Holy hell. Did this book make me forget about quarantine and the hell that is our lives in this country right now. I guess there’s nothing better for misery than reading about people that have it worse than you, and that they have no one to blame but themselves.
This book was insane. I hated pretty much every single character (INCLUDING CHILDREN), and yet couldn’t put it down. From the opening quote, I knew I was in for a ridiculous story:
There is so tantalizing about having a gifted child that some parents will go to almost any lengths to prove they have one.
In a made-up, wealthy suburb of Denver, a brand new public school is being built. But only for “gifted” students, those who can pass an exam and prove to the admissions group that they are indeed special. This drives every parent in the book insane, driving them to some truly outlandish words and actions, ruining friendships and marriages, all the while making subtle (or not subtle) jabs at parents who can’t accept the fact that their child isn’t special.
Listen, I live in one of those suburbs that is being made fun of here. Sure, we have great public schools, but why couldn’t they be better? Our kids speak mandarin and play travel lacrosse and are in the all-county orchestra and are writing their first novel, so they deserve it, don’t they?
Everyone in this story was awful. The worst character of all — a divorced dad with money and ego problems — slightly redeemed himself as a husband, father, and human near the end. But the rest of them? They brought the hell that they end up in on themselves.
My book club is reading this for our Labor Day meeting, and it was kind of perfect. Like a nighttime soap opera, but one that could actually happen in our own backyard instead of on a Texas ranch or a Los Angeles apartment complex.
3 stars.
cbr12bingo: book club