This quirky story collection came as something of an antidote to Franzen's compelling but ugly "Freedom." Ms. Hempel, while irritating at times, does provide an accurately loving portrait of the quirks of her 7th graders (and even later of one former student as an adult). I loved her depiction of Harriet Reznick in "Talent." Occasionally, there will be a disarming or funny description: "The air! It delighted her, it was brisk and wood-smoky; it smelled the way early music sounded: thin, feverish, slightly out of tune." (p.112) Of a now adult former student, we learn: "But there was something in the pertness of her looks, or maybe it was her manner, that struck Ms. Hempel as uncanny, antiquated, as if Sophie were a resuscitated bobby-soxer with a little bit of freezer burn around the edges." (p.177) Of her time with 7th-graders:"This was a feeling that Ms. Hempel couldn't shake: a conviction that she spent her days among people at the age when they were most purely themselves. How could she not be depleted when she came home, having been exposed for hours, without protection, to all of those thrumming, radiant selves?" (p. 184) Overall, I enjoyed this uneven stories.
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This quirky story collection came as something of an antidote to Franzen's compelling but ugly "Freedom." Ms. Hempel, while irritating at times, does provide an accurately loving portrait of the quirks of her 7th graders (and even later of one former student as an adult). I loved her depiction of Harriet Reznick in "Talent." Occasionally, there will be a disarming or funny description: "The air! It delighted her, it was brisk and wood-smoky; it smelled the way early music sounded: thin, feverish, slightly out of tune." (p.112) Of a now adult former student, we learn: "But there was something in the pertness of her looks, or maybe it was her manner, that struck Ms. Hempel as uncanny, antiquated, as if Sophie were a resuscitated bobby-soxer with a little bit of freezer burn around the edges." (p.177) Of her time with 7th-graders:"This was a feeling that Ms. Hempel couldn't shake: a conviction that she spent her days among people at the age when they were most purely themselves. How could she not be depleted when she came home, having been exposed for hours, without protection, to all of those thrumming, radiant selves?" (p. 184) Overall, I enjoyed this uneven stories.
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Really uneven linked stories about a middle school teacher. I liked the stories that took place in the school but once we moved out of the classroom, I was bored. ( )

got 3/4 of the way through the book before i realized the story never really "started" and I still had no idea what it was about. ( )

Blah. Read one chapter -- didn't interest me. ( )