What do you think?
Rate this book
Remove Protective Coating a Little at a Time
Fourteen-year-old Harry is more a pal than a son to his parents but his friendship with seventy-two-year-old Amelia fosters an honesty and directness that gives him the courage to be himself.
101 pages, Unbound
First published January 1, 1973
About the author
John Donovan
48 books7 followersJohn Donovan was a novelist and a playwright, who also served as the president of the Children's Book Council. I'll Get There. It Better Be Worth the Trip. was originally published in 1969 and reprinted by Dell in 1973.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 18, 2012
This was a strange, brief, cryptic young adult novel, another novel that was discard and taken from my old high school library 10+ years ago. The voice is somewhat reminiscent of the Graduate, a little bit quirky and mockingly serious, and the plot resembles in appearance the storyline of Harold and Maude: a promiscuous, wise-beyond-his-years youth meets a cantankerous and eccentric old lady in a park in New York City.
The old lady, Amelia, squats in a soon-to-be demolished building in the bad part of town and makes the boy, Harry, perform odd tests to prove his loyalty. She also asks him inappropriate questions, like whether more boys are circumcised these days. It is to the author's credit that Amelia never appears to be a mere lovable kook: there is something dark and dangerous about her, whether it is simply the fact she bums people out of money or because she gently feeds pigeons before grabbing them by the neck and baking them to eat.
Harry also has two parents, two young proto-yuppies named Bud and Toots (being a promiscuous kid, he refers to them by these nicknames) who are reaching a crisis point in their relationship: Bud might be having an affair, and Toots is lamenting for a life never lived, yearning for her last shot at excellence, when she was Second Runner-Up, National Baton Twirling Association Convention, Chicago, Illinois. Eventually she's sent away to a hospital for a while by an indulgent shrink.
Harry also spends some time at a Jewish summer camp with a funny name and becomes enamored with twins that are tennis whizzes.
The literary merits of Remove Protective Coating a Little at a Time are evident: in stark, brief scenes Donovan reveals the candor of youth and the often sexual confusion of growing up:
"Harry decided pretty early that his schlong would give him a good lot of pleasure. At first it was just there, a curiosity with a function. Then Nicky Harris, his best friend in the fifth grade, asked Harry if he got hard-ons.
'Sure,' Harry answered.
'How many?' Nicky asked.
'I don't remember. How about you?'
'Since I was six,' Nicky said.
'Me, too,' Harry said. He didn't know what he was talking about. He wasn't certain he knew what they were.
'You want to show me yours?' Nicky said.
'Sure,' Harry agreed. 'Next time I get one.'
'I've got one now,' Nicky said.
'You have?' Nicky showed himself to Harry, who was impressed. 'Pretty good.'
'When you get one, we could have a contest.'
'OK.'
They never had the contest, but Harry was introduced to one of the great indoor sports through Nicky."
Although there's a quirkiness and funniness to the book, underlining it all is the essence of melancholy: and when the novel ends, it just ends, almost in the middle of a sentence, in the middle of a scene. I, the audience, wasn't satisfied. I wanted more, to see where the scene and story ended. I wanted resolution, not a slice of life.
It's a fairly complicated, unsatisfying book, and if I at 30 don't really get it I can't imagine (patronizer that I am) how a young adult could be any more satisfied by it than me.
The author also has another book with a funny/good name, "I'll Get there. It Better Be Worth the Trip," which is about, according to a blurb on the back of my book, a "boy's loneliness and his attempts to overcome it," including "an incident with homosexual ingredients." If it's as charming but bleak and perspective as this book, it might be worth checking out.
The old lady, Amelia, squats in a soon-to-be demolished building in the bad part of town and makes the boy, Harry, perform odd tests to prove his loyalty. She also asks him inappropriate questions, like whether more boys are circumcised these days. It is to the author's credit that Amelia never appears to be a mere lovable kook: there is something dark and dangerous about her, whether it is simply the fact she bums people out of money or because she gently feeds pigeons before grabbing them by the neck and baking them to eat.
Harry also has two parents, two young proto-yuppies named Bud and Toots (being a promiscuous kid, he refers to them by these nicknames) who are reaching a crisis point in their relationship: Bud might be having an affair, and Toots is lamenting for a life never lived, yearning for her last shot at excellence, when she was Second Runner-Up, National Baton Twirling Association Convention, Chicago, Illinois. Eventually she's sent away to a hospital for a while by an indulgent shrink.
Harry also spends some time at a Jewish summer camp with a funny name and becomes enamored with twins that are tennis whizzes.
The literary merits of Remove Protective Coating a Little at a Time are evident: in stark, brief scenes Donovan reveals the candor of youth and the often sexual confusion of growing up:
"Harry decided pretty early that his schlong would give him a good lot of pleasure. At first it was just there, a curiosity with a function. Then Nicky Harris, his best friend in the fifth grade, asked Harry if he got hard-ons.
'Sure,' Harry answered.
'How many?' Nicky asked.
'I don't remember. How about you?'
'Since I was six,' Nicky said.
'Me, too,' Harry said. He didn't know what he was talking about. He wasn't certain he knew what they were.
'You want to show me yours?' Nicky said.
'Sure,' Harry agreed. 'Next time I get one.'
'I've got one now,' Nicky said.
'You have?' Nicky showed himself to Harry, who was impressed. 'Pretty good.'
'When you get one, we could have a contest.'
'OK.'
They never had the contest, but Harry was introduced to one of the great indoor sports through Nicky."
Although there's a quirkiness and funniness to the book, underlining it all is the essence of melancholy: and when the novel ends, it just ends, almost in the middle of a sentence, in the middle of a scene. I, the audience, wasn't satisfied. I wanted more, to see where the scene and story ended. I wanted resolution, not a slice of life.
It's a fairly complicated, unsatisfying book, and if I at 30 don't really get it I can't imagine (patronizer that I am) how a young adult could be any more satisfied by it than me.
The author also has another book with a funny/good name, "I'll Get there. It Better Be Worth the Trip," which is about, according to a blurb on the back of my book, a "boy's loneliness and his attempts to overcome it," including "an incident with homosexual ingredients." If it's as charming but bleak and perspective as this book, it might be worth checking out.
April 15, 2025
I REALLY enjoyed this book!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews