Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher

Jason Fitger is a beleaguered professor of creative writing and literature at Payne University, a small and not very distinguished liberal arts college in the midwest. His department is facing draconian cuts and squalid quarters, while one floor above them the Economics Department is getting lavishly remodeled offices. His once-promising writing career is in the doldrums, as is his romantic life, in part as the result of his unwise use of his private affairs for his novels. His star (he thinks) student can't catch a break with his brilliant (he thinks) work Accountant in a Bordello, based on Melville's Bartleby. In short, his life is a tale of woe, and the vehicle this droll and inventive novel uses to tell that tale is a series of hilarious letters of recommendation that Fitger is endlessly called upon by his students and colleagues to produce, each one of which is a small masterpiece of high dudgeon, low spirits, and passive-aggressive strategies.


REVIEW: 
If you've ever worked in an academic setting, been responsible for vetting and hiring employees, or EVER asked someone to write you a letter of recommendation, I feel confident this book will resonate with you. Told in a series of letters, primarily letters of recommendation for an English professor's students, colleagues, and friends, this novel made me laugh out loud on multiple occasions. As a former graduate student in a non-flashy academic department, I thought Schumacher's depiction of university politics and student machinations was entertaining and true enough to life to be simultaneously hilarious and depressing. Fitger's character may be a bit of a cliché (an author-turned-creative writing professor whose only successful novel was largely drawn from his own life experience), but his attempts to champion the interests of his department and his students while reconnecting with colleagues and loves from his past felt authentic, uplifting and sad at the same time. I highly recommend this book -- it's a short, fun read.