Paid for College: A Novel of Sex, Theft, Friendship & Musical Theater " which won Oregon Book Awards' 2005 Ken Kesey Award for Best Novel.

It began dull and was poking my head for having to read a book which will be dwelling in theatrical classics(yeah,i am just not good at it..haven't even read Shakespear) and bit irritated as the Cha...more First three paragraph are not review; thats my view. So rather not curse me later.

Was in a search of book with Humour as base, google it and came across "How I Paid for College: A Novel of Sex, Theft, Friendship & Musical Theater " which won Oregon Book Awards' 2005 Ken Kesey Award for Best Novel.

It began dull and was poking my head for having to read a book which will be dwelling in theatrical classics(yeah,i am just not good at it..haven't even read Shakespear) and bit irritated as the Character Edward has a nag of describing certain scenarios of his life with scenes in american movies(nope..i am not from US so it was hard..pretty hard).Still I am impressed by the Author Marc Acito, who is capable of turning simplest of thing into a funny or mesmerising experience. He is there to notice the pretty girl tilting her head or notice Paula sqeazing her boobs.He brings into notice most human 'taken for granted' expression; and like yeah why do we turn our head when you're clearly told not to..weird

I banged my head onto the book,when i realised Edward is gay(well..bisexual).Now i wont try to be cool and will admit i feared of influence this book might have on me; however Edward being gay was the funniest part of the book(can't explain how).

Now,the Book is basically a Struggle, hilarious one but seems familiar with ours; usual teen sexual struggle(sometimes you would wonder, is edward sure of his inclination? or he's just messed up!); 'what's my future' kinda struggle and the eventual scrapped out victory with help of his friends Doug,Kelly,Ziba,Paula,Natie(this guy is essence of the novel).

Edward wants to join 'Juliard-college for dramatics', his father 'AL' isnt approving as he is obsessed with business, his mom 'Barbara' is in mars(well edward will believe me here), his step-mom 'Dagmar' is doing a step-mom what a step-mom is supposed to do ,so no hard-feeling for her.
Edward finds his way to juliard...thats it

what you were expecting a REVIEW..look i am a team player..wont reveal anything..read the book.

In short, I am impressed so much that i will read its sequel "Attack of the theatre people" which was described as funniest book of the year by Jennifer Weiner.

but its nowhere to find. Am pissed.
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May 04, 2009 Dorie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Hysterical book written in first person, narrated by 17-year-old Edward Zanni. Ed has fallen in love with acting and singing, and has high hopes of getting into Julliard. He has a beautiful girlfriend named Kelly but he's also attracted to his football player friend Doug. Ed's other friends are Paula (zany, colorful, large-figured and an unwilling virgin), Nathan (cheesehead with flashes of criminal brilliance), and Ziba (the hot new girl, of Persian descent). Ed and his band of friends spend th...more

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Apr 03, 2013 Leah K rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

How I Paid for College: A Novel of Sex, Theft, Friendship and Musical Theater by Marc Acito

★★★

Amazon’s Description of the book : It’s 1983 in Wallingford, New Jersey, a sleepy bedroom community outside of Manhattan. Seventeen-year-old Edward Zanni, a feckless Ferris Bueller–type, is Peter Panning his way through a carefree summer of magic and mischief. The fun comes to a halt, however, when Edward’s father remarries and refuses to pay for Edward to study acting at Juilliard.
Edward’s truly in a b...more How I Paid for College: A Novel of Sex, Theft, Friendship and Musical Theater by Marc Acito

★★★

Amazon’s Description of the book : It’s 1983 in Wallingford, New Jersey, a sleepy bedroom community outside of Manhattan. Seventeen-year-old Edward Zanni, a feckless Ferris Bueller–type, is Peter Panning his way through a carefree summer of magic and mischief. The fun comes to a halt, however, when Edward’s father remarries and refuses to pay for Edward to study acting at Juilliard.
Edward’s truly in a bind. He’s ineligible for scholarships because his father earns too much. He’s unable to contact his mother because she’s somewhere in Peru trying to commune with Incan spirits. And, as a sure sign he’s destined for a life in the arts, Edward’s incapable of holding down a job. So he turns to his loyal (but immoral) misfit friends to help him steal the tuition money from his father, all the while practicing for his high school performance of Grease. Disguising themselves as nuns and priests, they merrily scheme their way through embezzlement, money laundering, identity theft, forgery, and blackmail. But, along the way, Edward also learns the value of friendship, hard work, and how you’re not really a man until you can beat up your father—metaphorically, that is. How I Paid for College is a farcical coming-of-age story that combines the first-person tone of David Sedaris with the byzantine plot twists of Armistead Maupin.

I went to the library one day, closed my eyes, grabbed a book at random, and this is what I ended up with. Book Roulette. The book starts out kind of slow and I was less than fond of the characters. It was quite raunchy at times and it reminded me of a mix between Breakfast Club and Glee. This book is hard for me to rate because while there were many times I was up in the air of whether I even enjoyed the story, I couldn’t stop reading it – which led me to believe there was something worth continuing with. Maybe I’m just not young enough to relate to obnoxious, sexually confused (very confused), immature high schoolers anymore… of course I rarely related to high schoolers when I WAS in high school. I did learn to like the characters at the end and there was a growing and maturity of them all, which warmed my heart. There were some humorous parts. An okay read but nothing worth raving about honestly.

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Jul 06, 2012 Domenic rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: chris-owns, favorites

This is such a feel-good book. It's absolutely ridiculous, but it is the perfect thing to pick up after reading a horrifying murder mystery. It kind of fits the "coming of age" category, along with "Catcher in the Rye" and "Perks of Being a Wallflower," but I think that "How I paid for College" is better than the others. First of all, I love that we finally get a realistic book about a kid who is struggling with his sexuality; while the outcome of this facet of the book is not completely satisfy...more

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Mar 08, 2009 Deb rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

This book is formatted like a memoir of a high school theatre kid. I was able to identify with a lot of what the characters were experiencing, having been there myself or having had friends with similar experiences. I did, however, feel that the narrator's blase attitude about being "bi-sexual" was unrealistic. He never seemed to be fearful of other people knowing about his gay tendencies - only the object of his desire. There was no conflict with the expectations of society/family/workplace tha...more

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Feb 16, 2012 Julie H. rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

Marc Acito writes with both humor and heart-wrenching clarity of the awkwardness of transitioning from boy to man.

Given the book's title, I was expecting a good bit of misbehaving, and the book did not fail in that area. How I Paid for College... is a madcap retrospective year-in-the-life romp through high school senior Edward Zanni's life. (Do yourself a favor and pronounce it "Zany" as you read it, because that's precisely what you're in for.)

The ensemble of characters is brilliant and the m...more

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Nov 28, 2009 Meryl rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

My sister half-read this book but was raving about how funny and awesome it was so I had to read it, too. Plus, the cover is lovely and eye-catching.

I liked the GLBTness of it and the humor. Wow, the comdey of this novel was perfect and the whole thing was paced well and just great! I liked how it took place in the '80s (and you could just tell that from page one, come one people) and the great knowledge of the theatre (musicals, plays, etc. you know).

But for some reason I couldn't concentrate o...more

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Jan 25, 2010 Andrew rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Marc Acito's debut novel is a wild teenage tour de force, a ballsy work of fiction set in New Jersey in the early '80s that centers on the senior year of Edward Zanni, a high school student with a ragtag troupe of friends and accomplices, a nebulous bisexuality, and dreams of pursuing musical theatre at Juilliard.

Zanni's a talented kid, the lead in numerous school productions and a born actor, but his plans go awry when his father Al, a successful independent businessman, drops the bomb that he...more Marc Acito's debut novel is a wild teenage tour de force, a ballsy work of fiction set in New Jersey in the early '80s that centers on the senior year of Edward Zanni, a high school student with a ragtag troupe of friends and accomplices, a nebulous bisexuality, and dreams of pursuing musical theatre at Juilliard.

Zanni's a talented kid, the lead in numerous school productions and a born actor, but his plans go awry when his father Al, a successful independent businessman, drops the bomb that he's not willing to pay for his son's tuition if he studies drama. With the help of his friends, Edward finds himself engaging in a number of schemes, from working at the chicken shack at the mall to emancipating himself from his father, and eventually (with the help of his criminally resourceful neighbor Natie) attempting to steal the money from his stepmother Dagmar, Al's evil, dictatorial new wife.

Acito's book succeeds mostly on its set pieces; whether Edward is running into his drama teacher at a gay piano bar in Manhattan, swimming in the school pool in the middle of the night with his man-crush, or even just sneaking a ceramic Buddha statue around suburban Jersey, the author provides some very filmic backgrounds for his story to unfold. The supporting cast is great too: the infatuation triangle between Edward, his on-again-off-again girlfriend Kelly, and the football-hero-turned-theatre-guy Doug plays out in almost every conceivable configuration, and additional players like Ed's boisterous drama-queen pal Paula or the beguiling Iranian exchange student Ziba help to round out the group's theatrical put-ons.

Occasionally, Acito's book collapses under the weight of his ambitions; Edward gives a Juilliard audition that could only exist in a work of fiction, and a subplot involving none other than Frank Sinatra stretches the story's suspension-of-disbelief taffy beyond its breaking point. In the end, though, College is a strong first novel, a book full of engaging characters in a vividly remembered time and place, and even in the book's more outlandish moments, you can't help but root for Team Edward.(less)

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Jan 30, 2010 KJ Luepke rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audio-book

I actually got this book on tape from my library's tiny selection. And I'm so glad I listened to it on tape as the actor doing the voices did a great job and it was HILARIOUS with the various New Jersey/east coast accents. The only reason I didn't give it a four is because the main character is so completely self absorbed. He's ungrateful to people who are risking everything for him and he gets angry at them when their plans to help him don't work out, etc. He's the definition of a spoiled brat....more

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Apr 10, 2009 Jessi rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: brain-candy

Back in the December ice storm when we were taking refuge at todd and kevin's house I plucked this at random from Kevin's bookshelf and got sucked in to the offbeat story and hilarious cast of characters. It is basically a really funny story about an elaborate embezzlement plot carried out by a misfit high school senior and his crazy crew of friends to figure out how to pay for his first semester at Juliard that involves a lawn Buddha, embezzling funds previously embezzled by an evil step-mother...more

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Jul 29, 2011 Karen rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: keeper, second-hand

A lovely, lovely thing. Hilarious, moving, innocent (kind of...actually, not really), raucously fun, hugely camp, and full of the kind of OTT, kooky characters which rarely work well in novels. But here, they get away with it because they're 17 years old. Not only that but they're 17-year-old fledgeling performers. And that is the way 17-year-old fledgeling performers behave.

Nowhere near as vanilla as High School Musical (although imagine if [an openly bi] Ryan were the main character, and Troy...more

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Jan 26, 2013 Kirsty (alkalinekiwi) rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-about-music, lgbtq, made-me-laugh, read-in-2013

This caught my eye at a library booksale where all the books were marked down to 20c. I remember adding it to the towering pile of books in my arms and a startled employee running to get me a trolley should the whole thing topple over and knock someone out under several kilograms of books.

I loved this book and would give it 4.5 stars if I could. From the start I was gripped and it helped me ignore the pain from my swollen post-surgery face.
Edward and his friends' schemes and plans were nothing...more

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Sep 22, 2009 Amy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I think that the subtitle really sums up this funny book, which may or may not be loosely based on the author's teen years. It is full of ridiculous things, a series of almost anecdotes tied together. Teens do not, as a rule, drug people and take sexually suggestive pictures in order to blackmail them to get money for Julliard. They do, of course, deal with sex. They also play silly pranks and deal with horrible parents and stepparents. There are so many serious and emotionally draining moments...more

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Oct 11, 2010 T. rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, glbt, young-adult, humor, favourites

Enchanté! I love this book to bits I want to read it again and again. It made me laugh out loud without shame and break out into song (which I often do, to the mortification of family and friends). I've always suspected that I was a gay man in my past life, obsessed with cute butts, leg warmers and Liza Minelli -- I am now thoroughly convinced me that this hypothesis is truth.

I love Edward Zanni, but I think I have a special place in my heart for Natie. Oh, oh, oh! How can I not love this book?...more

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Jul 23, 2012 Lilith Duvalier rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This isn't a great book, it's not the kind of book that makes you feel like you've said goodbye to a friend when it's over, but that's not what it's trying to be. It's a cute, fun story about the incredibly illegal antics of a bunch of rich east coast brats who are not nearly as clever, talented, or interesting as they are convinced they are. The intense self-absorption is so well written that it'll make anyone who has already been a teenager cringe in second hand embarrassment

It's reads as a ch...more

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Jul 28, 2009 Lydia rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ya-lgbt

I recommend this for mature YA readers. It is not so designated in my library.

Edward Zanni is not only gay, he's a musical theater actor, seventeen, "dying" to go to Julliard, Italian, and lives in Wallingford, NJ. His best friend is the epitome of the high school "fag hag" -- overweight, a virgin, loves Edward like a brother, raised by her aunt, and already accepted to Jullliard since she's a year older.

This book is funny, sad, comedic, loving, and just plain enjoyable! Yes! There is lots of s...more

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Apr 17, 2013 Eleanor rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Young readers and/or LGBTQ

Shelves: favorites

Fantastic. Absolutely brilliant. I read the first 10 pages and immediately ordered the sequel.
As a teenager who identifies as LGBT, I fell in love with the quirky and lovable characters immediately. The story is complex and engaging, tying together beautifully in the end with many laughs in between.
It has been quite a few reads since I was so enthralled by a book, I will rave to anyone who will listen. Definitely the most enjoyable book I have read, largely due to the writing style, always a mak...more

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May 29, 2012 Angelique rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-read-in-2012

I can't believe I read the whole thing. The main character is a crap version of Holden and I just couldn't bear the whole 'I HATE MY PARENTS BECAUSE THEY WON'T PAY FOR ME TO GO TO THEATRE SCHOOL??!?!?!!?' and the silly names they would call things (lincoln continental divide, cryents...), because they weren't clever, just annoying.

It wasn't written horribly, but the main character liked to make people laugh and would often say the name of someone after they did anything SLIGHTLY abnormal.

Kathlee...more

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Jan 24, 2011 Brian Sison rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, music, humor, poetry-drama

I was emotionally torn while reading this book. Part of me pleasantly thought back to my days in High School when I was carefree and knew that the world revolved around me. The other part of me was dreading the days when my children grow up and think that the world revolves around them.

This may be touted as a young-adult novel, but as a parent, I couldn't help focusing on the annoyingly entitled & self-righteous attitude of the characters. (Again reminiscent of my youth.)

As far as the plot,...more

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Apr 05, 2009 Melody rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: heard

Wow, I think this book was written directly AT me. By turns hilarious, poignant and absurd, it chronicles the way Edward stumbles through his senior year of high school and lurches towards Julliard. Firmly anchored in the 1984 I remember, full of fumbling and humiliating yet adventurous sexual escapades, true-life misunderstandings and completely whacko blackmail schemes, this audio book had me weeping with laughter multiple times. Not for the faint of heart, nor for those who like their lovers...more

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About Marc Acito

For those who do not know me, I'm very famous. My debut novel, How I Paid for College: A Novel of Sex, Theft, Friendship and Musical Theater won the Oregon Book Awards' Ken Kesey Award for the Novel although I sometimes leave out the Oregon part to make it sound more important. It was also selected as a Top Ten Teen Pick by the American Library Association, though it still has not achieved my ulti...more

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Attack of the Theater People (Edward Zanni, #2)

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“So I kept reading, just to stay alive. In fact, I'd read two or three books at the same time, so I wouldn't finish one without being in the middle of another -- anything to stop me from falling into the big, gaping void. You see, books fill the empty spaces. If I'm waiting for a bus, or am eating alone, I can always rely on a book to keep me company. Sometimes I think I like them even more than people. People will let you down in life. They'll disappoint you and hurt you and betray you. But not books. They're better than life.” — 43 people liked it

“There are moments in your life when you see yourself through someone else’s eyes, when your only hope of believing you’re capable of doing something is because someone else believes it for you.” — 12 people liked it

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How I Paid for College (Edward Zanni #1)

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