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Indlæser... Saving Miss Oliver's: A Novel of Leadership, Loyalty and Changeaf Stephen Davenport
Ingen Indlæser...
Bliv medlem af LibraryThing for at finde ud af, om du vil kunne lide denne bog. Der er ingen diskussionstråde på Snak om denne bog. I had high hopes for this book, but I felt that it dragged on a bit long. Some of the story lines weren't clearly defined enough that I felt invested in them. It could have been a much tighter story. Also, why name two of the main characters Francis and Fred? Two names both beginning with FR? Makes it hard to keep track when names are close. There was a lot of confusion in this book just because one of the characters thought they knew something about the other, or were too stubborn to correct the other's perceptions. I really wanted to like this book, as it was about an all girl boarding school. I believe in single sex education, especially at the high school level, and I wanted to understand more of those dynamics vs. the administration of the school. I do plan to read the next book, because it is a book club selection. I do hope that it is better than this one! #SavingMissOliver's #StephenDavenport
The fate of the beloved school is hanging in the balance... The prestigious boarding school Miss Oliver's School for Girls is on the cusp of going under. The trustees just fired the headmistress of the last thirty-five years, and the alumnae and students are angry and determined to hate her successor, the new--and male--head Fred Kindler. If only he can gain the support of the legendary senior teacher Francis Plummer, then Fred might have a fighting chance to save the school; but no one except Francis's wife and the school librarian, Peggy, is willing to give Fred a chance. With Fred's career on the line and the Plummers' marriage at stake, will Miss Oliver's survive to be the school it once was? No library descriptions found. |
LibraryThing Early Reviewers AlumStephen Davenport's book Saving Miss Oliver's was available from LibraryThing Early Reviewers. Current DiscussionsIngenPopulære omslag
Google Books — Indlæser... GenrerMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.6Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyLC-klassificeringVurderingGennemsnit:
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Miss Oliver's School for Girls is in dire financial trouble. The larger than life, much admired headmistress for the past 35 years, Marjorie Boyd, was not the best financial steward and she has been let go. Her replacement, Fred Kindler (a man! running a girl's school!), is definitely not being universally welcomed. Charged with turning the school's direction around in just one year, if Fred can't make up the financial shortfall, the school will either have to start admitting boys or close its doors permanently. Both of these options horrify the students and the alumnae. Francis Plummer could help Fred, and the support and approval of the popular, legendary teacher would go a long way to ensuring Fred's success. But Francis liked Marjorie and cannot overcome his otherwise unfounded dislike for the new headmaster. Peggy, Francis' wife and the school librarian, on the other hand, thinks that Fred's tenure is a chance to right the ship and she's going to do what she can to back him. One failing school, one marriage in turmoil, Fred's sad personal history kept secret from the students and staff, and the discovery of Native artifacts on school land, among other things, makes for a complicated story indeed.
All of the pieces of an engrossing story are here but somehow they don't quite gel. Fred seems ineffective and rather unprepared for the job he's taken. Francis is acting like a cranky child. No one has the courage to confront anyone else with the truth or to act like adults. And the underhanded conniving that goes on from the board on down, while perhaps realistic, isn't all that fun to read. Really this is Mean Girls pitted against each other in a school's struggle to survive. The writing itself is fine but the story drags and by the end I didn't really know whether I wanted the school and these people to survive or not, not that the eventual outcome was ever in doubt. Usually I love books set in schools or academia adjacent but this one, surprisingly, was not for me.
**Note that although this was an Early Reviewer book, I never received my copy. I bought this one myself because it really did sound like something I'd like. ( )