'Dear Committee Members' is called one of the best and funniest novels of the year
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Looking for a biting satire for the end of the year? Look no further than Julie Schumacher鈥檚 novel 鈥淒ear Committee Members.鈥
鈥淐ommittee,鈥 which was first released this past August, consists of recommendation letters written by writing professor Jason Fitger for various students, co-workers, and others. Through the letters, the reader learns about his attitude towards the administration at his college as well as his personal problems involving his wife and disappointment with himself.
The book received many good reviews upon release and is now being named to some best-of-the-year lists. critic Maureen Corrigan called 鈥淐ommittee鈥 one of the best books of 2014 and wrote of it, 鈥淎 mordant minor masterpiece鈥. The gem of a law school recommendation letter professor Jason Fitger writes for a cutthroat undergrad whom he's known for all of 鈥榚leven minutes鈥 is alone worth the price of Schumacher's book鈥. 鈥楧ear Committee Members鈥櫬爏erves up the traditional satisfactions of classic academic farces like David Lodge's聽鈥楽mall World鈥櫬燼nd Kingsley Amis' immortal聽鈥楲ucky Jim,鈥櫬燽ut it also updates the genre to include newer forms of indignity within the halls of academe.鈥澛
The industry newsletter also named 鈥淐ommittee鈥 as one of its picks for the best of the year, with Bruce Jacobs, founding partner of Wichita鈥檚 Watermark Books & Caf茅, contributing a review.聽
鈥淚n this clever send-up of academic logrolling, Julie Schumacher has written one of the funniest (and most poignant) books of the year,鈥 Jacobs wrote.