Take a photo of a barcode or cover
thesonorista 's review for:
Dear Committee Members
by Julie Schumacher
3.5 ⭐ - The only reason I didn't rate this book more highly is because I think it has a very specific audience. If you've ever worked in academia in the liberal arts, this book will make you laugh, make you cry, and make you nod your head with every painful page. An epistolary novel, Dear Committee Members follows a series of letters written by Jason Fitzger, self-described "Professor/Agitator/Slum Dweller." Being a part of this very specific audience brought back memories, memories of being in an office that hadn't been refurbished since WWII, while the floor above us allowed us to occasionally bask in the meager warmth that filtered through the floor from their carpeted and and tastefully decorated offices.
However, as I dug deeper into the story, these letters to various exes, friends, publishers and the ever present "committee members" revealed not only a man determined to stand up for a department considered superfluous, but also slowly reveals the story of Fitzger himself and his cause: finding funding and a roof for his graduate student Darren Browles. These parts of the story are pieced together slowly but have a more universal appeal. Let he who has not hit "Reply All" on accident inflict the first paper cut. And in the end it becomes a very human story of failure and resiliency. It is not a long read, and so if you are looking for something to while away an afternoon, you could do much worse than Dear Committee Members.
However, as I dug deeper into the story, these letters to various exes, friends, publishers and the ever present "committee members" revealed not only a man determined to stand up for a department considered superfluous, but also slowly reveals the story of Fitzger himself and his cause: finding funding and a roof for his graduate student Darren Browles. These parts of the story are pieced together slowly but have a more universal appeal. Let he who has not hit "Reply All" on accident inflict the first paper cut. And in the end it becomes a very human story of failure and resiliency. It is not a long read, and so if you are looking for something to while away an afternoon, you could do much worse than Dear Committee Members.