956. Schooling

Schooling
Heather McGowan
2001

Around 320 pages

It's getting harder to find these obscure novels. They are not old enough to get the Project Gutenberg treatment, but they aren't well known enough to be in libraries. This List knows it has me by the balls now, and I just want to finish. So I'll fork over the money for the ebooks, but I'll keep complaining about it!

Catrine Evans is a thirteen-year-old American who is sent to an English boarding school after her mother dies of cancer. This premise appealed to me, because as an American teenager I fantasized about being sent to a British boarding school (minus the mother dying part), given how those schools are portrayed in the media. But the style of writing made this a tough read for me. 

Stream of consciousness coupled with the childish perspective makes this a grueling experience. This is the kind of prose that you are encouraged to write in an academic setting. The events in the story were interesting enough to me that I would have enjoyed a more straightforward narrative. 

So not a bad novel, but not my taste.

RATING: **---

Interesting Facts:

Named Best Book of the Year by Newsweek.

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