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A review by elisability
Admission by Jean Hanff Korelitz
4.0
Portia Nathan is an admissions officer for Princeton. She is 38 years old, in a committed, albeit a bit dull and safe, relationship, has issues with her mother, few friends… And then, when the new admissions season rolls around, her life breaks apart and she has to cope with things happening in her present, as well as things she thought buried in the past suddenly coming up to haunt her.
The first thing I thought after finishing this book was “man, I’m glad I don’t live in the States!” The process for applying to an Ivy League University is absolutely crazy! Reading it while knowing very little about it was super interesting, so if you’ve been through it, it must be even cooler to see it from “behind.”
It was very interesting, but I have to admit it did become a tad repetitive at some point. After the umpteenth argument she has with a minor character about the fairness of the admission process, you kind of know her arguments by heart and it doesn’t add anything new. This is why I gave 4 stars and not five.
The other story (stories), however, in Portia’s personal life, were awesome. Well paced, realistic, funny and sweet, it was a pleasure to read. I don’t think there was a single character I disliked.
I sped through it, mainly because I had four days left in my vacation and I knew the movie was on the plane, but it was perfect for that, not too heavy, so I could easily go through a hundred pages a day. I needn’t have bothered though; the movie barely has anything to do with the book. The ending is completely different, the romance aspect is also different, the back story from the book doesn’t even exist… This was clearly a case of book > movie.
The first thing I thought after finishing this book was “man, I’m glad I don’t live in the States!” The process for applying to an Ivy League University is absolutely crazy! Reading it while knowing very little about it was super interesting, so if you’ve been through it, it must be even cooler to see it from “behind.”
It was very interesting, but I have to admit it did become a tad repetitive at some point. After the umpteenth argument she has with a minor character about the fairness of the admission process, you kind of know her arguments by heart and it doesn’t add anything new. This is why I gave 4 stars and not five.
The other story (stories), however, in Portia’s personal life, were awesome. Well paced, realistic, funny and sweet, it was a pleasure to read. I don’t think there was a single character I disliked.
I sped through it, mainly because I had four days left in my vacation and I knew the movie was on the plane, but it was perfect for that, not too heavy, so I could easily go through a hundred pages a day. I needn’t have bothered though; the movie barely has anything to do with the book. The ending is completely different, the romance aspect is also different, the back story from the book doesn’t even exist… This was clearly a case of book > movie.