Review by Mkf658 -- The Assignment by Don Chance
-
Mkf658
- Posts: 1
- Joined: 25 Nov 2020, 13:00
- Currently Reading:
- Bookshelf Size: 2
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-mkf658.html
- Latest Review: The Assignment by Don Chance
Review by Mkf658 -- The Assignment by Don Chance
[Following is a volunteer review of "The Assignment" by Don Chance.]
Book review – The Assignment by Don Chance
I thoroughly enjoyed this book! There was just enough suspense to keep my interest piqued and I could not WAIT to see how far the characters were willing to go to get what they want, or to protect themselves.
The protagonist is a middle-aged woman – CJ McCarter – who is the president of a private college in Philadelphia. The antagonist is a young grad student from Chile – Ricardo Baez – pursuing a PhD in Economics – which happens to be the field in which the university president has her doctorate. Due to unfortunate circumstances, she ends up as his advisor for his last semester. This leads to the problems she encounters later in the book.
Character development is excellent. The reader gets a picture of an ambitious university president with a failing marriage and a young man with his future mapped out for him.
The pacing moves along well and tension builds throughout the book. The author paints a first-rate picture of what goes on behind the scenes in academia. There are arrogant professors, earthy humor from the Provost, professors dedicated to research and publication, blackmail, a bit of international intrigue, and plenty of human foibles and frailties in the mix, with just a dash of religion included.
The problems the characters face are very real. It was interesting how the author portrayed the devoutness of the protagonist as a contrast to her behavior. She would not divorce her husband because it was against her beliefs but she lusted after a much younger man to the point of an adulterous encounter with him. This led to him blackmailing her in an attempt to ensure he graduated at the end of the semester as scheduled. As university president, she had boundaries with the professors that she was not willing to cross but made an exception to avoid a scandal.
There are great moments of humor and irony in the book as well. CJ and her husband have had a long-distance marriage for a number of years and she suspects he’s having an affair with his graduate assistant. She flies to Boston one weekend to surprise and seduce him and he is so clueless and wrapped up in his lab and current experiment that sex was not even in the top three things he suggests she might be there to do. The conversation they have (over the phone, he was not able to tear himself away from a crucial experiment in his lab to even have dinner with her) made me laugh out loud.
4 out of 4. I found The Assignment to be a very satisfying read. Author Don Chance is a university professor and gives readers a glimpse into the life of life behind the scenes at a university, revealing that life there is much the same as it is everywhere else – sometimes humorous, sometimes painful, and not without problems.
******
The Assignment
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Book review – The Assignment by Don Chance
I thoroughly enjoyed this book! There was just enough suspense to keep my interest piqued and I could not WAIT to see how far the characters were willing to go to get what they want, or to protect themselves.
The protagonist is a middle-aged woman – CJ McCarter – who is the president of a private college in Philadelphia. The antagonist is a young grad student from Chile – Ricardo Baez – pursuing a PhD in Economics – which happens to be the field in which the university president has her doctorate. Due to unfortunate circumstances, she ends up as his advisor for his last semester. This leads to the problems she encounters later in the book.
Character development is excellent. The reader gets a picture of an ambitious university president with a failing marriage and a young man with his future mapped out for him.
The pacing moves along well and tension builds throughout the book. The author paints a first-rate picture of what goes on behind the scenes in academia. There are arrogant professors, earthy humor from the Provost, professors dedicated to research and publication, blackmail, a bit of international intrigue, and plenty of human foibles and frailties in the mix, with just a dash of religion included.
The problems the characters face are very real. It was interesting how the author portrayed the devoutness of the protagonist as a contrast to her behavior. She would not divorce her husband because it was against her beliefs but she lusted after a much younger man to the point of an adulterous encounter with him. This led to him blackmailing her in an attempt to ensure he graduated at the end of the semester as scheduled. As university president, she had boundaries with the professors that she was not willing to cross but made an exception to avoid a scandal.
There are great moments of humor and irony in the book as well. CJ and her husband have had a long-distance marriage for a number of years and she suspects he’s having an affair with his graduate assistant. She flies to Boston one weekend to surprise and seduce him and he is so clueless and wrapped up in his lab and current experiment that sex was not even in the top three things he suggests she might be there to do. The conversation they have (over the phone, he was not able to tear himself away from a crucial experiment in his lab to even have dinner with her) made me laugh out loud.
4 out of 4. I found The Assignment to be a very satisfying read. Author Don Chance is a university professor and gives readers a glimpse into the life of life behind the scenes at a university, revealing that life there is much the same as it is everywhere else – sometimes humorous, sometimes painful, and not without problems.
******
The Assignment
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: The Assignment by Don Chance
