Giveaway and Book Review #44: THE CRAZY SCHOOL by Cornelia Read

Thanks to the generous folks at
Hachette Book Group,

I have been authorized to
 give away five (5) copies of
THE CRAZY SCHOOL

by Cornelia Read.

Rules for entering this giveaway are at the bottom of this post.

THE CRAZY SCHOOL

by Cornelia Read

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Category: Fiction

Format: Trade Paperback

Publish Date: 2/12/2010

Price: $13.99/$16.99

ISBN: 9780446198202

Pages: 352

Size: 5-1/4" x 8"

Description (from the author):
From the acclaimed author of A FIELD OF DARKNESS comes another compelling novel featuring the acerbic and memorable voice of ex-debutante Madeline Dare. Madeline Dare has finally escaped rust-belt Syracuse, New York, for the lush Berkshire Mountains in Massachusetts. After her husband's job offer falls through, Maddie signs on as a teacher at the Santangelo Academy, a boarding school for disturbed teenagers. Behind the academy's ornate gates, she discovers a disturbing realm where students and teachers alike must submit to the founder's bizarre therapeutic regimen.

My Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

My Thoughts:  Like a lot of protagonists in crime fiction, Madeline Dare is tough as nails on the outside and just shy of marshmallow on the inside. She's smarter than average, and her tendency to think too much gets her into trouble again and again. What is it with smarter than average, tough but tender crime fiction characters that makes their brains turn off and their mouths go into overdrive? I don't know, but thank goodness they do because that's what makes the story.

In Cornelia Read's second Maddie Dare novel, THE CRAZY SCHOOL, we catch up with Maddie after circumstances force her into a teaching position at the only school that will employ her -- a last-stop boarding school for socially and psychologically troubled rich kids. At Santangelo Academy, it can be difficult to distinguish the discipline from the therapy, and everyone follows the same bizarre rules -- students as well as teachers and staff. It's not long before Maddie has her back to the wall as she tries to keep the most disturbed students and faculty at bay while simultaneously trying to isolate victims from victimizers.

I like the character of Maddie Dare. She's smart, but not smart enough to have all the answers. She's got a sharp wit and, like all of my favorite crime fiction heros, she questions herself as well as authority. It's those inner explorations of the character's own mind and motivations that make crime fiction so compelling to me.

Occasionally while reading THE CRAZY SCHOOL, I thought the author went a bit over the top. It wasn't always easy to believe that some of the practices at Santangelo Academy would be allowed to continue for as long as they did. But I told myself to suspend disbelief and just go with it for a while. After all, some truly bizarre "therapies" have been common practice in the past, but I won't give any examples lest I offend anyone who might have benefited from them. (See, I'm not smarter than average -- my mouth barely operates in first gear, nevermind overdrive. Sigh, guess I'll never be a crime fiction protagonist!)

I enjoyed THE CRAZY SCHOOL. It was a nice blend of stimulating and escapist fiction. And I'm looking forward to the next Maddie Dare novel, THE INVISABLE BOY, which is due out this month.

About the author (from the publisher):
Cornelia Read grew up in New York, California, and Hawaii. She describes herself as a reformed debutante who currently lives in Berkeley. This is her second novel. Her website is http://www.corneliaread.com/.

Questions for Discussion

 (The Reading Group Guide)

1. Maddie is the only Santangelo Academy teacher who lives off campus. How does this affect her views of what is “normal”?

2. Wiesner tells Maddie she is “too whacked to maintain appropriate boundaries” and has issues with authority. Do you agree? Does anyone at Santangelo maintain “appropriate” boundaries?

3. Maddie claims she hates Mindy because she is so shallow. What does this assessment reveal about Maddie herself? How does the generally negative nature of Maddie’s worldview affect the outcome of this particular narrative?

4. Maddie wants to believe that Santangelo can “fix” her. What is broken in her life?

5. The school uses a lot of phrases such as “firing yourself ” and “doing a turn-in.” Many groups use language to create a shared sense of identity. When can this be beneficial, and when can this be dangerous?

6. What are the author’s views on therapy, as expressed by Maddie? Do you agree with her?

7. Why does Maddie stay on as a teacher at Santangelo? Is it only about the paycheck for her?

8. While he never appears in the novel, Maddie’s father is discussed twice during the course of the story. What impact do you think his mental illness has had on her development and on her issues with “authority”?

9. What might be different about this novel if Dean had a steady job? What do you think of his attitude about drug testing—is he standing up for individual rights, or should he put down the bong and get over himself already?

10. Could Maddie have been a more effective advocate for her students if she’d played by the Santangelo rules? What would this have meant for Fay and Mooney, specifically? Should she have “done a turn-in” with regard to their secret?

11. What impact has the advent of psychotherapeutic drugs such as Prozac had on the public perception of “talk therapy”?

12. Has the influence of such psychiatric authorities as Freud and Jung been diminished or enhanced by advances in our understanding of neurochemistry over the last two decades? Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

13. How do you think Maddie will respond when she hears about the events of the final chapter? Did what happened change your perception of Wiesner and Sitzman?

14. Is the final word of the book, uttered by Sitzman, significant? Does its use here tie in with the discussion of campus prohibitions against it in chapter one? How would the novel be impacted if there were no profanity used by any of its characters?

RULES FOR ENTERING THE GIVEAWAY:

• Leave a comment on this post telling me you would like to win. Include an email address with your comment so that I can contact you if you do win. Use a spam-thwarting format such as geebee.reads AT gmail DOT com or geebee.reads [at] gmail [dot] com

• You must leave an email address in order to qualify. If I can't contact you, you can't win!

• You can earn an extra entry by being or becoming a Follower or Subscriber of this blog and telling me about it in a separate comment.

• Blog about this contest and provide me with the link to the post in a separate comment, and I'll give you yet another entry.

• Tweeting about this contest and providing me the link in a separate comment will get you one more entry. I've added a Retweet button at the bottom of every post.

• Stumble this blog, Digg it, or Technorati Fave it, whatever, and leave a separate comment for another entry.

• Winners must provide a U.S. or Canadian street address. Hachette is unable to deliver to P.O. Boxes.

• Deadline for entry is 11:59 p.m. EST on Sunday, March 28, 2010.

• Winners will have 48 hours to respond to my email announcing that they have won; if I don't hear from a winner, I will draw another name. I use Random.org to determine the winners.

Thank you to Valerie
at Hachette Book Group

for making this giveaway possible.

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!
THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED.