This is a campus novel where things go wrong. There are a few layout decisions that read better in the physical than the ebook. Half of the profits will go to organizations working with incarcerated and formerly incarcerated trans people.
Assessment:
Plot/Idea: School is an imaginative and insightful college drama that mixes fantastical elements with modern day teenage issues. Although it has a tendency to descend into monotonous teenage melodrama at times, it is generally an ambitious and rewarding read.
Prose: Freed's text is inventive and playful, brilliantly capturing the likes of text speak and meme culture while exploring the positive and, more often than not, negative vibes associated with college life. Her use of crude and offensive language throughout the novel is simultaneously shocking and effective.
Originality: School will strike a chord with a young, vibrant audience, with its fresh and compelling college setting and exploration of contemporary issues. The plethora of characters and lack of a central protagonist results in an adventurous book that casts a dizzying existential tone over proceedings.
Character/Execution: School's myriad cast of characters lend the novel a freshness and vitality with large stretches of dialogue that are often engaging and dynamic. Freed masterfully displays an understanding of teenage emotion and relationships in a bold, affecting, and memorable book.
Blurb: An inventive and colorful campus drama.
Date Submitted: May 27, 2024
