232nd out of 1,871 books
—
3,706 voters
I Love You, Beth Cooper
by
Larry Doyle
Denis Cooverman didn't want to give a typical graduation speech, cherishing memories and embracing challenges and crap. So, instead, he stood up in front of his 512 class-mates and their 3,000 relatives and said some-thing really important:
"I love you, Beth Cooper."
It would have been such a sweet, romantic moment. Except that:
Beth, the head cheerleader, has only the vagues...more
"I love you, Beth Cooper."
It would have been such a sweet, romantic moment. Except that:
Beth, the head cheerleader, has only the vagues...more
Hardcover, 253 pages
Published
May 8th 2007
by Ecco
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It started off promising... really, it did. I'll admit it, I was a nerd in high school, so I can relate to Denis Cooverman a little bit. He uses his time at the podium during his high school graduation ceremony (valedictorian, of course) to criticize some of his classmates before professing his love for popular girl Beth Cooper.
The promising beginning didn't really go anywhere, unfortunately. Denis, who was repeatedly beaten up and made fun of during his school career, continues to be beaten up...more
The promising beginning didn't really go anywhere, unfortunately. Denis, who was repeatedly beaten up and made fun of during his school career, continues to be beaten up...more
May 04, 2008
Maggie
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
anyone who likes a funny book
Shelves:
undergrad
When I read this book, I had no idea that the author, first-time novelist Larry Doyle, was an established television writer, with writing credits for "Daria," "Beavis and Butthead," and "The Simpsons," but I easily could have guessed. I Love You, Beth Cooper has the frantic pace and zany, unrealistic plot points that are necessary to keeping a television audience (especially the youthful ones of the aforementioned shows) interested for the whole half-hour. It is full to bursting with cliches of...more
I wanted to read this book before seeing the movie and I'm glad I did (not because I've seen the movie yet and am making comparisons, but because I can't imagine the movie can translate half the humor of this book).
Denis Cooverman, aka "The Coove", aka "The Penis", decides that his valedictorian speech at his high school graduation is the perfect time to announce that he is in love with Beth Cooper, the head cheerleader, in addition to insulting several of his classmates. To his surprise, Beth a...more
Denis Cooverman, aka "The Coove", aka "The Penis", decides that his valedictorian speech at his high school graduation is the perfect time to announce that he is in love with Beth Cooper, the head cheerleader, in addition to insulting several of his classmates. To his surprise, Beth a...more
The beginning of this book has some of the funniest writing I have seen in a very long time. Although, as I noted to my friend, Amy, some of the humor might be lost on someone who was never an adolescent boy.
The middle does kind of drag on a bit, as the "main character constantly getting the crap kicked out of him" theme gets a bit overplayed. But it does end nicely.
I think every guy, at some point in high school, had a Beth Cooper. That's why it is so funny.
Mine was Christina Bianchi. But, inst...more
The middle does kind of drag on a bit, as the "main character constantly getting the crap kicked out of him" theme gets a bit overplayed. But it does end nicely.
I think every guy, at some point in high school, had a Beth Cooper. That's why it is so funny.
Mine was Christina Bianchi. But, inst...more
This book is all about making you laugh. The story is shallow, as are most of the characters.
While there were probably more moments in this that made me laugh aloud than any book since Hitchhikers Guide, it completely lacked any of the emotional or philosophical satisfaction Hitchhikers brought.
And, in an odd way, it's almost too funny. It's like the author kept going back and trying to make sure every single sentence had a joke in it. In that sense, although there are plenty of extremely funny...more
While there were probably more moments in this that made me laugh aloud than any book since Hitchhikers Guide, it completely lacked any of the emotional or philosophical satisfaction Hitchhikers brought.
And, in an odd way, it's almost too funny. It's like the author kept going back and trying to make sure every single sentence had a joke in it. In that sense, although there are plenty of extremely funny...more
I have no doubt that Larry Doyle can be a humorous writer (how else could he have credits in Beavis and Butthead and The Simpsons?), but he has no business writing a novel and should have stuck to writing for the screen.
Maybe saying 'no business' is too harsh. Let me rephrase: he should have honed his novel-writing first and not just ported his script to the novel format, bugs and all.
It may not look it but my favorite genre is comedy and I Love You Beth Cooper being tagged as a romance-comedy (...more
Maybe saying 'no business' is too harsh. Let me rephrase: he should have honed his novel-writing first and not just ported his script to the novel format, bugs and all.
It may not look it but my favorite genre is comedy and I Love You Beth Cooper being tagged as a romance-comedy (...more
Larry Doyle knows he's funny and here his sense of humor is on full display. Denis Cooverman concludes his high school career as valedictorian, declaring his love for head cheerleader Beth Cooper during his graduation speech. The night following is full of fighting, partying, breaking and entering, larceny, and all other kinds of trouble teenagers could possibly get into in one crazy night, with Denis following along with any of Beth's scheming.
My husband attended Buffalo Grove High School and...more
My husband attended Buffalo Grove High School and...more
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, DO NOT READ THIS BOOK!
I am ashamed to admit that I suggested that my book club read this book as "a fun, summer read," since we seemed to be reading a lot of depressing books lately. I assumed that it would be a high school dork story in the vein of Freaks and Geeks. Instead, it was one of the worst books I have ever read. Yes, I gave it ZERO stars. And Larry Doyle, if you are reading this review, please contact me so I can give you my address so you can write me a check fo...more
I am ashamed to admit that I suggested that my book club read this book as "a fun, summer read," since we seemed to be reading a lot of depressing books lately. I assumed that it would be a high school dork story in the vein of Freaks and Geeks. Instead, it was one of the worst books I have ever read. Yes, I gave it ZERO stars. And Larry Doyle, if you are reading this review, please contact me so I can give you my address so you can write me a check fo...more
I finished this book in three hours. From page one, Larry Doyle creates an eerily familiar depiction of high school, specifically that moment when you look back during your graduation and realize you're finally free and have your whole life ahead of you--and it's scary.
Doyle's wit sets us off on a one-night odyssey that originates from the single question, "What if, instead of delivering an average graduation speech, the valedictorian head of the debate team confesses his love for the head cheer...more
Doyle's wit sets us off on a one-night odyssey that originates from the single question, "What if, instead of delivering an average graduation speech, the valedictorian head of the debate team confesses his love for the head cheer...more
Honestly, reading this book is like jumping on a roller coaster, forgetting to buckle your seatbelt, and you didn't have enough time to pull the bar down. So now you're flying all over the place, screaming your damn head off, swooping over the hills, feeling like you're going to throw up, ducking your head so you don't get decapitated, and then finally you pull back into the station, look at your partner that rode next to you and say..."Dude, that was one freakin' awesome ride. Let's do it again...more
This is one of those classic teen movies that is quoteable and funny, but it also is making fun of those movie while throwing back omages to them. The best part: It's a novel, not a movie.
High School Graduation speech Denis Cooverman, debate team captin, total nerd, and validictorian declares his love for Beth Cooper head cheerleader, most popular girl in school. He also throws in a few nameless aqusations and how he feels about everyone else in their class.
Besides the upset principle and parent...more
High School Graduation speech Denis Cooverman, debate team captin, total nerd, and validictorian declares his love for Beth Cooper head cheerleader, most popular girl in school. He also throws in a few nameless aqusations and how he feels about everyone else in their class.
Besides the upset principle and parent...more
Dec 29, 2007
Devin Bruce
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
former high school nerds, current high school nerds, fans of The Simpsons
On the day of his high school graduation, debate captain Denis Cooverman makes his valedictorian speech. He stands up in front of the podium, and it starts off typical and boring enough. Until he says the following five words: "I love you, Beth Cooper." This declaration of love for the head cheerleader - as well as a few other choice statements - stuns the crowd, and sets into motion a series of events that turns Graduation Night into the craziest, most dangerous, and exhilirating night of Denis...more
Rather than deliver the usual platitudes, dorky Denis decides to lay some honesty on his high school graduating class during his valedictorian speech. Among other things, this involves outing his best friend and declaring his love for head cheerleader Beth Cooper—who unfortunately has no idea who he is. What follows is pretty much a lesser Judd Apatow movie in book form. There is Zaniness. And Shenanigans. And—quite a few funny moments, too. I came to like this book more as it went along—toward...more
This is a wacky, goofy book about a sweltering graduation and the long evening which follows. Take...one nerdy valedictorian who professes his love to a popular cheerleader (Beth Cooper) in his graduation speech. Well, what if the universe conspired to let these two get to know one another in the course of some strange, crazy events that transpire in the course of the night and pepper the entire books with movie quotes and some odd sort of scary looking sketches....voila! There you have it.
This...more
This...more
Mar 15, 2009
Terry
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Fans of Lloyd Dobler and Napoleon Dynamite
Shelves:
brought-to-rhs-library
I picked this one up without any expectations because the cover looked good and Dave Barry blurbed it. I did enjoy it, and there are moments of brilliance as Doyle revisits territory covered in all teen comedy coming of age movies - which he quotes from at the beginning of each chapter.
There are some problems with the book, but it moves fast enough to roll past most of them. Now that I'm done, I don't remember too much of it: few lines stand out as quotable essentials, like the ones Doyle paid t...more
There are some problems with the book, but it moves fast enough to roll past most of them. Now that I'm done, I don't remember too much of it: few lines stand out as quotable essentials, like the ones Doyle paid t...more
Larry Doyle wrote for MTV's Beavis and Butthead, and his writing style reflects his biography. I love you Beth Cooper is about Denis, a tragically unpopular valedictorian of an Illinois high school who, in his speech at graduation, confesses the truth about his classmates to an auditorium of hot cranky students and their loved ones. After outing his gay best friend, our main character confesses his love for Beth Cooper, the social queen of the high school. This lands him in trouble with her beef...more
Denis is the nerdiest of nerds, and Beth, the cheerleader and popular girl, is his unrequited love. During Denis’s graduation speech, he has the audacity to make this stunning confession, and over the course of the night, Denis and Beth, with friends along for the ride, traverse the night from one disaster to the next in a story that at times can be hilariously and entertaining, albeit that awkward, cringe worthy, can’t-watch-can’t-look-away kind of entertaining.
That being said, its awkward sit...more
That being said, its awkward sit...more
In the book I Love You, Beth Cooper by Larry Doyle, main character Denis and his best friend Rich take one last high school adventure the night of graduation that they will remember for the rest of their lives.
This novel can be compared to the novel Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson. Although in the book Speak, Melinda is not the same age and is in a very different situation that Denis is, I can still find similarities in the books. Both take place inside a high schooler's mind where you can see e...more
This novel can be compared to the novel Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson. Although in the book Speak, Melinda is not the same age and is in a very different situation that Denis is, I can still find similarities in the books. Both take place inside a high schooler's mind where you can see e...more
Oct 30, 2012
Derek
added it
This book was extremely dramatic with some romantic and some drunken mishaps. This book being a extreamly inappropriate ill try to keep it reasonable. This book starts off with a typical Highschool graduation. Hot gym, a bunch of proud moms and dads, and hundred of graduating seniors thinking about the party they are going to go to after the graduation. First off. Denis cooverman, your typical nerd smart kid. Beth cooper. Prettiest girl in school, popular, a hundred friends. Denis is the valid V...more
I am the first to admit that I am a Simpsons junkie, so whenever I find out that a writer from the show writes a book, I usually go out and find it. That is the case with Larry Doyle's: I love You Beth Cooper. This does pain me to say it but the book starts with a train wreck and does not improve from there.
The basic story is this, one unpopular boy who pined after a girl for all his high school years decides to announce his love for her during his Valedictorian speech. This just opens the stor...more
The basic story is this, one unpopular boy who pined after a girl for all his high school years decides to announce his love for her during his Valedictorian speech. This just opens the stor...more
“I Love You Beth Cooper” is a book about an absolute nerd. It’s graduation day and Denis Cooverman is making a speech. He admits his biggest secret in front of everyone: he loves Beth Cooper. (Hence the title) Denis is pretty much a nobody to Beth, who is dating a huge guy named Kevin. Did I mention Kevin was huge? As the night goes on, Beth meats Denis. They become...friends? Maybe. Long story short, it’s the classic story of Nice Nerd vs Mean Jock to win over the girl, or is it?
I liked this b...more
I liked this b...more
I Love you, Beth Cooper
by Larry Doyle
Have you ever had a crush on a special someone during your high school years? Denis Cooverman had a crush on Beth cooper since the first day they had went to public school together and he had kept that in him for 12 years until his graduation night. That night, Denis had decided to confess her love for Beth Cooper in front of all the high school graduates in the school. It would've been a romantic idea to confess in front of 512 classmates and 3,000 relative...more
by Larry Doyle
Have you ever had a crush on a special someone during your high school years? Denis Cooverman had a crush on Beth cooper since the first day they had went to public school together and he had kept that in him for 12 years until his graduation night. That night, Denis had decided to confess her love for Beth Cooper in front of all the high school graduates in the school. It would've been a romantic idea to confess in front of 512 classmates and 3,000 relative...more
Oct 28, 2010
Paul.zhu
added it
“I love you, Beth Cooper” book review
Paul Zhu
“Today we look forward, but I also would like to look back, looking back not with anger, but with no regret. No regrets for what we wanted to say but could not. And so I say here today the one thing I wish I had said, the one thing I know I will regret if I never say.” “I love you, Beth Cooper.” It is a special speech for graduation, and it is the beginning of the whole story.
This novel is written in 2007 by Larry Doyle. And it is a wickedly funny...more
Paul Zhu
“Today we look forward, but I also would like to look back, looking back not with anger, but with no regret. No regrets for what we wanted to say but could not. And so I say here today the one thing I wish I had said, the one thing I know I will regret if I never say.” “I love you, Beth Cooper.” It is a special speech for graduation, and it is the beginning of the whole story.
This novel is written in 2007 by Larry Doyle. And it is a wickedly funny...more
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I don't know. I was a dorko too, I went to high school in America, and I wanted to like this book. Some people with good taste had recommended it to me -- and they weren't wrong. This book is incredibly funny. I guess my problem enjoying it was that that's just all there is. It feels exactly like a book written by a writer for the Simpsons. And I'm not trying to put down the Simpsons here either, but, the show did lose a lot of it's depth as it went on.
I found this book incredibly stereotypical...more
I found this book incredibly stereotypical...more
Mar 10, 2010
Peterzhao
added it
Response review of “I love you Beth Cooper”
The book I have read is “I love you Beth Cooper”. This book is about the funny things happened on a high school graduate. He is the protagonist, named Denis. He decided to do a “creasy” thing that he have never did before. He shows his love to a girl during his graduation speech. And that probably mess up his speech. Anyway, he did that. He did that because his best friend, Rich encourages him to catch the last chance without regret. He will never see h...more
The book I have read is “I love you Beth Cooper”. This book is about the funny things happened on a high school graduate. He is the protagonist, named Denis. He decided to do a “creasy” thing that he have never did before. He shows his love to a girl during his graduation speech. And that probably mess up his speech. Anyway, he did that. He did that because his best friend, Rich encourages him to catch the last chance without regret. He will never see h...more
The story starts off with the nerdy protagonist discussing his long-lived unannounced love for head cheerleader and uber-pretty Beth Cooper; whom he had sat behind in practically every single class. Right away you relate to the teen heart-felt feelings that Denis Cooverman confesses, and personally sympathize with him considering any of us girls could’ve been that “Beth Cooper” for some lonely, underdeveloped band geek. I think there is a great disappointment when you realize there isn’t much de...more
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Ending | 6 | 74 | Jun 19, 2011 11:01pm |
Larry Doyle, a former writer for The Simpsons, works in showbiz and writes funny things for the New Yorker. He lives outside Baltimore with his wife, Becky, their three children, and one dog, until it dies, and then no more dogs, according to the wife.
More about Larry Doyle...
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“I'm sorry I'm so pathetic," he thought, and then realized he had also said it.
Beth laughed, so lightly and so kindly that Denis felt it in his chest, not his stomach.
Can I tell you a secret?"
Yes, tell me all your secrets Denis kept to himself.
Beth leaned in, whispered: "All boys are pathetic.”
—
23 people liked it
Beth laughed, so lightly and so kindly that Denis felt it in his chest, not his stomach.
Can I tell you a secret?"
Yes, tell me all your secrets Denis kept to himself.
Beth leaned in, whispered: "All boys are pathetic.”
“Denis could think of no logical reason why he should not attempt to mate with Beth Cooper.
There were no laws explicitly against it.
They were of the same species, and had complementary sex organs, most likely, based on extensive mental modeling Denis had done.”
—
4 people liked it
More quotes…
There were no laws explicitly against it.
They were of the same species, and had complementary sex organs, most likely, based on extensive mental modeling Denis had done.”

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