Elliot Allagash

Simon Rich has finally landed on arrival with a fresh new novel.

Now remember, don't go thinking he's the new J.D. Salinger. He is however a very young writer for Saturday Night Live and he's already won us over with essays in his humorous collections of Free-Range Chickens and Ant Farm.

Here we have a novel about the most unpopular boy at school, Seymour  who's just been dubbed "chunk-style" at the private middle school he goes to in Manhattan. All is a slow boat to China of Seymour's existence until he meets transfer student Elliot Allagash. As it is Elliot is delinquent most days and has high hopes of being kicked out. Only his dad has donated too much money to the school. So he's stuck. And out of amusement, Seymour becomes his project to make Seymour the most popular boy at school.

Its a playful story that's wickedly funny, Elliot Allagash is a tale about all the incredible things that money can buy and some things it can't.