Book Review - Cruel September
Posted by Steve Emecz on
Cruel September is set in the scholastic world of Los Angeles at the time of the Vietnamese War and the teachers’ strike of 1970. It concerns the experience of Mandy Sayer, a newly qualified teacher, her relationship with Art Malamud, the union rep at the school in which she takes her first job – and the destructive power of Vivian Laws, the school’s principal.
As the academic year progresses and the internal politics of the school emerge, we meet other members of the staff whose stories embellish the situation in which Mandy and Art find themselves. As Laws’ damage increases it emerges that not only is he using his position to satisfy a long-standing vendetta against Art, but that his malignant power is virtually unassailable.
The history of the struggle of Mandy and Art with the convoluted educational processes existing at that time, and which probably continue to exist to this day, is brilliantly explored in this fascinating novel. The uneasy meetings, subtle and harsh revelations, repressed confrontations and shocking exposures are introduced, explored and slotted with consummate ease, into a complex plot.
Daniel D. Victor deserves his fine reputation. His writing here is as fluent as it is compelling. He makes it look easy to master language as elegantly and as unpretentiously as he does. It looked likely to be a dull read. A bunch of squabbling teachers. No murders. No love scenes – although there is love in this story – and no astonishing resolution, and yet, from page one, the hook is in and the rest irresistibly follows. A real “must read”.
Cruel September is available from this site and also: