The modern reader in me haughtily merges this contemporary thought into her conversations and discusses the ‘grey’ shades of the latest literary protagonist she has encountered. Donald Zinkoff's mother gives him a silver star after his first day of elementary school and says "One thousand congratulations to you. Full details of your rights under the Distance Selling Regulations are available in the UK from your local Citizens' Advice Bureau or your Local Authority's Trading Standards Office. Barry tells us about his life, in his own words (helpfully spell checked by Jim Smith) and with some drawings (well, lots of drawings) to ensure that we know exactly what he's talking about.

His central characters generally contradict themselves, digress, fall into hyperbolic rants, obsess, trapped, as it were, in a logorrheic paralysis. Barry’s not impressed – he’s not a baby anymore, so why should he have to go to a camp for kiddywinkles?

It is a question of a shipwreck in this fantastic novel by Thomas Bernhard, where a narrator monologues for nearly 200 pages.

In Donald Zinkoff, Spinelli has created an endearing character whose innocent delight, patient tolerance, and courageous self-sacrifice serve as a superb example of why it’s important to see inside a person, no matter how peculiar or inept he or she may seem on the outside. La prosa de Bernhard es música; una música extraña, reiterativa, obsesiva, contagiosa, pero música, al fin y al cabo.The Loser is one long, disoriented, languid musings by an unnamed narrator, who was a fellow student with Gould and Wertheimer at a class taught by Vladimir Horowitz. Gr 4-6-Donald Zinkoff is a kid everyone will recognize-the one with the stupid laugh who cracks up over nothing, the klutz who trips over his own feet, the overly exuberant student who always raises his hand but never has the right answers. Donald Zinkoff can't sit still, can't stop laughing, falls over his own feet, adores school and silly words and his family, is prone to throwing up due to a defective stomach valve, is impervious to peer pressure, and never frets about being perennially last in any competition just as he's last in the alphabet.

Just like other kids, Zinkoff rides his bike, hopes for snow days, and wants to be like his dad when he grows up.Be careful, though - there's a danger of actual tears and serious stomach-hurt from doubling-over with laughter.

I've never minded that my name is Barry Loser because my coolness has always cancelled it out, but ever since Darren Darrenofski joined school with his horrible little crocodile face he's been completely ruining my life about it. Because it takes some acumen to even recognize a genius and be aware of one's own abilities and deficiencies.Despite the 240 pages it's actually a very quick read (I read it in about an hour) because of the amount of space taken up by Barry's drawings. What are the most important things that Donald learns about his father's work when they spend the day together? BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us. So imagine how annoying it was when Fay Snoggles came into school one day acting even more loserkeel than me. Through this internal monologue, in a distraught and obsessive manner, the narrator attempts to come to terms with the deaths of both Gould and Werthemier.