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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
Biting, brutal, and funny, but it really loses steam after about a hundred pages.
Sarcastic and funny, this book is a compilation of recommendations by an English Professor. The piecing together of the plot (such as it is) falls to the reader and our professor is revealed to be a pompous, lying, bit of a prig. Nevertheless, he's a like-able prig and he learns his lessons well by the end of the book. This is a fast read and I highly recommend it.
I would give this 3.5 stars. The premise is very amusing, and a few of the letters of recommendation made me laugh out loud. But I wanted a little bit “more”— I thought there was some depth missing.
I loved everything about this book and laughed out loud throughout the whole thing. I have written hundreds of recommendation letters at this point in my higher education career and this book is perfect satire of the academy, the time-wasting exercise that is a recommendation letter, and even pokes fun at the stupid Teach for America form that cuts off everything you try to type in its stupid boxes. Love, love, love.
I've always wanted to read a year-worth of letters from an asshole professor, and here it is, I guess.
I liked the idea of a book entirely of letters of recommendation, but by page 100, I was pretty darn bored. Professor Fitger is a prick in a dying English department (and yeah, it's fairly true to life for anyone who's spent any time at a college). If you like the humor, that's fine, but his overblown verbal ripostes missed more than they hit the mark for me. By the umpteenth letter where he gives lukewarm praise to forgettable students, slobbers for some attention from an ex, or attacks some campus enemy over something petty, it's pretty obvious Fitger is an occasionally well-intentioned sad-sack, and it's easy to see why his ex-wife limits their dinners together to just twice a year.
The shtick of the book is stretched just about as far as it can go, and ain't half as clever as you'd hope. It's really dependent on Fitger's tendency to overshare on entirely unrelated topics ("I'm writing to recommend my former stude--by the way, this professor is pissing in bottles!"). BUT, it still made me chuckle occasionally.
And one letter in particular really stuck out to me: the letter for Tara Tappani, whom he caught plagiarizing red-handed, failed, and yet she took it all in her carefree stride.
Maybe I'd just rather read the story of the unflappable Tara Tappani, with a brief cameo by world-weary professor Jay Fitger, rather than the other way around.
I liked the idea of a book entirely of letters of recommendation, but by page 100, I was pretty darn bored. Professor Fitger is a prick in a dying English department (and yeah, it's fairly true to life for anyone who's spent any time at a college). If you like the humor, that's fine, but his overblown verbal ripostes missed more than they hit the mark for me. By the umpteenth letter where he gives lukewarm praise to forgettable students, slobbers for some attention from an ex, or attacks some campus enemy over something petty, it's pretty obvious Fitger is an occasionally well-intentioned sad-sack, and it's easy to see why his ex-wife limits their dinners together to just twice a year.
The shtick of the book is stretched just about as far as it can go, and ain't half as clever as you'd hope. It's really dependent on Fitger's tendency to overshare on entirely unrelated topics ("I'm writing to recommend my former stude--by the way, this professor is pissing in bottles!"). BUT, it still made me chuckle occasionally.
And one letter in particular really stuck out to me: the letter for Tara Tappani, whom he caught plagiarizing red-handed, failed, and yet she took it all in her carefree stride.
I reminded Ms. Tappani that, a year ago, I gave her a well-deserved F in my Intermediate Fiction class. She chuckled and put a manicured little paw on my forearm, as if the two of us were sharing a wonderful joke. "Don't worry about that," she assured me. "I just need a letter."
Maybe I'd just rather read the story of the unflappable Tara Tappani, with a brief cameo by world-weary professor Jay Fitger, rather than the other way around.
though I spent a good portion of this book hating the narrator, jay fitger somehow experienced a beautiful redemption arc that left me feeling hollow and emotional. in the canon of novels about academics, there is an undeniable modernity that makes Dear Committee Members place the egotistical white cis male professor in a more positive light (aka maybe he’s not as egoistical as I thought)
funny
fast-paced
Jason Fitger is a Professor in the English Department - writing a lot of letters of recommendation - they are funny, critical of administration, and tell the reader a lot about him (egotistic, not liked by colleagues, brutally honest, no faith in the younger generation). There is one student he seems to care about and I did too. If you have worked in academia you would be able to relate to Professor Fitger's rants. Funny and poignant, overall very good read.
Gave up - premise ran dry. Plus I'm not sure that this type of academia still exists...
Funny And True
This book is such a fun read, and accurate about the politics of being a cog in the inevitable wheel
This book is such a fun read, and accurate about the politics of being a cog in the inevitable wheel
I finished this short novel in a day, crying with laughter at first, and then, despite a few inevitable repetitive parts (it's an epistolary novel, all letters of reference--sort of), recognizing English Prof. Fitger as the basic stereotypical academic novel male protagonist: sexist, full of himself, witty, critical of administration, and, ultimately destined for administration.
I enjoyed the book immensely, though. In fact, I've tagged several pages to read at our first department meeting in a few weeks, particularly the parts about the quality of the English Department's office space.
Interestingly, I won a free copy of this book via Goodreads, but had already ordered a copy from the fabulous Deschutes Public Library, so am duly noting that I reviewed my library version of this book, and will welcome re-reading and sharing my free copy when it arrives in "4-6 weeks".
I enjoyed the book immensely, though. In fact, I've tagged several pages to read at our first department meeting in a few weeks, particularly the parts about the quality of the English Department's office space.
Interestingly, I won a free copy of this book via Goodreads, but had already ordered a copy from the fabulous Deschutes Public Library, so am duly noting that I reviewed my library version of this book, and will welcome re-reading and sharing my free copy when it arrives in "4-6 weeks".