Up the Down Staircase

Up the Down Staircase by Bel Kaufman

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This is one of those books I've read quite a few times and discover something new each time I read it. (I guess in that way I'm like Beetlejuice and "The Exorcist.")

I think what I appreciated the most this time around is how Kaufman uses "found" writing to put this novel together. It's cleverly done, with the student essays, school circulars, memos, letters and other stuff never getting in the way of the plot, and with Kaufman using each different type of writing to move the plot along in a different way. She uses it to great effect to keep you reading, and to keep you guessing as to what's going to happen next. It's probably about the best I've read in the "found novel" genre, if that's such a thing. it's the kind of novel a writer gets to write once, and Kaufman does it well.



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