Genre: Literary
Fiction/Humor
Description:
“Paranoid administrators, interdepartmental feuds, quirky staff
members, and an eccentric headmaster: welcome to Winston Grant High School.
Mark Patterson has a master’s degree in physics, wants to do nothing
more than surf and ski, and believes that high school teaching will be the
cushy job of his dreams. He receives a rude awakening when he becomes a physics
teacher at Winston Grant, a begrudging little brother amidst rival private
school heavyweights.
From the outset, Mark must tiptoe through a virtual minefield of
Procrustean rules, coddling parents, scheming colleagues, and, of course,
teen-aged students.
Things don’t go well, inside or outside the classroom. His students
call him Mr. Goofegg. His football team is pathetic. His lunch-table kids
behave like Neanderthals. His teaching supervisor, aka the ‘education
implementation strategist,’ criticizes him for using equations. His colleagues
have even organized a betting pool for when he will get fired.
And when Mark discovers that a weak student in his class is a physics
genius, he finds himself caught in the middle of a conflict between father and
son, a conflict which could destroy the young man’s potential. Or help Mark
find his.”
Author:
“Gary J. Kirchner studied physics at McGill University and did his
Master’s work in sports biomechanics. He also played football with the McGill
Redmen and continued as a coach with the team for many years after he
graduated. In 1993 he was a recipient of Football Canada’s Gino Fracas Award.
Kirchner taught physics at several Montreal area high schools as well
as at John Abbott College. In 2014 he was awarded La Mention d’honneur de
l’Association québécoise de pédagogie collégiale for teaching excellence.
He is also a flute-player, amateur astronomer, and keeps physically
active as an avid cross-country skier, curler, and triathlon participant.
Kirchner lives in Dorval, Quebec, with his Estonian wife Hille. He is
the author of five novels.”
Appraisal:
This book is an interesting read. It’s funny at times, frustrating at
others if you’re imagining yourself in the place of or at least feeling a
minimal amount of empathy for the protagonist, and thought provoking as you
consider the complications that our protagonist Mark has to work through. For
various reasons Mark finds himself using his education to get a job as a physics
teacher because someone has to support his wife and the baby on the way. If he
had his way he’d be in Vancouver surfing in the summer and hitting the slopes
in the winter. The frustrations, battles, and learning he experiences are
humorous at times, but the messed up priorities of a private school, sometimes
more concerned with keeping the tuition paying parents happy than actually
helping the kids being taught, the internal battles between different cliques
(talking other teachers here, not just the students), and all the other
complications keep this interesting and engaging to the end. What that end was
going to be, I was not sure what it was going to be until we got there, but I
had to find out and I eventually did. (You’ll have to read it yourself if you
want to know too.)
Buy now
from: Amazon US Amazon UK
FYI:
Uses Canadian spelling conventions.
Some adult language.
Format/Typo
Issues:
No significant issues.
Rating: ****
Four Stars
Reviewed
by: BigAl
Approximate word count: 70-75,000 words
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