Elizabeth Percer

As an area resident very familiar with the two main settings in this novel, Brookline, MA and Wellesley College, I very much enjoyed the trauma and joys the main character found in each. The young Naomi wrestles with her mother's pushing her away, her father's smothering, and the loss of her next door neighbor and best friend Teddy. The teenaged Naomi finds herself isolated in the rarified towers of Hillary Clinton's alma mater until she is invited to join a campus Shakespeare theatrical show more troupe and finds a close friend in Jun, daughter of a wealthy Japanese industrialist. Her two worlds collide repeatedly as Naomi shakily survives and blossoms into a remarkable adult. This is a wonderfully written story, worthy of rereading.

"It was almost liberating to think that it was possible to love and discard in the same, swift act." show less

Everything in Naomi Feinstein's life seems fragile. Her mother suffers from major depression, her father has a heart attack. Her best friend, Teddy, moves away. She's Jewish, but not Jewish enough for some people, given that her mother was a convert. Emotionally adrift, Naomi throws herself into schoolwork and winds up at Wellesley College. At Wellesley Naomi is still adrift, with few friends and less academic success. She joins the Shakespeare society, whose productions and members end up show more taking over her life. It is through the Shakespeare Society that Naomi meets her best friend, Jun, and confronts what the author bills as a cataclysmic event.

This book is decidedly light on plot. There's lots of description of Naomi's day-to-day activities: roaming around campus, going to the dining hall, but not very much really happens, and much of the activity is not really connected in a meaningful way to the larger trajectory of the book. The final event, which is supposed to redefine Naomi's life, is not nearly as significant as I was expecting, nor did I find it particularly believable. Without divulging details, suffice to say that the details of the event simply did not ring true.

More significantly, I found it difficult to be all that sympathetic to Naomi. The fact that she is still mooning over a childhood friend in college struck me as more pathetic than meaningful. So too, I was irritated by what seemed like throwing away a world-class education for no good reason. This book took me quite some time to get through, and at the end I didn't feel as though I'd come away with much.

What I did appreciate, and what was the most positive aspect of the novel for me, was the author's love for her alma mater, Wellesley College. This shines through the text. I appreciate her love of her school and education. I suspect the author likely had quite a good experience at Wellesley, which may explain why her efforts to write of a troubled and unhappy student didn't work for me. show less

This novel was very slow to start and several times I almost gave up. But I persevered and I am glad I did. once I realized that this was not a version of The Dead poet's Society, I just let the book lead me along at it's own pace.
Naomi has no friend's as a child and seems to fit in nowhere. But then Teddy moves in and they become best friends even though his mother doesn't think Naomi is Jewish enough. But just as they begin to explore their sexuality, Teddy's father passes away and his show more mother moves them away and disallows them to see each other again. Naomi's mother is depressed so it is up to her father to guide her. He encourages Naomi's dream to be a doctor and she volunteers at a local hospital and takes up tennis until she leaves for Wellesley College. Her first year is not the experience she was hoping for as it is much like high school. But by her second year she meets some new friends In the Shakespeare Society, known as "The Shakes". her world opens up in ways she never expected.
The story is beautifully written and full of emotion and I am glad I didn't give up on it. show less

The basics: An Uncommon Education, Elizabeth Percer's first novel, is a coming of age novel centered around Naomi Feinstein.

My thoughts: As An Uncommon Education opens, Naomi Feinstein is a peculiar girl with a big intellect and no friends, yet her tale isn't one of sadness. There's a matter-of-factness to Naomi and her honest narration. She writes both of the time in which she's living and with a maturity of observation:

"For entertainment I was given such things as Infamous Women coloring show more book; Shakespeare's plays in comic book fro; my own miniature Torah, the scroll of which was covered in wavy black lines; historically correct figures of Clara Barton and Abigail Adams; math games made pretty with glass marbles; and a jump rope with a booklet of illustrated counting rhymes to accompany it. In addition to our regular visits to the Kennedy home, every April 19th we drove to Lexington before dawn to witness the reenactment of the Battle of Lexington and Concord; every July 4th we walked the Freedom Trail."

At times, I would forget how young Naomi was in the story. As the story moves through time, I settled back into Naomi's growth. Because this novel is so character-driven, parts of Naomi's journey are unsurprising, yet these events still aren't predictable. As Naomi, an intellectual, driven child, has a road map for her life: first Wellesley, then medical school to become a cardiologist, the possibility of her choosing a new path still exists. The curiosity Naomi possesses was fascinating to watch. Percer's writing is strong and fluid, and it entranced me even when Naomi's story slowed a few times.

Favorite passage: "Sometimes that, more than anything, was what made me saddest about the little I knew about my family; it could be worked into almost any story, like a party trick."

The verdict: An Uncommon Education is an eloquent, thoughtful coming of age story. It begins as an intellectual coming of age, but Naomi's journey is as fascinating emotionally as her uncommon education. show less