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3.47 AVERAGE
3.47 AVERAGE
funny
lighthearted
Really enjoyable. It took awhile for me to get all the characters straight, but even as sort of archetypes the characters had depth and humanity to them. Lorraine Walker is a particularly wonderful character.
challenging
emotional
funny
sad
slow-paced
This reads like a thinly disguised memoir...getting back at all the weirdos she had to work with. I went to Iowa State and started this book for the nostalgia, and yes, the archetypes are recognizable. But I didn't like any of them, except maybe Earl. Was not at all an engaging read.
This book was required reading in grad school and I ended up really enjoying it! Although it is long and at times it feels like it will never “get to the point,” There are some great takeaways for those who work at a college, went to college or who like to read about really interesting characters.
Another well-timed read. I’m not sure that I would have enjoyed this as much before I worked in higher ed (it’s easy to get lost in the sprawl of characters), but there’s so much biting perspective that rings true a quarter-century after the book came out.
DNF at 189 pages. This book was really well written in a lot of ways, and it had a lot of amusing moments. However, it is very literary in that the purpose of the book often seems to be to showcase the author's talents at the expense of the story. It became really tedious after a while, to the point that I just couldn't take it anymore. Time put it away for something that's a bit less of a slog.
Read this for book club. A fun series of vignettes that leads into a broader story of campus life in the late eighties/early nineties. If you haven't read anything by Jane Smiley I would recommend trying this one out.
I think I've read this three times now. It's just hilarious. Not a perfect book, but a very enjoyable farce, especially if you work at a University.