A review by tensy
The Shakespeare Requirement by Julie Schumacher

3.0

Julie Schumacher's satire of the plight of an English Department Chair in a small mid-western university is the sequel to one of my favorite epistolary novels, Dear Committee Members. Jason Fitger is back trying to stay afloat in a sinking department that is quickly being eaten up by the more well endowed Economics Department. Could a Shakespeare requirement be the saving grace or the iceberg that sinks the ship? Schumacher's writing is sharp and skewers academic bureaucracy in all its excesses and incongruities. Working as I do at a small mid-western university, her plot often hits too close for comfort. While I enjoyed the humor, I didn't care too much about the characters like I did with her first novel. This is a fun, light read and if you work or plan to apply for a job at a university, it is essential reading.