Her entry begins:I have a great deal of trouble devoting my attention to only one book at a time, so my bedside table is littered with several I am concurrently exploring. I have a pocket-sized volume of Gerard Manley Hopkins' collected poems, which I dip into for a saturated literary experience when I am feeling my tank is a little low; I have Jews, God, and History which both my parents insist I must read, thereby rendering my attitude toward it cautious; and I'm more actively reading Nabokov's Lolita and Lauren Belfer's A Fierce Radiance.About An Uncommon Education, from the publisher:
Lolita's on my list for the umpteenth time because...[read on]
A young woman tries to save three people she loves in this elegant and remarkably insightful coming-of-age debut.Learn more about the book and author at Elizabeth Percer's website.
Afraid of losing her parents at a young age—her father with his weak heart, her deeply depressed mother—Naomi Feinstein prepared single-mindedly for a prestigious future as a doctor. An outcast at school, Naomi loses herself in books, and daydreams of Wellesley College. But when Teddy, her confidant and only friend, abruptly departs from her life, it's the first devastating loss from which Naomi is not sure she can ever recover, even after her long-awaited acceptance letter to Wellesley arrives.
Naomi soon learns that college isn't the bastion of solidarity and security she had imagined. Amid hundreds of other young women, she is consumed byloneliness—until the day she sees a girl fall into the freezing waters of a lake.
The event marks Naomi's introduction to Wellesley's oldest honor society, the mysterious Shakespeare Society, defined by secret rituals and filled with unconventional, passionate students. Naomi finally begins to detach from the past and so much of what defines her, immersing herself in this exciting and liberating new world and learning the value of friendship. But her happiness is soon compromised by a scandal that brings irrevocable consequences. Naomi has always tried to save the ones she loves, but part of growing up is learning that sometimes saving others is a matter of saving yourself.
An Uncommon Education is a compelling portrait of a quest for greatness and the grace of human limitations. Poignant and wise, it artfully captures the complicated ties of family, the bittersweet inevitability of loss, and the importance of learning to let go.
The Page 69 Test: An Uncommon Education.
Writers Read: Elizabeth Percer.
--Marshal Zeringue
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