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Summary: "Roach Couch, Yale Student, Lunch Monsters?"
Review: If you wondering what a roach coach has to do with a Yale student, and who or what are Lunch Monsters, well it's all right here for you to find out. I think this is Tom Perrotta's best novel yet, although "Election" is right on its tail. I enjoyed this novel and by the middle of the book I felt like I knew these characters and cared about them. Perrotta really knows how to write about college life. He has everything done to a tee. Danny's life as a Yale junior, his affairs with Cindy and Polly, plus his involvement in his father's business on his school breaks all lead to some very funny, and interesting situations. Whether you like Danny's as a person you'll have to decide for yourself. I thought he was kind of a sad character myself, but a person who seemed to get what he wants in a round about way.I usually enjoy Tom Perrotta's novels. They have a way of taking you away and are an easy read for a quiet afternoon or evening. I certainly look forward to his next selection.
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Summary: Tom Perrotta is like a Jumbly Nick Hornby, but good
Review: 4 out 5 stars!
Joe College is a really funny book that keeps you interested the whole time. It's about Danny, a guy who runs his dad's "Roach Coach" lunch truck in the summers, and is a avid working student at Yale during the fall. The main flow of the story switches off between his current times in college, and his summer adventures. He get many love flames through out the story, and each one has some sort of problem that he has to encounter. Danny goes through some crazy stuff, but manages to stay sane somehow. This book is very realistic if you are a guy reading it, you can relate many girl problems and events Danny has with his friends that you have with yours. This story is more of a collections of events that happen through out Danny's life more than it is a novel, but its hilarious, and its so easy to relate to. Danny enjoys college life, and obsesses over the use of highlighters in his stories. He reminds himself nightly about how he has to finsish some book, but always says he can just finish it at breakfast. This book would be a great movie. I relate Perrotta to Hornby because I read "High Fidelity," and a little bit of "About a Boy," and the styles, situations and themes are the same. I love both of their writing styles, so i reccomend both. I reccommend this story more towards late teenaged guys, its more of a guy's view on life, and easier to associate.
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Summary: even funnier than Little Children
Review: Perrotta's a bigshot bestselling author now that he has Little Children (which I loved), but make sure you go back and check out his dead-on look at life for a blue-collar boy who hits it big at Yale (but can't shake his N.J. girlfriend). Funny and charming.
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Summary: You don't have to be from the Garden State...
Review: Ever since Election I became a Tom Perrotta fan. Like the protagonist Danny in Joe College, I am a native of Jersey who also graduated from an Ivy League school in the early 80s. I think that combined with a very entertaining story is why I couldn't put it down and finished it in two days. In retospect it's not a great novel but certainly one worth reading. Joe College is a real period piece, a world of pretension in its very accurate depiction of students in an ivory tower world contrasted with the blue collar grit of Jersey. Now that this once much maligned state is now somewhat in vogue (thanks Sopranos) its fun to read about the very accurate love/hate relation its residents have - I moved to California in '84 which was my first chance to get out but still hold it in high regard. Great story, great characters and definitely poignant at times. Highly recommended but don't expect an unforgettable experience, just a very satisfying one.
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Summary: Great Book - But Not Perrotta's Best
Review: I first read about Tom Perrotta in the New York Times Book Review, when "The Wishbones" came out. Rarely have I had such an enjoyable read. As a native of New Jersey who was best man in a classic Northern Jersey, blue collar wedding, Perrotta astounded me with his ability to get his characters, dialog, and plot lines just right. When "Election" came out, I read it in one morning on a beach in Mexico, but once again, felt transported to my teenage days in New Jersey. And finally, I read Perrotta's first book, "Bad Haircut - Stories of the '70's," and found that to be a gem as well. Which was why I found "Joe College" a disappointment. Perhaps it was a matter of reaching too far, but this novel found the author floundering a bit. While Perrotta still builds likable, yet complicated characters, in this novel he tried to build too much into it, and the result was at times, a muddled picture. I felt there were one or two subplots that could have been cut, which would have allowed the author to spend more time developing the principle characters. Don't get me wrong - I still recommend this book. Even if it is not Perrotta's best novel, Tom Perrotta at 80% is better than most novelists at 100%. Immediately upon finishing this, I found myself calling a good friend of mine who graduated from Yale in the 80's and told him to buy this book - pronto. And I also loved Perrotta's protagonist's way of balancing not only the two worlds he lived in, that of the traditional ivy-covered walls of Yale, against his blue collar, working class hometown in New Jersey, but also the Yale of his dreams and expectations against the Yale that he actually found. And I also could completely identify with the frustration of the protagonist's love life- the hopes, the let down's, the stops, the starts. Ultimately, I think "Joe College" will represent another level for Tom Perrotta. This novel was a bit darker, deeper and complicated than his previous ones. Perrotta is growing as a writer, and while this novel may seem like a small set- back, I still wholeheartedly recommend it. As I said, a Perrotta novel that falls slightly short of expectations is still better than most novels out there. And I can't wait for his next one.
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Summary: hilarious trip down memory lane
Review: Very funny look back at college life in the early 80's. I went to college a decade later but can still see a lot of myself in the protagonist and his friends. Danny, the main character,comes from a working-class background, which causes him to view Yale with a somewhat different perspective than his well-to-do dormmates. Although he enthusiastically samples this foreign world, he finds he is not able to leave his old life behind so easily. During a vacation, he becomes involved with an old high school classmate, and, largely due to his own passivity, lets the relationship continue after he goes back to school. The second half of the book takes place during a school break and examines the truth to the statement "you can't go home again" as Danny takes over his father's lunch truck route while he is recuperating from an operation. I won't describe all the messes this young man becomes entangled with, but suffice to say how he finally resolves them is hilarious. The only thing I disliked about the book was the often almost-maddening passivity of Danny. He seemed to have a knack for getting out of tough spots due to luck, not his own effort. As a result, he did not seem to grow much by the end. However, for a spot-on look at college during the Reagan years, read "Joe College."
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Summary: Hard to put down
Review: A very quick read, this is definately an amusing escape from reality. Memorable characters and somewhat outlandish situations bring me back to my college days in New England.
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Summary: A Modern Day Cather in the Rye!
Review: I read a review that compared this book to Salinger's character, Holden Caulfield (but yet a little more worldly and experienced). I couldn't agree more. For those of you who loved Salinger's novel, you will enjoy Joe College. An honest and cunningly written novel that takes you back to an age where you "thought" you knew everything. There are very few characters that you want to dislike, and yet despite all of their shortcomings, you completely identity with and end up loving! READ IT! J. Young
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Summary: My friends and I call it the bible...
Review: Perotta has an amazing gift for creating the anti-hero that all males can identify with. Who hasn't been in Danny's shoes - the uninterested partner in a casual relationship, the frustrated, overworked college student trying to fit in and not fail out, the 20 something year old fascinated by Kerouac, the guy on the verge of getting the perfect girl, the guy returning home from college to friends and family that have become distanced over time? Any Joe College could relate to this book, and every guy should read it...more than one of you will come away from it wondering how Tom Perotta managed to steal your life stories and put them in print.
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Summary: Scarily close to "real" life...
Review: I am from central NJ and am also a junior at Yale. I loved reading this book because I could relate to the descriptions of Danny's life both at school and at home. In fact, many of the scenarios in the novel are eerily similar to ones that I have experienced. Perrotta gets an A+ for verisimilitude. Neither Yale nor Jersey has changed all that much in overall character between 1982 and 2002 - at least not so much that the basic elements of class conflict described in the book would be outdated. Perrotta captures well the struggles facing anyone who goes from life in blue-collar suburbia to life in the hallowed halls of an Ivy League university.
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