Name: Laura Mauler's review of Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher
Item: Dear Committee Members
Rating: 5
Author: Laura Mauler

Julie Schumacher

Enduring budget cuts and the favoritism of other departments at a small liberal arts college, literature professor Jason Fitger despairs of his writing ambitions and imposed role in a star pupil's would-be opus while writing wryly comic, passive-aggressive letters to students and colleagues.

Dear Committee Members

Szymon

Laura Mauler

My hangover prevents me from trying to be witty in this review, so I'll just list why I liked - LOVED - this book.

1. It is really funny. Actual laughing out loud happened when I read it.
2. The format is interesting. At times I had to go back and find the first letter that mentions someone to get the context, but that small inconvenience was balanced by the pleasure I got from the way the format allowed things to unfold.
3. Jay is mad at/resigned to the stupidity of our modern culture, especially the damn kids these days. I too am mad about this.
4. The English Department is being slowly killed off in favor of the sciences, and Jay is fighting the good fight to preserve literature at his school. Some of the funniest passages in the book.
5. The writing is smart, never shying away from a big word or a slyly-cutting turn of phrase. I wish I spoke like this book.

Verdict: fantastic. Easily one of my favorite books that I have read this year.

Cindy Lieberman

The best thing about this novel is its brevity. It’s a collection of letters, mostly letters of recommendation, as written by a creative writing professor. Unfortunately, the professor is a bitter and petty man. He reveals little about himself beyond his divorce and a lack of recent writing success. 
I recommend Rick Moody’s Hotels of North America for a similar epistolary approach done well. In Moody’s case, not letters but “reviews” of various hotels and motels.

Samantha Alukas 

This book actually made me laugh out loud; an IRL LOL if you will. Definitely a niche read, but after spending the better part of a decade in college/academia/writing LORs for students I barely know, this book hit all my funny bones.

Jennifer Dieter

Dear Committee Members is cute, it's funny, and it's well written. It, however, is told from the perspective of a straight white male liberal arts professor who is creepy toward women and constantly complains about his office conditions and the privilege of the economics department. Not the best book to read when you're also listening to the Kavanaugh hearings. But Fitger does redeem himself a bit by the end of the book, and I enjoyed reading the letters aloud to my partner and giggling at the absurdity. I also appreciate that it was written by a woman in academia who probably drew from reality when crafting this character.

Szymon &
Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher

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Szymon &Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher

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Szymon &
Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher