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How I Paid for College: A Novel of Sex, Theft, Friendship & Musical Theater
by: Marc Acito

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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9780767918541
ISBN: 0767918541
Label: Broadway
Manufacturer: Broadway
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 288
Publication Date: August 02, 2005
Publisher: Broadway
Release Date: August 02, 2005
Sales Rank: 80140
Studio: Broadway

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Editorial Review:

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:
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 humor 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

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- funny with a lot of heart
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 ... Read More

Rating:

- All the Details
Acito, Marc. "How I Paid for College", Broadway Books, 2005.

All the Details

Amos Lassen

"How I Paid for College" finds humor 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 ... Read More

Rating:

- hilarious!!
The only small negative comment I have: it made me feel so boring! I wish my youth was that interesting :)

But, seriously, read this book. It is hilarious, I've read it several times and it still makes me snort/giggle/laugh out loud!!

Rating:

- Mon Favorite!!!
This is my favorite book. ever.
Bottom Line.
This novel is amazing. To anyone interested in theatre this novel is something which you will read again and again.

ignore anything negative people have said about this because it is AMAZING!
OMFG. You have no idea. I have read this at least 20 times since it was first released and I am still laughing to myself and picking out little bits and pieces which I had forgotten since my last read.

Edward Zanni is the ultimate theatre kid.
One can only hope that a boy like he is as wonderful as portrayed in this book.
Of course, it is said this is just the life of Marc Acito.
If so, GO MARC! His life was amazing!

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