Manhattan Loverboy [Paperback]

Arthur Nersesian (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 24, 2000

Overly suspicious second novel from Arthur Nersesian, author of The Fuck-Up.

Nersesian's brilliant follow-up to his underground classic, The Fuck-Up, Manhattan Loverboyis paranoid delusion and fantastic comedy in the service of social realism. Updating the picaresque chronicles in L. Frank Baum's Wizard of Oz and Kafka's The Trial, MLB is the tale of an orphan whose only known background is that of the city itself, a scaffold-covered grid sewn together with "Do Not Cross" tape. In this overly suspicious masterpiece, love is expressed through corrective surgery, and families meet across boardroom tables.

Arthur Nersesian was managing editor of the literary magazine, the Portable Lower East Side. He was born and raised in New York City.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

It's bad enough that when Mr. and Mrs. Ngm adopt Joey they tell him that he has no heritage and is only a substitute for the child they couldn't have, but losing an unsolicited graduate fellowship at Columbia a semester before graduation sends him over the edge. Joey's confrontation with Whitlock, the man responsible for yanking his fellowship, leads to a series of events, from a new job to infatuation with Amy, who mysteriously asks to share his apartment, to his finally learning something about his real relationship with Whitlock. Part Lewis Carroll, part Franz Kafka, Nersesian (The Fuck-Up) leads us down a maze of false leads and dead ends, while Joey pursues Amy, battles Whitlock, and investigates his heritage. Joey's dilemmas are told with wit and compassion, drawing the reader into a world of paranoia and coincidence while illuminating questions of free will and destiny. Highly recommended.DJoshua Cohen, Mid-Hudson Lib. Syst., Poughkeepsie, NY
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"MLB is paranoid fantasy and fantastic comedy in the service of socal realism, using the methods of L. Frank Baum's Wizard of Oz or Kafka's The Trial to update the picaresque urban chronicles of Augie March, with a far darker edge...At its best, MLB assays the grittiest, funkiest urban-magic-realism yet, creating a satirical fiction avidly in search of the truth it's all too aware is even stranger than itself." -- Phil Leggiere, Downtown

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 203 pages
• Publisher: Akashic Books (April 24, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1888451092
• ISBN-13: 978-1888451092
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #844,663 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Arthur Nersesian is the author of eight novels, including the best-selling The Fuck-Up (more than 100,000 copies sold), dogrun (MTV/Simon & Schuster), Manhattan Loverboy (Akashic), Suicide Casanova (Akashic), Chinese Takeout (HarperCollins), Unlubricated

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Joey's Wild Ride, April 14, 2000

By 

Robert A. Shippy "drewcifer" (Fort Wayne, IN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Manhattan Loverboy (Paperback)

Nersesian's newest book is a fast-paced ride through the turbulent life of a grad. student with an imagination bigger than my professors' egos. I identified with Joey's fanatical behavior when his funding source pulled his grant, but the events that unfloded afterward could have only happened in NYC. Nersesian's quick wit and dark satire weave a fantastic story about what can happen when we try too hard to believe everything we think we see. Without question, I recommend this book as a welcome relief from the familiar ennui of graduate studies.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Deep light Reading, October 26, 2002

By 

H. Neill Jameson (somers point, nj United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Manhattan Loverboy (Paperback)

Neresian has the talent to create tales which are easy to swallow in a few sittings but are surprisingly loaded with character depth and strange twists and turns. This novel, like his previous works, does the same: by taking an under achiever-below avegerage character and putting them into extraordinary circumstances. It's very hard to even explore these stories without giving away some of the plot devices which make them so addictive.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Wild Ride!, April 27, 2004

By 

Kelly Irish (PDX, Oregon) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Manhattan Loverboy (Paperback)

From start to finish this book is a wild ride. Arthur Nersesian breaks all the rules and comes out a winner. His characters in Manhattan Loverboy are far from perfect, almost warped even, yet the reader is so intrigued it's nearly impossible to put the book down. By the end of this book, I couldn't believe the twists it had taken!

I'd recommend Nersesian's books to anyone who is looking for something a little different and a lot of great reading.