Book Review: "Acceptance"
11.23.2009
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As a high school senior anxiously awaiting college decisions, I can relate to the emotions of the seven students featured in narrative journalist David Marcus's new novel, Acceptance. Subtitled "A Legendary Guidance Counselor Helps Seven Kids Find the Right Colleges- and Find Themselves," this novel delves into the nuisances of the college admissions "game" while remaining objective, light, and humorous. Throughout the novel these seven students come to adopt persona's all their own. From the valedictorian, Layla, to the varsity athlete whose home is full of struggling relatives, Jeff, these students are a bright reminder to other high schoolers out there that the true beauty of senior year is simply coming to terms with yourself.
Marcus's novel covers the lives, trials, and tribulations of all these individuals but also focuses on a specific man and his contribution to hundreds of frightened seniors, guidance counselor extraordinaire Gwyeth Smith. A fixture at Oyster Bay High School on Long Island, Smith (also affectionately known as Smitty) espouses the character of a wise, elderly figure- channeling Yoda with one-line maxims to help demystify the college application experience. An advocate of the ACT over SAT, of crisp essays written in active voice and without flowery language, and "less is more", Smitty helps the seven seniors profiled in Acceptance earn admission into their dream schools and over the course of a year to find themselves through their writing. I would highly recommend this book to anyone, especially high school seniors or their parents, who are struggling through the college admissions game with seemingly no end in sight. As one of those individuals I can say with absolute honesty that reading this novel puts it all in perspective.
Other reviews of Acceptance-
The NYTimes "The Choice" Blog praises Smitty's less is more approach
A Newsday post feels that the experiences of Jeff, Allyson, Chelsea, Lee, Riana, Nathaniel, and Layla deserves its own high school musical.
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