Misconception

July 6, 2009
A breezy, humorous first novel from Boudinot (after his collection, The Littlest Hitler
) chronicles the awkward coming-of-age of a boy whose middle-school crush entwines him into the girl’s dysfunctional family. Cedar Rivers is first introduced when he brings in his own semen for inspection under the microscope in eighth-grade science class, a stunt that impresses incipient beauty Kat Daniels. Groping summer sexual experiments ensue and are cut short as Kat has to spend a month traveling with her mom and her mom’s creepy new boyfriend, George. When Kat returns pregnant, George is the assumed suspect. Boudinot is not overly concerned by this flimsy plot, managing to inject textual interest by alternating the narrative in the voices of first Cedar then Kat, whom Cedar meets with 20 years later to sign a waiver regarding the memoir she’s about to publish. There are ironic, tongue-in-cheek moments (“Ryan Boudinot” is the name of a critic who reviewed Kat’s first book), perhaps to remind the reader not to take any of this too seriously—especially the over-the-top ending—while Boudinot provides moments of gossamer prose.

August 1, 2009
Boffo comedy and compassionate attention to everyday familial and sexual boondoggles are almost perfectly blended in this zesty first novel from button-pushing Boudinot (stories: The Littlest Hitler, 2006).

It begins with adolescent Cedar Rivers getting suspended for bringing in a container of his semen for a school science project. His father, an overstressed lawyer, is suitably POed, but Cedar's mom, a medical photographer who's seen us all at our inner worst, takes it in stride. His classmates are mostly grossed out, except for incipient hot chick Kat, who's so taken with the pure product of Cedar's gonads that she stores it"in a secret compartment beneath her bracelets and necklaces," and designates him her de facto boyfriend. Some 20 years and many romantic crises later, he is an unmarried medical-company rep, and she a published writer of fiction whose just-completed memoir implicates Cedar in her personal history so vividly that Kat requires his permission to publish it. Cross-cutting deftly between their shared and separate adolescences and early adulthoods, the author assembles an irresistible R-rated comedy that features such attention-getting supporting players as the phlegmatically goofy host family that shelters Cedar when his parents combust, Kat's seductively trampy mother Veronica, the latter's loose-cannon ex Jerry and his designated replacement George, a weird combination of prude and provocateur. Boudinot displays crack comic timing, gets off some wonderfully indecent one-liners and constructs one credibly replete face-off scene after another; even a throwaway conversation between the chastened Cedar and a worldly-wise psychiatric counselor bristles with ironic wit. The central plot issue, hinted at by the perfect title, is handled with consummate energy and tact. Alas, all these wonders are seriously compromised by an unconvincingly melodramatic climax. Too bad, because for most of the way this kick-ass yarn threatens to become the most inviting comedy of wasted youth since Tom Perrotta's The Wishbones (1997).

Falters slightly just when it ought to soar, but keep your eye on Boudinot: He's on his way up.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

August 15, 2009
This debut novel from award-winning short story writer Boudinot is a coming-of-age-with-a-vengeance tale. Cedar Rivers is called to snowbound Albany by a former girlfriend to vet her memoir, which recalls events that took place during their summer romancesome of it written from his perspective. Reading the memoir takes Cedar back to that painful time of adolescent awkwardness, the breakup of his parent's marriage, his overwhelming obsession with sex, and the deadly result of his misconception of the events that overtake him. Using an interesting and innovative constructthe reader doesn't at first realize that the opening is actually a chapter from the memoirBoudinot captures the confusing and sex-driven nature of adolescence (to an extent that it is almost tedious) while addressing issues of poverty, child abuse, and the foibles of memory. VERDICT This book will appeal to a wide range of fiction readers, especially those who enjoy coming-of-age stories. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 5/15/09.]Joanna M. Burkhardt, Univ. of Rhode Island Libs., Providence

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