Elliot Allagash by Simon Rich

Elliot Allagash, the book’s namesake and driving character is a blatant mash up of John Irvine’s Owen Meany, and the rich brat from Kick-Ass: a 15 year old chauffeur driven, scrawny genius with a sickly constitution, a penchant for martinis and a megalomaniacal millionaire for a father. The characters are unoriginal, and the plot follows suit: Allagash targets dumpy, unpopular Seymour because he needs a new hobby – Making Seymour the most popular boy in school (Hark! Emma; Clueless). The story is told through Seymour’s eyes and what follows is a couple of years filled with strategic ploys, games, purchases ultimately making Seymour the epicentre of cool. But then, in a ‘cruel twist’, Seymour begins to question the integrity of his friendship with Allagash and what follows is a clumsy and dull introspective period for both characters. Simon Rich is a young author, and has some kudos in US comic circles, but this novel, aside from its blatant plagiarism, is clumsy and weak, and its attempts at humour unfortunately fall well short of laugh out loud or even silent appreciation. Rich should do 30 back to back shows at the Edinburgh fringe, that’ll sort him out. [Renée Rowland]