Don't Stand So Close To Me: A Professional's Struggle between Romance and Duty

by A.C. Bentley

After a happy childhood, high academic achievement and national sporting success, the only missing part of Al Bentley’s life is love, which despite his best efforts always seems to elude him. But now Al has secured a coveted teaching post at an acclaimed Sixth Form College. Could romantic interest unexpectedly emerge from such a position to the point where it plays havoc with his moral conscience and professional integrity?

398 pages, Paperback

First published December 31, 2008

Reviews

[Andrew Neill · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating, true-life depiction of contemporary behaviour, this book takes you on a multi-dimensional roller-coaster ride, with twists and turns and emotional ups and downs at every corner. It entertainingly documents modern attitudes to work, dating, sex and friendship. More insightful than any fiction.

[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing. Couldnt put it down.... Well worth reading.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’ve found this incredibly difficult to read, waiting to see if Alan would keep digging a larger hole for himself. The utter lack of professionalism he showed around young impressionable students was repeated over and over, and documented for good measure.

I can’t comprehend how he would be allowed to flirt with current students, or to have an actual relationship, however short-lived, with a very recent student. In Australia, we have extremely clear guidelines that warn us against any kind of fraternising with students while they are students, or for a few years afterwards. There are clear descriptions that almost amount to a grooming charge.

He doesn’t really discuss the actual concept of teaching that much, coming across as someone who is luckily easy to settle in and teach at a school. I know there is a review from someone who says they are one of his friends, and reviews are largely sympathetic to him and his search for romance, but it came across as quite a sick obsession with young women from a man in authority.

If this was fiction, it would be semi-enjoyable, although it drags on for a very long read. Because it states it is truth, I am embarrassed for Alan and all he exposes about himself, and for those who find themselves written about. I really hope that all the names are pseudonyms, as I would hate to be included in this. Few people came off entirely favourably. As I mentioned when I was reading it initially, it just seems like Adrian Mole grew up to be a teacher and had his tongue hanging out at all the young girls in his classes. I note that a different name is listed as the author of the work, so I am hopeful that people have not actually been named.

[Jodi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to first reads for sending this book to me! It is always so nice to receive a free book from an author! First let me say that this is a book that "grew" on me. As I first began to read it, I was not completely into it, found there to be a little too much detail about the author's daily life and I was really scared about what was going to happen in the book(it states on the blurb on the back of the book, "There is, however, a high price to pay for any teacher guilty of human fallibility...."). Also,on the cover, it says,"An autobiographica tale of forbidden fruit". As a professional teacher those two statements on the book jacket made me really nervous that this was going to be a book about a teacher who gets into a romantic relationship with a student. Yikes! I was relieved to find that this was not quite the case in the book - he did date a student AFTER she graduated, and he did send a questionable note to another student (which although I do not condone, I do feel from reading the author's account that he did not do anything drastically wrong).

Overall, the author seems to have been a good teacher and it is sad to think that students missed out on being able to continue to learn from him because of an administrator who disliked him and treated him unfairly (even unlawfully).

[Remo Ranken]

A compelling book full of wit and charm, touching on a subject most would shy away from. On first impressions it would be easy to condemn Bentley as a hopeless romantic searching for the impossible, and hovering over the self destruct button.However the reader is slowly and surely drawn into his roller coaster life to the point where it is impossible not to sympathise. Bentley is remarkable in his honesty and attacks a controversial subject head on teaching us all the value of not judging too hastily.

[Lucy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant book!Couldn't put it down!!

[Chessa678 · Rating 5 out of 5]

highly recommended