“You’ll be a lot less obsessed with what people think of you when you understand how infrequently they do.” What a delightfully entertaining and compulsively readable novel. It first caught my attention because it’s set in Colorado in the fictional town of Crystal, which is modeled after Boulder. (If you know Boulder, you’ll recognize a lot of the culture and even places.) A group of four very tight families are eager — nearly rabid, in fact — to get their children (of varied ages, but mostly middle schoolers) into a new public school that’s opening just for the “gifted.” There are tests, interviews, resumes, and projects . . . and it quickly becomes clear that the parents will do just about anything to show, whether in reality or as an illusion, that their kids are gifted. Competition between these families and kids predictably ensues, some of the characters barrel towards self-destruction, and the true natures and insecurities of the parents are revealed to all. As a parent of young children, it was rather amusing to read about the sometimes-crazy and yet also sometimes-normal/relatable parents. Our kids have only been in daycare and pre-K so far, but you can already see that some parents are just more gung-ho than others about their involvement and control over their offspring’s education. Even when seemingly acting by way of insanity, most of the time these parents are just trying to provide good outcomes for their kids. And that’s the balance that Holsinger strikes so well. It’d be easy to write this type of story in a way that portrayed every character as deplorable and one-dimensional, but that’s just not the case. As a reader, I found myself somewhat surprisingly cheering for these people — not necessarily that they’d get what they want, but that their eyes would be opened and that their relationships would be more honest and healthy. I wasn’t hoping for total destruction (as is the case with plenty of characters in plenty of the novels I read). I won’t give the away the ending, as there are a few wonderfully juicy turns of plot, but I was rather satisfied with where all the characters ended up. The Gifted School is certainly a bit of a drama-heavy guilty pleasure, but it’s also partly a cautionary tale about wanting the best for your kids and that best even means. I enjoyed it immensely, as did my wife. If you have kids who are neck-deep in this world of education and admissions and “giftedness,” it might hit too close to home. It’s a long book but one that read very quickly, and I think it will stand out when I look back at my 2019 reading.

I rounded my rating up because the rich and privileged cutthroat world of specialized schooling is a niche genre I love. It gave off some Big Little Lies vibes, but less intense. This could make a good series. I thought the ending and beginning were a bit rough, but it felt like Holsinger got comfortable in the middle.

DNF