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Admission
Admission
Author: Jean Hanff Korelitz
"Admissions. Admission. Aren't there two sides to the word? And two opposing sides...It's what we let in, but it's also what we let out." — For years, 38-year-old Portia Nathan has avoided the past, hiding behind her busy (and sometimes punishing) career as a PrincetonUniversity admissions officer and her dependable domestic life. Her relu...  more »
ISBN-13: 9780446540711
ISBN-10: 0446540714
Publication Date: 4/8/2010
Pages: 464
Rating:
  • Currently 3.1/5 Stars.
 8

3.1 stars, based on 8 ratings
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover
Members Wishing: 16
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review
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Top Member Book Reviews

  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
reviewed Admission on + 165 more book reviews
1 member(s) found this review helpful.
This book engaged me totally from the first chapter. I worked at a university in the same building as the admissions offfice, so I am familiar with the rigors and joys of that office. I also remember gaggles of prospective students on campus tours with anxious parents in tow. Admission captured all of the excitement, angst and hope of adolescents making application to Princeton. It is extremely well researched and written. Anyone who has ever applied to a college or university or had a child who made application will be immediately drawn into this fascinating novel. Paragraphs from fictional essays that head each chapter will make every reader remember his or her diffficult struggle to find just the right experience to capture the attention of the admissions office.

Portia is an admissions officer at Princeton sharing a home and a long-term relationship with an English professor. Her assignment is to cover the northeast to recruit students and answer their questions about Princeton. She is a fiercely independent and private person with the loneliness that often accompanies those personality characteristics. Her past and present collide on a recruiting trip to New Hampshire, and the novel evolves very cleverly from there.

I haven't read Korelitz's previous novels, but plan to do so. I haven't been this impressed with an author in a very long time.

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  • Currently 3/5 Stars.
reviewed Admission on + 14 more book reviews
Certainly the job of admissions officer is one I'd given little thought to, until I read this story. I enjoyed reading about this taxing job & appreciated the author's descriptions, although some were very wordy. At times, I wanted the author to pick up the pace & get to the heart of the matter. Portia's a complex character & the author gives you lots of insight to her thought process & opinions.


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