A vertiginous black comedy by one of France's most exciting new novelists
Winner of France's most prestigious prize for a first nov... read full description
Winner of France's most prestigious prize for a first nov... read full description
reviews
Mar 12, 2009
Stephanie
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This novel opens with the apparent suicide of a young teacher, Eric Capadis, who falls from the window of Classroom 109 as his year nine students -- 13-year-olds -- wait outside the closed classroom door to be let in.
Pierre Hoffman, a 32-year-old cynic who is only teaching in order to support himself as he works on his postgraduate thesis, ends up taking over this class, though from the start he realises that things are not what they seem.
These obedient and polite teenag More...
Pierre Hoffman, a 32-year-old cynic who is only teaching in order to support himself as he works on his postgraduate thesis, ends up taking over this class, though from the start he realises that things are not what they seem.
These obedient and polite teenag More...
Dec 13, 2011
Tiffany
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This book was actually kind of weird and strange to follow...it felt a little scattered all over the place. I didn't like some of the sentences in the book such as, "I'm quite convinced that hospitals are swarming with people with a secret grudge against humanity (pg.7)" because i am a nurse so i thought that line was a little bit of a hasty generalization regarding healthcare workers. And it has gross imagery such as, "An olfactory spectrum between decomposing vegetation and men
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Aug 29, 2011
Manuel
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Esta obra es la ópera prima de Christophe Dufossé, al parecer ganó algún premio allá en Francia. El autor conoce bastante bien el ambiente escolar (fue profesor), lo que hace bastante creíble la ambientación de la historia. El narrador a veces es demasiado detallista, lo que me chocó un poco, me sacaba de la lectura (pienso que nadie es tan detallista todo el tiempo en toda situación), pero sus pensamientos e interacciones con otros personajes fueron lo más interesante. Los misteriosos chicos de
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Feb 17, 2008
Sarah
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A perennial topic in my tutoring sessions with non-native speakers is why there are so few books translated from other languages into English, relatively speaking. More specifically, books by native-English speaking authors are more likely to top the bestseller list or show up on Oprah. After reading School's Out I would have to say the answer to that question may lie in the milieu of cultural miscues that one encounters when trying to understand the French psyche. Perhaps that's why I didn't co
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Jun 17, 2008
Carla
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This book combined my top three book fascinations: first time author, a translation to English (to British English from French which added a second element of adjustment) and a story set in a school. I wish I had read this book over a shorter period of time -- the various dimensions of the story would have hung together better for me. The premise of the story is spooky and the teacher, who the story is really about, had layers of issues. There are some fabulous passages and the school setting
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Feb 06, 2008
Pattie
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It was translated from the French into British English, and Americans have to do the second translation mentally, which, in addition to the loads of unfamiliar cultural and political and philosophical references, makes it a tough read for such an unassuming little book.
The story ppppllllooodddssss along. By the end, I just kept hoping that the kids would put him out of his existential French misery.
As several other reviewers have pointed out, the author spends a lot of More...
The story ppppllllooodddssss along. By the end, I just kept hoping that the kids would put him out of his existential French misery.
As several other reviewers have pointed out, the author spends a lot of More...
Dec 07, 2011
Leigh
rated it:
The only reason this even gets one star is because I don't ever have to look at it again. I'm certain that some of the reason this book was so terrible was because of an extremely poor translation. But even beyond that, the story itself lacked any positive attributes. There were no characters to sympathize with, no kind of plot to grasp onto, and the writing was overly descriptive with disparate dialogue that often didn't even make sense. (Again, perhaps the lack of descriptive and dialogue qual
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Mar 18, 2009
Christopher
rated it:
One of the drawbacks of a five-star rating is that there's really no way of reflecting a half-star. Had there been, this would have had a 3.5 rating from me, as that's much more how I felt about it than a 3.
SCHOOL'S OUT is an interesting concept. From the shock of the beginning when a young teacher apparently commits suicide, to the shivery prospect of what might be going on under the surface, the story moves to its final harrowing scenes.
As others have said, there are mi More...
SCHOOL'S OUT is an interesting concept. From the shock of the beginning when a young teacher apparently commits suicide, to the shivery prospect of what might be going on under the surface, the story moves to its final harrowing scenes.
As others have said, there are mi More...
Dec 17, 2009
Celia
rated it:
Ugh. It's not a long book but it took me forever to finish, and I had to slog to the very end. It never gelled for me. There is no cohesive plot or narrative flow. It read more like a series of vignettes involving the narrator, who took over teaching a class ("9F") at a French middle school after the previous teacher offed himself. There is very little to tie together the various chapters regarding the narrator's adventures, his random encounters with his colleagues, sister, the cl
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Jan 08, 2009
Liz
rated it:
Well, it was creepy and I kept expecting something dramatic to happen. Maybe something was lost in the translation from the French, but it really didn't hold together for me. Too many characters, I kept foregetting who was who. The drama I was expecting didn't unfold, something totally different and anti-climatic happened without much explaination.
Altogether unsatisfying.
Altogether unsatisfying.
Jun 21, 2011
Sasha
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Don't read it. It drags on and on, is chock full of not even appropriate GRE words, overwrought and useless metaphors... just a huge, anticlimactic drag.
Jul 03, 2008
Erin
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The premise for the book sounded intriguing, but I could not stand the writing style. I only managed to make it about 100 pages in before giving up. Those 100 pages were mostly filled with endless descriptions of everyone and everything that the narrator encountered. I understand the importance of setting, but it seems to me that the author also forgot something very vital: plot! Perhaps if I'd read a bit more, I might have actually gotten to the "good" part of the book, but I can'
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Dec 27, 2007
Meri Meri
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Upon my word of honour this was one of the books that scared me fullstop. The idea was incredibly good, too bad it managed to loosen the required pace and to prolong the the climax until you were not really dreading it anymore.
A new teacher has to deal with a rather "special" group of students who are incredibly tight-knit and eerie. A murder has taken place and they are all supposedly in shock. How much of a shock this is, the book is setting off to unveil. Spooky to the bone, More...
A new teacher has to deal with a rather "special" group of students who are incredibly tight-knit and eerie. A murder has taken place and they are all supposedly in shock. How much of a shock this is, the book is setting off to unveil. Spooky to the bone, More...
Jan 30, 2008
Glen
rated it: 
I happened to check out the Amazon reader reviews of this book and 90% of the readers hated the book.
But I had a lot of fun reading it. When I think of the reviewers on Amazon; I think what is wrong with those people. Sure, It is the authors first novel and there are some weaknesses. A little too caught up in existential frenchy thought but it's really an amusing book, the metaphors are amazingly funny and wierd through out. I would highly recommend. If you read it tell me what you More...
But I had a lot of fun reading it. When I think of the reviewers on Amazon; I think what is wrong with those people. Sure, It is the authors first novel and there are some weaknesses. A little too caught up in existential frenchy thought but it's really an amusing book, the metaphors are amazingly funny and wierd through out. I would highly recommend. If you read it tell me what you More...
Jan 18, 2008
Ralph
rated it:
This is the worst book I have checked out this year. Once again, proving the LA public library "popular library," though easy to access, should be avoided at all costs. The writer, or his poor translator, describes every detail in garrulous, awkward fashion, often using poorly thought out analogies. Characters are introduced with no bearing to the plot. Dialogue doesn't fit the narrative style. Just a train wreck from page 2.
Dec 17, 2009
Patrick
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Well written, but boring. The protagonist talks mainly about himself and his observations of the other teachers, which are cynical and somewhat pointless. It's not really about, what it's supposed to be about: A class of school children who drive their teacher into suicide. The characters of the children are never really developed whereas secondary characters who never appear again get pages and pages of description. Not worth reading.
Dec 30, 2007
Britton
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This book looks like a young adult book, but has a vocabulary that may stump some adults. I enjoyed reading this book, but not as much as I had hoped. Very French in it's style of alluding to unsettling and creepy events but never really explaining why they are creepy and unsettling. Perhaps there was a little something lost in translation.
May 25, 2008
Annet
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had a hard time reading this one, I read in other reviews the translation from French to English is bad. It was hard to understand, sometimes a bit boring, story sometimes intriguing though, that's why the two stars.
Feb 02, 2008
Carly
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I read maybe 30 pages of this book and hand to put it down. It was originally a French book and I think the English translation just wasn't done well. It was very dry and had very awkward grammar and wording.
Oct 30, 2007
Sarah
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Man o man, I tried to finish this for weeks. With 20 pages to go I just can't bring myself to do it..........
Parts were very funny. But overall I just don't care.
Parts were very funny. But overall I just don't care.
Mar 03, 2011
Bill
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This book was extremely lame, for being a mystery about how a teacher got killed it was very bland. There was no depth to anything. Very disappointing
Sep 24, 2010
Casey
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With this book I honestly just felt like I kept going in circles until I finally got annoyed and decided to put it down.
Dec 16, 2009
Matt
rated it:
Terrible. Choppy translation made it almost unbearable. (Or, alternatively, the original was also awful.)
