This novel is a satire of wokesterism at Yale, my alma mater. The author is an alumnus, so he knows the campus, the architecture, the weather, the traditions, everything. Anybody who’s been to Yale will chuckle nostalgically when they read this description of the Art & Architecture building, for example: "The building’s Stalinist slabs of rectilinear concrete, set here among Gothic and Georgian masterpieces, assaulted the eye. Naturally, that was the point… The concrete was cold and would sweat in the warmer months, giving off a dank, musty smell no countermeasures could ever fix. It was an angry, perspiring fortress."
I lived right across the road from the perspiring fortress the whole time I was at Yale, and the description is spot on.
The depictions of the crazy wokesterism that is convulsing academia are really great, too. That’s not surprising, though, because the material is so rich that the novel practically writes itself. The Mattress Girl, the Halloween protests, the “Dear Colleague” letter – you don’t need to invent anything.
What’s interesting, though, is that this accidental novelist managed something that tends to elude male writers in late middle age. He actually created a believable teenage female protagonist. Few things are more awkward and unconvincing than portrayals of teenage girls by older male writers. Tom Wolfe’s I am Charlotte Simmons, one of the worst books I have ever read, is a great example. The reason why older men are so bad at depicting teenage girls is that for these authors the #1 quality of such a character is her extreme vulnerability. Teenagers, though, are physiologically incapable of seeing themselves as vulnerable even when they actually are. They think they are invincible and exercise notoriously poor judgement as a result. We all know this but male writers seem to enter into “protective Grandpa” mode once they hit 50 and start describing teenage girls as scared little flowers cowering with terror in their bedrooms.
Johnston is not a professional writer, so he somehow avoided this curse. His 19-year-old female protagonist is actually believable. And it’s very refreshing finally to read something so realistic.
It’s a very enjoyable novel. Not high art, obviously, but definitely fun, extremely funny, very easy to read, the ridiculing of the rich, spoiled “victims of systemic oppression” is deeply enjoyable.
Highly recommended to people with a sense of humor.
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GoodReads Review
'Campusland'My choice for best summer read is 'Campusland', by Scott Johnston. I was fortunate enough to receive an advanced copy and I enjoyed it immensely. And I hate to say it, but I learned some things, too. Johnston has walked down some of the same streets that I have – New York, the University system – but he sees everything, and adds his own wonderful sense of humor and intelligence.At a time when few people are addressing any serious issue head-on, Johnston has addressed what I consider to be a very serious issue in 'Campusland' – the current college culture.The college landscape is changing. And I do not think for the better. When I went to American University in the 1980’s I knew they were liberal and would write most of my papers accordingly. Only one teacher went so far that I felt compelled to do a side-by-side comparison of the assigned reading material to the ‘Communist Manifesto’. I got the only ‘C’ of my college career in that class, and I am proud of that ‘C’. I have no idea how reasonable people justify paying to attend, attend, and ultimately graduate any institution of higher learning today.Where I am severe, Johnston has the unique ability to wade through the same mine field but make it funny – very funny. He allows the reader to see with clarity the direction education is heading…. (…or trailing….)But, Johnston is a good writer, not a pushy writer. Each reader will have to determine for himself where he wants to be on the teaching/learning scale.
