This may be Simon Rich’s first novel, but the 25 year old already has CV lined with achievements and accolades those twice his age would be jealous of. As well as being the youngest ever writer on American televisual institution Saturday Night Live, he’s written for a plethora of top notch magazines and edited two humour collections.

Given he’s probably not stopped working since he graduated high school, his choice to set his debut novel there is perhaps because it’s the time in his life he’s paused for breath long enough to salvage a few memories. Or maybe it’s because he feels he has a good grip on the novel’s subject matter. Either way, Elliott Allagash reads like a story equally steeped in pink fuzzy nostalgia and stomach churning memories.

Elliott Allagash is the kind of story John Hughes spent years telling. Rather than showing the glossy characters that dominate teen dramas like Gossip Girl and the remade 90210, Rich prefers the eccentrics characters that Hughes made huge stars in the 80s – the lovable losers, the ones who had stories to tell, journeys to undergo and, as Rich is keen to stress at the book’s climax, lessons to learn.

To sum up the plot as simply as possible is to say it’s a twisted re-telling of underrated and much copied 90s high school flick She’s All That, just without the prom. The book’s main protagonist is Seymour Herson, the loser supreme of his high school. As hopeless with girls as he is with schoolwork, Seymour is the lowest of the low, until he meets Elliott Allagash. Elliott is beyond rich, the heir to a colossal fortune; neither he, nor any of his great great great grandchildren will ever have to want for anything. This, as you might imagine, means Elliott is very, very bored and spends his life attempting more and more audacious challenges to keep his brain occupied. His latest one is Seymour, who he decides, will first become the most popular kid in school and then achieve a series of dazzling accomplishments.

This plays out over a tidy 220 pages very nicely. Rich’s style is engaging, full of wit and, as a schooled comedy writer, there’s a steady stream of quality gags and one liners to keep you entertained. You get to know and like the characters quickly and, with a subtlety that’s rare for debut novelists, and even rarer when writing about adolescence, your heart strings get a constant, tuneful plucking.

Rich does falls down a little with the character’s arc though, with most decisions taken feeling like the safety first option and the lessons they learn are, as a result, quite predictable, money can’t buy happiness etc. None of the characters are as cruel as they could be and Rich clearly has enough distance and closure on his high school career to forget the ruthless bear pit it really is.

Still, Elliott Allagash is a pretty good debut novel that should allow him the freedom and scope to do something more interesting next time round. And though Rich is probably bored with reading that he’s someone with potential, having achieved so much already – but that’s what he has, by the ocean liner load. A funny, well crafted debut.

Reviewed by Tom Goodwyn

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