A review by liralen
Escape Theory by Margaux Froley
2.0
Unmet expectations, I guess.
I was hoping for something along the lines of [a:Jessica Warman|2921810|Jessica Warman|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/nophoto-F-50x66-2a9d702c2a0f483c9f7dd119cc28a9a7.jpg] — dark and messy and full of both internal and external conflict. I love a good boarding-school story, in large part because group dynamics get so much stronger and more complex when they aren’t limited to the school day.
Where I ran into trouble with this book was that I just didn’t buy it. I didn’t buy that a strange man could show up in a student’s room and nothing would be reported, no alarms raised. I didn’t buy that the school would send students in mourning — or in trouble with the law, for that matter — to another student for multiple ‘counselling’ sessions, or that, if they were going to do that, there was only one student in the 'program'. (Incidentally, I know RAs in many schools provide student support, but the RAs here were virtually nonexistent, and anyway, RA duties do not — that I’ve ever heard of — include this sort of ‘counselling’.) I didn’t buy that students wandered around openly with blankets every night, looking for a good place to hook up. (I do buy that they spent lots of time looking for places to hook up. It’s the flagrant nature of the blankets that doesn’t make sense.) I didn’t buy that the whole school seemed complicit in, or at least aware of, a massive prescription-drug ring.
I really, really didn’t buy that the students Devon ‘counselled’ were all in agreement that she was entirely under-qualified and probably a narc — and then talked openly anyway.
Reviews on GR are pretty solidly positive, so I guess I’m in the minority here, but I just couldn’t credit it.
I was hoping for something along the lines of [a:Jessica Warman|2921810|Jessica Warman|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/nophoto-F-50x66-2a9d702c2a0f483c9f7dd119cc28a9a7.jpg] — dark and messy and full of both internal and external conflict. I love a good boarding-school story, in large part because group dynamics get so much stronger and more complex when they aren’t limited to the school day.
Where I ran into trouble with this book was that I just didn’t buy it. I didn’t buy that a strange man could show up in a student’s room and nothing would be reported, no alarms raised. I didn’t buy that the school would send students in mourning — or in trouble with the law, for that matter — to another student for multiple ‘counselling’ sessions, or that, if they were going to do that, there was only one student in the 'program'. (Incidentally, I know RAs in many schools provide student support, but the RAs here were virtually nonexistent, and anyway, RA duties do not — that I’ve ever heard of — include this sort of ‘counselling’.) I didn’t buy that students wandered around openly with blankets every night, looking for a good place to hook up. (I do buy that they spent lots of time looking for places to hook up. It’s the flagrant nature of the blankets that doesn’t make sense.) I didn’t buy that the whole school seemed complicit in, or at least aware of, a massive prescription-drug ring.
I really, really didn’t buy that the students Devon ‘counselled’ were all in agreement that she was entirely under-qualified and probably a narc — and then talked openly anyway.
Reviews on GR are pretty solidly positive, so I guess I’m in the minority here, but I just couldn’t credit it.