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Tom Pierson enrolls in Abbott College in the 1960s with an ambition to distinguish himself as a student of literature. He soon falls under the sway of Dr. Duke Becker, who, impressed by Tom’s essays, invites him to attend an upper-level seminar on American literary naturalism. Dr. Becker’s abiding passion is Jack London, a lonely pursuit in an era when London’s books are dismissed as trivial fiction by the literary establishment. As Tom devotes himself to the study of London, he becomes enmeshed in campus drama. He repulses one girl with his fondness for Lewis Carroll but wins the attention of the beautiful Sherri Redding, who works in the dean’s office. Dean Cody is investigating Dr. Becker, who was recently accused of blasphemy by a wealthy lady whose donations are essential to the survival of the college. Tom struggles to navigate the intricate social dynamics of this new environment, torn between his loyalties to Dr. Becker and his relationship with Sherri, as one secret after another spills into the open.
Though it begins as an episodic series of vignettes, the book introduces its central plot so organically that the shift towards a more linear story is imperceptible and seamless. Avoiding the temptations to discursiveness and hacky humor that beset so many novels of this type, Dhondt delivers his tale confidently and with barely a misstep. The primary mood of the book is one of intense nostalgia for campus life and the inner turmoil of youth, abetted by some lovely descriptions of colonial houses and evening sunlight casting shadows over the halls. Some characters, like the bespectacled student librarian, could have been better fleshed out. Even so, the book is an utter joy to read from beginning to end. Fans of The Holdovers and On the Road will rejoice.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review