Elliot Allagash

Description

Seymour isn't cool, but he isn't a geek either. He's a lonely, obedient 8th grade loser at Glendale, a second tier prep school in Manhattan. His chubbiness has recently earned him the nick name Chunk Style and he has resigned himself to a life of isolation. All of this is about to change. Allagash, the arrogant heir of America's largest fortune, finds himself marooned at Glendale. Try as he may, Elliot cannot get expelled this time; his father has donated too much money. Bitter and bored, Elliot decides to amuse himself by taking up a new hobby: transforming Seymour into the most popular student in school. as Elliot introduces Seymour to new concepts, like power, sabotage and vengeance. With Elliot as his diabolical guide, Seymour gradually learns about all of the incredible things that money can buy, and the one or two things that it can't. Hilarious, ingenious and tightly plotted, Elliot Allagash reminds you what your teens were like, and why growing up is so hard to do.

Simon Rich writes for the popular TV sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, where his sketches have starred celebrities from Justin Timberlake to Anne Hathaway. He is also a screenwriter as well as the author of two humour collections, Free Range Chickens and Ant Farm (the latter was nominated for the prestigious 2008 Thurber Prize). His work has often appeared in The New Yorker and his short story Strong and Mighty Men won the Harvard short story prize. He graduated from Harvard University, where he was president of The Harvard Lampoon. Rich is 25 years old and Elliot Allagash is his first novel.

A sharp, clever, blisteringly funny debut. -- Kate Saunders * The Times * A hilarious, high-spirited and hormone-fuelled romp through teenage angst and offbeat antics. * Monocle * A fantastically ingenious and unique approach to the tale of a turning worm. -- Imogen Russell-Williams * Guardian * Clueless for boys... suspect that, if he had a literary ancestor in mind as he charted Seymour Herson's rise, it was not Austen or [Amy] Heckerling, but Evelyn Waugh... ...studded with rococo set pieces of ruthless masculine one-upmanship... a joy to read... Open the book on the beach or by the lake, and shed a crocodile tear, if you can muster one, for the craven ambition of youth. -- Liesl Schillinger * The Daily Beast * I found Simon Rich's first novel, about an evil teenage billionaire, to be suspenseful and hilarious. I am so glad I don't have to lie in this blurb like I usually do -- Judd Apatow, Producer of Superbad I am a big fan of Simon Rich's first two books, which were wonderful pupu platters of absurdist comedy. And now comes his first novel, which is one of the funniest books about high schoolers since The Catcher in the Rye. We all must pray that Simon Rich won't move to New Hampshire and become a recluse who spends his time reading Eastern philosophy. Because we need more books from this guy -- A. J. Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically Fellow high school losers, use your video game money to buy this book! Simon Rich will make you relive the dread, the hilarity, and the insanity of those formative years like no one else. Open at your own peril! -- Gary Shteyngart, author of Super Sad True Love Story, Absurdistan and The Russian Debutante's Handbook Imaginative premises abound. . . . As unpredictable as YouTube, as in your face as MySpace * Publishers Weekly * Rich is always funny, and he nails the bogus solemnity of high-school social politics. A high-school romp that John Hughes should be so lucky to direct * Kirkus Reviews * An unfailingly funny and compulsively readable mix of sweet and sour that will leave readers hoping for another helping * Booklist * Praise for Simon Rich: Hilarious. Open this book anywhere, begin reading, and you will laugh -- Jon Stewart Savagely funny * New York Times * Funnyman Simon Rich gives Pygmalion a makeover in his debut novel, Elliot Allagash. -- Elissa Schappell * Vanity Fair * Simon Rich's absurdist approach to the underdog archetype makes for a hilarious and heartwarming romp. * USA Today * A teenage billionaire collides with a high school loner in Rich's amusing look at growing up. Diabolical Elliot Allagash decides to turn loser Seymour into the most popular kid at school, with delightful consequences. -- Robert Chilver * Waterstone's Books Quarterly * A hilariously satiric novel peppered with innovative anecdotes... the comedy is fast-paced and enthralling... laugh-out-loud... While many find it difficult to translate their comedy from the stage to the page, Rich demonstrates that not only is he capable of doing so, he's good at it too. -- Emma Langman * The List * If ever a book seemed custom-made for adaptation into a successful teen movie, the debut novel from Saturday Night Live writer Simon Rich is it. The plot is like that of the greatest film John Hughes never made: less Ferris Bueller's Day Off, more Ferris Bueller's Adolescence Off... a winning comic formula. Peppered with riotous teen angst - and effortlessly readable - this is a novel that one consumes like a pleasantly tangy packet of crisps. -- Tom Cox * Daily Mail * If you love teen flicks like Mean Girls and Clueless, welcome to their literary equivalent. Cool, smart and laugh-out-loud funny. * Heat * An excellent novel from a rising comedic star. -- Julian Fleming * Sunday Business Post * Rich is intimately familiar with the subject, and nails everything. The novel is assured, deft in its rendering of teen relationships and, perhaps more remarkably, funny without resorting to the kind of gross-out humour common in this sort of setting. All laughs and no barfs, it's a breezy read. -- Alex Rayner * Guardian *