I was very disappointed in this highly recommended book about an unhappy person who is forced to take 11 college students to England for a short trip. The very poor writings (grammar, punctuation, etc) were presented and supposed to be witty and funny. I found it very sad that that writing emanated from supposedly educated people. The politics of the college were also presented as funny, but as a person who has experienced the same treatment, mainly at a community college, I did not find them humorous. Many people are injured by the systems in place in this country, and laughing at them seves no one. I gave it a 2.5 because I would help some readers would see the problems and work to change them, as I did when I was employed. ( )

All abroad!

A reluctant faculty member, hoping for an uninspiring break at home, finds himself chaperoning Payne University’s Experience Abroad program to England.
His students appear to be just as reluctant especially the one who thought he was going to Jamaica.
Jason Fitger designs his program around the written word desiring a 500 word essay each night about the student’s perceptions of the institutions visited. All very ho hum, although their responses often made me hold my head in my hands, unsure as to whether laugh or sigh.
Talk about Reluctanter meeting Reluctantees!
Hilarious at times and poignant at others, this is what happens when these particular two R’s meet.
I wasn’t sure, if given a choice between the two, Fitger or his students, which I felt more sympathy for.
Some absolute language usage gems and wonderful turns of phrases abound.

A Doubleday ARC via NetGalley.
Many thanks to the author and publisher. ( )

Jason Fitger, a longtime uninspiring English professor and now head of the department at Payne College, was the last choice to lead a group of students for a study abroad course in London. But, it was last minute and there really was no one else. The class is a conglomeration of students, including someone who has never been away from her cat, a student who thought he was signing up for a trip to the Caribbean, and another one who is claustrophobic and has a dubious history. What could go wrong?

Fitger was the main character in Schumacher’s prior two novels, including Dear Committee Members which won the Thurber Prize for American Humor.

This was an entertaining, humorous, surprisingly poignant satire. Not only are readers privy to many of the misadventures on the trip, but, as an added bonus, there are a sprinkling of the non sequitur, scarily a grammatical /poorly spelled essays written by the students. I loved some of Schumacher’s observations of the European experience. One of my favorites was the comment about a guide they encountered who spoke six languages. In the US, anyone with that expertise would be “considered a diplomat or a genius.” In London, that accomplishment only resulted in a part-time guide job.

This was a fun break from some of the heavier novels I have read recently.

Thanks to #netgalley and #doubledaybooks for the ARC ( )