Rapid Review:
Author – Julie Schumacher
Likely to be enjoyed by – academics, employees of institutions of higher education, snail mail hold-outs, sarcastic misanthropes
Best form of consumption – in small doses, over morning coffee or before turning the light off at bedtime
Find it on Amazon — Dear Committee Members
English Major’s Chance to Justify the REALLY Expensive Degree:
I learned of Julie Schumacher’s most recent novel listening to the Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast, when host Linda Holmes declared that the book was making her happy as she read an advanced reader copy. It made me happy, too, from the first withering page to the last.
Those who, like myself, still cling tightly to the effort and payoff involved in writing actual letters, sent to actual mailboxes, will not only appreciate the way the book adopts the format of a series of letters of recommendation, but also protagonist Jason Fitger’s defiance of the world’s insistence on technological progress. Through these letters, Fitger, a disenchanted professor of creative writing and literature employed by a college whose interests in the liberal arts is perpetually waning, takes it upon himself to denounce the state of education, his love life, and society-at-large through his most potent weapon: the written word.
Some may find Fitger’s bitterness and self-involvement wearisome after longer sittings, but that’s okay; this book is most enjoyable when the reader takes it a few delicious letters at a time, savoring each thinly-veiled insult before moving onto the next. I found that breaking the experience into smaller reads allowed for a sincere appreciation of Schumacher’s biting and brilliant sense of humor without having to bear the weight of Fitger’s disappointment with humankind.
It is true that this book will be most appreciated by those with experience in higher education and the arts, but I believe there are few people who will not chuckle at least a few times if they decide to pick it up.
Extra points for the cover. Most effective use of a porcupine butt I’ve seen so far.
the wrinkled brow 