The Allergic Boy Versus the Left-Handed Girl: A Novel

Jimmy Nail is a boy, or rather, a man now, with a very active imagination. As the narrator of the book, Jimmy, now somewhere in his 50s or 60s, is adamant that a manuscript he wrote titled The Allergic Boy that he gave to fellow classmate P.J. Durbin was never returned by Darbin and was rather rewritten by Darbin to create a book called The Left-Handed Girl. It was later turned into a movie that Jimmy says is all wrong. Jimmy claims that right before he went into the Army he even sent money to P.J. to mail him back the manuscript but never heard back from him. The story The Allergic Boy versus The Left-Handed Girl is about Jimmy going in front of a judge who he calls multiple names to plead his case that the original book was actually his and that he should retain rights to it. The judge slams Jimmy with questions left and right and before we know it, Jimmy is talking in circles. The poor guy puts his own foot in his mouth several times although this also may be due to the fact that he has “a F*cking Scar on the Side of [his] F*cking Head ” from being in Vietnam. Throughout the book, there are clips of what the actual “Allergic Boy” story is about and this includes a girl named Poppy Fowler whose name was changed to Poppy Fahrenberg by Jimmy but further changed to Poppy Fahrenheit by P.J. Darbin. Jimmy goes on and on to tell the story about how Poppy saved him from a tiger which was really a dog and since he (Jimmy), “The Allergic Boy” is allergic to everything, including dogs, this is a big deal. This story of young teenage lust or love goes on with the story getting more and more farfetched as Jimmy tells it. It is both funny and sad at the same time because you can really tell Jimmy has quite lost it.

The Allergic Boy versus The Left-Handed Girl is wildly entertaining. It’s an adventure in the mind of Jimmy Nail that will take you on somewhat of a rollercoaster ride through his life. With its descriptive, original, and overall fantastic plot and cast of characters, The Allergic Boy versus The Left-Handed Girl will have you guffawing from cover to cover.