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Type of bind: Kindle Edition
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
Format: Kindle Book
Label: Broadway
Manufacturer: Broadway
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 348
Printing Date: September 07, 2004
Publishing house: Broadway
Release Date: September 07, 2004
Sale Popularity Level: 11090
Studio: Broadway
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
A deliciously funny romp of a novel about one overly theatrical and sexually confused New Jersey teenager’s larcenous quest for his acting school tuition
It’s 1983 in Wallingford, New Jersey, a sleepy bedroom community outside of Manhattan. Seventeen-year-old Edward Zanni, a feckless Ferris Bueller–type, is Peter Panning his way through a carefree summer of magic and mischief. The fun comes to a halt, however, when Edward’s father remarries and refuses to pay for Edward to study acting at Juilliard.
Edward’s truly in a bind. He’s ineligible for scholarships because his father earns too much. He’s unable to contact his mother because she’s somewhere in Peru trying to commune with Incan spirits. And, as a sure sign he’s destined for a life in the arts, Edward’s incapable of holding down a job. So he turns to his loyal (but immoral) misfit friends to help him steal the tuition money from his father, all the while practicing for his high school performance of Grease. Disguising themselves as nuns and priests, they merrily scheme their way through embezzlement, money laundering, identity theft, forgery, and blackmail. But, along the way, Edward also learns the value of friendship, hard work, and how you’re not really a man until you can beat up your father—metaphorically, that is.
How I Paid for College is a farcical coming-of-age story that combines the first-person tone of David Sedaris with the byzantine plot twists of Armistead Maupin. It is a novel for anyone who has ever had a dream or a scheme, and it marks the introduction to an original and audacious talent.
Amazon.com Review:
Columnist and first-time novelist Marc Acito has been called the 'gay Dave Barry.' But don't expect to find riffs on bad traffic, pirate-speak, and all-writer rock bands in Acito's debut, How I Paid for College: A Novel of Sex, Theft, Friendship & Musical Theater. As stated in the title, this book finds humour and adventure mainly in those topics that would most appeal to a stereotypically gay audience: musicals, piano bars, and sex, sex, sex.
Did I mention the sex? By the end of the book, the teenage characters are so liberated that they'd probably find an evening at Studio 54 slightly mundane. All kinds of interesting scenarios arise when Ed Zanni, a bisexual high-school drama club star from suburban New Jersey, is denied tuition to Julliard by his well-to-do father and wicked step mother. Fortunately his close friends, Paula (ample of body, unlucky in love), Kelly (Ed's cheerleader girlfriend), Doug (his football player love interest), Natie (a nerd with a gift for white-collar crime) and Ziba, (a regal, Middle Eastern beauty), are very willing to engage in fraud, forgery, and blackmail to help him pay for drama school. Ah, high school.
Despite the naughty bits, How I Paid for College is actually rather sweet. Set in high school as it is, Acito's book is somewhat reminiscent of young adult fiction. Yes, there's a lot more homoerotica than the Sweet Valley High series could have prepared readers for, but still it reminds one of those early days--full of tragedy and disappointment--and yet safely nestled in a time of life before real tragedy and disappointment usually set in. It's easy to forget this is a book for adults... until the three-ways commence. And a fast-moving, light-hearted story with three-ways? Well, entertainment-wise, readers could do a lot worse. --Leah Weathersby
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
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This is hands down the fastest, funniest book ever written.
There were times when I laughed so hard, so often it made me dizzy!
If you love Chris Moore or Nick Fowler this is a natural for you.
A tender coming of age book that features a brilliant albeit mismatched group of true friends and the families who damage them as only those who love you the most can. These characters are so vividly fleshed, you will be dreaming about them.
Humour is definitely the cure for whatever ails us all.
Rated by buyers -
This is probably close to what J.D. Salinger would have written if he were around yesterday (And Holden Caulfield was gay). I really enjoyed the outlandish humour and character building Marc Acito is so good at. I listened to the audio version in bed at night and found myself waking myself up with stifled giggles.
This is a wacky but endearing book. bg
Rated by buyers -
I absolutely love this novel. I can read it over and over again, and it makes me laugh so hard I almost cry. I've lent it to everyone I know, and they also love it. I can't wait for Marc Acito's future novels!
Rated by buyers -
Marc Acito's book, How I Paid for College, is a fast-paced, thrilling, completely hilarious read full of everything the subtitle suggests (sex, theft, friendship, and musical theater).
Follow the adventures of Edward Zanni as he struggles to find a way to pay for college after his father refuses to pay for acting school. This book is full of one zany adventure after the other, with each one topping the previous with laugh out loud moments.
The cast of characters is really what makes the book, which includes a very well-endowed jock turned theater guy, a cheerleader/actress who enjoys a little cunninglingus action done in one of the most creative ways I've ever read, an evil "stepmonster," a geeky jewish guy with a talent for breaking the law ... and on and on.
In the midst of all the laughs, Edward discovers who he is and the value of real friendship. That's the most charming thing about this book - the amount of heart in it.
Rated by buyers -
Acito, Marc. "How I Paid for College", Broadway Books, 2005.
All the Details
Amos Lassen
"How I Paid for College" finds humour in almost everything that most gay men love--musical theater, sex, piano bars, sex, tricks, hustling, and sex. In other words this is a book about sex--right?
Ed Zanni, a bisexual high school drama school star is told that his wealthy father and bitchy stepmother that they will not pay his tuition to Julliard. His menagerie of friends is willing to engage in fraud, blackmail and forgery to help him pay his way to drama school. Zanni is dying to get away from home and to college. He decides to move in with a friend so that he can establish financial independence in order to get a scholarship but can't seem to hold a minimum wage job. Finally his friend Nathan makes up a plan for him to steal from his gold-digging mother, Dagmar who has managed to sneak cash from her husband and keep it in a secret account. They set up a sham non-profit foundation which is to give a scholarship to someone who was born in Hoboken but of course there are problems with this.
The book, however, is more about teen sexuality than anything else. There is snappy writing here and the book is a laugh riot. Acito's imagination runs wild and we get to see teenagers involved in high crimes--all in the name of higher education. Here is a coming-of-age story that is a farce and is one of the funniest books I have ever read. Let's look at Eddie's friends--there is a drama geek football player combo, a guy who loves to break the law, a beautiful sweetie who loves sex, a cheerleader who is his girlfriend, a football player who is his boyfriend and a Middle Eastern beauty. Other characters include a handicapped gay drama teacher, Dagmar, his stepmother, Frank Sinatra fans and an entire supporting cast of some real weirdoes.
There are three kinds of people who should not read this book--homophobes who are weak at heart, insomniacs who read to fall asleep (this book will keep you up all night) and people who laugh loudly.
Here is a great fun read that will have you wanting more...and more...and more.
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