You should read 'Beth Cooper'

Remember high school? Recall that exquisitely awkward time of social minefields that you had to treacherously navigate every day or else be branded as an outcast forever?

In his new book, Larry Doyle explores the consequences of detonating all those mines simultaneously, leaving an open field for social advancement or crushing defeat.

“I Love You, Beth Cooper” is the story of an unlikely hero. Denis Cooverman is the school’s biggest nerd. He’s the smartest kid in school, and he’s sick of it. So he uses his valedictorian speech as the perfect opportunity to vent his myriad frustrations.

He calls out members of the student body one at a time on their flaws and hypocrisies in uncomfortable detail and caps off the entire affair by declaring his affection for most popular girl in school, as the title states.

What really sells this book is Doyle’s writing. A writer on shows like “The Simpsons” and “Beavis and Butt-Head,” Doyle shows his witty and clever prose that seems a cross between Douglas Adams and Dave Barry.

His jokes fly fast and free, and more often than not, they hit their mark. This book will have you laughing out loud and drawing odd stares from those around you.

The tale progresses as Beth Cooper surprises Denis and his best friend at their house that evening. Out of pity, she has decided to show the boys a night on the town. The boys are then chased by Beth’s boyfriend and his cronies, who all happen to be Army Rangers.

From a fight at a party, to a towel-whipping battle after hours in the high school locker room, to a sexy rendezvous at a secluded lakeside cabin, Doyle’s book gives the feeling of one of those stories you tell you friends about – that one legendary night.

Doyle manages to capture the essence of adolescence. His spot-on depiction of the emotions and problems of the insecure high school student will have the reader alternately laughing and nodding thoughtfully. It is a marvelous trip down memory lane, channeling the essences of movies like “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” and “Pretty in Pink.”

Reading this book, one can’t help but see it on the big screen. Apparently Hollywood agrees, because “I Love You, Beth Cooper” will be coming to theaters in July, starring Hayden Panettiere as the infamous target of Denis’ attention.

While the movie’s trailer has my hopes high, I can’t help but think that it will eventually be just another teen movie. There really is no way to translate Doyle’s rapid-fire, tongue-in-cheek wit onto the big screen. So while the movie may not stand out as new and original, the book itself is singularly spectacular.

I literally could not put this book down and stayed up late into the night to finish it all in one sitting. This clever and touching book is the perfect summer read. It will make you laugh, it might make you cry and it will leave you swimming in a sea of nostalgia.

Few books manage to ever find the comedic pacing that Doyle crams into every other sentence. This is easily one of the best books I’ve read this year.