book review of the month: admission
dear friend, |
When I first heard Julie Buxbaum (author of What to Say Next, Hope and Other Punchlines, and my personal favorite, Tell Me Three Things) had a new book out about the not-so-fictional-fictional take on Operation Varsity Blues, I was SO excited for it. Well, needless to say, I’m 77% through with it and I am ready to start chronicling my thoughts concerning said novel.
If you’re unaware of the book I am referencing, it’s called Admission. This book, as I’ve hinted at a little bit, is told through the point of view of Chloe Berringer, the oblivious eldest daughter of Joy “Missy” Fields, a famous B-lister actress well known for a nostalgic role she played in a family sitcom in her younger years. In this book, Chloe is going through the process of finding out her famous parents not only swindled her way into college by paying off a college admissions advisor to get in through “the side door'“ of a fictional competitive school SCC, but also have been lying to her about her role in the whole thing! She discovers this when, upon waking one morning to the doorbell ringing, finds guns aimed in her face and her mom placed in an FBI car to be taken away. As she grapples with her privilege, wealth, and unobservant nature, Chloe learns a lot in this book — and it isn’t all rainbows and unicorns.
Now that you have a nice little understanding of what this book is all about, let me give you the low-down about how I feel reading it:
Overall, I think I’m going to give this book three hearts out of five.
♡♡♡
I’ll break it down for you into nice, neat sections:
s e c t i o n o n e : t h e c h a r a c t e r s
Chloe Berringer - Although I would’ve totally related to her when I was in high school, I don’t understand why the author made her so… bland. I mean, even I didn’t do any extracurriculars or have many friends when I was in high school, but I definitely wanted to have more come out of my life than partying and drinking and useless relationships. I suppose, in a way, it’s deeper, signifying that famous people are all vapid and most of them, especially the children of them, don’t have what it takes to BE famous — no drive, no ambitions, no passions, just money is what they live by and for. And I think that’s what makes this so much less relatable; Chloe would have been much more REAL if she actually had the drive to be more like her mom, not downing herself on her appearance, wanting better opportunities for herself, etc. Bland is the name I would’ve given Chloe if I were to write her character.
Joy “Missy” Fields - Hilarious. I loved the presentation of Chloe’s mom, and I SO loved the fact that she became one with whom we all want to believe Lori Loughner is behind the scenes. Even though she is terrible when she commits the crime, she still wants to believe she is a good mother, caring for her daughters and husband in a way only the rich can: with money, and lots of it. I don’t want to discredit her, though. Certain scenes that are depicted with her and her daughter Chloe do make the characters come to life in terms of their realness and the genuineness of their relationship; that of her relationship with her other daughter, Isla, is very well-presented too, and I so appreciated that in a book like this.
Richard Berringer - I don’t have much to say about this character. He was really there to support Missy and be a funny guy who throws his money at problems, especially those with his son from his first marriage.
Isla Berringer - I thought of my own little sister reading through the interactions Chloe shared with Isla and I so loved the dynamic. The nostalgia Chloe introduced when talking about her little sister was oh so sweet and I very much supported the two of them in every scene they were in. Again, the thoughtfulness Julie applied to the characters in this family was absolutely a chef’s kiss. I also really enjoyed the fact that the youngest sister was good at everything and super smart, as this is somehow SO relatable to me personally?!
Shola - I have SO much to say about this character. She is so wishy-washy. She complains incessantly about her home life even though she has amazingly supportive parents and goes to the SAME EXACT private school that Chloe goes to. Meanwhile, she acts like Chloe has so much more privilege than her, not only because of her money, but mainly because of her skin color. Three words: GROW UP, SHOLA. She really was not a good friend to Chloe, only showing support for her in her new relationship and chiding her when Chloe was jealous of her for being super smart. Such a sad, sad, dynamic of a “friendship,” and if I were Chloe, I definitely would have dropped her way earlier on simply for being a terrible, rude, and uncaring friend.
Levi - I don’t have much to say about this character. Characters like Shola and Levi who do not care about someone else’s pov in a crappy situation that they are involved in and will drop them at the whim of nothing but popularity or not wanting to be associated with them are absolutely diabolically-structured characters. To me, Levi served no purpose other than to punish the main character even more than what she had been through. Worthless. Wasted my time just writing about him honestly, lol.
s e c t i o n t w o : t h e p l o t
The plot takes place in two timelines: Then and Now, alternating all the way from beginning to end. I really enjoyed the way Julie laid this out, as it is straightforward enough to not be confusing . Plus, the chapters seemingly mimic or mock one another when Chloe doesn’t know something in the past, and then it comes later on in the future to bite her in the tail.
I especially loved the fact that they were reading Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky in one of the featured classes of Chloe’s Then chapters. Her teacher talks deeply about this and questions the students about what they think. I just adore that it so perfectly mocks Chloe before her impending doom, and that she later goes on to really revel in the guilt and shame of standing by and doing nothing to stop her parents. I’ve never read Crime and Punishment, but the author does a fantastic job of explaining this in such an underground way that I thought about this later to myself with a little grin, like, “Ah, I see what she did there.”
One thing that really bugs me, and a HUGE reason why I deducted two stars, is simply because of the stupid race language used in this book. Since Chloe is white and her bff is black and her boyfriend is also another ethnicity that isn’t white (forgive me, I didn’t pay much attention to the dirtbag that he is in every chapter he is included in), THE RACISM CARD IS PLAYED SO. STINKIN. OFTEN. Ugh. I fear that Julie’s book is not the first to be like this, and my worry only grows thinking about the language used in many spaces in 21st-century America and how sad it is that it even has to have a place in a non-fiction-fiction that this work, and many others like it, is. UGH. This comes into play a lot throughout the book, the question of Chloe and Joy’s privilege, the question of taking away spots for “diverse” students at colleges that are hard enough to get into, and the question of “white privilege” so to speak. It’'s just so old at this point, that I rolled my eyes at every turn this was mentioned. ESPECIALLY WITH CHLOE AND SHOLA’S FRIENDSHIP. Such a big ick I have for this aspect.
What got me the most annoyed was the aspect of “just listen” and “being an ally means I shut up and don’t have a say in anything.” As a Bible-believing Christian, knowing that God sees the heart and not the outward appearance of a person as sin to be atoned for, this entire section of the book was just plain AWFUL. Yes, I understand Julie is probably not a Christian. Even so, I have to warn other Christians against such an unbiblical idea that God sees less value in white people simply because they are white. I will utilize just one Bible verse here to rebut such an argument and leave it at that, because my GOODNESS this has been harped on so much and I wouldn’t even know where to begin to explain it all away!
“…But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
— Paul, Galatians 3:25-28 (ESV)
Anyway, that is really it for my review of this book! Take from it what you will. Would I recommend it? Eh, it was kind of a boring read if I’m being honest, so no, I don’t think I’d recommend it. BUT I am so glad I was able to share such a review with you! Would you read this book if you could? Let me know in the comments below!
much love and more,
