Jennifer Miller (2) (1980–)

This is a difficult book for me to evaluate, because there is no way I’m going to enjoy reading about the bullying and psychological torture of young kids. For that matter, I am ill-disposed from the very beginning to like reading about private academies for privileged kids. There are some aspects to the plot that intrigued me though, and I wanted to see how they played out.

It seems like there are only two types of students at Mariana Preparatory Academy in Nye, Massachusetts: incredibly show more cruel, or incredibly stupid. The former prey on the latter, as you might expect. The faculty isn’t much better, but to describe them we can add a third category: ineffectual.

The story is told from three points of view. Iris Dupont, 15, a new student at Mariana, wants to be a reporter. Her hero is Edward R. Murrow, and she frequently conducts “conversations” with him in her head. She and her family are residing at the temporarily empty house of the former Mariana headmaster who is away in London. Iris is sleeping in the former bedroom of the daughter, Lily, who provides the second point of view.

Lily has albinism, which is the lack of pigment in the hair, skin and eyes. She attended Mariana at the same time as one of Iris’s teachers, Jonah Kaplan. Jonah tells the story from the third point of view. Jonah’s twin brother, Justin, used to be Lily’s boyfriend.

One additional main character has a large role in the story but no point of view of her own, and that is Hazel Greenburg, a contemporary of Lily, Jonah, and Justin, who is important to all of the other characters.

Mariana’s environment is intense; the students are under pressure from their parents to perform academically so they can get into the best schools. They also are subject to the usual adolescent stress to belong, to fit in, and to be popular. Fueled by the influence of a few unbalanced individuals, they come to take all of this tension out on each other. Miller is showing us an “extreme” ecosystem, which is the focus of Jonah Kaplan’s curriculum in science class. As the author explains:

"Extremophile is a scientific category, which literary means “extreme loving.” … The name applies to microscopic organisms that thrive in places inhospitable to life…. I think that’s a pretty apt summary of teenage life…”

And yet, as Mr. Kaplan explains in class, these organisms cannot survive in a “normal” environment. They are trapped, just as the students are trapped in the prep school with its distorted survival mechanisms. Some survive by attacking those who are weaker; some react to the isolation and despair by capitulation to the mutant social system; and some even choose suicide. Iris wants to believe she is better than the others, but she, too, adapts to her new habitat. Even Edward R. Murrow, Iris is finally forced to admit, harbored a complexity and darkness at odds with his public image.

Discussion: One of the recurring discussions in the book is over whether those who give in to the bullying of or entrapment by the stronger students are culpable. As one victim thinks to himself:"You are gullible and disgusting; you brought all of this on yourself.”

It is interesting that every single one of the victims has a similar reaction.

The bulliers justify their behavior in a similar way:"People act within their nature. [The victims] didn’t have to participate… but [they] did.”

The collaborators in bullying too have excuses:"What were we supposed to do? We trusted [that person, who] changed our lives, pulled us out of our pitiful, weak existences….”

At the end of the book, most of the bulliers have not learned anything, nor have the collaborators. This is perhaps the scariest message of the book. Maybe they couldn’t live with themselves if they thought they were wrong. But maybe whatever made them act like that in the first place is so strong that they are impermeable to self-doubt.

I’m not sure how Iris comes out of this. She knows she “had become lost in a moral maze” but she is still so lonely and in search of connection that it’s not clear the choice she makes at the end of the book is any wiser.

Evaluation: The author did a fairly good job of keeping my interest in spite of my dislike of the subject matter and virtually all of the characters. I can’t honestly say I had fun reading it; it is a pretty nightmarish story. But I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it for a book club: there are plenty of issues in this provocative book to keep any discussion group happy. show less

I have to say I am drawn to any book with an academic setting and this book took me right back to high school days. Iris is not quite your ordinary 14 yr. old, as she seriously wants to become a journalist, and her hero is Edward Murrow, who she talks to quite often. Yes, she knows he is dead but the fact really alarms her parents. Mariana Academy is a school for intense students who want to go to an ivy league colleges and it was founded by Prisom with a serious honor code. There is a group show more Prism Party, that is bent on revealing all infractions of the honor code, by students or teachers. But is Prisom Party good or are they out for their own nefarious purposes. This is one of the things Iris hopes to find out. Miller does a wonderful job exposing the vulnerability, self consciousness and heartbreak of the high school years. She uses three different characters for her narration, a great vehicle for exposing the reader to all sides of the story. This is a remarkably well written, yet easy to follow story, showing the many ways that these school days mark our lives for good or bad and that some people can never progress from those days. I am so glad I have and also glad that I do not have to go back and do them again. Will appeal to fans of coming of age stories, those who like academic settings and those who like very likable young characters. show less

Flail city ahead: I loved this book.

From the first page, I was totally taken with Iris, one of our heroes, a 14-year old aspiring journalist whose best friend is Edward R. Morrow. (Yes, I saw so so much of teenaged self in her!) After her best friend kills herself and Iris' mother catches her chatting with Morrow, Iris and her family move toward western Massachusetts, and Iris is sent to the elite private school, Mariana Academy.

The other voices in this novel were as compelling as Iris': show more Dr. Jonah Kaplan, Iris' science teacher and a former Mariana student himself; and Lily Morgan, a classmate of Jonah's, daughter of Mariana's former headmaster. All three characters have faced terrible tragedy and loss in their life; Iris' attempt to emulate Morrow causes her to discover more secrets about Mariana than even she wanted.

But that description sounds super light and trite, and this novel wasn't. This book was darkly fun, and deeply sad, and very twisted, and I loved every page. Jonah is my age, and watching him reflect on being an outcast at the school he now teaches at was fascinating and discomforting. Iris is precocious and ambitious and out of her emotional depths -- I remember that from my high school years.

Darting through the story is the themes of bullying and belonging, popular versus unpopular, students against teachers. What I thought would be a clear cut coming-of-age story set in a snooty private New England school (a la Old School or A Separate Peace) was more complicated; in a post-Columbine world with the internet, cameras, and webcams, what remains private or public is matter of whim, accident, or mercy. Iris struggles with journalistic integrity as she fights with Morrow, but she's 14 and arguing with a construct of her mind; Jonah wants to improve the lives of his students without getting embroiled in the school's internal drama and he has his own ghosts -- and desires -- to deal with.

Miller's writing is fantastic -- Iris is hilarious, kept-me-snortling-in-bed funny -- and I raced through this book, both for the mystery and because I wanted more. I wanted to bathe in the characters. (And I was reminded of why I could never, ever be a high school teacher. Props to them, 'cuz wow.)

In short, this is a fantastically fun novel and you should read it. I can't wait for Miller's next novel. show less

Mariana Academy, an east coast prep school with a gothic environment, is the setting of this well-constructed debut fiction by Jennifer Miller.

Iris Dupont’s parents and doctor feel a change of scenery is necessary and that Mariana Academy will provide the environment she needs to recover from the recent loss of her best friend. Instead she finds stressful surroundings in the form of bullying students and a mysterious secret society intent on exposing teachers, students, and the school for show more any indiscretion they can dig up. Iris, an aspiring journalist who’s mentor and frequent confidant is the great Edward R. Murrow, is determined to investigate this society and unravel the mystery.

The story is told from three different points of view, both past and present. Iris tells her story in the present. The second voice, from the past, is Lily, an albino girl who attended Mariana a decade ago. After leaving school it is rumored she is out of the county and has not been heard from again. Ironically, the home Iris and her parents are now renting is owned by Lily’s father, the former Mariana headmaster, and Iris has been given Lily’s old room. In it she finds a book, Marvelous Species: Investigating Earth’s Mysterious Biology, that will be significant in solving the mystery.

The third voice is Jonah Kaplan, a science teacher at Mariana and former student, who was in the same class as Lily. Jonah speaks in the present and occasionally flashes back to his time at Mariana. He has his own secrets to conceal and a twin brother that was Lily’s boyfriend who died in a car accident. Or was it a suicide?

I engaged in the story immediately. There were a lot of elements I liked: A bit of science (it’s ok if you are not a science-y type), a good mystery, Edward R. Murrow (even if he was in the form of an apparition), a secret society, or perhaps I just liked the characters. I especially enjoyed Iris’ witty conversations with Murrow as she conjured up his ghost to ask his advice. “What would Murrow do” became her mantra. When he began to appear without her summoning, I had to smile in delight.

While it seems like I’m describing a complex, wandering story with many directions, that definitely is not the case. Part of my pleasure while reading was discovering new bits and pieces of information about each character from each of their perspectives and putting it together. The story is tightly plotted with great dialog that moves easily between the speakers as their stories are woven together.

I’m not usually drawn to prep school type stories but this wasn’t a typical prep school tale nor is it aimed at the YA crowd, even though the main character is a teenager. I’m always a sucker for a well-drawn novel that alternates the past with the present and ties it all together in the end. show less