Dear Committee Members (Julie Schumacher)

This is a tiny jewel of a novel, made entirely of letters of recommendation written by an irascible, acerbic professor of English at a small university. His letters tell, in pointed prose, stories of financial challenges, boneheaded administrators, past loves, present feuds, and the full range of students: clueless, ambitious, timid, gifted, and poignant. It felt perfectly real next to my own academic experience, and while I more than once literally laughed out loud (and I do know what literally means), there is more to the story than comedy. I recommend it to anyone, particularly to all who toil in the ivory tower.