I didn’t have enough mental bandwidth for a full post today, thankfully I had a couple of Catch-Up posts started that I could wrap up and get out. As always, the point of these quick takes posts is to catch up on my “To Write About” stack—emphasizing pithiness, not thoroughness.
Tracy Flick Can’t Win
by Tom Perrotta, Lucy Liu (Narrator), Dennis Boutsikaris (Narrator), Jeremy Bobb (Narrator), Ramona Young (Narrator), Ali Andre Ali (Narrator), and Pete Simonelli (Narrator)
DETAILS: Series: Tracy Flick, #2 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio Publication Date: June 6, 2022 Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 6 hrs., 2 min. Read Date: September 6-7, 2022
(the official blurb)
I didn’t realize this was a sequel to Election until I was about halfway through when some of the backstory matched up with the trailers I’d seen about the movie (I also didn’t realize Election was a Perotta novel until that point). I’d have taken a pass on this otherwise. It’s not the kind of sequel that depends on you knowing the original, but still…
Anyway, this is a meandering novel that didn’t really feel like it knew what story/stories it was trying to tell. If it was a comedy, a dramedy, or something more serious. I didn’t connect with any of the characters, and couldn’t care if they got what they wanted or not. I think I came close a couple of times, but it never took. The conclusion was even worse.
None of this is the fault of the narrators—they were fine. Any one of them could’ve carried the whole book (or, if you insist, one male and one female—preferably Liu and Boutsikaris). The book didn’t need all six and having them didn’t add enough to justify it. But it wasn’t bad on that front.
Adequate Yearly Progress
by Roxanna Elden, Roxanna Ortega (Narrator)
DETAILS:
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Publication Date: February 10, 2020
Format: Unabridged Audiobook
Length: 11 hrs., 5 min.
Read Date: September 7-9, 2022
(the official blurb)
I might have gotten into this a bit more if I hadn’t just finished Tracy Flick Can’t Win, even so, this was a much better look at a school and various employees there struggling to get by and to do their jobs.
Adequate Yearly Progress is one of those books that’s been on my radar for years—I think I even heard Elden on a podcast after I’d had it on my radar for some time (probably Author Stories). But I’d never moved it to the front of the line—which is a shame, because it’s better than most of the school satires I’ve read (which is probably what kept me away). Thankfully, my library just added a copy and I was reminded of it.
This is set in a Texas High School that’s seen better days—the staff struggles to connect with the students, with each other, and to meet the rapidly changing (and largely useless) demands of the District. A consulting company comes in to improve things (and totally, honestly, not to sell the school new textbooks, technology, etc. to support their for-profit Charter Schools), and things get even worse.
There’s a whole lot to like about this book, and little to dislike. I think the satire could’ve been a bit sharper, but not much. It was maybe a tad too long. It didn’t click with me the way I’d expected/hoped, but I found it satisfying and I do recommend it—and think many people will like it more than I did (and even if you don’t, you’ll still enjoy it enough to be glad you picked it up).
Heads in Beds:
A Reckless Memoir of
Hotels, Hustles, and
So-Called Hospitality
by Jacob Tomsky
DETAILS:
Publisher: Random House Audio
Publication Date: November 19, 2012
Format: Unabridged Audiobook
Length: 8 hrs., 3 min.
Read Date: September 29-30, 2022
(the official blurb)
This memoir about working in higher-end hotels in Atlanta and NYC has a good moment or two and is occasionally amusing, but I kept waiting for Tomsky to get to a point. I’m not sure he did—I enjoyed a lot of this book. But there’s an emptiness to the narrative that left me dissatisfied.
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