Mann, who is never penalized for his sexual and emotional abuse, is cast disturbingly as a tragic hero. It's unclear what, if anything, Carolina has learned from her mistakes, and in a dramatic rescue scene, Mr. The book sends a mixed message to young adults. Even readers who are able to swallow the melodramatic events may have trouble believing the heroine, who is smart enough to throw out obscure references ("Keep your war girdle on, Hippolyte," she tells Schuyler), yet too naïve to see that she is being victimized. Mann becomes engaged to another woman, and Carolina resorts to some childish acts of revenge. Nelsons debut is worthy of acclaim if for no other reason than it offers a birds-eye view of the. Despite the flirting that goes on at school, no one (not even Carolina's best friend Schuyler, who knows she has a crush on her teacher) suspects how far things have gone. Mann does have the sense to wait until Carolina turns 18 before he sleeps with her). One night after work he leads her behind the local Wal-Mart for the first of many make-out sessions (Mr. Mann, who starts visiting her at the hamburger joint where she works. Narrator Carolina, a senior who is "a little top-heavy in the sciences," takes a poetry class and falls head-over-heels in love with her English teacher, Mr. The affair itself seems highly improbable. Although Nelson shows courage in tackling a controversial topic-the sexual relationship between a teacher and high-school student-too much rings false in this contemporary debut novel.
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