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An Expensive Education
McDonell's third novel takes readers into Harvard through its dormitories and dining halls, into its elite finals clubs and lecture halls. "An Expensive Education" is a smart, relentless novel set at the troubled intersection of ivory academia and realpolitik.
Hardcover, 256 pages
Published
August 5th 2009
by Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
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Nick McDonnell writes a cliched plot of Third World/CIA intrigue that recycles the worst stereotypes of an international potboiler without any of the fun or intrigue. McDonnell also seems to think that Harvard's Porcellian equals Yale's Skull and Bones, when Yale's connection with foreign policy and international entanglements has been much better documented. Even worse, McDonnell paints every character and action as one dimensional. Everyone is reduced to an archetype: the rude, racist preppy, ...more
American author Nick McDonell, who published his first novel, Twelve, in 2002 at the age of 17, hails from a world of privilege, attending an exclusive New York prep school (yes, of the variety featured in Gossip Girl) before going to Harvard, from which he graduated in 2007.
Like his two previous novel, this third one also involves the American aristocracy, while throwing in a splash of geopolitical intrigue. The slimness of the novel belies its ambitious scope, taking readers from t...more
Like his two previous novel, this third one also involves the American aristocracy, while throwing in a splash of geopolitical intrigue. The slimness of the novel belies its ambitious scope, taking readers from t...more
Write what you know. For most of us that means writing about life in suburbia; enduring the tedium of daily life: commuting, bitching, school or work, petty social dynamics, and household humdrum. For Nick McDonell, son of famous editor Terry McDonell and godson to the late Hunter Thompson, it means writing about life on the Gold Coast of Harvard interspersed with adventures in far-flung countries where tenuous relationships are forged in the spirit of 'keeping things interesting'.
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This was such a "boy" book, full of spy games and female characters that seemed to step right out of the fantasy of an 18-year-old boy with no actual experience with women. There were quite a few times when I rolled my eyes reading this, thinking, "Every man wants a woman to behave like this but they don't." I'm not sure how this book ended up on my "to-read" list in the first place. I think maybe I read a review somewhere and was intrigued by the idea of a Harvard ...more
McDonell, Nick. AN EXPENSIVE EDUCATION. (2009). **. This is the third book by this twenty-something author which has received generally good reviews. I didn’t like it all that much. The author was praised for his Hemingway-styled prose. I thought it resembled the constructions in the Dick and Jane books. His characters had no depth and seemed to be only driven by ambition, ambition fueled mostly by the desire to be better or more successful than their Harvard classmates or alumni. As I ...more
Critics praised McDonell's third foray into fiction as an engaging mixture of political thriller and campus novel. Even those who found minor faults with its lack of depth and lack of moral ambiguity commended McDonell's vibrant writing and feverish, page-turning pace. Though the plot isn't terribly innovative and the central mystery is quickly solved, Teak's disarming idealism and sulky soul searching -- "more Holden Caulfield than James Bond" (New York Times Book Review) -- propel th...more
Fast, dirty, and unmoving - which is not to say that An Expensive Education is bad. In fact, I rather liked it, despite it's flaws - in McDonnell's world, even the women are macho, and anyone who feels feelings is doomed - and the fact that a good 50% of it would be possibly unintelligible and definitely insufferable if you're unfamiliar with Cambridge (ah, the days of settling matters of geo-political import at Shay's and Daedalus!) But if you've spent any time in an ivy-festooned hall of hig...more
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This was a strange book for me. It seemed a little disjointed with the various characters and locales. On one hand it had the makings of a very good betrayed spy story, a-la LeCarre', with it's lead character Michael Teak and his connection with a rebel leader in the African Horn area around Somalia. But then it has a contrived and artificial feeling as it tries to tie-in connections with various characters at Harvard University (where Teak had gone to school), from an african student trying to...more
I have mixed feelings about this book.
First, I was impressed because it is the third book by someone who is only in his early-20's. In fact, he ws 17 when his first novel was published.
Secondly, I am a bit disappointed. The reviews were glowing but I found the plot to be somewhat disjointed and thought the author might be trying to cover too many themes and ideas in too short a novel. On one hand, the book is a politcal spy thriller. On the other it is a satire of Harva...more
First, I was impressed because it is the third book by someone who is only in his early-20's. In fact, he ws 17 when his first novel was published.
Secondly, I am a bit disappointed. The reviews were glowing but I found the plot to be somewhat disjointed and thought the author might be trying to cover too many themes and ideas in too short a novel. On one hand, the book is a politcal spy thriller. On the other it is a satire of Harva...more
I thought Twelve was interesting because the author and I are about the same age, I was 17 and a freshman at an elite university, and it gave me some kicks during my "free time." An Expensive Education did nothing for me at all, mostly because I did not believe a word of it. I know it is fiction, but as a fiction writer, I know that good craft exudes emotional truth, ringing true on an abstract level. Nothing doing here. The characters, especially his female characters, were completely...more
I wanted to know what it felt like to operate as a student on the Harvard campus and among the families of the elite, and the author's real-life experience in that environment comes through. I expected to contrast the indulgence of today's student with the public spirit shown by Theodore Roosevelt's family and their peers, but I saw those, even today, who look beyond themselves. Also gained some insight into the international student experience and how to pray for and connect with them om on t...more
I enjoyed the book but had to shift my expectations in order to do so. I'd thought the book was going to be smarter, deeper, and more involved. As it turned out, it was little better than Dan Brown. I still enjoyed it. And while it is a boy book as another reviewer has pointed out -- there's nothing wrong with that. Boys need books too, and especially these days when so many men are leaving fiction. That said, I give the book high marks for fun, incredibly high marks for being written by a guy i...more
Betty
added it
The New York Times had a favorable review and it held up to its promises. Very strong novel that alternates between war-ravaged Somalia and Harvard College. He delivers a thriller that avoids over-the-top characters and situations, which serves to increase the impact of the events that unfold. Perhaps it helped that I lived near Harvard for a summer and frequented its streets and cafes on the weekend. Recognizing his descriptions, it increased my trust of his tale. It wouldn't surprise me a...more
Going back and forth between sites at Harvard University/Cambridge and that of eastern Africa, this book explores a plot that pursues the modern adaptation of spy recruitment from amongst the elite of the ivy league. The main survellience officer (Teak) is an approachable and likable character, resembling "that guy" you wish you were friends with on campus. Other protagonists such as David are similarly multifaceted though the character of Jane is annoying and stereotypical. An intr...more
Only 4 stars for this as I wasn't really sure about it all after I finished it. I love the way he writes, it's remarkably laid back and I'd often surprise myself by how much I'd read at each sitting. Having said that this didn't have the impact that Twelve did but I still really enjoyed it and I would recommend it to anyone who has read any of his others.
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Eve Herzog
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I'm liking this (reading it in tiny 5 minute stretches at 3am), but not sure whether it only appeals to me because the undergraduate Harvard setting is so familiar that I can fill in the blanks that McDonell leaves. It's a bit like seeing a movie adaptation of a book you've already read--you can't always tell whether the adaptation fleshed out enough of the back story or whether you are helping it along.
The first hundred or so pages of this book are nothing but Ivy League name dropping. To be fair, though, I'm not sure that McDonell could've written a book largely set on Harvard's campus without it, though.
The characters were very cardboard (the WASP-y undergrad, the WASP-y CIA recent alumnus, the drunken Iranian journalist, the naif African college student, etc., etc.) but the author still manages to tell an entertaining spy story. It jumps very quickly between different characte...more
The characters were very cardboard (the WASP-y undergrad, the WASP-y CIA recent alumnus, the drunken Iranian journalist, the naif African college student, etc., etc.) but the author still manages to tell an entertaining spy story. It jumps very quickly between different characte...more
Although the plot does not feel entirely original, more like woven from good intrigue novels and thrillers you have seen, its fast, entertaining, and full of irony. If the primary purpose is to be entertained this book does deliver. However if you are reading to challenge your thoughts, gain material to be introspective, and otherwise enrich yourself you may want to pass on this one.
Well, I did it...It was not easy, but I finished it. I really think McDonell had a story to tell, but it never came across. It definately reminded me of someone who is tongue-tied, has so much to say/tell, but never quite gets it all out. The book was very cliche and seems to be written by someone who has never gotten their hands dirty....Good Luck if you pick this one up! Rating it 2 stars due to the plot.
I haven't read a novel I couldn't put down like this for quite some time. McDonell made me relate to all the characters even though my life is nothing like any of theirs. After finishing, I'm feeling a little freaked out, so it's to my benefit that I finished this at lunch time rather than tonight.
I read as much as I'm going to. I found myself weary with the shifting scenes and impending sense of disaster about the world today. Probably the main character, Mike Teak, is going to be the next George Smiley, but much as I was intrigued by him and what was going on in Kenya, I couldn't stick with it.
Very readable. But something about this book makes me uncomfortable... McDonnell can only write about the American elite because he is one of them... His perspective seems a bit skewed... Not hard enough on Jane, the smart but superficial college student. Hmm... anyone have any thoughts?
Expensive in the sense of Ivy League priviledge, and the cost of misjudging tribal machinations in the horn of Africa. The author is, I believe, a Harvard prodigy, which tells in his CIA operative hero--an altogether too smart,sexy, testoserone idol. A good story nonetheless.
I found this book by a young author hard to follow. I was well into it before I figured out how all the characters related to each other but maybe I'm just slow. Who was behind the the attack on a small African village? Why are they covering up the truth?
Kids and faculty at Harvard, in Cambridge and abroad, involved in under-the-radar intrigue, written by someone who seems to know. It's a good read, with some amusing observations and character sketches and a fast-moving story.
Tim
rated it
A spy novel that intertwines the lives of a Harvard professor, several young Harvard students, a warlord in Somalia, and a CIA agent. Really, quite good. Of particular interest is the author's portrayal of the lives of young elites.
also found this on some newspaper's best of 2009 list. political, espionage, harvard.... it was ok, but i did not feel much for any of the characters and knew what the ending had to be very early on.
I really liked the plot of this book, but found it hard to stay interested due to the short, choppy chapters. The author of Twelve found an interesting way of tying in the Ivy League experience with international relations and espionage.
Nice style. I hear he is going for non-fiction next.
He has a talent for the political spy novel...and hopefully he'll keep writing and mature into a really great writer. Quick read.
He has a talent for the political spy novel...and hopefully he'll keep writing and mature into a really great writer. Quick read.
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Robert Nicholas "Nick" McDonell is an American writer.
He attended the Buckley School (New York City), the Riverdale Country School, and was graduated from Harvard College in January 2007.
He wrote the novel Twelve in 2002, at age 17. The subject of the novel is disaffection, despair, drug use and violence among a group of wealthy Manhattan teenagers during Christma...more
More about Nick McDonell...
He attended the Buckley School (New York City), the Riverdale Country School, and was graduated from Harvard College in January 2007.
He wrote the novel Twelve in 2002, at age 17. The subject of the novel is disaffection, despair, drug use and violence among a group of wealthy Manhattan teenagers during Christma...more
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