The Crazy School - Cornelia Read
The Crazy School
Cornelia Read
Grand Central Publishing
Fiction/Mystery
The Crazy School is the Santangelo Academy, located in the beautiful Berkshires. The place is a school – cum – treatment center for teens, some recently released from psychiatric facilities and violent enough to be placed on drug therapy. David Santangelo runs the school and has developed his own blend of treatment style. The teachers are required to attend twice-weekly sessions with Sookie, an on-site therapist. Like the students, teachers are prohibited from smoking or ingesting caffeine while on the grounds.
Madeline Dare is the new history teacher. The setting is unusual and more than a little uncomfortable; but with her husband, Dean, currently out of work, she needs this job. She manages to connect with some of her students, and feels a real desire to help them, even though she is ill equipped to do so. When two students are found dead as the result of an apparent suicide pact, Madeline isn’t inclined to accept the easy answers. She resolves to look into the truth behind the deaths, and in the process uncovers some buried truths about the Academy and about Dr. Santangelo.
The author does a wonderful job of depicting the atmosphere at the school. With many teachers living on campus, and completely buying into Santangelo’s methods, the place has a distinctly ‘other’ feel. The scenes of Madeline’s home life provide the perfect foil and reality check after spending so much time at the school. When Madeline begins to doubt, there’s a sharp and realistic division between her and the staff members who revere Santangelo.
The narrative seems almost divided in the same way. This may be a deliberate choice; changing from the ‘getting to know you’ lightness of the first half of the book to the ‘exposing secrets’ darkness of the second half. It’s a bit jarring at first, but it works quite well as Madeline moves past the surface appearances of things to get at the rotten heart of the reality of the school.
Rating: 7 ½
January 2008
ISBN# 978-0-446-58259-9 (hardcover)
Cornelia Read
Grand Central Publishing
Fiction/Mystery
The Crazy School is the Santangelo Academy, located in the beautiful Berkshires. The place is a school – cum – treatment center for teens, some recently released from psychiatric facilities and violent enough to be placed on drug therapy. David Santangelo runs the school and has developed his own blend of treatment style. The teachers are required to attend twice-weekly sessions with Sookie, an on-site therapist. Like the students, teachers are prohibited from smoking or ingesting caffeine while on the grounds.
Madeline Dare is the new history teacher. The setting is unusual and more than a little uncomfortable; but with her husband, Dean, currently out of work, she needs this job. She manages to connect with some of her students, and feels a real desire to help them, even though she is ill equipped to do so. When two students are found dead as the result of an apparent suicide pact, Madeline isn’t inclined to accept the easy answers. She resolves to look into the truth behind the deaths, and in the process uncovers some buried truths about the Academy and about Dr. Santangelo.
The author does a wonderful job of depicting the atmosphere at the school. With many teachers living on campus, and completely buying into Santangelo’s methods, the place has a distinctly ‘other’ feel. The scenes of Madeline’s home life provide the perfect foil and reality check after spending so much time at the school. When Madeline begins to doubt, there’s a sharp and realistic division between her and the staff members who revere Santangelo.
The narrative seems almost divided in the same way. This may be a deliberate choice; changing from the ‘getting to know you’ lightness of the first half of the book to the ‘exposing secrets’ darkness of the second half. It’s a bit jarring at first, but it works quite well as Madeline moves past the surface appearances of things to get at the rotten heart of the reality of the school.
Rating: 7 ½
January 2008
ISBN# 978-0-446-58259-9 (hardcover)
posted by Deborah Hern @ 10:58 PM
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