Admissions

I picked up this book because of a misunderstanding my father-in-law had. First, I will say he never reads reviews/blurbs about books he hasn't read (for which I make gentle fun, of course), but he did read what I'd written about Jean Hanff Korelitz's book Admission under the impression that it was about this book, Admissions, by Nancy Lieberman of which he had heard. Personally, I wasn't going to touch this book at all because I certainly didn't need to read about over-priviliged NYC parents desperately trying to get their progeny into the best schools so they wouldn't have to risk rubbing shoulders with--shall we say-- people like my kids.

It turns out, though, that this is a fun, albeit over-long book. It was a strange follow up to my last read, Joseph O'Neill's Netherland, offering, as it does, a more conventional outsider's view of what it's like to live in NYC (at a certain income level, mind you). Like O'Neill (um, sort of), Lieberman uses "outsiders" to show us our way. Lieberman's outsiders are Helen who lives on the poorer end of high society among private school families, and her close friend Sara who works in kindergarten admissions at The School. Sara has a modest income and no kids, but she's in the thick of the madness. Helen and her husband are artistic (art critic and food channel producer) and they have one child who is graduating from The School and into a private high school, if only she can get in...somewhere. So, the stress on the two ends of the admission process is pretty much the plot, but throw in an increasingly bizarre head of school, a flirtation with the end of a marriage and a handsome widower, a few increasingly wacky parents and some appealing teen characters, and you've got a story.

The characters are generally interesting and well-differentiated, which is good because there are a lot to keep track of. I found the two Heads of School fairly hard to believe, although at least one of them was supposed to be drunk on power so her behavior had a source, I guess. Her affectation for sprinkling every pronouncement with French was amusing, as was her constantly passing off take-out food at school events as something she'd cooked herself. Lieberman does get carried away a bit, as when she has the denouement occur on a harbor cruise, a school even that had been christened "A Night To Remember." So, there's a major hint how that will go. Okay, yes, my prom had the same theme, but generally anyone who hears "A Night to Remember" in connection with a BOAT is thinking: Titanic. Kind of lame. Lieberman uses a lot of heavyhanded stunts like that, like naming the schools things like The Very Brainy Girls School, or The Bucolic School. Maybe that's some NYC humor, but it's a bit tedious after awhile.

Admissions was entertaining, a little silly, and a little over the top. Also, a little dull, really, but I found that I was sorry when I was done with the characters. I wanted to know the next chapter, how it would all shake out when they moved on to their new schools, new careers, new lives. I guess I should go ahead and thank my father-in-law for getting me to read Admissions. Now, I wonder if he'll read it...