236 Pounds of Class Vice President: A Memoir of Teenage Insecurity, Obesity, and Virginity

by Jason Mulgrew

Overview

Jason Mulgrew, popular blogger and author of Everything Is Wrong with Me, continues his depreciating yet hilarious self-reflection with 236 Pounds of Class Vice President. 

Set in Mulgrew’s high school years, this genuine and honest memoir revisits his teenage antics and escapades as he, while navigating the indignity of puberty, attempts to run for vice president of the student body, displays a penchant for long fur capes, and (naturally) wonders about sex. 

Mulgrew’s blog, Everything Is Wrong with me, has received more than 200 million hits since its inception in 2004. Complete with awkward, “what was he thinking?” photos—unmitigated proof of Mulgrew’s ungainly adolescence—236 Pounds of Class Vice President is an no-holds-barred yet tender look at the years some of us would rather forget.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062080837
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	02/12/2013
Series:	P.S. Series
Edition description:	Original
Pages:	200
Product dimensions:	7.80(w) x 5.20(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Jason Mulgrew is the New York Times bestselling author of Everything Is Wrong with Me: A Memoir of an American Childhood Gone, Well, Wrong. He was named one of People's "50 Hottest Bachelors" (seriously). He lives in New York.

What People are Saying About This

Neal Pollack

“A funny confessional from the American ethnic hinterlands. Jason Mulgrew is the John Hughes of South Philadelphia.”

Rachel Shukert

“I love 236 Pounds of Class Vice President. Should I call Jason Mulgrew brave? Hilarious? Honest? Gifted? Stunning? Tender? Let’s just put it this way: he may be the best man on the planet.”

Dave Hill

“I want to thank Jason Mulgrew for letting me know that, while I’m not an awkward teen anymore, I wasn’t entirely alone back then after all—it turns out there was another weird kid making poor decisions and masturbating furiously whenever time permitted….Thank you, Jason—the healing begins now.”

Editorial Reviews

Mulgrew returns to his formative years at an exclusive prep school for bright boys and finds a ton of absurdist comedy gold to mine. . . . Relentlessly self-deprecating yet unabashedly accepting, the author displays a palpable sense of humanity.” — Kirkus Reviews

“I want to thank Jason Mulgrew for letting me know that, while I’m not an awkward teen anymore, I wasn’t entirely alone back then after all—it turns out there was another weird kid making poor decisions and masturbating furiously whenever time permitted….Thank you, Jason—the healing begins now.” — Dave Hill, author of Tasteful Nudes

“A funny confessional from the American ethnic hinterlands. Jason Mulgrew is the John Hughes of South Philadelphia.” — Neal Pollack, author of Alternadad and Stretch

“I love 236 Pounds of Class Vice President. Should I call Jason Mulgrew brave? Hilarious? Honest? Gifted? Stunning? Tender? Let’s just put it this way: he may be the best man on the planet.” — Rachel Shukert, author of Everything Is Going to Be Great

From the Publisher

A funny confessional from the American ethnic hinterlands. Jason Mulgrew is the John Hughes of South Philadelphia.

Neal Pollack

I love 236 Pounds of Class Vice President. Should I call Jason Mulgrew brave? Hilarious? Honest? Gifted? Stunning? Tender? Let’s just put it this way: he may be the best man on the planet.

Rachel Shukert

I want to thank Jason Mulgrew for letting me know that, while I’m not an awkward teen anymore, I wasn’t entirely alone back then after all—it turns out there was another weird kid making poor decisions and masturbating furiously whenever time permitted….Thank you, Jason—the healing begins now.

Dave Hill

Mulgrew (Everything Is Wrong with Me, 2010) returns to his formative years at an exclusive prep school for bright boys and finds a ton of absurdist comedy gold to mine. As a teen, the author enjoyed growing up in a close-knit, lower-middle-class neighborhood in Philadelphia, where scrapes were common and everybody knew your business. But Mulgrew also pined for the rarified atmosphere of elevated learning offered by Saint Joseph's Preparatory School. The author has a good sense of comic timing, whether he's relating his introduction to the wonderful world of self-gratification or describing his penchant for wearing a full-length fur cape around school grounds. Mulgrew's cynical run for class vice president serves as the penultimate moment of his often-raucous recollections, but there are plenty of other hilarious vignettes along the way. Luckless in love, the author also garners both compassion and condemnation for his feckless way with women. Characters from Mulgrew's previous memoir, like his two-fisted dad and no-nonsense mom, make return appearances that are both funny and profound. Relentlessly self-deprecating yet unabashedly accepting, the author displays a palpable sense of humanity. Things only slightly slow down and threaten to veer into potentially pretentious territory when Mulgrew runs down his all-time favorite songs. He quickly redeems himself, however, with an emotionally honest story involving his father and a rebuilt motorcycle that the ill-equipped son cannot possibly master. A young writer finds once more that it isn't too early to look back on his life and laugh out loud.

Kirkus Reviews