How I Paid for College

A Novel of Sex, Theft, Friendship, and Musical Theater

By: Marc Acito

Narrated by: Jeff Woodman

Length: 10 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

From syndicated humor columnist Marc Acito comes a wildly inventive and hysterically funny novel that is equal parts Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Fame, Risky Business, Dead Poets Society, and The Catcher in the Rye.

It's 1983, and 17-year-old Edward Zanni wants to study acting at Juilliard, but his newly remarried father, who earns too much for Edward to claim scholarship money, refuses to pay. So, Edward enlists the aid of his creative theater pals to swindle the money from his father. Posing as nuns and priests, the troupe concocts embezzlement and money laundering schemes to get Edward his badly needed cash.

How I Paid for College is a hilarious coming-of-age story that rings true with anyone who's ever dared to dream big.

©2004 Marc Acito (P)2004 Recorded Books, LLC

Critic reviews

"Acito nails his scenes one after another, from Edward's shifting (but always enthusiastic) sexuality to the silly messes he gets himself into. The result is a thumbs-up winner from a storyteller whose future looks as bright as that of his young hero." (Publishers Weekly)

Great Title for a book, but not a great book

Not that great of a book, the main character is whining and there is singing. Awful singing! I had high hopes for this book, but all it is about is a boy finding out he is gay and trying to pay for college.

Don't Be Fooled By the High Ratings

While I was listening to this book, I returned to this page to read the earlier reviews and confirm the customer ratings that had convinced me to listen to it. Perhaps I'd made a mistake and the high ratings were for another book. 5-Stars for this?

This mediocre book tries so hard to be both irreverent and profound, but is just an overwritten psuedo-catcher-in-the-rye-for-the-1980s. Although this book doesn't deserve to be compared to the Salinger classic, the author is so heavy handed in his attempt to model his protagonist after Holden Caulfield that it's impossible to ignore. Just to be sure that the reader doesn't miss this, the book includes a passage in which the protagonist openly compares himself to Caulfield. At that, I laughed out loud, but not for any reason that the author had intended.

I expect we will see "How I paid For College" as a TV movie of the week or a straight to video feature, but I don't plan to waste another 2 hours with this.