The Writing Class

Features

• Cover Type: Hard Cover with 336 pages
• Published by: Thomas Dunne Books June 10, 2008
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0312330669
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0312330668
• Book Dimensions: 9.2 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Weighs: 15.2 ounces

Product Review


“The funniest novel I have read, possibly ever. Brilliant, totally original, and worthy of its title. I promise you will laugh constantly and to the point of stomach damage.”---Augusten Burroughs, bestselling author of Running with Scissors and Dry
“Audaciously titled, cleverly constructed, Winner of the National Book Award is an elegy wrapped inside a satire, a sorrowful meditation on the mysteries of sibling love and rivalry concealed within a bitterly funny chronicle of literary buffoonery. Jincy Willett is a fearless writer, capable of startling the reader into rueful laughter at every turn.”---Tom Perrotta, bestselling author of Little Children
“Riotous [and] hugely funny . . .Willett’s satirical abilities remain deliciously undimmed…. Amid the antic, hilarious, gender-bending battle of the sexes that Ms. Willett whips up in this book, either one may qualify as a reason to kill. Either that, or to die laughing.”---The New York Times
“Poignant and funny, mean and tender, Willett’s novel is exuberantly original.”---Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“The author mows down worlds of artistic and psychological twaddle with killer sprays of language. Willett is effortlessly, furiously funny. . . . A.”---Entertainment Weekly
“How rarely the knacks for wisdom and for cracking wise come in one single, satisfying package. So: hurrah for Jincy Willett, and for her funny, charming, humane, and altogether well-wrought piece of fiction.” ---Kurt Andersen, author of Heydey
“As audacious as its title, weird and universal and touching and hilarious all at once.”---Anna Quindlen, bestselling author of Rise and Shine

Product Description


Amy Gallup is gifted, perhaps too gifted for her own good. Published at only twenty-two, she peaked early and found critical but not commercial success. Now her former life is gone, along with her writing career and beloved husband. A reclusive widow, her sole companion a dour, flatulent basset hound who barely tolerates her, her daily mantra Kill Me Now, she is a loner afraid to be alone. Her only bright spot each week is the writing class that she teaches at the university extension.

This semester’s class is full of the usual suspects: the doctor who wants to be the next Robin Cook, the overly enthusiastic repeat student, the slacker, the unassuming student with the hidden talent, the prankster, the know-it-all…. Amy’s seen them all before. But something is very different about this class---and the clues begin with a scary phone call in the middle of the night and obscene threats instead of peer evaluations on student writing assignments. Amy soon realizes that one of her students is a very sick puppy, and when a member of the class is murdered, everyone becomes a suspect. As she dissects each student’s writing for clues, Amy must enlist the help of everyone in her class, including the murderer, to find the killer among them.

Suspenseful, extremely witty, brilliantly written, unexpectedly hilarious, and a joy from start to finish, The Writing Class is a one-of-a-kind novel that rivals Jincy Willett’s previous masterpieces.

Reader Reviews
In Jincy Willett's "The Writing Class," Amy Gallup is conducting a fiction workshop in a southern California university. She is nearing sixty, eats and drinks too much, and has grown increasingly jaded. Although she was a published novelist at twenty-two, her success was modest and short-lived, and she has written nothing of note (except for a lackluster blog and biographical sketches) for many years. Amy's closest companion is her old basset hound, Alphonse, and when she looks back at her life, it is with a rueful sadness. "While everyone else tried to live 'in the moment,' Amy learned to hide from hers. It was the only thing she worked at, really." Her existence consists, for the most part, of dread and boredom. Her teaching job is a poorly paid gig with no health benefits, but after conducting the class for fifteen consecutive quarters, she can do it in her sleep. Sometimes, when she has a decent group of students, working with them brings her a modicum of pleasure. Amy's current class is an unusual mix, including: Dr. Richard Surtees, a handsome and arrogant physician; Pete Purvis, a pale and reserved young man; the matronly Dorothy (Dot) Hieronymus; Sylvester Reyes, a tall and broad-shouldered high-school football coach; Marvy Stokes, a balding chemistry teacher; the sharp and muscle-bound Frank Waasted, who holds a doctorate on magical realism; Edna Wentworth, an intelligent, no-nonsense former schoolteacher; Tiffany Zuniga, a pretty and smug young woman; Charlton Heston (call me Chuck), who enjoys making wisecracks; a lawyer named Harold Blasbalg; and the obese and enthusiastic Carla Karolak, a garishly dressed acolyte who has been enrolled in Amy's workshop for the past six quarters. Carla idolizes Amy and has committed her beloved mentor's lessons to memory. Unfortunately, it soon becomes apparent that one of Amy's students is a homicidal maniac. At its best, "The Writing Class" is hilarious. The early chapters are delightfully sarcastic and lead the reader to expect an above-average mystery with satirical overtones. Willett skewers the conventions of writing workshops. The earnest students nervously bring in their mostly hackneyed and horribly written manuscripts, hoping for positive feedback and constructive criticism. Some of the participants are desperate, others pretentious, and a few have an air of indifference, as if they are sitting in the class merely to pass the time. Amy is a well-drawn and original protagonist, "a bitter, peculiar person, aware at all times of her bitterness and peculiarity." We cannot help but sympathize with this self-aware individual who has made an uneasy truce with her misery. Alas, the author is unable to sustain the clever tone of her introductory chapters. After the first murder, "The Writing Class" becomes a standard whodunit, in which the students and teacher take on the role of amateur sleuths. Amy uses her expertise to analyze her students' writing styles and the killer's poison pen letters, hoping to find clues that will lead to the perpetrator's identity. For some inexplicable reason, the police have little interest in solving the crimes. "The Writing Class" starts out as a perceptive and bittersweet spoof (touching on the themes of loneliness, the creative process, the beauty of language, and the sadness of lost opportunities). There are some wonderful passages, including this one: "Only in art were there clichés; never in nature. There were no ordinary human beings. Everybody was born with a surprise inside." Unfortunately, like Amy's once promising career, "The Writing Class" ultimately loses steam, and ends not with a bang but with a whimper. Comment | | (Report this)