In the Deep Heart's Core

Rating:
Summary: Author is genuinely interested in students, education issues
Review: I am a classmate and friend of the author at YLS and would like to refute the earlier character-attacking review from the YLS student. While I have not had the opportunity to read through the entire book myself, I have talked with the author about education issues and his book, and have found him to be highly informed. More importantly, I feel that he has a legitimate desire to improve the plight of those children from disadvantaged backgrounds through education reform.

Rating:
Summary: Author is genuinely interested in students, education issues
Review: I was born in Greenville, Mississippi, myself, and though I have not lived there in some years, this book definitely reaches through to the realities of the place and shares some amazing stories. However, I'm not sure what kind of action Johnston is calling for in response to his writing. Some might think he's just pulling at heartstrings or attempting to bring up the problems with a community without offering any positive elements, and I can agree with both of those remarks. In the Deep Heart's Core provides an important glimpse of the problems and challenges that face the South, particularly Mississippi, as it tries to put the nastier elements of its history out of sight and out of mind. They're not gone, though -- the consequences of centuries of oppression are still very much visible, and Johnston shows this very well. Now if he can help point us to the solution.... Do we just need more people like him there? Do we need to just start over? What's the next step? That's the real question this book raises, and I only wish he had offered a version of his own answer to share with the reader and encourage us all to take action.

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Summary: Startling testimony from the Deep South
Review: I was moved to tears many times while reading this book. Johnston's love for his newfound land is evident and his tender prose reads like poetry in parts. He clearly encountered countless hardships while teaching at Greenville High, but he is quick to take himself to task along with others, which shows his humility. I would recommend this beautifully written account to anyone interested in improving education in America.

Rating:
Summary: In the Deep Heart's Core
Review: It's true that this book can be a bit self-congratulatory, and at times the author is overconfident of his aim, partly because he's an outsider, drawing from and trying to make sense of his own limited experience as an idealistic northerner in a troubled southern town. Yet his perspective as an outsider is also the book's strong suit. Johnson's observations on two years spent teaching in the Greenville, Mississippi public schools are, on the whole, original, thoughtful, provocative and illuminating. He is also an excellent writer, which makes what could have been a drab academic treatise a thoroughly entertaining and memorable read. I'm sure Johnson has caught his share of flak from the people he wrote about, because the truth sometimes hurts, and any time someone tries to assess another person's life there will be errors and omissions. But Johnson clearly sympathizes with his subjects and his book provides an important service by opening a window onto a world that is unfortunately overlooked by most Americans.

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Summary: Experience but not Expertise
Review: Johnston had a life-altering experience in the Mississippi Delta and was eager to share it. He witnessed some of the staggering problems in our educational system. But instead of being moved and challenged by his book, I grew increasingly irritated and unimpressed. How could a Yale graduate, English teacher and Grove Press author achieve publication of a work so riddled with grammatical and word usage errors? The mistakes cast doubt on Johnston's credibility as an educator and reporter. Just two examples: the repeated use of "disinterested" to mean "uninterested"; and the dozens of incorrect modifiers, such as, "Watching Corelle shuffle down the hall flanked by two security guards, a discomfort welled inside me." Like others, I too found his tone a bit self-congratulatory. Despite all, I'm glad I read the book. It covers a part of our culture one needs to know.

Rating:
Summary: A bit too patronizing
Review: Tear-jerking and heartstring-tugging are well and good, but I found the writing to be melodramatic and even maudlin at many points. Besides, how can someone who jumps into two years of teaching in a place he probably would have known nothing about prior to landing there really, truly, genuinely come to understand the profound cultural riches (and poverties) of that place? It would take decades, perhaps, and the intimate understanding of a native son/daughter. I am skeptical. This felt--at least on some level--like the author is capitalizing on his experiences in the Delta. It's clear they had an impact on him, but I'm not sure they really allowed him to leave behind a subtle, smarter-than-thou attitude. Perhaps the best thing about this book is that it might awaken some readers to the horrific plight faced by American public schools.