Assault on the Senses
by Michael Ferrari
Our Price: $147.26
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $9.69 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Michael FerrariEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-03-07
ISBN: 0595431739
Number of pages: 200
Publisher: iUniverse, Inc.
Book Reviews of Assault on the Senses
Book Review: ASOS
Summary: 5 Stars
As the author of a college-centered book (FRATIRE), I am always on the lookout for good and honest literature of this genre. I've read many college life books and Michael Ferrari's Assault on the Senses is one of the few that actually feels like it was written by someone who has lived the true party college experience himself and lived to tell about it.
Assault on the Senses is a narrative story told from the perspective of Kalvin Gray, a humbled and weathered young man whose cynical view of the world is as refreshingly honest as it is wittingly funny. Kalvin is the main suspect of a campus rape who intends to clear his name with the help of a resourceful and attractive college newspaper journalist named Katie who, in her own words, "Always gets what she wants." While entertaining in its own right, the mystery component is less important for the storyline it provides than it is for how it harmonically brings the characters together and propels the plot in a way that is not just a bunch of unrelated funny college stories. The real plot in my mind revolved around Kalvin's tenuous relationship with the three significant women in his life--Jill the ex, Katie the new girl in his life, and Lana the loyal friend. Through his relationship with these college women you see the struggle and growth all great characters must endure in order for them to leave their mark on the reader.
Ferrari's writing style is sublime. He mixes humor with clever writing that becomes a surprisingly engaging story. His ability to employ detailed imagery when he describes places I swear I have been really makes this story seem credible and comfortably familiar to college students. Whether he is recounting the dirtiness and filth of houses inhabited by fraternity brothers who just don't give a d@mn or the endless maze of hallway corridors in classroom buildings, Ferrari puts the reader in an authentic college world that brings back all kind of memories for those of us who have tread the adventurous path of university life.
The main character Kalvin is enjoyable to read about because his insightful thoughts reveal the human condition of the college experience in a comical way that rings so true you swear he is speaking your mind. The best way to describe Kalvin's unique perspective on life is to compare it to the way you sometimes see the world with a really bad hangover and you no longer care about niceties and illusions of grandeur. That's how Kalvin always sees things and it has the naked honesty of a man who views the world much clearer from the bottom of the social pyramid than he who is blinded by his own magnificence at the top. Kalvin is not an unpopular social recluse, he's just a guy who has never really taken a stand and his awareness of his own failures and lack of motivation gives him true life as a character.
Kalvin's fraternity brothers are also a riot to read about. They have an ingenious game of competitively yelling "pen*s" at social gatherings to see who is braver about being the bigger social misfit of the night. Comical moments like this are plentiful in this book and I promise you will laugh your way through Assault on the Senses. Indeed, I think I finally found the one guy who has a stronger appreciation for freshman college girls than I do. Reading Ferrari's depiction of this naïve breed was great and brought a wide smile to my lips. He manages to accurately portray many such college themes in a way that is highly entertaining. The situations Kalvin gets into, whether arguing with his ex-girlfriend, yelling at the indifferent office lady, or apologizing for the way his homophobic friends are rudely acting at a party is so real that you feel like you are living through these awkward and embarrassing moments yourself.
The best testimony I can give of Assault of the Senses is that it leaves you wanting more. I truly hope this is not the last we have heard from Michael Ferrari.
Summary of Assault on the Senses
Assault on the Senses is a dark comedy about Kalvin Gray, a college student drowning in a mix of late-night drinking binges and his own self-loathing. Shattered by the insecurities caused by his most recent break-up and a lack of direction, Kalvin eccentrically stumbles through life one beer at a time. Things take a turn for the worst when he finds a "wanted" poster warning students of an attempted rapist, featuring a police sketch that appears to be him.Knowing he didn't commit the crime and fearing this will ruin his reputation and any chance of ever having sex again, Kalvin eagerly tries to find a solution to this case of mistaken identity. However, it's not until Katie, the seductive editor of the school newspaper, comes along that Kalvin is better able to search for the truth--while taking an interest in her at the same time. What Kalvin doesn't realize is that looking for the truth will lead him to a secret that could ruin more than just his sex life...that is, if he can stay sober long enough to find the truth.
Comic Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Comic Books
Plum Lucky (Stephanie Plum: Between the Numbers)by Janet Evanovich
St. Martin's Press; Published: 2008-01-08; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $0.01
Price in other shops:
Lean Mean Thirteen (Stephanie Plum, No. 13) (Stephanie Plum Novels)by Janet Evanovich
St. Martin's Press; Published: 2008-06-17; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.99
Price in other shops:
The Oxford Bookworms Library: Stage 4: 1,400 Headwords Three Men in a Boatby Jerome K. Jerome, Tricia Hedge
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2000-08-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.95
Nine Kinds of Nakedby Tony Vigorito
Mariner Books; Published: 2008-10-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.07
Price in other shops:
The Fourth Bear: A Nursery Crimeby Jasper Fforde
Penguin Audio; Published: 2006-08-03; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $12.07
Price in other shops:
The Late Mr. Shakespeareby Robert Nye
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2000-04-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.50
Price in other shops:
The Other Side of the Story: A Novelby Marian Keyes
William Morrow Paperbacks; Published: 2006-04-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.67
Price in other shops:
Guards! Guards!by Terry Pratchett
HarperTorch; Published: 2001-07-31; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.74
Price in other shops:
Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging (Confessions of Georgia Nicolson)by Louise Rennison
HarperTeen; Published: 2000-05-31; Library Binding; Book
Best price: $15.33
Price in other shops:
Dancing in My Nuddy-Pants: Even Further Confessions of Georgia Nicolsonby Louise Rennison
HarperTeen; Published: 2003-03-04; Library Binding; Book
Best price: $1.25
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
Tapping the Sourceby Kem Nunn
Thunder's Mouth Press; Published: 2005-12-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $59.00
Class Dismissed: 75 Outrageous, Mind-Expanding College Exploits (and Lessons That Won't Be on the Final)by Ben Applebaum, Derrick Pittman, Ryan Mcnally
Villard; Published: 2006-07-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.67
Price in other shops:
Training the Problem: Stories and a Novellaby Michael P. Ferrari
Blue Room Publishing; Published: 2010-06-14; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.22
Price in other shops:
Fratireby Darren Bryce
Intension Publishing; Published: 2008-01-22; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.95