Faber & Faber, April 6, 2017.
Three Stars
Naomi Roth is the first female president of Webster College,
a small liberal arts school in Massachusetts. Once a conservative missionary
school with the mandate of educating Native Americans, Webster is now popular
with progressive, politically-active students who want to make a difference in
the world. The students often hold protests at The Stump, a meeting place in
the middle of campus. However, the current protest is getting out of hand, and
Naomi is losing control.
As a former student radical herself, Naomi encourages
her daughter Hannah to express her opinions – so she is not surprised when
Hannah, who is a student at Webster, joins the protest. She isn’t worried,
until she realizes that the students are camped out at The Stump, and gaining members
every day. They are ostensibly protesting the denial of tenure for a popular
professor, but Naomi thinks that their cause is somewhat silly – compared to
her own former radical protests – and will end after a few chilly nights.
Instead, the encampment escalates to the point that Naomi’s job is threatened.
The protest grows, eventually leading to acts of
vandalism that destabilize the security of the campus. The issue is further
complicated when Omar Khayal, a Palestinian student, emerges as the group’s de
facto leader – and as secrets are revealed about Omar’s past, Naomi realizes
that the campus may be in serious danger. There are other complicated issues of
race, such as the fact that the untenured professor is African-American, leading
the students to suggest race as a motive for the negative tenure decision. While
the students’ dissent is at first encouraged, things soon go too far.
As the crisis escalates and Naomi loses control of
the Webster campus, she struggles to protect those around her – especially her
daughter. Although we do see other perspectives, Naomi is the main protagonist,
and her view is compelling because she finds herself in a difficult position –
not only at Webster, but with Hannah as well. From her new position of power,
she underestimates both Hannah and the other students, even though Naomi
herself is more comfortable in the role of protester. She gradually learns the
extent that she is willing to compromise her ethical values.
The novel struggles with problems such as a slow,
meandering pace and too much unnecessary description. The first half especially
was weighed down with details that added little to the story. However, the plot
itself is timely and compelling – but overall it moved too slowly to hold my
attention. I did enjoy the various discussions about the political protests,
and the emphasis on the importance of appearance vs. reality in current events –
especially the idea that we need to be educated about any cause we choose to
support, in a world where facts can be so easily manipulated and distorted.
I received this book from Faber & Faber and
NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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