Synopses & Reviews
When Adam Freedman — a skinny, awkward, inexperienced teenager from Piedmont, California — goes to stay with his older sister Casey in New York City, he is hopeful that his life is about to change. And it sure does.
It is the summer of 2006. Gay marriage and transgender rights are in the air, and Casey has thrust herself into a wild lesbian subculture. Soon Adam is tagging along to underground clubs, where there are hot older women everywhere he turns. It takes some time for him to realize that many in this new crowd assume he is trans—a boy who was born a girl. Why else would this baby-faced guy always be around?
Then Adam meets Gillian, the girl of his dreams — but she couldnt possibly be interested in him. Unless passing as a trans guy might actually work in his favor . . .
Ariel Schrags scathingly funny and poignant debut novel puts a fresh spin on questions of love, attraction, self-definition, and what it takes to be at home in your own skin.
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“A smart, incredibly funny pastiche…Doyles writing is fast-paced and full of self-aware nods to the audience.” Houston Press - Blogs
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“Its all outlandish fun, but what do you expect from a former Simpsons writer?” Daily Candy Los Angeles
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“…hilarious coming-of-age novel…” Rocky Mountain News
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“…hilarious high school romp... never ceases to charm...unlike, say, PE.” E! Online - Cool Stuff
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“...a demonstration of the power of good comic writing…” Weekly Standard
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“...an instant classic, right up there with great end-of-school landmarks like American Graffiti and Dazed and Confused.” Tom Perrotta, bestselling author of LITTLE CHILDREN
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“Larry Doyle has created a perfect literary hot fudge sundae: sweet, naughty, delicious, irresistible.” Kurt Andersen
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“Doyle [injects] his own brand of insightful, engaging humor and convincingly recreates the high school experience...” New York Press
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“Larry Doyle…gives a 21st-century gloss to this familiar tale… wickedly funny…” New York Times Book Review
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“I Love You, Beth Cooper…made B&N fiction buyer Sessalee Hensley ‘laugh-snort through my nose.” USA Today
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“Fresh, sweet, seriously funny.” Newsweek
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“...darn funny.” Salt Lake Ci ty Tribune
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“If this book doesnt make you laugh out loud, something is wrong with you.” Dave Barry
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“...humorously addresses the agony and ecstasy of adolescence. Its high-school hell…Doyle has the scene down cold.” Kirkus Reviews
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“...hilarious...” Esquire
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“…the book is great... dark, absurdist, insanely funny send-up of a John Hughes movie…Buy it.” New York magazine
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“...a one-night-only joyride through Larry Doyles brilliant sense of humor.” David Schickler, author of SWEET AND VICIOUS and KISSING IN MANHATTAN
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“I have never laughed as consistently hard with (or at) anything as I did with this book…” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
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“In the flagrantly funny I Love You, Beth Cooper, Larry Doyle gives the coming-of-age novel a swirly.” Vanity Fair
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“Hip and hysterical...a fun, teen coming-of-age story.” Buffalo News
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One of the “best comedy books of the summer.” Time Out Chicago
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“…this side-splitting novel of adolescence is a classic teen movie waiting to be made.” Entertainment Weekly - The Must List
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“Gleefully clever and adroitly sweet.” USA Today
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“…outrageously funny novel… ” Booklist
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“This funny, hopeful novel is like a John Hughes movie in book form.” Indianapolis Star
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“...a romp, a goof, a wedgie to the coming-of-age novel... the book is blessed release.” Cleveland Plain Dealer
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“…this book is laugh-out-loud funny…” John Searles, NBC Weekend Today Show
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“Hilarious, suspenseful, and a little good-kind-of-sad, the novel is a mashup of John Hughes movies. Blueprint Magazine
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“Doyles hilarious debut novel [moves] at a clip but never forgets that humor needs heart, too.”
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"The book is sincere, dirty (but not in an excessive way), and downright hilarious. Schrag somehow manages to walk the increasingly thin tightrope of being respectful and yet brutally honest about transgender issues...While this book will surely be on the summer reading list for anybody with a family member or dear friend that fits under the LGBT umbrella, it could and should be enjoyable to anybody who picks it up. After all, its core message is universal. Surviving our teenage years is no small task." --The Daily Beast
"[Ariel Schrag] the lesbian graphic memoirist, a successor to Alison Bechdel, breaks out..." --Boris Kachka,Vulture, "8 Books You Need to Read This June"
"This hilarious, frank look at a young man pretending to be a trans-man in order to get a girl is transgressive and brutally honest—the rare book that pulls no punches for anyone."--Brooklyn Magazine, "25 Best Brooklyn Books of the Decade"
"Colorful and smart, [ADAM] understands that the struggle to discover one’s identity is somehow both ubiquitous and unique. With deep empathy and wit and humanity, Schrag has accomplished the seemingly impossible challenge of making the experience of marginalization and isolation feel universal." --Grantland, "June Book Recommendations: Young Adult for Adults"
"Ariel Schrag is one of the most talented human beings alive...Schrag’s writing is sharp and stylish but also effortlessly graceful; you almost don’t notice how great her sentences are because they flow straight into your brain, situating themselves there like some better, funnier version of your own thoughts." --Emily Gould, The Millions
"Compulsively readable, Adam sometimes seems like a YA novel, only with way more explicit sex. The book is also philosophical, presenting at its core, a question about gender, desire, and subjectivity: is sexual identity defined by who you have sex with, or who you think you’re having sex with….The gimmick at the center of Adam is a good one, and the complicated issues it provokes are profound." -- Bookforum
"While the book is funny, it's also quietly revolutionary—Schrag writes honestly about gender identity and sexuality in a way that's extremely rare, maybe unprecedented." --Gothamist, "Notable New Yorkers Share Their Summer Reading Recs"
"A completely original story, Adam tells a coming-of-age tale that is both modern and timeless, and one that both blurs the boundary between 'young adult' and 'adult' fiction."--Mashable, "24 Must-Read Books for Summer 2014"
"Not only is Adam a wonderful book, it is quite possibly the best entry in the coming-of-age category since Adam Wilson’s Flatscreen...Adam is one glorious buildup to something that you know can’t be a fairytale ending, and Schrag pulls it off in one funny, oddly sweet, and unique novel that nails a plot that just about anybody else would totally butcher." --Flavorwire, "Best Book of the Week"
"Ariel Schrag’s story about a teenager who goes to spend the summer in New York with his sister is unlike any coming-of-age story you’ll read anytime soon. Funny and tender... Anybody familiar with Schrag’s comics won’t be disappointed with her work as a novelist; if you haven’t read her other work, let Adam be your introduction and read everything else you can find of hers from there." -- Flavorwire, "10 Must Read Books for June"
"The story is heartfelt and hilarious, and explores concepts of gender and sexuality that aren’t really explored in other YA books. At least, none that I’ve read in recent memory. Definitely pick this one up. It’ll stick with you. " --BookRiot, "Best Books We Read in May"
"This book is EVERYTHING. Gorgeously observed, sharp-tongued, big-hearted, fearless. I can’t wait for the HBO series (this is not like a thing Nikki Finke has reported, this is just my Dreamland Hollywood Development Slate). Schrag forever and ever." --Kit Steinkellner, BookRiot, "The Best Books of 2014 So Far"
"Gives an authentic glimpse into N.Y.C’s underground queer culture...A compelling page turner with a suspenseful plot...A quick, easy, and captivating read, 'Adam' pulls you in." --Bust Magazine
"As a novel, Adam is novel. As a character, Adam is alive and well-written. In fact, all the characters are at once clearly and queerly delineated, uttering dialogue that is utterly colloquial. As far as prose goes, it is riveting, riotous, and ridiculously astute. Mendacity and veracity exist side by side, not separated by some great divide, the way gender and sexuality too often are…At its core, this is a story of transformations, celebrations, and revelations; of learning to embrace rather than efface the elasticity of gender and sexuality. Ariel Schrag doesn’t give it to you straight: her book is incisive and divisive, ingenuous and ingenious. It puts the “New” in New York City. So take a big bite of Adam’s Apple." --Curve Magazine
"Completely and totally charmed, and also vicariously embarrassed for the titular character." --The Chicago Tribune, "The Biblioracle: Favorite books of 2014...so far"
"[An] audacious coming-of-age novel...Schrag, best known for her series of graphic memoirs about her adolescence, has found compassionate and funny ways to talk about a subject most fiction avoids, and she has produced a truly original (and sexually explicit) coming-of-age novel...Adam is educational in the best sense of the word: Much of its audience will be as dazed and confused as Adam is in this brave new world, but Schrag sends you home with a greater understanding of all the permutations of what it means to be human." –The Miami Herald
"Graphic artist Ariel Schrag takes on the challenge of the traditional novel with the decidely nontraditional Adam, about a boy trying to pass as transgender to win the lesbian of his dreams (really)."--The Miami Herald, "A-Z of Summer Reading"
"Hilarious...Schrag's riotous, poignant debut novel will leave you reeling." --SF Weekly
"Schrag's frisky debut...is one of the most original coming-of-age stories of recent years." - Publishers Weekly
"Schrag’s gifts for characterization and dialogue make the whole enterprise sweetly entertaining...A well-composed story about love and lust in all their myriad variations and about a boy finding his place in a mixed-up, muddled-up, shook-up world." -- Kirkus
"Ariel Schrag's book is a kind of ‘Adam in Wonderland,’ with its young hero exploring worlds usually kept underground. An insightful, funny, and unexpected love story, told with wit and compassion." —Aimee Mann
"The sexual revolution is finally over, and Ariel Schrag has won. Adam is the most twisted, hilarious, and deeply gratifying reading experience I have had in a long time." —Alison Bechdel, author of Fun Home and Are You My Mother?
"Hysterically funny and deliciously precise…Schrag writes as elegantly about sex parties as she does about the complicated emotions of awkwardness." —Nico Muhly, composer of Two Boys
"Sexually frank and frankly hilarious." —Ned Vizzini, author of It’s Kind of a Funny Story
Review
"The nonstop action, romantic intrigue, and everyteen haplessness on Perry's part remains an incendiary combination."
—Publishers Weekly, starred review
"Just as the Bourne franchise gets better with each movie, so does this action/spy-thriller series. . . . A thrilling sequel that won't disappoint fans."
—School Library Journal
"Perry's Killer Playlist is an action-packed novel that moves very quickly. It's full of interesting characters who lead secret lives."
—Kayla T., age 15, SLJ Teen
"Hilarious, smart, the ultimate good guy, Perry is a reluctant James Bond caught up in another one of Gobi's La Femme Nikita-esque outa-control rollercoaster rides in this sequel to Au Revior, Crazy European Chick."
—Justine magazine
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"Keshni Kashyap's words and Mari Araki's illustrations combine to wonderful effect in this honest and funny graphic novel." and#8212;Entertainment Weekly (Must List) "Tina Fey's snarky humor in a teenager's body and we really can't get enough."and#160;and#8212;Nylon Magazine "Instead of just charting the discoveries of a smart kid's adolescence, Tina's Mouth can make you feel them. This is familiar material, yes, but it's familiar in the way of philosophy and pop songs can be: At their best, the breathless feelings, dramatized by Kashyap and Araki might match up to a corresponding one in youand#8212;and then set it off like fireworks."and#160;and#8212; San Francisco Weekly "Slangy and funny and honest, like a mix of John Hughes, J.D. Salinger and Marjane Satrapi."and#160;and#8212; The A.V. Club A "charming coming-of-age tale." --Publishers Weekly "Kashyap's story is clever and genuinely felt...Araki's quirky black-and-white art suits the story well and amplifies the tide of events...A complete package that gives both Sartre and Tina their due."and#160;and#8212; Booklist, STARRED review "With her deadpan wit and gift for observation, Kashyapand#8217;s Tina brings to mind any number of disaffected teens, but she is also, at heart, a very good girl. A charming, hip, illustrated coming-of-age tale."and#160;and#8212; Kirkus Reviews "A completely charming voice...will delight fans of Sartre and Salinger alike."and#160;and#8212; Aimee Bender, author of The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake "Kashyap perfectly captures the universal angst of high school and puts her own unique, wickedly smart spin on it." and#8212;Janelle Brown, author of All We Ever Wanted Was Everything "Kashyap captures the high school universe and articulates teenage angst with a finesse and dry wit that will charm fans of Catcher in the Rye and Juno."and#160;and#8212; Hyphen Magazine
Synopsis
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 classmates and their 3,000 relatives and said something 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 vaguest idea who Denis is.
And Denis, the captain of the debate team, is so far out of her league he is barely even the same species.
And then there's Kevin, Beth's remarkably large boyfriend, in town on furlough from the United States Army.
Complications ensue.
Denis comes of age overnight in this exhilarating, endearing novel that reminds us why we can't wait to escape high school but can never leave it behind.
Synopsis
A side-splittingly funny debut novel which follows the graduation night coming-of-age of a high school valedictorian who — instead of giving the usual speech — publicly confesses his eternal love for the most popular girl in school.
Synopsis
Denis Cooverman wanted to say something really important in his high school graduation speech. So, in front of his 512 classmates and their 3,000 relatives, he announced: "I love you, Beth Cooper."
It would have been such a sweet, romantic moment. Except that Beth, the head cheerleader, has only the vaguest idea who Denis is. And Denis, the captain of the debate team, is so far out of her league he is barely even the same species. And then there's Kevin, Beth's remarkably large boyfriend, who's in town on furlough from the United States Army. Complications ensue.
Synopsis
The sweet and subversive debut novel by award-winning memoirist and screenwriter Ariel Schrag. Sometimes a queer girl summer in New York is just what a straight boy needs.
Synopsis
Double crossings, kidnappings, CIA agents, arms dealers, boat chases in Venetian canals, and a shootout in the middle of a Santa Claus convention ensue in this laugh-out-loud action packed sequel to the critically acclaimed Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick.
Synopsis
When Perry ends up in Venice on a European tour with his band, Inchworm, he cant resist a visit to Harrys Bar, where Gobi told him shed meet him someday. The last time he saw Gobi, five people were assassinated one crazy night in New York City. Well . . . Gobi shows up, and once again Perry is roped into a wild, nonstop thrill ride with a body count. Double crossings, kidnappings, CIA agents, arms dealers, boat chases in Venetian canals, and a shootout in the middle of a Santa Claus convention ensue.
Synopsis
From a filmmaker,and#160;the story of a high schooland#160;heroine--funny, wise, and reminiscent of Marjane Satrapi--negotiating an existentially trying spring semester at herand#160;southern Californiaand#160;prep school
Synopsis
In the tradition of
Persepolis and
American Born Chinese, a wise and funny high school heroine comes of age.
Tina M., sophomore, is a wry observer of the cliques and mores of Yarborough Academy, and of the foibles of her Southern California intellectual Indian family. She's on a first-name basis with Jean-Paul Sartre, the result of an English honors class assignment to keep an and#8220;existential diary.and#8221;
Keshni Kashyapand#8217;s compulsively readable graphic novel packs in existential high school dramaand#8212;from Tina getting dumped by her smart-girl ally to a kiss on the mouth (Tinaand#8217;s mouth, but not technically her first kiss) from a cute skateboarder, Neil Strumminger. And it memorably answers the pressing question: Can an English honors assignment be one fifteen-year-old girland#8217;s path to enlightenment?
About the Author
Keshni Kashyap was raised in Los Angeles, California. She studied literature at Berkeley and film at UCLA. Tinaand#8217;s Mouth: An Existential Comic Diary is her first book.
Illustrator Mari Araki, an artist and storyteller, was raised in Ishikawa, a suburb of Kanazawa.andnbsp; She is a graduate ofandnbsp;Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, and lives in Southern California.