Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher

Dear Committee Members
By Julie Schumacher
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Published by: Harper Collins UK - October 9, 2014
Genres: Literature/Fiction
Rating: 4.5 stars

NOTICE: I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Jason Fitger is a beleaguered professor of creative writing and literature at Payne University, a small and not very distinguished liberal arts college in the midwest. His department is facing draconian cuts and squalid quarters, while one floor above them the Economics Department is getting lavishly remodeled offices. His once-promising writing career is in the doldrums, as is his romantic life, in part as the result of his unwise use of his private affairs for his novels. His star (he thinks) student can't catch a break with his brilliant (he thinks) work Accountant in a Bordello, based on Melville's Bartleby. In short, his life is a tale of woe, and the vehicle this droll and inventive novel uses to tell that tale is a series of hilarious letters of recommendation that Fitger is endlessly called upon by his students and colleagues to produce, each one of which is a small masterpiece of high dudgeon, low spirits, and passive-aggressive strategies. We recommend Dear Committee Members to you in the strongest possible terms.

Humor. Wit. Snark. Bemusement. Julie Schumacher's brilliance is transferred to her protagonist Jason Fitger in this one of a kind novel about a creative writing professor who spends 90% of his time writing recommendation letters for others while wasting his away his tenure next to a faulty bathroom.

This book is fresh, innovative and unlike anything I've ever read before. You'd think an entire book based on recommendation letters would be dull, but Schumacher scores again and again with new wit and hilarity.

This is a must-read if you need a break from traditional fiction and are looking for a bit of humor in your life!