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AESOP'S COLLEGE

A TALE OF ACADEME

An engaging satirical approach to issues of free speech and safe spaces on American campuses.

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A writer imagines a university populated by animals in this satirical novel aimed at college politics.

To change with the times, progressive McDonald College has ended its species-ist policies by opening itself up to animals as well as humans. The renamed Aesop College switches to an all-animal faculty led by President Reynaldo Sourgrapes, a fox, and Provost Gullinburst Hamhock, a former comfort pig. The new student body is made up mostly of cats: “The feline demographic was the biggest and provided the best chance for a sustainable economic model. Cats preferred to be pampered, but they might be teachable.” When Professor Socks, a border collie who teaches literature, reads to his students from Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, his use of the word Mungojerrie—considered highly offensive by felines—causes quite a stir. Socks’ reluctance to issue a full-throated apology launches a firestorm directed at him and the university, pitting notions of academic freedom against the outrage of student activism and cancel culture. Adamo (New Monks in Old Habits, 2014, etc.) himself was suspended from the university where he taught for quoting the n-word while discussing a James Baldwin essay in which the term appears, and as such this book may be read as a sort of allegorical memoir. Adamo places himself firmly on one side of the argument, as he proves in his skewering of those at pains to never offend anyone. “She was my comfort animal,” the well-meaning human student body president says of Gullinburst. “No, no. There are so many things wrong with that sentence. First, I can’t believe the name I gave you. As if it was even my right to assign you a name. Gullinburst! My childish obsession with Norse mythology gone cuckoo. No, not ‘cuckoo.’ That’s anti-avian.” This short book isn’t quite as funny as readers would like—there are a lot of puns—but the author makes his arguments in a clear and often clever way. (If people decide to root out “species-ist” terms from the English language, a lot of idioms will have to go.) Adamo is not attempting to simply discredit the other side, and the plot—through its many twists and complications—deftly eases toward reconciliation between faculty and students. Readers who resist getting angry at the premise will be rewarded by nuance further along.

An engaging satirical approach to issues of free speech and safe spaces on American campuses.

Pub Date: Aug. 15, 2023

ISBN: 978-1-73277-931-0

Page Count: 116

Publisher: Self

Review Posted Online: May 24, 2023

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THE THINGS WE DO FOR LOVE

Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.

Life lessons.

Angie Malone, the youngest of a big, warm Italian-American family, returns to her Pacific Northwest hometown to wrestle with various midlife disappointments: her divorce, Papa’s death, a downturn in business at the family restaurant, and, above all, her childlessness. After several miscarriages, she, a successful ad exec, and husband Conlan, a reporter, befriended a pregnant young girl and planned to adopt her baby—and then the birth mother changed her mind. Angie and Conlan drifted apart and soon found they just didn’t love each other anymore. Metaphorically speaking, “her need for a child had been a high tide, an overwhelming force that drowned them. A year ago, she could have kicked to the surface but not now.” Sadder but wiser, Angie goes to work in the struggling family restaurant, bickering with Mama over updating the menu and replacing the ancient waitress. Soon, Angie befriends another young girl, Lauren Ribido, who’s eager to learn and desperately needs a job. Lauren’s family lives on the wrong side of the tracks, and her mother is a promiscuous alcoholic, but Angie knows nothing of this sad story and welcomes Lauren into the DeSaria family circle. The girl listens in, wide-eyed, as the sisters argue and make wisecracks and—gee-whiz—are actually nice to each other. Nothing at all like her relationship with her sluttish mother, who throws Lauren out when boyfriend David, en route to Stanford, gets her pregnant. Will Lauren, who’s just been accepted to USC, let Angie adopt her baby? Well, a bit of a twist at the end keeps things from becoming too predictable.

Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.

Pub Date: July 1, 2004

ISBN: 0-345-46750-7

Page Count: 400

Publisher: Ballantine

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2004

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FIREFLY LANE

Dated sermonizing on career versus motherhood, and conflict driven by characters’ willed helplessness, sap this tale of...

Lifelong, conflicted friendship of two women is the premise of Hannah’s maudlin latest (Magic Hour, 2006, etc.), again set in Washington State.

Tallulah “Tully” Hart, father unknown, is the daughter of a hippie, Cloud, who makes only intermittent appearances in her life. Tully takes refuge with the family of her “best friend forever,” Kate Mularkey, who compares herself unfavorably with Tully, in regards to looks and charisma. In college, “TullyandKate” pledge the same sorority and major in communications. Tully has a life goal for them both: They will become network TV anchorwomen. Tully lands an internship at KCPO-TV in Seattle and finagles a producing job for Kate. Kate no longer wishes to follow Tully into broadcasting and is more drawn to fiction writing, but she hesitates to tell her overbearing friend. Meanwhile a love triangle blooms at KCPO: Hard-bitten, irresistibly handsome, former war correspondent Johnny is clearly smitten with Tully. Expecting rejection, Kate keeps her infatuation with Johnny secret. When Tully lands a reporting job with a Today-like show, her career shifts into hyperdrive. Johnny and Kate had started an affair once Tully moved to Manhattan, and when Kate gets pregnant with daughter Marah, they marry. Kate is content as a stay-at-home mom, but frets about being Johnny’s second choice and about her unrealized writing ambitions. Tully becomes Seattle’s answer to Oprah. She hires Johnny, which spells riches for him and Kate. But Kate’s buttons are fully depressed by pitched battles over slutwear and curfews with teenaged Marah, who idolizes her godmother Tully. In an improbable twist, Tully invites Kate and Marah to resolve their differences on her show, only to blindside Kate by accusing her, on live TV, of overprotecting Marah. The BFFs are sundered. Tully’s latest attempt to salvage Cloud fails: The incorrigible, now geriatric hippie absconds once more. Just as Kate develops a spine, she’s given some devastating news. Will the friends reconcile before it’s too late?

Dated sermonizing on career versus motherhood, and conflict driven by characters’ willed helplessness, sap this tale of poignancy.

Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2008

ISBN: 978-0-312-36408-3

Page Count: 496

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2007

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