Admission by Jean Hanff Korelitz

It's been a while since I've blogged about a book. It's been a busy few weeks and I decided to tackle a big book (449 pages) for my next read. But it was also a hard book to read, so that did add some to my time.

People Magazine recommended Admission to me, so I bought the book. I'm usually on par with People in terms of their books recommendations (movies and music, not so much). Admission tells the story of Portia Nathan, an admissions officer at Princeton University. This was interesting to me because the Ivy League is not something I'm familiar with (product of the state schools University of North Texas and The Florida State University myself), so I was curious to see the whole admissions process and how it worked. That part was interesting - each chapter had an "excerpt" from an admission essay that was interesting (also funny, sad, bizarre) to read. I think if the book had stuck to just the admissions process, it might have kept my interest better.

Instead, there are parallel stories about Portia and relationships she has with several others: her free spirited mother Susannah, her long term boyfriend partner Mark, and John - a "friend" from her days as a student at Dartmouth. These stories SLOWLY all connect, but I found myself having a hard time keeping up with.... or caring, for that matter.... about them. John was the most interesting story of the three, and it was the least developed. But when all three stories did connect, it was the one time that I couldn't put the book down because I HAD to know how things ended up.

Usually when I find a book I like, I Tivo shows, stay up late, sneak the book in whereever I can (which explains why I can polish off a 350 page book in an afternoon). Admission wasn't a book like that for me - if it came down to VH1 reality or Admission, it was a hard choice at times.

But just because it wasn't my favorite doesn't mean that it's a bad book. It's well written, informative and entertaining - just not a perfect fit for me. I could see someone loving it though. I'd like to check out other books by this author because I do think it might be a better fit.

Read it and decide for yourselves - be curious as to what others might think about it.......

Mo's Review:
"Admission" by Jean Hanff Korelitz, (2009, 449 pages): 3 out of 5 Stars