Based on his experience as an educator and on the anecdotes of colleagues, Wintermote explores the trials and tribulations of the first five years of teaching in his debut novel.
Jim Fisher is embarking on his third career as an English teacher at the newly built Manicomio High School. On his first day, the tone for the next five years is set as Mr. Fisher must contend with a student drinking beer in class while others mouth off, call him "dude" and come to class unprepared. It is clear from the outset the author has enough familiarity with his subject to authentically capture the experiences of a novice teacher. The novel is filled with incidents that seem unbelievable, yet one has no doubt they either happened to Wintermote himself or someone he knew. When a cocky star wrestler fails to do the work on an assignment, his parents only make excuses for their son, and unwilling Fisher lets the boy make up the presentation. But he makes it clear that lying for their son and not holding him accountable for his actions is more detrimental to him than not being able to wrestle. The idea that parents are as responsible for the failings of their children as much as the children themselves is prevalent throughout. It is clear that Wintermote sees a lot wrong with the educational system. From the lowering of standards to ineffective administrators, the author uses this novel as a soapbox. While one may agree with his assessments, the novel would feel more rounded if it included a deeper exploration of Fisher’s personal life. The chapters spent on his failed relationship with a fellow teacher and his courtship of an unavailable neighbor add depth and complexity to Fisher’s character. In the classroom, Fisher never fails to get the upper hand on a student and rarely feels like he did not make the right choice in any given situation. In his fifth year of teaching, a new administrator, intent on making it easier for students to do the bare minimum to pass, may lead to the end of Fisher’s tenure at Manicomio High. An in-depth, yet underdeveloped, look at the life of an educator struggling against unwilling students and falling standards to teach the best he can.
Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2010
ISBN: 978-1449068974
Page Count: 348
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
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