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mayestang's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
graggirl's review against another edition
4.0
I don't want to give away too much of this story. The themes I found fascinating were about our notion of privacy in a world that is becoming increasingly public, the peak into academia, and the generational differences that are emerging today. This is a pretty compelling story of a small liberal arts college president who is so idealistic that she is ignorant in her actions and plays out as naive. I didn't care for how she was written as an isolated feminist so removed in her ivory tower that she doesn't understand the basic tenets of life and humanity. But I did enjoy the unfurling of the obvious plot arc.
bookishnicole's review against another edition
DNF pg 76, I thought the Dartmouth parallel would be enough to hold me, it was not.
maggiemoore's review against another edition
3.0
Excellent read but too many elaborate side/backstories for my taste. They detracted from the twisty plot and interesting characters.
sde's review against another edition
3.0
I love small liberal arts colleges. I went to one. My daughter just started at one. They are one of the few places where you are allowed to be totally intellectual, think about ideas, and not constantly be asked, "Why are you interested in this nerdy, esoteric subject?" But I still found the parts of this book that poke fun at small liberal arts colleges to be quite funny and on point.
I greatly preferred the beginning of this book, which was lighter and more satirical than later chapters. The first few paragraphs outlined a crisis that is now happening at my alma mater about whether trans men should be allowed to live in women's dorms! It then mentioned the fact the being pro-choice is the most important thing for students to support if they are considered liberal, something my daughter is grappling with right now on her campus! The poking fun of the atmosphere on liberal arts campuses was great fun.
The book isn't really a spoof, though, it is a serious story about stuff that was happening on campus and mostly how it affected one woman, President Naomi Roth. Students begin protesting the fact that a black professor is denied tenure. The school has completely solid reasons for denying tenure - most schools would have denied him - but they can't talk about it because of the confidentiality of the tenure process. I understand this is a fairly common issue on campus. A similar case is happening at my daughter's college. I was talking to the son of a former college president (whose school was mentioned fleetingly in the book!), and he said this happened several times to his father. He couldn't say anything for legal reasons, but it was stressful not to be able to defend the school.
As the book moved into the more serious second half, I enjoyed it less. I knew that bad stuff was going to keep happening, and I liked the character of President Roth and wanted to close my eyes. (Although I also wanted to know what happened!) I could really relate to her. Not that I could ever be a college president, but the fact that she was somewhat talented at a few things, which lead to her doing a job where she had to do things she knew nothing about and felt awkward dealing with - such as schmoozing with rich people, talking about sports, and dressing well.
I found it sad that few people came to President Roth when she was dealing with the situation on campus, but she didn't reach out either. (This, too, is like me.) Where were all the other female college presidents who had supported her at her inauguration?
There were a few plot lines that I sort of knew where they would go pretty early in the book. I wasn't sure if this was on purpose - what the author intended as foreshadowing - or not. In any case, I knew that they wouldn't be resolved in a happy way, so it made the reading stressful.
I am familiar with the setting of this book, the Pioneer Valley (aka Happy Valley) of Massachusetts, so the author's references to the area were fun for me.
I did enjoy the book, and now want to read the author's earlier book about Naomi Roth, The Sabbathday River, so I can learn more of her backstory.
I greatly preferred the beginning of this book, which was lighter and more satirical than later chapters. The first few paragraphs outlined a crisis that is now happening at my alma mater about whether trans men should be allowed to live in women's dorms! It then mentioned the fact the being pro-choice is the most important thing for students to support if they are considered liberal, something my daughter is grappling with right now on her campus! The poking fun of the atmosphere on liberal arts campuses was great fun.
The book isn't really a spoof, though, it is a serious story about stuff that was happening on campus and mostly how it affected one woman, President Naomi Roth. Students begin protesting the fact that a black professor is denied tenure. The school has completely solid reasons for denying tenure - most schools would have denied him - but they can't talk about it because of the confidentiality of the tenure process. I understand this is a fairly common issue on campus. A similar case is happening at my daughter's college. I was talking to the son of a former college president (whose school was mentioned fleetingly in the book!), and he said this happened several times to his father. He couldn't say anything for legal reasons, but it was stressful not to be able to defend the school.
As the book moved into the more serious second half, I enjoyed it less. I knew that bad stuff was going to keep happening, and I liked the character of President Roth and wanted to close my eyes. (Although I also wanted to know what happened!) I could really relate to her. Not that I could ever be a college president, but the fact that she was somewhat talented at a few things, which lead to her doing a job where she had to do things she knew nothing about and felt awkward dealing with - such as schmoozing with rich people, talking about sports, and dressing well.
I found it sad that few people came to President Roth when she was dealing with the situation on campus, but she didn't reach out either. (This, too, is like me.) Where were all the other female college presidents who had supported her at her inauguration?
There were a few plot lines that I sort of knew where they would go pretty early in the book. I wasn't sure if this was on purpose - what the author intended as foreshadowing - or not. In any case, I knew that they wouldn't be resolved in a happy way, so it made the reading stressful.
I am familiar with the setting of this book, the Pioneer Valley (aka Happy Valley) of Massachusetts, so the author's references to the area were fun for me.
I did enjoy the book, and now want to read the author's earlier book about Naomi Roth, The Sabbathday River, so I can learn more of her backstory.
muffmacguff's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I read this partly because I so enjoyed the author’s book The Plot. There are some superficial similarities (a mysterious hidden identity, high stakes in the world of academia), but the most striking bit for me is how little the protagonists know about what happens around them. In the case of The Plot, the protagonist is just straight up stupid and misses every clue that leads to etc etc. In this case, Naomi Roth (the college president dealing with a campus protest) is very intelligent and often relatable but by the end of the book, events have sort of happened regardless of her involvement and she is no closer to understanding what happened and why than we the readers are. To an extent I really appreciate this about the book, while finding it annoying in a good way. But I also think it’s strange to center a white person dealing with protests around racial issues where the book intentionally hides the motivations of the protesting characters. The plot ties up in some odd and occasionally weirdly simple ways. Apparently Naomi appears in earlier work by the author, I may check it out.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs and Racism
Moderate: Transphobia
Minor: Gun violence
lifeofpie's review against another edition
4.0
Great book. For anyone who’s ever worked in college administration, it really rings true. Well thought-out and readable. I loved it!
afireinaugust's review against another edition
This was so incredibly boring. And long. And awful.
itsgg's review against another edition
2.0
The false and persistent myth that pervades much criticism of so-called "identity politics" is often that of Horatio Alger: Every individual succeeds on his or her own merit, and can solely be blamed for his or her own failure, and institutional racism (or gender bias, or socioeconomic bias) doesn't really exist and plays no role. "The Devil and Webster" presents this theory in the guise of a whodunnit. Of COURSE (and this is not a spoiler) the professor perceived to have been denied tenure because of racism was secretly a plagiarist. Of COURSE other characters similarly believed to have been victims of bias turn out to be liars and frauds. Of COURSE students protesting against perceived bias just don't know any better because they're too silly and naïve.
This thematic backdrop sufficiently irritated me that it prevented me from enjoying other aspects of the book. It didn't help -- and this is not the author's fault! -- that the reader of the audiobook also has an incredibly annoying voice. Finally, as a highly biased California native and holder of two separate degrees from UC Berkeley, romanticized descriptions of East Coasters at private colleges that let in rich kids who haven't earned their spots generally make me roll my eyes. Because of this, maybe others would like this more than I did, but it just wasn't for me.
This thematic backdrop sufficiently irritated me that it prevented me from enjoying other aspects of the book. It didn't help -- and this is not the author's fault! -- that the reader of the audiobook also has an incredibly annoying voice. Finally, as a highly biased California native and holder of two separate degrees from UC Berkeley, romanticized descriptions of East Coasters at private colleges that let in rich kids who haven't earned their spots generally make me roll my eyes. Because of this, maybe others would like this more than I did, but it just wasn't for me.