The Perfume Burned His Eyes, Hardcover

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``Vividly imagined, compelling, and sympathetic, The Perfume Burned His Eyes convinces with the force of its emotional intensity.``--Joyce Carol Oates``It has been a long time since I have regarded the prospect of taking up a new first novel other than with dull dread and a sardonic snort of rightfully prejudicial dismissal. Then I happened on this one: the kind of bird you don't see anymore in the kind of sky you don't see anymore. Mr. Imperioli can write, and he has given us a book--that most outmoded of handheld devices, devoid of all apps--that brings a rare and welcome breeze of imagination and wit.``--Nick Tosches, author of Under Tiberius``This coming-of-age narrative is a fearless, towering inferno burning with raw truthfulness, stunning surprises, thrills, poetic writing, and an odyssey not just to be read, but reckoned with.``--Richard Lewis, comedian, author of The Other Great Depression``Michael Imperioli discovers a whole new demimonde in his journey from Queens to the hideaways and hell-a-ways of Manhattan. It's a streetwise romp through an underworld of bizarre characters desperate to find their own transcendence, written with affection, wit, and telepathic understanding.``--Lenny Kaye, musician and author``Touching, hilarious, heartfelt, and poetic, with an ending that is crushing, bruising, beautiful...Unpredictable and sweet as well, this is a unique accomplishment.``--Lydia Lunch, author of Will Work for Drugs``The Perfume Burned His Eyes shook me up in a way a book hasn't since my twenties. I found myself questioning the narrative I have built for myself in order to survive as an artist and a parent. It threw me back to being an awkward teenager in love, and destroyed some of the scaffolding of false memories I had built. This book allowed me to be with myself as a young, innocent teen without judgment, and opened my eyes and heart to the hurdles my teenager is now about to face. Mike's book is gentle, pure, perverse, and devastating. It delves i