Book summary

It's the early '80s, and Danny, an upwardly mobile Yale student intoxicated with Ivy League life, is in love with Polly, a glamorous and elusive classmate whose background is very different from his own. He spends his vacations not in Aspen or Nantucket but back home in blue-collar New Jersey, where he drives his father's lunch truck (known as the Roach Coach) and also has to contend with not only the local Mafia but his sweet, devoted, very downscale hometown girlfriend. Tom Perrotta, who went to Yale in the '80s, provides a comical and believable take on class differences and post-adolescent angst. A New York Times Notable Book for 2000.

Media reviews

"[A] smart, engaging novel....Perrotta treats these people fairly--no one is better or worse than anyone else. The 'poor' kids don't come out on top in the end. You don't hate the rich ones....Every character, like JOE COLLEGE itself, is lovable, resonant and memorable."