Has any boy ever loved a girl the way Alex loves Amy? Has there ever been a passion so intense, so ludicrous, so heartbreaking, so funny? Alex is fourteen years old. He's a sort of literary genius (or so he would like us to believe.) But when he falls under the spell of the thrillingly beautiful and elusive Amy Hart, his world falls to pieces. And she's moving to California in 26 days! He has got to tell her. He has got to tell her how he feels about her Indian moccasins... her striped socks... her self-mocking smile... the shape of her strong shoulders; the paleness of her face; the petulance of her lower lip; the way her hair falls against her cheek ....
The author of Me and Orson Welles has written a perfectly hilarious portrait of the pain of first love. Alex Icicle: A Romance in Ten Torrid Chapters is the director's cut - revised and restored by the author for a new generation of madmen. Here, at last, is a gloriously uninhibited version of the original 1984 novel, first published by Houghton-Mifflin Co.
From the original reviews:
"The funniest American YA novel and one of the finest parodies of Poe's style is Robert Kaplow's Alex Icicle: A Romance in Ten Torrid Chapters... Still the funniest adolescent novel around a spoof of books and styles, all without a moment's condescension." - Donelson and Nilsen, Literature for Today's Young Adults
"Deftly imitating the self-conscious vulgarities that callow youth affect to prove their worldliness, Kaplow has written a ribald comedy. The story also, however, evokes a 14-year-old's unrequited love, no laughing matter. "
- Publishers Weekly
"This offbeat book is just plain fun. Parts are so "gross" as to break all canons of good taste with adolescent glee. Be forewarned: there is something to offend everyone in its language and subject matter. But the narrator consistently maintains his pompous style: an amateurish parody of nineteenth century purple prose. And behind the silliness - the verbal hijinks and self-mockery - is a true depiction of adolescent infatuation: 'Sometimes, sometimes, enchanted reader, the lonely frog-prince can win the hand of the princess. It does happen; I know it does. It must.'"
- English Journal
"Kaplow, a contributor of satirical sketches to "Morning Edition" on National Public Radio, is an authentic original in the world of children's books. He seems to remember with fondness and more than a little bitterness exactly what it was like to be an outsider in the difficult world of adolescence."
- Northwest
"I thoroughly enjoyed your short novel. It was so full of wonderful feelings, mainly the greatest array of described pain. I commend you and thank you"
- Carl Reiner
Genre: General Fiction
The author of Me and Orson Welles has written a perfectly hilarious portrait of the pain of first love. Alex Icicle: A Romance in Ten Torrid Chapters is the director's cut - revised and restored by the author for a new generation of madmen. Here, at last, is a gloriously uninhibited version of the original 1984 novel, first published by Houghton-Mifflin Co.
From the original reviews:
"The funniest American YA novel and one of the finest parodies of Poe's style is Robert Kaplow's Alex Icicle: A Romance in Ten Torrid Chapters... Still the funniest adolescent novel around a spoof of books and styles, all without a moment's condescension." - Donelson and Nilsen, Literature for Today's Young Adults
"Deftly imitating the self-conscious vulgarities that callow youth affect to prove their worldliness, Kaplow has written a ribald comedy. The story also, however, evokes a 14-year-old's unrequited love, no laughing matter. "
- Publishers Weekly
"This offbeat book is just plain fun. Parts are so "gross" as to break all canons of good taste with adolescent glee. Be forewarned: there is something to offend everyone in its language and subject matter. But the narrator consistently maintains his pompous style: an amateurish parody of nineteenth century purple prose. And behind the silliness - the verbal hijinks and self-mockery - is a true depiction of adolescent infatuation: 'Sometimes, sometimes, enchanted reader, the lonely frog-prince can win the hand of the princess. It does happen; I know it does. It must.'"
- English Journal
"Kaplow, a contributor of satirical sketches to "Morning Edition" on National Public Radio, is an authentic original in the world of children's books. He seems to remember with fondness and more than a little bitterness exactly what it was like to be an outsider in the difficult world of adolescence."
- Northwest
"I thoroughly enjoyed your short novel. It was so full of wonderful feelings, mainly the greatest array of described pain. I commend you and thank you"
- Carl Reiner
Genre: General Fiction
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