The Student Body: Short Stories about College Students and Professors

Rating:
Summary: Uneven treatment of potentially rich territory
Review: A strange mix of authors, styles, length, sadness and humor, linked by the college campus as a common theme. Started out as a potential stream of interesting stories but dwindled quickly into an almost dry bed. Richard Russo does a nice job with a nun's story. Stephen King contributes a mundane terror tale. For instance, Hassler's "Publish and perish" is a much more rewarding work. David Lodge covers this terrain very well.

Nice try, but college life is better, funnier and more interesting than this, as has been shown hundreds of times before.

Rating:
Summary: A versatile, extremely fun array of stories
Review: As a college student who has experienced the ups and downs of academia, the frustrations and pleasures of the university campus, the insipid, the arrogant, the brilliant, even the outlandish in everyday college life, this exquisite compilation served as a sort of mirror funhouse, one I won't mind getting stuck in again and again. These stories encompass the complexities of universities from very versatile angles, all filled with insight, finesse, and lots of fun, intelligent humor. A great read, should be required material for all those who have ever walked the halls of any educational institution under any guise.

Rating:
Summary: The World of Campus Life
Review: I first heard about this book when it was chosen by the CHICAGO TRIBUNE as an EDITOR'S CHOICE book of the week. This anthology does an excellent job of capturing the variety of campus life. Russo gives a knock-out story about a nun who takes a creative writing class. Dan Chaon's story about fraternity life is both quirky and moving. Two hilarious entries: Gordon Weaver's "Q: Questing" about a guy dividing his time teaching part-time at four colleges and carrying on affairs with a woman at each campus; and Lucia Perillo's "The Wife of the Indian" from the point of view of a cynical but hilarious woman who's married to a guy who lied about his ethnicity to get a job but then leaves his wife behind when he takes off with a student. Ron Carlson's "Hartwell" is a melancholy, heartbreaker of a story. In addition to work by other well-known writers -- Thomas Beller, Marly Swick, Thisbe Nissen -- the editor has included great stories by newcomers, such as Amy Brown, Rebecca Lee, and Alex Shishin. If you like good literary stories, and if you've spent any time on a college campus, you're bound to enjoy this book. Or if you're a parent sending your child off to college, this would make a great gift.