Nelson, R. A. (2005). Teach Me. NY: Razorbill (Penguin). ISBN: 1595140840. 272 pages.
High school senior Carolina is an admitted science freak who neither fits in at school nor really wants to. She and her best friend, Schuyler, both revel in their status as intellectuals and share a world and discourse of academic trivia and vocabul. When, in an effort to broaden her school portfolio, Carolina signs up for a poetry seminar held at school and meets Mr. Mann, the younger new teacher who leads the class, everything changes. Mr. Mann is a masterful teacher who seems to hold every student in his thrall; the fact that he is good looking, regionally foreign (he's from Boston, Carolina lives in Alabama), and chooses Carolina as a special favorite helps, too. Soon, Mr. Mann and Carolina are involved in a romantic and--later, when Carolina turns 18--a sexual relationship. Mr. Mann is not the hero Carolina has led herself to believe, however; when he suddenly marries a woman with whom he had an earlier relationship, Carolina tries to make sense of the affair. Though admittedly a book about a hot topic and a touchy subject, Teach Me has more than just sensational sex appeal. The first person narrative is introspective and sophisticated and told in a partial flashback; all of these devices raise the novel from what could be a shallow "issue" book to a real piece of literature. Carolina's first "adult" relationship has the hallmarks of any high school partnering--the constant making out, the obsession--it is the depth of her feeling as she confronts the loss of Mr. Mann that rings so true. As adult readers, we might want to believe that we outgrow our obsessions about our exes as we age; however, Carolina's experience--her rage, her sorrow, her lingering love--is almost painfully familiar. |
|
