10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Satire that hits close to home, May 13, 2005
This review is from: Flyover States (Red Dress Ink Novels) (Paperback)
What I knew after the first few pages: I am living in a place almost exactly like Langsdale, Indiana. I graduated from a place almost exactly like Langsdale University. Yes, I am also a resident of a flyover state, a transplant from more eastern origins, and I know that feeling of being in a place where you're not sure you quite fit in-not like there's anything you can do about it. The two narrators, Ronnie Williams and Doris Weatherall, are transplants from LA and New York, respectively, both hardworking students, both committed to staying within academia, but still removed enough to see the flaws and not exalt the ivory tower any more than those who don't quite get it (from not having experienced it on this level) or those who, well, don't quite get it, either---you know the kind. They crawl from under their moss-laden postmodern or victorian rocks to go to class and promptly return after class is over. The more pointed barbs may be more like inside jokes that only the authors are privy to, but readers will appreciate all the brutally hilarious insights and moments such as the one where Doris's friend from out of town comments on the roomful of brilliant yet financially inept academics or Ronnie's almost tender, idiosyncratic preference for either Italian men or billy rays, her term for the more off-cuff homegrown rednecks in town. The narrators come to terms with what truly is a crappy summer (in other words, just another bad summer as a graduate student, the usual jumping hoops and crises that come with the amount of work that is available to a whole useless cartel of overworked and underpaid would-be academics) with help from the comforts of routine, booze, and friendship, all of which are-in my opinion-the bare essentials to surviving graduate school [in the Midwest]. They arrive at a resolution that is unforced, the ending happy but not unbelievable, all a part of a chord progression that suggests the real end isn't something that's going to come at a mere book's completion.
There have been satirical explorations of the university in spades (Jane Smiley's Moo, Kingsley Amis's Lucky Jim, etc.), but none quite like this one, where it's centered on the graduate school, where one of the first images we come across is in Ronnie's opening chapter, when she discovers that (through the wonders of Photoshop?) someone slapped a tennis racket in her hand and now she very visibly graces the front of a brochure celebrating diversity. Like, it's not enough to have an African-American student on the cover, but she has to be playing tennis to complete the picture of well-rounded wholesomeness. Graduate school is a space where the satire takes on a different form: the characters are all in limbo, not even at the point that they've gotten a real job as a professor where they then jockey for tenure. You're not so young, your bodies are starting to fall apart, you're able to see the cogs and bolts and screws in the machine better than you were able as an undergraduate, and everything can be thought of in terms of exploitation and the race-gender-class sandwich. But you're not embittered and have horns growing out of your head in your pursuit for tenure and then ever after moldering in your office with the same prints you put up in the early 80s. Therefore, it is perfectly acceptable to have chunky rock jewelry and the liberal peppering of references from Trina Turk to PJ Harvey and Elvis Costello.
Established readers of chick lit will enjoy the genuine humor and the travails of dating in a practically un-dateable place, as well as other standard tropes of the genre. This novel also extends a hand beyond the reach of most current chick lit, because of its balancing act of having not just round but also racially diverse characters without turning into a flat buddy comedy (black-white opposites come together as a team thing). New readers: powerful voices, steady building of character throughout, insights from two serious, thinking individuals who aren't afraid to like nail polish and Marc Jacobs shoes for fear of not fitting the dour mold of academia.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Funny and Thought-provoking, July 16, 2005
This review is from: Flyover States (Red Dress Ink Novels) (Paperback)
This does not seem like a "chick lit" book to me because it is fairly ribald and thought-provoking. It is not about women finding their prince charmings.
The book is hilarious, but at the same time, it provokes serious questions about what it is like to be searching for your place when you just don't belong. Also, there is a persistence and determination to the characters that is admirable for women readers especially.
Ronnie and Doris struggle throughout with the politics of academia, and academia itself. For me, this book is more about identity--the discovery of identity and the fight for identity. What it is like to be on the periphery of society, and how the characters learn to function even as outsiders.
Ronnie and Doris are learning, but at the same time, they do not let academia rule their lives. They seem to find a balance between living in the world and examining it at the same time--no easy venture.
I recommend this book. Doris and Ronnie persist, with a sense of humor. Anyone trying to follow a dream or a goal, despite challenges, set backs, and the opinions of naysayers, will appreciate this book.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
this was great!, August 29, 2005
This review is from: Flyover States (Red Dress Ink Novels) (Paperback)
I thought this was an excellent book that speaks to the realities of both student life in academia and of cultural diversity in white small town america. It was realistic and witty - intellectually stimulating and a relaxing read. Thanks to both authors - wherever they really live now!
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