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

I requested this book from the library because my local Wellesley club is reading it, and expected to love the Wellesley portion of the book. As it turned out, this (which was also the bulk of the book) was my least favorite part and, in fact, I found it quite boring, especially the long descriptions of the Shakespeare plays where nothing much happened. The characters didn't feel developed, especially her friend Jun, and the lesbian intrigues felt a bit trivialized and undeveloped.

The first show more section, however, about her friendship with the boy next door, was quite beautifully written and moving. (It almost felt like a different book, as if she'd written it for a writing group first and then added on the tedious Wellesley parts.)

And one more thing - the book felt barely fictionalized. I kept thinking I was reading a memoir, and had to remind myself it was a novel. show less

I hate writing this kind of review, because honestly, I should be all over a book like this, and it's not the book's fault it didn't click for me. (So far, everyone else on the blog tour has loved it, so definitely don't consider me only!) This is a lovely, quiet book about a girl who latches onto the idea of being a cardiologist before she even understands what that is, and grows up among loss, searching for love and safety.

Set in Boston, the story follows Naomi, a girl with a photographic show more memory, a mother suffering depression, and a father who adores Rose Kennedy. Noami adores her father and so attends Wellesley (like Rose Kennedy should have), where she finds a community of women she connects with, eventually learning to deal a little with loss and love. She becomes involved with the Shakespeare Society, an officially unofficial club of sorts on campus.

Despite the book's length, and Percer's lovely writing style, and the first person narration, I found Naomi very hard to know. Everyone felt at a distance and I just didn't click with Naomi. That was the huge reason for me that I'm not swooning over this book, I think. I don't know if that knowing Wellesley grads has affected my reading -- I've heard differing opinions on the Shakespeare Society for one thing -- and at times the story felt too close to read authentic. Percer clearly loved her time at Wellesley and it shows in this novel -- and/but at times, it also reads a bit like promotional material.

Place as character is huge here, from the Kennedy home in Brookline that Naomi spends so much time at as a child to the Wellesley campus (a beautiful and magical college campus as unreal as it sounds -- I've seen it!).  If you want an armchair escape to a women's college that is as bucolic as you would imagine, this is your novel. 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