Flyover States

I thought this was an excellent book that speaks to the realities of both student life in academia and of cultural diversity in white small town america. It was realistic and witty - intellectually stimulating and a relaxing read. Thanks to both authors - wherever they really live now!

This does not seem like a "chick lit" book to me because it is fairly ribald and thought-provoking. It is not about women finding their prince charmings. The book is hilarious, but at the same time, it provokes serious questions about what it is like to be searching for your place when you just don't belong. Also, there is a persistence and determination to the characters that is admirable for women readers especially. Ronnie and Doris struggle throughout with the politics of academia, and academia itself. For me, this book is more about identity--the discovery of identity and the fight for identity. What it is like to be on the periphery of society, and how the characters learn to function even as outsiders. Ronnie and Doris are learning, but at the same time, they do not let academia rule their lives. They seem to find a balance between living in the world and examining it at the same time--no easy venture. I recommend this book. Doris and Ronnie persist, with a sense of humor. Anyone trying to follow a dream or a goal, despite challenges, set backs, and the opinions of naysayers, will appreciate this book.

What I knew after the first few pages: I am living in a place almost exactly like Langsdale, Indiana. I graduated from a place almost exactly like Langsdale University. Yes, I am also a resident of a flyover state, a transplant from more eastern origins, and I know that feeling of being in a place where you're not sure you quite fit in-not like there's anything you can do about it. The two narrators, Ronnie Williams and Doris Weatherall, are transplants from LA and New York, respectively, both hardworking students, both committed to staying within academia, but still removed enough to see the flaws and not exalt the ivory tower any more than those who don't quite get it (from not having experienced it on this level) or those who, well, don't quite get it, either---you know the kind. They crawl from under their moss-laden postmodern or victorian rocks to go to class and promptly return after class is over. The more pointed barbs may be more like inside jokes that only the authors are privy to, but readers will appreciate all the brutally hilarious insights and moments such as the one where Doris's friend from out of town comments on the roomful of brilliant yet financially inept academics or Ronnie's almost tender, idiosyncratic preference for either Italian men or billy rays, her term for the more off-cuff homegrown rednecks in town. The narrators come to terms with what truly is a crappy summer (in other words, just another bad summer as a graduate student, the usual jumping hoops and crises that come with the amount of work that is available to a whole useless cartel of overworked and underpaid would-be academics) with help from the comforts of routine, booze, and friendship, all of which are-in my opinion-the bare essentials to surviving graduate school [in the Midwest]. They arrive at a resolution that is unforced, the ending happy but not unbelievable, all a part of a chord progression that suggests the real end isn't something that's going to come at a mere book's completion. There have been satirical explorations of the university in spades (Jane Smiley's Moo, Kingsley Amis's Lucky Jim, etc.), but none quite like this one, where it's centered on the graduate school, where one of the first images we come across is in Ronnie's opening chapter, when she discovers that (through the wonders of Photoshop?) someone slapped a tennis racket in her hand and now she very visibly graces the front of a brochure celebrating diversity. Like, it's not enough to have an African-American student on the cover, but she has to be playing tennis to complete the picture of well-rounded wholesomeness. Graduate school is a space where the satire takes on a different form: the characters are all in limbo, not even at the point that they've gotten a real job as a professor where they then jockey for tenure. You're not so young, your bodies are starting to fall apart, you're able to see the cogs and bolts and screws in the machine better than you were able as an un

Doris Weatherall comes from Brooklyn and Veronica Williams from California to attend Langsdale University in Indiana. Though one woman is African-American while the other Caucasian, and they compete for the same summer teaching position the coastal females become best friends. Ronnie becomes upset when, without her permission, she is a diversity initiative brochure's centerfold aimed at minority recruitment. Doris gets the teaching position but finds high school seniors uninterested in what she tries to do; Ronnie works in a factory. Both want a man in her life. However, Ronnie doubts she will find a brother in the conservative section of the Hoosier state while Doris sees her poetry professor although he is allegedly gay. These two independent intelligent women turn to one another to survive their self imposed exile in the Midwest. This is more a character study than a chick lit tale though readers get the chick lit viewpoint from the coastal females. The story line centers on two individuals coming from opposite poles converging in the hinterland like fish out of water. Ronnie and Doris become friends as they share ideals while feeling isolated on the campus. Fans will enjoy this deep look at ethical blue state individuals struggling with red state moral values. Harriet Klausner