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A beloved schoolteacher chronicles the meteoric rise of his most dazzling student in this ambitious, big-hearted work of literary fiction, perfect for fans of Nathan Hill, Susan Choi, and Tess Gunty.
Mr. Keating is an extraordinary teacher: brilliant, dedicated, and possibly a few pages ahead in a book no one else is reading. He's a magician able to enchant fourteen-year-olds into a love of reading and writing. Yet no student has lived up to the promise of their potential more than Clara Hightower. Over the course of three decades, Clara is a kindergarten thief, a high school genius, a Silicon Valley celebrity, and an animal rights activist turned terrorist.
To tell Clara's story though, Mr. Keating must tell his own, including his courtship and marriage, his dreams of writing and comedy, his days in the classroom in lower Manhattan, including his rivalry and friendship with his Head of School, and his eventual stroke and the isolation that followed.
Told with humor and tenderness, The Optimists is a love story, a joke book, and a meditation on the meaning of life and death. But mostly it's a fiercely original novel for anyone who has ever had a teacher or student meaningfully affect their life.
Brian Platzer was the education columnist for The Atlantic and has written frequently for the New York Times, The New Yorker, New York Magazine, and many other publications. He currently teaches and lives with his family in Brooklyn and Paris.
Mr. Keating is an extraordinary teacher: brilliant, dedicated, and possibly a few pages ahead in a book no one else is reading. He's a magician able to enchant fourteen-year-olds into a love of reading and writing. Yet no student has lived up to the promise of their potential more than Clara Hightower. Over the course of three decades, Clara is a kindergarten thief, a high school genius, a Silicon Valley celebrity, and an animal rights activist turned terrorist.
To tell Clara's story though, Mr. Keating must tell his own, including his courtship and marriage, his dreams of writing and comedy, his days in the classroom in lower Manhattan, including his rivalry and friendship with his Head of School, and his eventual stroke and the isolation that followed.
Told with humor and tenderness, The Optimists is a love story, a joke book, and a meditation on the meaning of life and death. But mostly it's a fiercely original novel for anyone who has ever had a teacher or student meaningfully affect their life.
Brian Platzer was the education columnist for The Atlantic and has written frequently for the New York Times, The New Yorker, New York Magazine, and many other publications. He currently teaches and lives with his family in Brooklyn and Paris.
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Reviews
"In this fictional memoir, John Keating, a transformative eighth grade teacher, looks back on his life following a stroke. Narrator Rob Shapiro captures the essence of his self-reflections. Although he has a devoted wife, a storied career, longtime friends, and the admiration of students, Keating chooses to recount his life through his tenuous association with Clara, his brightest and most enigmatic student, who is by turns a thief, a scholar, an entrepreneur, and an activist. Keating's non-sequential remembrances reveal him to be comedic, cynical, caring, and occasionally peevish and childish. When Keating recounts conversations with Clara and others, Shapiro showcases their personalities.
Shapiro succeeds in crafting believable characters, and listeners will be invested."
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