Julie Schumacher. (2014). Dear Committee Members: A novel. Unabridged Books on Tape.

Julie Schumacher. 2014. Dear Committee Members: A Novel. Books on Tape.

Julie Schumacher, Dear Committee Members: A Novel. Books on Tape, 2014.

Julie Schumacher. Dear Committee Members: A Novel. Unabridged Books on Tape, 2014.

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Dear Committee Members

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   • fileAs: Schumacher, Julie
   • bioText: JULIE SCHUMACHER grew up in Wilmington, Delaware, and graduated from Oberlin College and Cornell University. Her first novel, The Body Is Water, was published by Soho Press in 1995 and was an ALA Notable Book of the Year and a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award and the Minnesota Book Award. Her other books include a short story collection, An Explanation for Chaos, and five books for younger readers. She lives in St. Paul and is a faculty member in the Creative Writing Program and the Department of English at the University of Minnesota. Visit her on the web at julieschumacher.com.
   • name: Julie Schumacher
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2014-08-19T00:00:00-04:00

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Unabridged

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title

Dear Committee Members

fullDescription

Finally a novel that puts the "pissed" back into "epistolary."
Jason Fitger is a beleaguered professor of creative writing and literature at Payne University, a small and not very distinguished liberal arts college in the midwest. His department is facing draconian cuts and squalid quarters, while one floor above them the Economics Department is getting lavishly remodeled offices. His once-promising writing career is in the doldrums, as is his romantic life, in part as the result of his unwise use of his private affairs for his novels. His star (he thinks) student can't catch a break with his brilliant (he thinks) work Accountant in a Bordello, based on Melville's Bartleby. In short, his life is a tale of woe, and the vehicle this droll and inventive novel uses to tell that tale is a series of hilarious letters of recommendation that Fitger is endlessly called upon by his students and colleagues to produce, each one of which is a small masterpiece of high dudgeon, low spirits, and passive-aggressive strategies. We recommend Dear Committee Members to you in the strongest possible terms.

reviews

1. • premium: False
   • source: , New York Post
   • content: "If you like academic satires, you'll love this novel, which is written as a series of recommendation letters by a cranky, long-suffering English professor. Like Richard Russo's Straight Man this book has a lot to say about the humanities in American colleges and universities. It's very funny and also moving."
     --Tom Perrotta "In My Library"
2. • premium: False
   • source: Jon Michaud, The New Yorker
   • content: "For that reason, I entreat you, now that you've reviewed my précis, to read Ms. Schumacher's book. It is easily consumed in small pieces, like a tray of sweets and savories. It is ideal for passing the time between innings of a baseball game, waiting for a long red light to change, or sitting in a warm bath. As for Jason Fitger, I implore you to take a leap of faith and offer him admission to your next available residency. The worlds of business and academia will be poorer for lack of his letters, but perhaps, with your support, he can find a way to channel his energy and inventiveness into a new novel--one that will hopefully be as entertaining and as sharply written as Julie Schumacher's Dear Committee Members."
3. • premium: False
   • source: Brock Clarke, The New York Times Book Review
   • content: "The book is hilarious... [Schumacher's] scabrous book reminds me of Sam Lipsyte's Home Land, Richard Russo's Straight Man and Jincy Willett's Winner of the National Book Award. If you didn't find those books funny, well, that means you're a corpse. But you're also, apparently, a corpse who reads, so there's hope for you yet. You should read Dear Committee Members; maybe it will bring you back to life."
4. • premium: False
   • source: Sam Sacks, The Wall Street Journal
   • content: "...Bitterly hilarious. If you are looking for a witty, original cri de coeur over the oft-lamented decline of the humanities, I urgently recommend this novel."
5. • premium: False
   • source: The Rumpus
   • content: "Julie Schumacher's Dear Committee Members is the best sort of novel: the laugh-out-loud page-turner that also bleeds and breathes, the satire you want to quote to friends, the book that lets you in on the joke so you can better see the truth of the world."
6. • premium: False
   • source: San Francisco Chronicle
   • content: "[A] richly sardonic epistolary volume."
7. • premium: False
   • source: The Boston Globe
   • content: "The beauty of Dear Committee Members is that Fitger is not just an eloquent professor with a poison pen. He's previously alienated quite a few of the people whose favor he attempts to curry here, his ex-wife and ex-girlfriend included, and he has a habit of compounding the insults anew with each communication. But for all his corrosiveness, he's actually one of the good guys: a generous defender of gifted students, underappreciated colleagues, and fine scholarship. He's a romantic, really, a champion of academia. And he does love being a writer, 'which, despite its horrors, is possibly one of the few sorts of lives worth living at all.'"
8. • premium: False
   • source: Minneapolis Star Tribune
   • content: "Each letter Fitger writes is imbued with the wisdom and comic chops that make Schumacher a wonderfully entertaining writer. Let this review serve as an LOR for Dear Committee Members. If there's one thing new grads need in addition to the congratulatory check or gift card, it's a few good laughs before reality sets in."
9. • premium: False
   • source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
   • content: "If Fitger wrote only sarcastic letters, that would be one thing, but in this short tome a man appears between the zingers... Be sure to tag this book with 'for fans of David Foster Wallace.'"
10. • premium: False
    • source: The Iowa Gazette
    • content: "Lest you conclude I am merely impressed by a humorous, well-handled gimmick, let me assure you that Ms. Schumacher brilliantly lays bare the tale of Fitger's stalled career, failed love life, and quixotic championing of a student and his unfinished novel. "Dear Committee Members" ends with a blend of sadness and quiet hope that I did not anticipate, but found wholly satisfying.
      In short, I recommend Dear Committee Members without hesitation or caveat."
11. • premium: False
    • source: Houston Chronicle
    • content: "...A hilarious and surprisingly poignant pleasure to read."
12. • premium: False
    • source: The Wichita Eagle
    • content: "
      "Schumacher's satire of the petty rivalries, byzantine hierarchies and committee meetings is spot on--scathing and laugh-out-loud funny."
13. • premium: False
    • source: Santa Fe New Mexican
    • content: "
      "As back-to-school entertainment, Dear Committee Members hits the spot."
14. • premium: False
    • source: Kirkus Reviews
      
    • content: "
      "[A] very funny epistolary novel composed of recommendation lett
15. • premium: True
    • source:
    • content: Schumacher has written an academic comedy of manners in the grand tradition of LUCKY JIM, MOO, and STRAIGHT MAN. Robertson Dean narrates masterfully. Part of the fun of these books is the surprising literary form many take. Here Schumacher has outdone herself. This is an epistolary audiobook written entirely in letters of recommendation (LORs). Robertson Dean does a wonderful rendition of the aging English professor who is trapped literally--in a building under construction--and figuratively--by his romantic and professional missteps over two decades. As he should, Dean leaves the listener guessing about Professor Fitger's real feelings towards the denizens of Payne University as his life emerges through a torrent of LORs. F.C. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine
16. • premium: True
    • source:
    • content:

      June 9, 2014
      Professor Jason Fitger, the hero of this engaging epistolary novel from Schumacher (The Unbearable Book Club for Unsinkable Girls), is concerned about Darren Browles, a student of his currently at work on a novel. Fitger, who teaches creative writing at fictional Payne University, believes this book, when completed, will prove Browles to be a prodigy. Despite Fitger’s near-ecstatic praise of the would-be novelist, both for writing positions and for any job available, no one seems interested in hiring Browles, not even the less-than-enterprising college radio station. In addition to this pet project, Fitger commits himself to writing recommendations for anyone that asks. However, he agrees to do so only on the condition of being completely frank, leading him to address the personal lives of his colleagues and students inappropriately. Additionally, Fitger delves into his own life with uncomfortable honesty, regardless of which person he’s writing to, usually concerning the marriage-ending novel he wrote about his extramarital affairs and his distress over being a failed novelist. His letters become progressively more abrasive, to the point of insult. A creative writing professor herself, Schumacher crafts a suitably verbose but sympathetic voice for Fitger, a man who exudes both humor and heart. Agent: Lisa Bankoff, ICM Partners.

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shortDescription

Finally a novel that puts the "pissed" back into "epistolary."
Jason Fitger is a beleaguered professor of creative writing and literature at Payne University, a small and not very distinguished liberal arts college in the midwest. His department is facing draconian cuts and squalid quarters, while one floor above them the Economics Department is getting lavishly remodeled offices. His once-promising writing career is in the doldrums, as is his romantic life, in part as the result of his unwise use of his private affairs for his novels. His star (he thinks) student can't catch a break with his brilliant (he thinks) work Accountant in a Bordello, based on Melville's Bartleby. In short, his life is a tale of woe, and the vehicle this droll and inventive novel uses to tell that tale is a series of hilarious letters of recommendation that Fitger is endlessly called upon by his students and colleagues to produce, each one of which is a small masterpiece...

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