Outside Providence

by Peter Farrelly

Outside Providence is a hilarious yet melancholy novel of a young man's coming of age in the 1970s. When Timothy Dunphy, native of working-class Pawtucket, Rhode Island, is packed off to a fancy prep school, he finds that the privileged elite is hardly immune to life's screwups. Dunphy must reconcile his pedigreed schoolmates with his mongrel friends back home--including Drugs Delaney, whose diet consists mainly of vitamin Qs (Quaaludes), and Bunny Cote, who thinks New England is a state.

Not far below Dunphy's comic demeanor churn powerful fears of abandonment by those he loves his mother, his girlfriend, and his closest friend. And he must come to terms with his complex relationship with the person he hates most, his father. As he struggles to live with the paradox of somehow loving the same man he blames for his family's tragedies, Dunphy begins to understand and accept life's betrayals, and learns how to trust in love.

Genres: Fiction, Humor, Coming Of Age

212 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1988

Reviews

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Seriously one of my favorite books ever. One of the few books I truly never wanted to end.

[Abby · Rating 4 out of 5]

read this in one day.

[Printable Tire]

An interesting deviation from the book to the movie:
The kid's father in the movie (played by Alec Baldwin) gives him advice something along the lines of "making love is like ordering chinese food- you're not done until you both get the fortune cookie."

In the book, the advice the old man gives is, "Life is like a shit sandwich: the more bread you got, the less shit you gotta eat."

I always thought the latter was a great line, and I'm puzzled why they changed it to the mediocre line in the script. Was it possibly ripped-off of something? Was it "too racy?" I don't know, but it's bugged me.

[Michael Malone · Rating 3 out of 5]

Likeable, if predictable, first novel from the guy who of course went on to make some of the most popular comedy films of the Nineties/Aughts. Shades of Holden Caulfield and multiple protagonists from John Irving's novels in Tim Dunphy, a dirtbag fish-out-of-water at a posh New England boarding school. A slim, quick read with all the crude humor one might hope for from Peter Farrelly. Bonus point if you have spent time in Rhode Island; Dunphy hails from Pawtucket (thus the book's title, a clever double entendre).

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've seen the movie a number of times and always loved it. The book is pretty radically different, much darker, but just as funny and, of course, far less Hollywood. Filmmaker books, you usually expect a novelized screenplay, but this was nothing of the sort. Very good, read it in a day.

[John Marr · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked up this one as part of my Brat Pack hate read project, and with all due respect to SPY NOTES, this is no Brat Pack novel! It certainly has the right setting, a dead mother and an appropriate amount of degenerate behavior, but it's completely lacking in the other essential elements of the genre: the incessantly whining protagonist, the mediocre minimalist style, the sense of pervasive pretentiousness.... And he doesn't even blame mommy's suicide!

Guess I'll have to pick up another Janowitz to get my weekly mocking in.

[Jeff Guertin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having grown up in Rhode Island, I really liked this movie, and it took a while to get my hands on a copy of the book from which the movie was based.

I was a bit surprised to see how different the book is from the movie, and although I think some aspects of the movie are actually better than the book (i.e. the storyline with Jane), overall I thought the book was a nice change from what I was expecting.

[Erika · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not funny like his book The Comedy Writer, which was hilarious. This was a coming-of-age story of a "street" teen from Providence who is sent to a private boarding school in CT. The book was OK and an entertaining read but not a great book. Nowhere close to Catcher in the Rye. Maybe I'm just not into coming-of-age stories right now. Read some other reviews.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

It wasn't a bad book, it just didn't do anything for me. 3/4 through the book, I thought why am I still reading this. It never really captured my attention. I finished it because it was a short book and I was almost done but I guess I didn't really get the point. I didn't really think it was funny either. Oh well.

[Virginia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A surprisingly good book from a person you wouldn't expect a good book from. (Farrelly, of the Farrelly brothers team of crap-movie makers)

I haven't seen the movie yet, but it's one of Bruce's favorites.

[Owen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Outside providence is an engaging book that shows the struggles of being a teen very well. Although this book is well written to adults and younger kids I doubt it would be as engaging. I would recommend this book to all teens but not adults

[Rick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Memoir of a Pawtucket teen's prep school years
in the early seventies, as he tries to forge his own
"Impossible Dream."

[Shelbie Kellum · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. I had about 50 pages left and I couldn't do it. I didn't find the novel funny or clever or interesting. The characters were flat, the plot was boring, and the humor was poorly executed.

[Bookend McGee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This feels like a draft still, but nevertheless an amazing one. This dude has so much talent.

[Mdm · Rating 5 out of 5]

I came into this book after catching the movie on cable one lazy Sunday afternoon. Honestly, Peter Farrelly's a great story teller and the book is a fast read and funny.

[Madison · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.75

I watched the movie before reading the book and the movie was just OK.... I figured this was an easy read so I gave it a chance. This book is even more cringe than the movie lol. The first line of the book is DILDO in large print. With having watched the movie already, I knew what to expect going into the book. It was a lot more details and crude language. These guys were WILD. Luckily the book is a work of fiction and based off Farrelly's life .
I can say that I read the book but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

[P · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's to prepare ya, for watching a better adaptation on film.

(worth noting the Farrelys were doctors kids from the rich suburbs of Providence. Annoys the hell out of me when the kind of guy who goes to Columbia to learn to be a writer steals valor from the people who live in the towns their parents stole white flighted the tax base out from under, who go nowhere to learn to work minimum wage until they drop. Likely nothing like what happens in the book happened to Peter Farrelly besides hating the douchebags at New England Prep School)

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

Short quick read. My sister lived in RI for 11 years and claims that they call it “Pawtucket the Bucket”. A boy from the wrong side of the tracks goes to prep school. A pretty standard story line involving light drug use, drinking, hitch hiking, sex, and surviving high school in the 70s. Did not love or hate this one.

[Brent Legault · Rating 2 out of 5]

This novel hasn't aged well. What might have seemed irreverent and raw in the late 1980's, seems today (and to me) to be clumsy and crass. Even that would be forgivable if it were less of a bore.

[Jason J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this on vacation and I really enjoyed it! It was a quick read. Very funny and nostalgic.

[Jim Sestito · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you smoked weed in high school you will like this book.

[Garrett · Rating 3 out of 5]

A kid from a blue-collar family gets sent to a prep school. He experiences the selfish behavior of his more self-centered classmates, and has a forbidden relationship with a student from the girls' school. The plot is a little muddled, but the "coming of age" story feel is good. Knowing the movie before reading the book, I couldn't help but see where they could have simplified some of the story elements to make them more effective.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I BELIEVE I would love this book even I wasn't from Rhode Island. I loved the movie and the book is better...Big laughs throughout.