Book Review: "The Swallows" by Lisa Lutz
Please note that I received a free copy of this book from Random House.
Publisher Synopsis: When Alexandra Witt joins the faculty at Stonebridge Academy, she’s hoping to put a painful past behind her. Then one of her creative writing assignments generates some disturbing responses from students. Before long, Alex is immersed in an investigation of the students atop the school’s social hierarchy—and their connection to something called the Darkroom. She soon inspires the girls who’ve started to question the school’s “boys will be boys” attitude and incites a resistance. But just as the movement is gaining momentum, Alex attracts the attention of an unknown enemy who knows a little too much about her—and what brought her to Stonebridge in the first place.
Meanwhile, Gemma, a defiant senior, has been plotting her attack for years, waiting for the right moment. Shy loner Norman hates his role in the Darkroom, but can’t find the courage to fight back until he makes an unlikely alliance. And then there’s Finn Ford, an English teacher with a shady reputation, who keeps one eye on his literary ambitions and one on Ms. Witt. As the school’s secrets begin to trickle out, a boys-versus-girls skirmish turns into an all-out war, with deeply personal—and potentially fatal—consequences for everyone involved.
Lisa Lutz’s blistering, timely tale of revenge and disruption shows us what can happen when silence wins out over decency for too long—and why the scariest threat of all might be the idea that sooner or later, girls will be girls.
Rating (out of 5): 4.25
Review: I really loved this book. Its premise felt very timely in our #MeToo, President Pu$$y-Grabbing era, and I found the boarding school setting super-compelling. But, the book was set in 2009, making the female students here even more ahead of their time!
The novel bounces between the POVs of a few different characters: Alex, the new teacher; Gemma, the “defiant senior” who’s out for revenge; Norman, a male student who doesn’t quite fit in; and one other professor and one other student (if I recall correctly). I found this helpful to understanding the school’s attitude toward the unspoken gender war that’s been waged, and, unsurprisingly, identified the most with Gemma and Alex. Alex has a secret throughout a portion of the book that wasn’t super compelling, except that she knew it could be used against her at some point.
I raced through this book; it was basically a silent war between the male and female students (and eventually teachers) on campus. The teachers all seem to be fairly shady; there is definitely some inappropriate shit goin down at this school. I couldn’t help but wonder how the novel would have been different had it been set post-Instagram. The male students were allowed to carry out their shady nonsense from behind a security firewall, but just 5 years later, social media would have changed their social lives so drastically. There was also an interesting (but not creepy!) dynamic between Gemma and the headmaster which I found rather endearing.
Overall, I’m down for any book that explores how misogynistic men are, and tells the story of women trying to take them down. This is worth a read; it’s darkly funny and timely.
Trigger Warnings: teen sexuality (lol), extreme misogyny
TL';DR: I’m down for any book that explores how misogynistic men are, and tells the story of women trying to take them down. This is worth a read; it’s darkly funny and timely, and set in a boarding school, which automatically earns it at least half a star.
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