Review by Booklist Review
Isabel's working-class background sets her apart from her peers at her elite New Hampshire college in the late 1990s. In her high-octane senior writing seminar, it's her skill, at first, that singles her out in the eyes of poet-professor R. H. Connelly, who lights Isabel up creatively, and then in every way. Former teacher, publishing professional, and now novelist Florin conveys Isabel's experiences and their era dexterously in this wise campus novel. Cruel talk of Monica Lewinsky dominates casual conversation and C-SPAN, telephones mostly stay in one place, and a word for enthusiastic consent doesn't quite exist yet. Florin's writing is especially needle-pointed in her exploration of the gray areas Isabel eventually accepts as they are, from the troubling, nonconsensual sexual encounter that begins the book to the affair that dominates it; from her late artist mother's certain unhappiness to her acceptance of her workaholic father, and of herself, an artist. Readers will be rapt and pierced by a young woman's uphill battle, even in all her brilliance, to believe that she can be the ultimate witness to her own life.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Florin debuts with an immersive if overly polished campus novel involving a creative writing student's affair with her professor. Isabel Rosen, a New Yorker, enrolls at Wilder College in New Hampshire at the behest of her working-class father in the late 1990s. Shortly before she leaves for college, her mother dies from cancer. Grief-stricken during her freshman year, she's preoccupied by memories of her mother. By Isabel's senior year, her writing talent is recognized by R.H. Connelly, a married and formerly successful poet who is subbing for famous author Joanna Maxwell, who normally runs the senior workshop but is on leave due to an impending divorce from her professor husband, Tom, which caused a bit of a scandal. Against this backdrop, which also includes the Clinton-Lewinsky episode, Isabel and Connelly have an affair. Connelly helps Isabel grow creatively, though she has qualms about their relationship and suspects Connelly has done this before. Florian does great work exploring the era's murky sexual politics, but the prose is burnished to the point of feeling stilted, and a post-college section feels a bit rushed. While sterile, this throwback has its moments. (Feb.)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A young woman navigates sex and power at an elite New England college in the late 1990s in Florin's debut. Isabel Rosen, the daughter of an artist mother and a father who owns a Lower East Side appetizing store, is hardly the typical student at New Hampshire's Wilder College (presumably based on Dartmouth). During her senior year, as she works on a thesis on Edith Wharton and tries to enjoy her last moments at the college that--despite everything--she loves, she has sexual encounters with two different men that will forever shape her memories of the time. One is a slightly older peer, a former soldier whose Israeli bravado is thoughtfully juxtaposed against her Ashkenazi ambivalence; the other is the handsome creative writing professor who takes an interest in her work. Set against the backdrop of President Bill Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky, Isabel's experiences teach her the hard way about the complex power dynamics in sexual relationships. Isabel's sex life is private and secretive, while the president's was much publicized; soon enough, however, Isabel learns that privacy doesn't last long on a small college campus. Isabel's intoxicating affair begins to unravel when drama ensues surrounding the family of the Wilder English department chair. Florin's prose is gorgeous and enthralling, and her imagistic portrayal of New England campus life--from divey college town bars to Winter Carnival to English department parties to skinny-dipping in the river--is pitch-perfect. She also succeeds where many stories of dubious sexual consent fail: She avoids heavy-handed moralizing in favor of ambiguity, however uncomfortable. Even an odd final section, which spans years after Isabel graduates and detracts from the momentum of what would otherwise have been the final act, cannot dim the shine of this novel. Florin's debut is not to be missed. A brilliantly crafted campus novel for the generation before #MeToo. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
