The Gifted School

Bruce Holsinger hit the timing jackpot.

His book The Gifted School, about a group of Colorado parents who will seemingly stop at nothing to get their kids into a new magnet school for incredibly gifted children, came out in the wake of the Aunt Becky scandal. You know, Aunt Becky from Full House and that whole thing? Yeah, it's a pretty timely release. 

I heard Holsinger - and, heard about this book - on enough interviews and podcasts, I had to pull the trigger. What I found inside these pages was enough helicopter parent drama to last a lifetime.

The group of parents live in the fictional town of Crystal, which Holsinger describes as politically progressive and virtually void of anyone who isn't a shade of lily white. Like all places, there's an intense desire for perfection, or at least the appearance of perfection. Holsinger describes a world of gifted programs, resume-building extracurriculars, secret pill popping and traveling soccer teams. It didn't have to be Crystal. It could be practically any suburb in America.

The families have been close since the moms met in a mom-and-baby swimming class. But their friendships mask the intense competition beneath. When a new school is announced with a rigorous testing process, the parents go to extreme lengths just to get their kids accepted. They want it more for the status than the academic experience. And, predictably, they lose themselves along the way.

The book is, as I mentioned, timely. It's plausible, for sure. It's entertaining and it's a bit juicy. I just finished watching Big Little Lies and this storyline could easily take place in that show and vice versa. But, it wasn't as satisfying as I expected. With several families described, it was often distracting to keep the characters straight. The story had, perhaps, too many smaller subplots. And, I don't think any of the characters are actually worth rooting for. Still, it carried me. It held me. And there's one twist at the end that I didn't at all see coming.

I gave this book a 3-star rating on Good Reads. Entertaining? Sure. Compelling? Maybe not. Realistic? Frighteningly so.