"Admission" -- the Novel and Film

<p>Mixed reviews for "Admission" the Film, but fans of Fey will probably fall for it. Rudd too. However, for CCers who have gone through the prep school deal, Admission the Novel is a lengthier (400 pages!) and more rewarding journey. I haven't done a search for discussion of the book (2009), but a new thread is in order what with the film out.</p>

<p>Once you see the film, of course the book will be a different read. Best book first, but never mind, I was only a third through when we saw the film last night. The book is so insightful that you're going to finish it. (If you choose to keep returning to CC, aren't you hooked on something?)</p>

<p>The easy takeaway is the affirmation that Jean Hanff Korelitz gives to many posters on "a better interpretation" of the BS decision, so akin as that is to hearing from Princeton et al. Taken from the very last page of the 2010 edition's "Questions for the Author" (following the Reading Group Guide), Korelitz notes that Ad Comms are not passing a judgment that applicants should accept as determining either their current value as a person or their future likelihood of success. We all know that, by design and happenstance, the number of applicants has swollen to highs that have created crazy low admission rates. In the mind of the fictional Portia Nathan, this "system . . . was not about the applicant at all. It was about the institution. It was about delivering to [Princeton's] trustees, and to a lesser extent the faculty, a United Nations of scholars, an Olympiad of athletes, a conservatory of artists and musicians, a Great Society of strivers, and a treasury of riches so idiosyncratic and ill-defined that the Office of Admission would not know how to go about looking for them, and could not hope to find them, if they suddenly stopped turning up of their own accord." </p>

<p>Thus, the encouragement and guarding of an "elite status" or ranking that will ensure the institutions own choice of its identity and its own (financial) survival, in perpetuity. </p>

<p>Is this how it is for HADES? For the "Hidden Gems"? Is it a helpful message to share with the kids who are looking for the secret to admission at their dream schools? What tweaks would you suggest? </p>

<p>For adult readers, the novel, much more so than the movie, is loaded with pearls about our family lives and the times we've lived in. And even the places, for many of us. This thread is open for ANY kind of response to the novel or the film.</p>

<p>I just got the book and I plan to see the movie (on top of Tina Fey and Paul Rudd there’s also Gloria Reuben, a huge bonus for a dedicated ER fan like myself). I’ll let you know my thoughts.</p>

<p>I read the book when it came out - before I had ever contemplated BS for our DC. I do remember that much of the interesting bits took place at what would be called here hidden gems.</p>