Emmy-winning actor Michael Imperioli ( The Sopranos, The White Lotus,  etc.) brilliantly evokes 1970s New York in this Holden Caulfield–esque debut. “[T]he actor’s first novel is a quintessential New York story: A teenager moves from Queens to Manhattan, discovering a world populated with drugs, sex, a witch, and Lou Reed. It’s like a vivid walk through the city and adolescence, reveling in their grit and pathos.” ― New York Times “Vividly imagined, compelling, and sympathetic,  The Perfume Burned His Eyes  convinces with the force of its emotional intensity.” ―Joyce Carol Oates Matthew is a sixteen-year-old boy living in Jackson Heights, Queens, in 1976. After he loses his two most important male role models, his father and grandfather, his mother uses her inheritance to uproot Matthew and herself to a posh apartment building in Manhattan. Although only three miles away from his boyhood home, "the city" is a completely new and strange world to Matthew. Matthew soon befriends (and becomes a factotum of sorts to) Lou Reed, who lives with his transgender girlfriend Rachel in the same building. The artistic-shamanic rocker eventually becomes an unorthodox father figure to Matthew, who finds himself head over heels for the mysterious Veronica, a wise-beyond-her-years girl he meets at his new school. The novel is written from the point of view of Matthew at age eighteen, two years after the story begins, and concludes with an epilogue in the year 2013, three days after Lou Reed's death, with Matthew in his fifties. "Imperioli's lived-in details about the city help make the world feel realistic . . . [The novel] is an immersive trip into its narrator's memories of a turbulent time. Some fictional trips into 1970s New York abound with nostalgia; this novel memorably opts for grit and heartbreak." ― Kirkus Reviews "A restless Queens teenager becomes the protégé of music legend Lou Reed in Imperioli's energetic debut novel . . . Matthew's first-person narrative is full of endearing vulnerability, immediacy, and authenticity. This is a sweet and nostalgic coming-of-age novel." ― Publishers Weekly "A coming-of-age tale dashed with relatable angst and humor." ― Entertainment Weekly "An edgy coming-of-age romp set in New York City prominently featuring the 'character' of rocker Lou Reed." ― Parade "Even though Reed looms large throughout―the novel even takes its title from Reed's 'Romeo Had Juliette,' from his 1989 solo album New York―the book is much less about him and more about Matthew's own journey through adolescence in the seedier corners of 1970s New York." ― Stereogum Michael Imperioli is best known for his starring role as Christopher Moltisanti in the acclaimed TV series The Sopranos, which earned him a Best Supporting Actor Emmy Award. He also wrote five episodes of the show and was co-screenwriter of the film Summer of Sam, directed by Spike Lee. Imperioli has appeared in six of Lee's films and has also acted in films by Martin Scorsese, Abel Ferrara, Walter Hill, Peter Jackson, and the Hughes Brothers. Upcoming projects include Bruno de Almeida's Cabaret Maxime, The Last Full Measure alongside Peter Fonda, Christopher Plummer, and William Hurt, and ABC’s Alex, Inc. The Perfume Burned His Eyes A Novel By Michael Imperioli Akashic Books Copyright © 2018 Michael Imperioli All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-61775-620-7 CHAPTER 1 On this, the 24th of July in the year 1977, in the Borough of Manhattan of the State of New York, being of sound mind and body, I ... This was originally meant to be a last will and testament type of thing, maybe it still will be at some point. I don't know. Right now I just want to get as much as I can down on paper. I have been praised for this effort and told that it may bring me some clarity. I was not aware I lacked clarity or that the events described here were unclear, but that is what I have been told by people who are supposed to know about such things. I have also been informed that this is a very difficult time in one's life and it's not uncommon for folks my age to find themselves in similar situations. This brings me no comfort, and I feel it is important for me to state that for the record. Even if the record is a shitty little ninety-nine-cent notebook. With this in mind, I would like to start at the most logical beginning. Although to be technical, dear sirs or madams, my birth would be the most formal or official beginning, and even further we could trace things back to my parents — how they met, their courtship and marriage, my conception ... But I will spare you all those gory details and jump to the year when shit started to happen and people died and life as I knew it altered itself beyond recognition. My parents split up a few days after the new year began so my dad hit the road in his shit-brown '72 Chrysler Newport. He had three garbage bags of clothes in the trunk and not much else. I would never see him again. In