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A review by mariahistryingtoread
Class is Not Dismissed! by Gitty Daneshvari
1.0
A year and some change later, I finally felt ready to return to this series. It went about as well as I expected. The good news is that I finally figured out why I quit in the first place. That bad news is it was not the least bit fun figuring it out.
Every problem I had with the first book is magnified in this one. The only change - for the worse I might add - is the addition of new student Hyacinth.
I don't find the comedy in these books all that funny. However, it is obvious when Daneshvari is trying to make one and I recognize the effort even if I don't like it since humor can be subjective. That being said this falls under a category I absolutely despise: annoying = funny.
Hyacinth is a nightmare because her fear is of being alone. She's clingy to the nth degree. Alright, that makes sense, it's literally her fear. What doesn't make sense is why this automatically means she has to be obnoxious.
The broader issue is the characters are poorly written. Because the characters are so one dimensional Hyacinth has absolutely no other characteristics to fall back on other than her fear. Her entire personality is about how she and the others are such great friends and will be friends forever etc etc. It's meant to be amusing that she's so out of touch; the other characters' bemused reactions to her make this clear. But, it's not funny to have a character trample all the other kids' boundaries, be indulged.
This is related to the fact that this book does not fulfill its premise; these kids are never given proper help for their fears. In fact, as the book unfolds it becomes increasingly clear that Dasheshvari is, consciously or not, contemptuous of childrens' fears.
If you read the author blurb at the end of this book or the last one (I can’t remember which or if it’s both) Daneshvari says that part of her reasoning for writing this book is that she, herself, was a fearful child. As such you would think she’d have a lot of sympathy for phobias. Yet, the opposite is true. Class is NOT Dismissed reads like someone who was repeatedly told that their fears were dumb until they internalized it, not someone who was given a healthy safe space to work through them. This is reflected in Mrs. Wellington’s awful style of 'therapy' - if you can even call it that.
To be fair, I don’t believe that the fears can’t be presented as humorous in some fashion. They definitely are dramatized to a certain degree. However, at the end of the day regardless of how silly these fears seem from the outside looking in they are serious to the kids. Mrs. Wellington can not be any more transparent about finding their fears and behaviors silly.
To kids being scared of something is usually a really big deal. It's overwhelming because these feelings are new. Kids are experiencing everything for the first time so when they go through something it often is the absolute worst thing in the world since they don’t have enough life events under their belt to put it in perspective. Instead of introducing potential treatment options in order to explore the variety of choices and/or have fun testing them out, the book via Mrs. Wellington treats all fears as if they are inherently stupid. By extension, kids are dumb for being afraid. She doesn't provide actual proper coping skills at the School of Fear because she can’t provide aid for something she does not fundamentally believe in.
You really see this disdain with the inclusion of Hyacinth.
Originally I thought that Hyacinth had too serious a fear for the book due to how debilitating it was compared to the rest of the now mostly fearless cast. But, then I thought about Theo who is terrified of death which can be equally as grave as hers. Surprisingly, I find Theo to be a very well done depiction of an anxious child. Ruling that out, I came to the conclusion that Hyacinth actually just furthers my point about the disdain for the real psychological impact fear has on kids.
Hyacinth's fear would not too much for this book if she was going to get legitimate help rather than be treated solely as a joke. The first book was similarly flawed when it came to the fears, but I can acknowledge there was at least a plan engineered by Mrs. Wellington even though I didn’t like it. Hyacinth, as it stands, is above the pay grade for the setup. I didn’t find Mrs. Wellington to be a helpful or good teacher at all in the first book so you’d think nothing had changed. Unfortunately, somehow she manages to top her uselessness by miles. The realism of Hyacinth’s fears exposes the rotten core.
I already stated how Hyacinth barely has a character which is still true. That being said, she unintentionally I’m sure, is a pretty spot on showcase of how the fear of being alone might manifest in a 10-year-old if she's given no proper guidance whatsoever to combat that fear. Her parents are at a total loss and it’s pretty obvious that not knowing what to do has caused them to unwittingly contribute significantly to her worsening condition. When she gets to the School of Fear it’s only more of the same neglect though this time it’s on purpose as punishment because Mrs. Wellington finds her annoying.
Stepping out of the confines of the book to look at this from a realistic point of view I can see what would benefit Hyacinth, though I’m not a therapist or psychologist or anything so I can only base this off of what I know as a layman. Looking at Hyacinth’s fears I don't think alternative therapy is the best option for Hyacinth, at least before trying more traditional avenues first. All she seems to need is consistency, strong boundaries and above all else compassion.
The quirky ‘therapy’ Mrs. Wellington offers is not a substitute for a real program.
Healthy outlets for the fears come second to the humor of a situation. I’m all for poking fun at your experiences. Humor is often a way to cope. But, the point of this book is for the kids to eventually learn to deal with the fears. Therefore, underneath the humor there still needs to be actual advice preferably something that a kid reading this who may be suffering could get some use out of. I’m not saying all middle grade books or books for children are required to be educational or heavy in their messaging. What I am saying is that a book that is about kids dealing with fears should in some way have suggestions for dealing with fears since it’s an actionable theme.
It feels like Daneshvari is not taking the actual subject matter seriously. And contrary to her intentions she’s not simply being funny. It feels like she just doesn't have a good grasp on how or why these fears even matter in the first place.
The resolution of the book is a cherry on top of the garbage can.
Mrs. Wellington does absolutely nothing to help these kids. Like I mentioned before in the first book she has a plan. By contrast, this entire book is a wild goose chase that is basically a side quest paid way too much attention. I thought there would be a twist like before where this was somehow all a part of some scheme but this was all selfishly just about Mrs. Wellington while the kids got dragged along for the ride.
Hyacinth has to learn her lesson incidentally when she messes up royally. She has a breakthrough entirely independent of anything Mrs. Wellington does. Plus the nature of the breakthrough means she could have had it at any point as long as she'd recognize that she'd hurt other people. It gives the impression that if she had enough time she’d have eventually eased up on her own which is not a good look for a specialized school of this purported caliber.
I focus exclusively on Hyacinth in this review because the other kids have no bearing on the plot. Mrs. Wellington reveals she knows they’ve just gotten better at obscuring their fears, but then the kids go on to not be forced into situations where they must face their fears nor do they seem all that afraid in general either. Theo's naturally anxious personality makes that his default position so it doesn’t count. And while Madeline does have a freak out it’s from a very real incident that would freak anyone out, not just a person with a phobia of bugs so I don’t count that either.
Mrs. Wellington herself is horrible. She has none of the charm or wisdom of other, better known mentor archetypes. I already expressed how needlessly nasty she is. An added backstory of how she actively harmed a student by selfishly engaging in an affair with his father killed the tiniest bit of sympathy I had for her. Smitty, her companion, is legally blind yet Mrs. Wellington insists it's all in his head and implies he's faking it for attention. Yeah, what a lovely person to be taking care of bunch of kids.
I hated this book. It was a chore in every way. I didn’t expect to like it since I didn’t like the first one. But, I wish it had been of similar quality so the ordeal would have passed quicker. And if you were wondering, yes, the fatphobia in regards to Theo is alive and well.
Every problem I had with the first book is magnified in this one. The only change - for the worse I might add - is the addition of new student Hyacinth.
I don't find the comedy in these books all that funny. However, it is obvious when Daneshvari is trying to make one and I recognize the effort even if I don't like it since humor can be subjective. That being said this falls under a category I absolutely despise: annoying = funny.
Hyacinth is a nightmare because her fear is of being alone. She's clingy to the nth degree. Alright, that makes sense, it's literally her fear. What doesn't make sense is why this automatically means she has to be obnoxious.
The broader issue is the characters are poorly written. Because the characters are so one dimensional Hyacinth has absolutely no other characteristics to fall back on other than her fear. Her entire personality is about how she and the others are such great friends and will be friends forever etc etc. It's meant to be amusing that she's so out of touch; the other characters' bemused reactions to her make this clear. But, it's not funny to have a character trample all the other kids' boundaries, be indulged.
This is related to the fact that this book does not fulfill its premise; these kids are never given proper help for their fears. In fact, as the book unfolds it becomes increasingly clear that Dasheshvari is, consciously or not, contemptuous of childrens' fears.
If you read the author blurb at the end of this book or the last one (I can’t remember which or if it’s both) Daneshvari says that part of her reasoning for writing this book is that she, herself, was a fearful child. As such you would think she’d have a lot of sympathy for phobias. Yet, the opposite is true. Class is NOT Dismissed reads like someone who was repeatedly told that their fears were dumb until they internalized it, not someone who was given a healthy safe space to work through them. This is reflected in Mrs. Wellington’s awful style of 'therapy' - if you can even call it that.
To be fair, I don’t believe that the fears can’t be presented as humorous in some fashion. They definitely are dramatized to a certain degree. However, at the end of the day regardless of how silly these fears seem from the outside looking in they are serious to the kids. Mrs. Wellington can not be any more transparent about finding their fears and behaviors silly.
To kids being scared of something is usually a really big deal. It's overwhelming because these feelings are new. Kids are experiencing everything for the first time so when they go through something it often is the absolute worst thing in the world since they don’t have enough life events under their belt to put it in perspective. Instead of introducing potential treatment options in order to explore the variety of choices and/or have fun testing them out, the book via Mrs. Wellington treats all fears as if they are inherently stupid. By extension, kids are dumb for being afraid. She doesn't provide actual proper coping skills at the School of Fear because she can’t provide aid for something she does not fundamentally believe in.
You really see this disdain with the inclusion of Hyacinth.
Originally I thought that Hyacinth had too serious a fear for the book due to how debilitating it was compared to the rest of the now mostly fearless cast. But, then I thought about Theo who is terrified of death which can be equally as grave as hers. Surprisingly, I find Theo to be a very well done depiction of an anxious child. Ruling that out, I came to the conclusion that Hyacinth actually just furthers my point about the disdain for the real psychological impact fear has on kids.
Hyacinth's fear would not too much for this book if she was going to get legitimate help rather than be treated solely as a joke. The first book was similarly flawed when it came to the fears, but I can acknowledge there was at least a plan engineered by Mrs. Wellington even though I didn’t like it. Hyacinth, as it stands, is above the pay grade for the setup. I didn’t find Mrs. Wellington to be a helpful or good teacher at all in the first book so you’d think nothing had changed. Unfortunately, somehow she manages to top her uselessness by miles. The realism of Hyacinth’s fears exposes the rotten core.
I already stated how Hyacinth barely has a character which is still true. That being said, she unintentionally I’m sure, is a pretty spot on showcase of how the fear of being alone might manifest in a 10-year-old if she's given no proper guidance whatsoever to combat that fear. Her parents are at a total loss and it’s pretty obvious that not knowing what to do has caused them to unwittingly contribute significantly to her worsening condition. When she gets to the School of Fear it’s only more of the same neglect though this time it’s on purpose as punishment because Mrs. Wellington finds her annoying.
Stepping out of the confines of the book to look at this from a realistic point of view I can see what would benefit Hyacinth, though I’m not a therapist or psychologist or anything so I can only base this off of what I know as a layman. Looking at Hyacinth’s fears I don't think alternative therapy is the best option for Hyacinth, at least before trying more traditional avenues first. All she seems to need is consistency, strong boundaries and above all else compassion.
The quirky ‘therapy’ Mrs. Wellington offers is not a substitute for a real program.
Healthy outlets for the fears come second to the humor of a situation. I’m all for poking fun at your experiences. Humor is often a way to cope. But, the point of this book is for the kids to eventually learn to deal with the fears. Therefore, underneath the humor there still needs to be actual advice preferably something that a kid reading this who may be suffering could get some use out of. I’m not saying all middle grade books or books for children are required to be educational or heavy in their messaging. What I am saying is that a book that is about kids dealing with fears should in some way have suggestions for dealing with fears since it’s an actionable theme.
It feels like Daneshvari is not taking the actual subject matter seriously. And contrary to her intentions she’s not simply being funny. It feels like she just doesn't have a good grasp on how or why these fears even matter in the first place.
The resolution of the book is a cherry on top of the garbage can.
Mrs. Wellington does absolutely nothing to help these kids. Like I mentioned before in the first book she has a plan. By contrast, this entire book is a wild goose chase that is basically a side quest paid way too much attention. I thought there would be a twist like before where this was somehow all a part of some scheme but this was all selfishly just about Mrs. Wellington while the kids got dragged along for the ride.
Hyacinth has to learn her lesson incidentally when she messes up royally. She has a breakthrough entirely independent of anything Mrs. Wellington does. Plus the nature of the breakthrough means she could have had it at any point as long as she'd recognize that she'd hurt other people. It gives the impression that if she had enough time she’d have eventually eased up on her own which is not a good look for a specialized school of this purported caliber.
I focus exclusively on Hyacinth in this review because the other kids have no bearing on the plot. Mrs. Wellington reveals she knows they’ve just gotten better at obscuring their fears, but then the kids go on to not be forced into situations where they must face their fears nor do they seem all that afraid in general either. Theo's naturally anxious personality makes that his default position so it doesn’t count. And while Madeline does have a freak out it’s from a very real incident that would freak anyone out, not just a person with a phobia of bugs so I don’t count that either.
Mrs. Wellington herself is horrible. She has none of the charm or wisdom of other, better known mentor archetypes. I already expressed how needlessly nasty she is. An added backstory of how she actively harmed a student by selfishly engaging in an affair with his father killed the tiniest bit of sympathy I had for her. Smitty, her companion, is legally blind yet Mrs. Wellington insists it's all in his head and implies he's faking it for attention. Yeah, what a lovely person to be taking care of bunch of kids.
I hated this book. It was a chore in every way. I didn’t expect to like it since I didn’t like the first one. But, I wish it had been of similar quality so the ordeal would have passed quicker. And if you were wondering, yes, the fatphobia in regards to Theo is alive and well.