Doyle, Larry. (2007). I love you, Beth Cooper. New York: Harper. ISBN: 978-0-06-174485-3. p. 273
Genre: Fiction/Comedy
Interest Age: 15+
Curriculum: NA
Reader’s Annotation
With 5 little words, “I love you, Beth Cooper”, Denis Cooverman began a Graduation Day he could never have imagined.
Plot Summary
During his valedictorian speech during his high school graduation ceremony, Denis Cooverman, a shy and constantly perspiring kid, decides to profess his undying love to the head cheerleader and girl who he has sat behind (yet, barely spoken a word to) his entire high school career, Beth Cooper. He also calls out the bully who has been tormenting him since middle school, the stuck up rich girl whom everyone hates, and his best friend, who may or may not be gay.
His profession of love also enrages Beth Cooper’s coked-up, Army soldier ex-boyfriend who targets Denis for termination. Denis’s only aid is his movie-quote-spouting best friend Rich.
In the grand tradition of Animal House, Revenge of the Nerds, and American Pie, I Love you, Beth Cooper is a farcical, teenage romp through a Graduation Night filled with sex, drugs, fights, cow-tipping, and destruction of property both private and public. As Denis so concisely states, “All my memories from high school are from tonight”.
Critical Review
The characters in I Love You, Beth Cooper, in no way live in reality. Instead they live in the consequence free world of the farcical teen-comedy. The entire book reads like a teen movie (and in fact, the movie was released in 2009, directed by Chris Columbus) in the vein of Animal House or American Pie. Kids drink and drive, have sex, break numerous laws, and cause major property damage without any serious consequences. But teaching a moral or ethical lesson is not the goal of such stories. The goal is to be funny and I Love You, Beth Cooper accomplishes this with gusto.
The humor stems from both the ludicrous situations our hero, Denis Cooverman, finds himself in as well as the witty and incredibly intelligent writing of Larry Doyle. Whether describing the vulgar hit “thrash rap” song “F**K this S***T” as “captur[ing] the essence of adolescence and expressed it in easy to understand language, while simultaneously managing to aggravate adults” or commenting on a playground’s ability to entertain children “despite its safety”, Doyle’s witty word play and dry sense of humor balance out the ludicrous moments where people are falling down or driving an SUVs through someone’s living room. The balancing of high and lowbrow comedy is executed nicely.
Although most of the characters are easily defined stereotypes (the nerdy, debate team valedictorian, vapid cheerleaders, boozing, violence prone jocks, etc…) Doyle does put a slight twist on the Beth Cooper character. She is not a dimwitted, bubbly cheerleader (although her friends fit this description to a tee). Instead she is far more introspective than Denis realizes. She’s the beautiful head cheerleader who knows the minute high school is over, she’s no longer special; she’s just another, ordinary girl.
She’s also FAR from the perfect girl that Denis had placed on a pedestal for the last four years. Had she been in a different book, Beth Cooper could have worked as the embodiment of the fear of leaving “the best time one’s life” and entering the real world. But this is not that story. Here, Beth Cooper opens beer bottles with her teeth and drives cars into living rooms.
The best thing to do is sit back and enjoy the lunacy and ridiculousness of it all.
Author Info
Larry Doyle has worked as a writer and producer on many TV shows and films, including a four year run as a writer-producer on The Simpsons. He has also written for the MTV shows Bevis & Butthead and Daria. He also produced and penned the screenplays for the films Duplex (2003) and Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003) as well as the film adaptation for his novel I Love You, Beth Cooper (2009). He also has worked as a reporter for the United Press International.
He has won two Emmy Awards as well the Thurber Prize for American Humor, 2008, for I Love You, Beth Cooper. Doyle currently resides in Los Angeles, CA. Although reviewers criticized his lack of originality, they have highly praised his “comedic skills”.
"Larry Doyle." Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit: Gale, 2009. Literature Resource Center. Web. 6 May 2010.
Book Talking Ideas
1. How are Denis’ perceptions of Beth Cooper different from the reality?
2. What “teen comedy” conventions does Doyle employ? Which ones does he alter or play with?
Challenges
While there are no current challenges to this novel, it is full of sex, drugs, underage drinking, profanity, violence and a general disregard for the law, personal safety, and common sense. But everything is done in the name of comedy and nothing is taken seriously. It probably should not be included in a Middle School library collection.
Why I choose this title
The premise sounded funny. Moreover, although the subject matter and comedy is fairly straight forward and lowbrow, Doyle’s writing is quiet witty and complex; it takes a seasoned reader with a strong vocabulary to fully appreciate the humor. This type of novel would be good for, older reluctant readers.
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