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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
'A winning comic formula. Peppered with riotous teen angst' --Daily Mail
'If you love teen flicks like Mean Girls and Clueless, welcome to their literary equivalent.' --Heat
'Rich is intimately familiar with the subject, and nails everything. All laughs and no barfs, it's a breezy read.' --Guardian
'If you love teen flicks like Mean Girls and Clueless, welcome to their literary equivalent.' --Heat
'Rich is intimately familiar with the subject, and nails everything. All laughs and no barfs, it's a breezy read.' --Guardian
Book Description
As manipulative as Cruel Intentions, as competitive as Election, as geeky as Napoleon Dynamite, Elliot Allagash is a wonderfully original take on a much loved genre
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Part coming-of-age story, part high school satire, Elliot Allagash is one of the cleverest books I've read in a long time. Absurd, exhilirating and sometimes just plain odd, this tale of one boy's pact with the devil has had some mixed reviews - but I have no idea why. It's genius.
We see events through the eyes of resigned loser, Seymour, but it's Elliot Allagash himself who really steals the show. The only son of an impossibly rich widower, Elliot is keenly aware that his money makes him hugely powerful. As a human being, he has no redeeming qualities whatsoever. He's ruthless, manipulative and utterly without empathy for his peers. But as a character, he's fascinating. For Elliot, life is all about cheating. From fixing the results of a school election to enacting overblown revenge on anyone who dares to slight him, it's like sport to him. He disects the world around him with a cold detachment, exploiting his opponents' weaknesses and revelling in his own cleverness.
Which is why, from the moment that Elliot tells Seymour - the most unpopular boy at Glendale Prep - that he can make him king of the school, we know it's not out of the goodness of his heart. And yet, there's something so clever about Elliot's methods that it's impossible not to feel at least a little impressed by them. Besides, there's an element of wish-fulfilment here for the reader too: who doesn't want the likeable loser to seize power from the hands of those who ignore and torment him? Simon Rich weaves a tale as enticing as it is entertaining, spiked with potent dark humour and just a dash of poignancy. Occasionally we have to suspend our disbelief a little further than is comfortable, but it's worth it - and easy when you're having fun. While drawing lightly on familiar tales of genies and Faustian Bargains, Rich tells his story with a fresh voice and with his own brand of endearingly quirky symbolism.
Elliot Allagash is unusual, hilarious, and deceptively smart. I'm not in the least bit surprised that there's a movie adaptation in the pipeline, but I would recommend checking it out now in novel form for something deliciously different.
We see events through the eyes of resigned loser, Seymour, but it's Elliot Allagash himself who really steals the show. The only son of an impossibly rich widower, Elliot is keenly aware that his money makes him hugely powerful. As a human being, he has no redeeming qualities whatsoever. He's ruthless, manipulative and utterly without empathy for his peers. But as a character, he's fascinating. For Elliot, life is all about cheating. From fixing the results of a school election to enacting overblown revenge on anyone who dares to slight him, it's like sport to him. He disects the world around him with a cold detachment, exploiting his opponents' weaknesses and revelling in his own cleverness.
Which is why, from the moment that Elliot tells Seymour - the most unpopular boy at Glendale Prep - that he can make him king of the school, we know it's not out of the goodness of his heart. And yet, there's something so clever about Elliot's methods that it's impossible not to feel at least a little impressed by them. Besides, there's an element of wish-fulfilment here for the reader too: who doesn't want the likeable loser to seize power from the hands of those who ignore and torment him? Simon Rich weaves a tale as enticing as it is entertaining, spiked with potent dark humour and just a dash of poignancy. Occasionally we have to suspend our disbelief a little further than is comfortable, but it's worth it - and easy when you're having fun. While drawing lightly on familiar tales of genies and Faustian Bargains, Rich tells his story with a fresh voice and with his own brand of endearingly quirky symbolism.
Elliot Allagash is unusual, hilarious, and deceptively smart. I'm not in the least bit surprised that there's a movie adaptation in the pipeline, but I would recommend checking it out now in novel form for something deliciously different.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
After several months of reading very long, very serious novels for our book club, this book was (I initially thought) light relief!
The cover and blurb led me to believe that this was going to be a fun, Gossip Girl-style story...and it was, sort of. The cleverness and depth of this book belies the frothy cover, and although I laughed many times over the course of the story the overwhelming tone and message is a pretty dark one.
I have to say that I loved this book - Elliot's twisted power-mad persona and his equally bonkers father Terry are delightfully awful - and I'm thrilled that the film rights have been bought by Jason Reitman (Juno, Up In The Air), as I think it will be a cracking movie.
Highly recommended.
The cover and blurb led me to believe that this was going to be a fun, Gossip Girl-style story...and it was, sort of. The cleverness and depth of this book belies the frothy cover, and although I laughed many times over the course of the story the overwhelming tone and message is a pretty dark one.
I have to say that I loved this book - Elliot's twisted power-mad persona and his equally bonkers father Terry are delightfully awful - and I'm thrilled that the film rights have been bought by Jason Reitman (Juno, Up In The Air), as I think it will be a cracking movie.
Highly recommended.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I'm a bit embarrassed to read that this is supposed to be "young adult" fiction, since I thought it was excellent and I'm middle-aged! I had no sense that I was reading a book pitched at a young market. It's superbly well-written, inventive, full of surprises and very funny. I'll be buying several people this for Xmas.
It's set in a New York high school but as a UK reader that didn't give me any problems. Can't wait for this guy to write some more.
It's set in a New York high school but as a UK reader that didn't give me any problems. Can't wait for this guy to write some more.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
The Cost of a Free Lunch.
Elliot Allagash is a highly entertaining read from start to finish. It's one of those books where you know something cringe-makingly awful is going to happen to the central... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Quicksilver
A Fun Read
When Seymour Herson becomes friends with Elliot Allagash, little does he know what that means. Seymour is one of the school losers, and Elliot comes from an obscenely rich family. Read more
Published 9 months ago by M. Dowden
Funny and touching
A coming of age story, a comedy, a comment on the seductive power of wealth. That might sound a muddle, but it works. Very engaging.
Published 12 months ago by S. Graham
A new look on American schools!
I felt really sorry for Seymour to begin with. For starters, the way he introduces his parents to Elliot is by telling them that he pushed him down the stairs. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Fiction_Fan
awesome coming of age YA novel
From the minute you start reading this book you can tell that Elliot is not a normal boy. He's introduced by Seymour telling his parents that Elliot had pushed him down the stairs,... Read more
Published 16 months ago by R. Greenland
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