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WORK TITLE: Small Admissions
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.amypoeppel.com/
CITY: New York
STATE: NY
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
http://www.amypoeppel.com/about/
RESEARCHER NOTES:
LC control no.: n 2016024045
LCCN Permalink: https://lccn.loc.gov/n2016024045
HEADING: Poeppel, Amy
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670 __ |a Small admissions, 2016: |b ECIP t.p. (Amy Poeppel)
PERSONAL
Married David Poeppel (a neuroscientist at NYU and Director of the Max Planck Institute in Frankfurt); children: three sons.
EDUCATION:Wellesley College, B.A.; Simmons College, M.A.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer, actor. Taught high school English in the Washington, DC suburbs; Trevor Day School, New York, NY, assistant director of admissions; attended Actors Studio Playwrights/Directors Unit.
WRITINGS
Contributor to blogs and periodicals, including Debutante Ball, Rumpus, Working Mother, Bookish, Higgs Weldon, In The Powder Room, and Literary Mama.
SIDELIGHTS
Actor, writer, and school administrator Amy Poeppel grew up in Dallas, Texas. She worked on several commercials and an episode of America’s Most Wanted. She was an assistant director of admissions at Trevor Day School, and taught high school in Washington, DC. She also workshopped a theatrical version of Small Admissions at the Actors Studio Playwrights/Directors Unit and later expanded the play into her 2016 novel Small Admissions. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Wellesley College and a master’s in teaching from Simmons College.
Her novel has been described as The Devil Wears Prada meets Primates of Park Avenue as it reveals the cutthroat world of New York City private school admissions. After breaking up with her long-time boyfriend and canceling her plans to move to Paris, depressed slacker Kate Pearson has lost her ambition. Her sister Angela and friends Chloe and Victoria try to help her get back on her feet. Eventually, Kate lands a job in the admissions department of the prestigious Hudson Day School and quickly learns how to deal with the rich, the smart, and the Park Avenue parents who refuse to take no for an answer. With humor, Poeppel traverses the crazy world of interviews, bribes, threats, and judgments that is the highly competitive world of private school admissions. When privileged parents act in expected ways by throwing tantrums, bullying, and threatening to sue, a Kirkus Reviews contributor noted: “Poeppel delivers some fun and entertaining moments but fails to offer anything fresh or insightful in her tales from the admissions-committee room.”
Nevertheless, writing in BookPage, Amy Scribner called the book deliciously smart and commented: “Her razor-sharp observations of families desperate to place their darlings in the best Manhattan schools can only come from someone who’s lived in that world.” A Publishers Weekly contributor praised Poeppel for presenting many strong personalities and weaving disparate plot threads, saying: “ The author, like a circus ringmaster, points attention here and there, always bringing it back to the center. An excellent debut.” In Library Journal, Jeanne Bogino said that Poeppel’s experience as an admissions officer helps readers see the selection process at elite prep schools. Bogino said: “The result is a witty and captivating page-turner punctuated with quirky characters and laugh-out-loud moments.” Poeppel “gives an in-depth look at the admissions process, with a side of secrets, bombshells, heartbreak, and hope,” said Erin Holt in Booklist.
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, November 1, 2016, Erin Holt, review of Small Admissions, p. 28.
BookPage, January 2017, Amy Scribner, review of Small Admissions, p. 20.
Kirkus Reviews, October 1, 2016, review of Small Admissions.
Library Journal, November 1, 2016, Jeanne Bogino, review of Small Admissions, p. 78.
Publishers Weekly, September 12, 2016, review of Small Admissions, p. 30.
ONLINE
Amy Poeppel Website, http://www.amypoeppel.com (July 1, 2017), author profile.
Debutante Ball, http://www.thedebutanteball.com/ (July 1, 2017), Crystal King, author interview.*
Amy Poeppel grew up in Dallas, Texas. She graduated from Wellesley College and worked as an actress in the Boston area, appearing in a corporate industrial for Polaroid, a commercial for Brooks Pharmacy, and a truly terrible episode of America’s Most Wanted, along with other TV spots and several plays. While in Boston, she also got her Masters in Teaching from Simmons College.
She is married to David Poeppel, a neuroscientist at NYU and Director of the Max Planck Institute in Frankfurt. For the past twenty years, they have lived in many cities, including San Francisco, Berlin, and New York City, and had three sons along the way. Amy taught high school English in the Washington, DC suburbs for several years, and after moving to New York, she worked as an Assistant Director of Admissions at Trevor Day School, where she had the fulfilling experience of meeting and getting to know hundreds of applicant families.
She attended sessions at the Actors Studio Playwrights/Directors Unit and wrote the theatrical version of Small Admissions, which was performed there as a staged reading in 2011. Because the admissions world provided so much material, she expanded the play into a novel of the same name.
Amy is currently working on a new novel and is blogging weekly for The Debutante Ball. Her writing has appeared on The Rumpus, Working Mother, Bookish, The Higgs Weldon, In The Powder Room, and Literary Mama.
Interview with Amy Poeppel + #DebBallGiveaway of SMALL ADMISSIONS
DECEMBER 31, 2016 | CRYSTAL KING
It is my distinct pleasure to interview fellow Deb Amy Poeppel for this week’s post. I was lucky to be able to meet Amy early on in our journey for the Debutante Ball. We instantly clicked over dinner and cocktails, talking about everything under the sun–our books, the publishing process, our families and so much more. I walked out of the restaurant that night thinking that she is someone that I want to know for a very long time. She is funny, self-deprecating in all the right ways, clever, and as we Bostonians would say, “wicked smaht.” I knew all this about her before I began reading SMALL ADMISSIONS so when I saw so much of that same wit on the page it was no surprise. I adored her novel and will think about those characters for a long while to come.
For a small sample, check out the video trailer!
If you haven’t already, pick up a copy of Amy’s debut novel SMALL ADMISSIONS today. You can also enter to win a signed audio CD by retweeting this tweet on twitter:
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When ambitious grad student Kate Pearson’s handsome French “almost fiancé” ditches her, she definitely does not roll with the punches, despite the best efforts of family and friends. It seems that nothing will get Kate out of pajamas and back into the world.
Miraculously, one cringe-worthy job interview leads to a position in the admissions department at the revered Hudson Day School. Kate’s instantly thrown into a highly competitive and occasionally absurd culture, where she interviews all types of children: suitable, wildly unsuitable, charming, loathsome, ingratiating, or spoiled beyond all measure. And then there are the Park Avenue parents who refuse to take no for an answer.
As Kate begins to learn there’s no room for self-pity or nonsense during the height of admissions season or life itself, her sister and friends find themselves keeping secrets, dropping bombshells, and arguing with each other about how to keep Kate on her feet. Meanwhile, Kate seems to be doing very nicely, thank you, and is even beginning to find out that her broken heart is very much on the mend. Welcome to the world of SMALL ADMISSIONS.
What is the strangest job you’ve ever had?
One summer, my sister and I were asked to be the judges of a sailing race series on a lake in Vermont. A regatta, I suppose it’s called. I didn’t (and still don’t) know anything about sailing or boats or races of any kind, but my sister and I figured, How hard can it be? As it turned out it’s very hard, and we made no friends on our first (and what turned out to be our last) day on the job. The boats all came in at basically, pretty much-ish the same time and, frankly, we weren’t really paying all that much attention anyway because we were literally lying down on the job to sunbathe on the float they’d stuck us on in the middle of the lake. A loud flurry of sails went past us in a rush, and we sat up and looked looked at each other. And then we assigned winners and losers based on our feelings about the order that the boats might have come in had we been watching, which we hadn’t. We just guessed. We guessed wrong, and the sailers all started yelling at us. They had to cancel the results due to our incompetence. I sincerely apologize. (That was over thirty years ago, just fyi.)
My most challenging job was being a check-out person at a small grocery store in Maine. I wasn’t very good at that either. This was the pre-barcode/scanner era, and many of the items had no price stickers on them at all. So I would simply look at the item and make what I felt was a fair and educated guestimate of how much one thing or another ought to cost. I would ask myself, What would these eggs be worth to me? I got political when the mood struck: 20 cents for a large box of tampons seemed about right. $8.00 for Cheez Whiz because it’s not even cheese. I got fired.
What is your advice for aspiring writers?
Hire someone, specifically a professional editor, to be unbelievably hard on you. That is hands-down, the best thing I ever did and the best advice I have. I don’t mean your friend the English major or a family member who thinks you have potential. I mean a stranger who does this for a living, comes recommended by someone who is published, and does not care about you personally, meaning he/she doesn’t mind hurting your feelings. Pay this person real money to read your work and tear it apart.
When the notes/comments come back, get angry and very deeply insulted. Sulk about it, if you like. Under the covers is a good place to do this. Crying is optional. Get good and mad at being so thoroughly misunderstood.
Wallow in your resentment for a few days. This editor doesn’t understand you or your writing or “where you’re coming from.”
Now, get the fuck up. Take a walk. Realize that the mean editor has a point. Has several, in fact. Realize that the mean editor is totally right about, like, half of what he/she said.
Get over yourself: He/she was right about all of it, and you know it. Take a deep breath while that sinks in.
Sit down, and start a MAJOR revision.
Edit for the next six to ten months.
Repeat.
That’s my advice. It’s expensive, and it hurts (sorry), but it’s what works for me.
Have you ever met someone you idolized? What was it like?
Jill Kargman. It’s rather embarrassing. I was at home in writing mode (read: unwashed hair, dirty jeans, and sneakers) when I saw on Facebook that Jill Kargman, my idol, the author of SPRINKLE GLITTER ON MY GRAVE, as well as the producer of the best show ever ODD MOM OUT, was doing a book signing that would be starting in, like, twenty minutes. I ran out the door, forgetting that I looked like complete shit. I got to the reading, which happened to be at the shoe department of Saks Fifth Avenue. It was fancy. This was a champagne event with lovely ladies all dressed up, and believe me, I did not fit in. I bought two books and stood in line to wait for Jill to sign them. A man came down the row, asking us each for the name we wanted Jill to sign in our books and putting a sticky note on the title page. He got to me. He took a moment to study my messy hair and my scruffy jeans, and he asked me for proof that I had paid for the books. I was the only one he asked; I guess I looked to him like someone who’d stolen them. So I went through my bag and presented my receipt. Mortifying. But Jill, in spite of how unkempt I looked, was lovely! She is even more wonderful in person, and her book is hilarious!
This is a true story. (Note: no make-up, dirty hair, and sweater strategically tied to hide red wine stain on thigh.)
What’s your next big thing?
I am hard at work on my new novel LIMELIGHT, a book that takes a fun look at motherhood, Broadway, and pop-star fame. Stay tuned!
Quick Fire Answers:
One thing that’s making you happy right now: Avocado toast with a poached egg and chili oil.
Best perk of your job: Sweatpants, all day long.
Something that’s always guaranteed to make you laugh: My dog in a costume.
A talent you wish you had: Singing and dancing. Preferably at the same time. Without hurting myself or others.
Your regular first reader: David, my smart, funny, supportive, but critical husband.
Amy - Tuesdays
Amy – Tuesdays
Amy Poeppel is the author of the forthcoming novel SMALL ADMISSIONS. Originally from Dallas, Texas, she graduated from Wellesley College and worked as an actress in the Boston area, appearing in a corporate industrial for Polaroid, a commercial for Brooks Pharmacy, and a truly terrible episode of America’s Most Wanted. She now lives with her husband and three sons in New York City, where she workshopped a theatrical version of SMALL ADMISSIONS at the Actors Studio Playwrights/Directors Unit.
You can follow Amy on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Check out her website at www.amypoeppel.com.
Small Admissions
Amy Scribner
BookPage.
(Jan. 2017): p20.
COPYRIGHT 2017 BookPage
http://bookpage.com/
Full Text:
SMALL ADMISSIONS
By Amy Poeppel
Emily Bestler
$26, 368 pages
ISBN 9781501122521
Audio, eBook available
SATIRICAL FICTION
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
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What is it about books set at elite schools? The grosgrain ribbon belt-bedecked cover of Curtis Sittenfeld's Prep. The anxiety-filled Princeton
offices in Jean Hanff Korelitz's Admission. The bittersweet final days of college in Jeffrey Eugenides' The Marriage Plot. These stories somehow
manage to intrigue even those of us who've never set foot in a prep school, let alone an Ivy League college.
It's no surprise, of course, that Amy Poeppel--author of the deliciously smart Small Admissions--went to Wellesley College and worked in
admissions for what her book jacket calls "a prestigious independent school." Her razor-sharp observations of families desperate to place their
darlings in the best Manhattan schools can only come from someone who's lived in that world.
Kate Pearson was on track to become an academic, applying to grad schools in her chosen field of anthropology. She had a gorgeous if caddish
boyfriend, Robert, who was "so ridiculously French, which was somehow an asset and a defect at the same time," Poeppel writes.
When Robert ditches her as soon as she lands in Paris to live with him, Kate abandons her carefully planned life and takes up residence on her
New York couch. Her friend Chloe, who is Robert's cousin and introduced the pair, feels guilty.
Her sister worries for Kate's mental health and connects her with the admissions director at Hudson Day School, who is desperate to fill an
admissions counselor position before the rush. Despite a catastrophically bad interview, Kate gets the job. Slowly, slowly, she reclaims her life,
her friendships and her way.
Poeppel nails the naked ambition of New York power moms for whom placing their children in a prep school is as important as securing the
newest Birkin bag. Small Admissions is a laugh-out-loud funny look at status and rejection in all its forms, from the classroom to the bedroom.
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Scribner, Amy. "Small Admissions." BookPage, Jan. 2017, p. 20. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA475225434&it=r&asid=6cba39831342cc9674e09750c44b7713. Accessed 12 June
2017.
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Poeppel, Amy. Small Admissions
Jeanne Bogino
Library Journal.
141.18 (Nov. 1, 2016): p78.
COPYRIGHT 2016 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.libraryjournal.com/
Full Text:
Poeppel, Amy. Small Admissions. Atria. Dec. 2016. 368p. ISBN 9781501122521. $26; ebk. ISBN 9781501122545. F
Bright, ambitious Wellesley grad Kate Pearson is a woman whose life has gone off the rails. Following a disastrous breakup that annihilated both
her relationship and planned move to Paris, she is back in New York filling her days (and nights) with bon-bons, sweatpants, and reruns of Sex
and the City. Despite the best efforts of her sister Angela and BFFs Chloe and Vicki, Kate can't get off the couch until, against all odds, she lands
a job in admissions at the prestigious Hudson Day School. There's no time for selfipity in her new position as Kate plunges right into the "dark
time," as her colleagues describe the admissions season, and a sea of oddball applicants and their crazy parents. VERDICT Debut author Poeppel,
who did a stint as an admissions officer, gives us an inside peek into the selection process at an elite prep school. The result is a witty and
captivating page-turner punctuated with quirky characters and laugh-out-loud moments that are sure to appeal to chick lit lovers of the Marian
Keyes/Jennifer Weiner/ S-usan Isaacs variety. [See Prepub Alert, 6/13/16.]--Jeanne Bogino, New Lebanon Lib., NY
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Bogino, Jeanne. "Poeppel, Amy. Small Admissions." Library Journal, 1 Nov. 2016, p. 78. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA467830351&it=r&asid=1d1a77bcb50f9ed079511ffe3598566d. Accessed 12 June
2017.
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Amy Poeppel: SMALL ADMISSIONS
Kirkus Reviews.
(Oct. 1, 2016):
COPYRIGHT 2016 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Amy Poeppel SMALL ADMISSIONS Emily Bestler/Atria (Adult Fiction) 26.00 ISBN: 978-1-5011-2252-1
Kate Pearson is about to discover just how far moneyed Manhattanites will go to get their children into the most prestigious private school.A
devastating breakup has left Kates life in a shambles. She finds herself back home in New York with no fiance and no job. By sheer luck, she
lands a position as an admissions officer at the elite Hudson Day School, where she evaluates middle school applicants and their parents. Kate
meets the typical cast of admit-lit characters: the spoiled underachiever, the too-perfect braggart, the charming scholarship candidate, and, of
course, the crazy parents. With one notable exception, they do exactly what readers of this genre have come to expect: pressure, bully, throw
tantrums, and threaten to sue when things dont go their way. Debut novelist Poeppel delivers some fun and entertaining moments but fails to offer
anything fresh or insightful in her tales from the admissions-committee room. Since the author worked in the admissions office at an elite prep
school herself, readers might expect she would have more material on which to base her fictional tale. Aside from one point of high drama at the
end, though, this book lacks the punch one hopes for in this genre. Diluting the novel's potency further is a supporting cast of Kates family and
friends from outside the admissions world, none of whom is particularly compelling. Passing grade, though not top of the class.
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Amy Poeppel: SMALL ADMISSIONS." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Oct. 2016. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA465181958&it=r&asid=5fa7dd8f643691d5501ff82d634e46d9. Accessed 12 June
2017.
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Small Admissions
Erin Holt
Booklist.
113.5 (Nov. 1, 2016): p28.
COPYRIGHT 2016 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
Full Text:
Small Admissions. By Amy Poeppel. Dec. 2016. 368p. Atria/Emily Bestler, $26 (9781501122521).
After being dumped by her boyfriend--at the airport in Paris, no less--Kate Pearson is back in New York City to drown her sorrows in her pj's on
the couch. She's unemployed and depressed, so her sister, Angela, and close friends Chloe and Victoria are determined to turn her life around.
While at a school fair for her daughter, Angela meets the admissions director of Hudson Day School (an elite New York City school) and
manages to get Kate (who is highly unqualified) an interview for an admissions-counselor position. Despite showing up in a too-short skirt and
babbling through the interview, Kate miraculously manages to snag the job, where she is quickly introduced to the cutthroat world of admissions.
The admissions season is hot, and everyone wants in. Poeppel gives an in-depth look at the admissions process, with a side of secrets,
bombshells, heartbreak, and hope. This novel is a slow burn but has a firecracker ending, and is perfect for fans of Curtis Sittenfeld's Prep (2005)
or Jessica Anya Blau's The Trouble with Lexie (2016).--Erin Holt
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Holt, Erin. "Small Admissions." Booklist, 1 Nov. 2016, p. 28. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA471142805&it=r&asid=b5679cda84060d4cc9979603eba6b213. Accessed 12 June
2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A471142805
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Small Admissions
Publishers Weekly.
263.37 (Sept. 12, 2016): p30.
COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Small Admissions
Amy Poeppel. Atria/Bestler, $26 (352p) ISBN 978-1-5011-2252-1
The focus in Poeppel's quick-witted debut novel is on elite private school admissions. Kate Pearson is a sharp yet aimless young woman a couple
of years out of Wellesley, struggling to recover from a disastrous breakup. Her helicopter sister, Angela, gets her a job interview, which is a
comical nightmare for Kate and her prospective boss. Surprisingly--to both of them--he hires her to be in charge of admissions at Manhattan's
prestigious Hudson Day School. Poeppel's novel follows Kate's journey from hot mess to self-actualizing grown-up, while detailing the
campaigns for admission of a small group of students and their families. Some rise to the challenge, but one fails miserably. The novel is also
about friendship and family, and the author gently satirizes hippie academics through Kate's parents, whose nontraditional take on child rearing
contributed in no small part to Angela's tightly wound demeanor. Rounding out the cast are Kate's two best friends: Chloe, who goes to extreme,
humorous lengths to find Kate a boyfriend, and Vicki, who tries to manipulate the situation to her advantage. With so many strong personalities
and disparate threads, Kate and her story might easily have gotten lost, but the author, like a circus ringmaster, points attention here and there,
always bringing it back to the center. An excellent debut. (Dec.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Small Admissions." Publishers Weekly, 12 Sept. 2016, p. 30. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA464046217&it=r&asid=2de64724c5b878bee160b21f102a774a. Accessed 12 June
2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A464046217
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Debut novel is a smart take on private-school 'Admissions'
Mary Cadden , USA TODAY 7:05 a.m. EST December 27, 2016
Read an excerptpowered by Zola
Small Admissions: A Novel
by Amy Poeppel
(Atria/Emily Bestler Books)
in Fiction
Buy Now
USA TODAY Rating
Set against the backdrop of a prestigious New York City day school, Amy Poeppel’s debut novel is a book about rejection, acceptance and our ability to maneuver between the two.
In Small Admissions (Atria, 356 pp., *** out of four stars), Kate Pearson is a bookish young woman whose life appears to be planned out. The daughter of a pair of eccentric cultural anthropologists, Kate has decided to attend grad school for biological anthropology after graduating from Wellesley.
Fast-forward two years and Kate is a shell of her former self. Having abandoned her post-grad work, she is recovering from a broken “almost” engagement with the very French Robert and is living in a sublet as a less-than-successful dog walker.
Kate’s sister Angela arranges a job interview for Kate at the admissions office at Hudson Day School. After a bumbling, comical sit-down, Kate is hired. At Hudson Day she learns not just to navigate the ups and downs of being an admission officer, but of life.
Author Amy Poeppel
Author Amy Poeppel (Photo: George Baier)
Author Poeppel has been on both sides of the interview process, as an admissions officer at a private school and as a prospective parent. Novels inspired by real life can get bogged down in trivial details or veer off into slapstick.
But Poeppel’s tenor is just right. She delivers a perfect balance between the totally believable — awkward student interviews — and the truly absurd — a tense showdown involving parents and firearms.
Kate must mediate between over- and underwhelming applicants (mainly middle-school age) and their overbearing parents. At times you wonder if any of the parents promoting their children have actually met them. And at other times the feelings of parental love and wanting what’s best for their kids is palpable. We can actually feel the birth of helicopter parents, watching them take flight.
If Small Admissions has a lesson, it’s that rejection does not have to be absolute. What appears to be an obvious failure may turn out to be a blessing in disguise, as both Kate and these anxious parents come to learn.
Review: ‘Small Admissions,’ ‘Freebird’ and More
By CARMELA CIURARUDEC. 25, 2016
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The Gardens Of Consolation
By Parisa Reza, translated from the French by Adriana Hunter.
260 pages. Europa Editions. $16.
This exquisite, deceptively quiet novel opens with a 12-year-old Iranian girl and her donkey, trekking down a desolate desert road. The girl, Talla, is already married; her shepherd husband, Sardar, walks beside her. She finds comfort in her belief that “no one but God and her husband would have authority over her.” The year is 1920. Talla, who like her husband is illiterate, has never left her home village and has no idea that World War I has ended, yet “her reclusive life felt enormous to her.” Talla settles with Sardar outside of Tehran and learns by way of gossiping locals about her country’s chaotic politics, including the transformative rise of Reza Khan. When Khan becomes the king, Reza Shah, he begins “flouting Iranian tradition, and the changes would prove devastating.” Some of the novel’s passages seem uncannily relevant to the current divide over immigration in America — with mention of “people who spoke languages no one understood, who came from everywhere and nowhere. New arrivals were always viewed with suspicion.” The novel traces the couple’s lives over decades, as they struggle to start a family and find stability amid political tumult.
Amid the cacophony of voices competing for dominance (and oil) in their country, Talla’s politically engaged son, Bahram — handsome, educated, a star athlete — navigates dangerous paths of activism and resistance “with a strange mix of narcissism and patriotism.” Slowly, the narrative evolves from an intimate chronicle of Talla and Sardar’s provincial lives into a sweeping tour through early-20th-century Iran.
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Small Admissions
By Amy Poeppel.
358 pages. Aria Books. $26.
This debut novel might be described as “The Devil Wears Prada” meets “Primates of Park Avenue.” A behind-the-scenes glimpse into the daunting admissions process at an elite Manhattan private school, “Small Admissions” offers a tantalizing if shallow premise. Kate Pearson, 25, lands a job at the fictional Hudson Day School after a comically terrible interview. She dislikes children, curses with abandon and is inconsolable after a breakup with her French boyfriend. Alongside subplots involving Kate’s controlling sister, Angela, and two college friends, the story follows Kate’s work tribulations and renewed attempts at dating. Although Ms. Poeppel once worked in private school admissions, she delivers few startling insights. The rich parents are as entitled and demanding as you might expect. They try to bribe their way into a top-choice school or threaten litigation; they’re a bit crazy and trapped in unhappy marriages; they panic over their children’s test scores and essays. “Getting into private school in Manhattan is like getting into Harvard,” one desperate woman says, reminding her husband, “We have to appear stable.” The clichés extend to a promising Latina applicant, the violin-playing and “unusually empathetic” Claudia Gutierrez, whose mother works two jobs and whose father died of cancer. Nuance is largely absent as the novel goes for frothy fun and hits predictably heartwarming notes. Take it for what it is; you’ll be entertained.
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Freebird
By Jon Raymond.
322 pages. Graywolf Press. $26.
The Lynyrd Skynyrd classic for which this uneven novel is named figures into the final scene — aptly, a road trip. The song provides liberation, though not for the character most in need of release: Anne Singer, a 45-year-old single mother in Los Angeles, frustrated by her dead-end job in a municipal sustainability office. Suffering from burnout and “generalized hate,” she’s vulnerable to the brash businessman who approaches her with a convoluted plan to monetize the city’s wastewater supply. She is also coping with care for her octogenarian, Holocaust-survivor father, and a strained relationship with her feckless teenage son. Her brother, Ben, an ex-Navy SEAL, returns home with PTSD and a murder plot directed at a former employer. The novel toggles discordantly between dysfunctional family drama and crime thriller. Despite hints of weighty themes, none are explored with much depth. Nor is the narrative served by the author’s prose, alternately lyrical and breezy. Still, Anne offers plenty of memorable moments. Her earnest, altruistic impulses coexist with a deep misanthropy she can’t quite suppress. Spotting a crucifix around someone’s neck, she admits her loathing for “these stupid, sanctimonious ornaments of someone’s private belief. What did God care if you advertised your creed?”
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The Return Of Munchausen
By Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky, translated from the Russian by Joanne Turnbull with Nikolai Formozov.
140 pages. New York Review Books Classics. $14.95.
In recent years, New York Review Books has been reissuing works by this neglected Russian master, who was not published in his lifetime. (He died at 63 in 1950.) In this witty, whimsical novella, the much-mythologized 18th-century German baron, Hieronymus von Munchausen, is imaginatively conjured. Familiar elements remain, including the baron’s famously upturned pigtail, which once supposedly pulled him and his horse from a swamp. And of course, Munchausen is a raconteur extraordinaire, filled with tall tales and very much full of himself. His greatest pleasure is the sound of his own voice, and his perorations rouse audiences to standing ovations and the kind of ardor summoned at a Justin Bieber concert. (The baron’s devoted followers are known as Munchauseniads.) Mr. Krzhizhanovsky’s plot, such as it is, takes Munchausen through 1920s Berlin, London and Moscow as a freewheeling diplomat-secret agent — though he spends most of his time philosophizing, smoking his pipe and reeling off postprandial aphorisms. (Of horses and voters, he says, “if you do not put blinkers on them, they will throw you into the nearest ditch.”) Munchausen’s trusted confidant, the poet Ernst Unding — whose name translates as “Earnest Nonsense” — gently challenges the details of his friend’s long-winded stories and departures from “the trammels of truth.” Munchausen can’t help himself. His perceptions do not extend much beyond “the radius of his fedora,” and his delight in bending reality as he pleases seems almost childlike, and utterly charming.
Review: Small Admissions by Amy Poeppel
Hello 2017! Even though I read this book in 2016, it’s my first official book review of 2017 and I couldn’t be happier with this new year kick off!
Kate Pearson has turned into a major slacker. Even though she’s graduated at the top of her class from college and things seem positive in her life, everything takes a turn for the worst.
She was unceremoniously dumped by her “almost fiancé” she abandons her grad school plans and instead spends her days lolling on the couch, watching reruns of Sex and the City, and leaving her apartment only when a dog-walking gig demands it.
Her friends don’t know what to do other than pass tissues and hope for a comeback, while her practical sister, Angela, pushes every remedy she can think of, from trapeze class to therapy to job interviews.
Basically Kate is lost and has no idea what to do with her life. Then suddenly a job at the prestigious Hudson Day School lands in her lap and a whole new world opens for her.
Through every dishy, page-turning twist, it seems that one person’s happiness leads to another’s misfortune, and suddenly everyone, including Kate, is looking for a way to turn rejection on its head, using any means necessary—including the truly unexpected.
I don’t read a whole lot of chick lit but this book sounded so entertaining and funny that I had to give it a go. I work in education admissions so this book sounded like something I could relate to and I wasn’t wrong. It was cheeky and funny and I really enjoyed Kate as the lead character.
Even though it was told in the third person, I still felt like I could relate to Kate as well as the other characters and enjoy their story. I think what I loved about this story the most was how much I could relate to it because of my job. For teachers, school counselors, and others who have worked in education and had to deal with helicopter and high maintenance parents as well as entitlement issues with parents and students then this book will find a special place in your hearts! Working in a school environment made this book all the more endearing for me.
While I think I loved this book more because of it, I don’t think you need to be a school worker to find humor and charm in this book. Poeppel has a great wit and ability to bring humor to various situations and I loved that about this book. Not to mention it was an easy quick read, just what I needed coming off the holiday season.
There was also a romantic element in the book but it wasn’t overwhelmingly the focus of the book which was nice but on the other hand I kind of wanted it to be. Sometimes in chick lit it’s either all romance or all personal journey stories but this book had a nice mixture of both so I liked that a lot…..even if I did want the whole book to be romance, the way it was written was satisfying.
On the whole, this was a great book and I loved the humor and journey of the character. I loved Kate and wanted all the best for her in this novel! If you are looking for something entertaining to kick off the holiday season then this is the book for you!
Challenge/Book Summary:
Book: Small Admissions by Amy Poeppel
ebook, 368 pages
Published December 27th 2016 by Atria/Emily Bestler Books
ISBN 1501122541 (ISBN13: 9781501122545)
Review copy provided by: Author/Publisher in exchange for an honest review
This book counts toward: NA
Hosted by: NA
Books for Challenge Completed: NA
Recommendation: 4 out of 5
Genre: Romance, womens fiction, chick lit
Memorable lines/quotes: NA
Review: Small Admissions by Amy Poeppel
January 24, 2017 Jenn General Fiction, Review 5
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Review: Small Admissions by Amy PoeppelSmall Admissions by Amy Poeppel
Published by Simon and Schuster on December 27th 2016
Genres: Coming of Age, Contemporary Women, Fiction, Literary
Pages: 368
Format: Hardcover
Source: Publisher
Kate Pearson is quite certain that she and her French boyfriend will marry. When the opposite happens, and he dumps her, she's heartbroken. She sinks into a deep depression, her days spent alone in her pajamas.
Eventually, somehow she manages to attain a job as an admissions director at a highly desired New York City school, despite having zero experience and completely bombing the interview. This position requires her to interview children of all sorts, from charming and intelligent to obnoxiously spoiled and entitled brats. An even further challenge: the elitist parents unable to accept no for an answer.
Without realizing it, Kate discovers that first impressions determine one's fate, and that there is no room in such a world for self-pity or doubt. Unbeknownst to her family, who is desperate to help Kate get back on her feet, Kate embarks on a remarkable journey in which she learns that one's happiness doesn't depend on others, but one's own self-worth.
I absolutely love when a book takes you by surprise, overwhelming and lifting you up in ways unimaginable.
When I read the premise of this book, I thought it was a light, fluffy read, perfect airplane reading for my multiple business trips. What I experienced instead was a completely heartwarming, endearing read.
Kate is quite the pathetic character, and I do mean that in the nicest way possible. She’s hit rock bottom, allowing one man to determine her fate and self-worth. At first that annoyed me; I tend to get quite irritated with individuals lacking in pride and self-esteem, but following her on this highly humorous (so much so that I found myself laughing out loud on the plane) journey was completely rewarding.
What I also appreciated was the relationships between the women in this book. While I won’t go into depth about those as it is best to experience them yourself, it was interesting to see how concerned they were about Kate’s well-being, when they really needed to take a step back and deal with their own personal drama!
All in all, this is the sort of book that will lift your spirit, no matter your mood. Highly, highly recommended.