Praise for The Perfume Burned His Eyes : "An edgy coming-of-age romp set in New York City prominently featuring the ''character'' of rocker Lou Reed." -- Parade "The Perfume Burned His Eyes is a deft debut with a poignant epilogue." --Popmatters "A coming-of-age tale dashed with relatable angst and humor." -- Entertainment Weekly "Vividly imagined, compelling, and sympathetic, The Perfume Burned His Eyes convinces with the force of its emotional intensity." --Joyce Carol Oates "Compelling . Lou Reed appears as a major character; he''s an unlikely father figure to the teenage protagonist, Matthew, who''s trying to find himself in 1976 Manhattan. The iconoclastic--and at the time, troubled--rocker inspires Matthew artistically, even as he coaxes him to walk on the wild side." --Maclean''s "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 "Imperioli''s book follows a Queens teen named Matthew as his shattered family moves from Jackson Heights to Manhattan, where he finds an unlikely mentor in a drug-addled Lou Reed." -- New York Post "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 "Imperioli delivers a spot-on coming-of-age novel . A winner.

" -- Library Journal "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 "[A] gritty but witty read, a love letter to a time and a place and a person (Reed) from someone (Imperioli) who came of age in the same urban cauldron of creativity and confusion." --Republican-American "[Imperioli''s] debut novel, The Perfume Burned His Eyes, not only deserves an award for best title, but has garnered praise from Joyce Carol Oates . This should come as no surprise . Bravo!" --Santa Barbara Magazine "[Imperioli] captured the setting, the times, and the coming of age beautifully. It was a compelling read." -- The Cyberlibrarian "Imperioli makes his literary debut with The Perfume Burned His Eyes, a novel in which sixteen-year-old narrator Matthew becomes enmeshed with the late rock legend Lou Reed and his trans muse Rachel." --Bay Area Reporter "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 "Touching, hilarious, heartfelt, and poetic, with an ending that is bruising and beautiful . Unpredictable and sweet as well, this is a unique accomplishment." --Lydia Lunch, author of Will Work for Drugs "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.