American author Nick McDonell, who published his first novel, Twelve, in 2002 at the age of 17, hails from a world of privilege, attending an exclusive New York prep school (yes, of the variety featured in Gossip Girl) before going to Harvard, from which he graduated in 2007.Like his two previous novel, this third one also involves the American aristocracy, while throwing in a splash of geopolitical intrigue. The slimness of the novel belies its ambitious scope, taking readers from the East African desert to the hallowed halls of Harvard. Paced like a thriller and bearing Tom Wolfe-esque observations on the clash in American society between the have-nots, the haves and the have-mores, it exposes the crassness of that rarefied world even as it, perversely, glamorises it. Ensconced within the university’s ivy-clad towers is Professor Susan Lowell, a Pulitzer-winner for her book on Hatashil, an East African freedom fighter lauded by journalists and NGOs. But even before her victory party is in full swing, her glory and tenure are threatened by shocking news that Hatashil has apparently staged a massacre in a Somali village.On the ground at that time is another Harvard man, Michael Teak, a product of New York prep schools who is now working as an American intelligence operative in Somalia. He is sent by his bosses to visit Hatashil in his camp and pass him $25,000 -- just before the camp is destroyed and 30 people killed by apparently American-led military forces, an inexplicable move that makes Teak realise how he is just a pawn in the weird machinations of his superiors.Then there is Lowell’s undergraduate student David Ayan, a Somali student whose relatives have ties to Hatashil. He must cope with the devastating news of the massacre even as he tries to get elected into Porcellian, an exclusive final club that could be his ticket out of the Third World and into a new life in America. At one point his girlfriend, a reporter for the Harvard Crimson, asks him to comment on Lowell. For the ambitious student reporter, it would be a scoop. For David, he remembers a neighbour whose ear was sliced off by government thugs after getting onto their bad side. He stays silent.The author has a knack for bringing up the stark and ridiculous contrast between worlds, such as why Teak, as a student, was put off from exercising in the gym: “Teak… watched his fellow students run in place as they watched stock footage of IEDs exploding, and then a reporter in flak jackets over button down shirt… what he could not get out of his head were the parallel tracks of hapless war and running in place.”There is also an amusing, not-so-disguised portrait of actress Gwyneth Paltrow and musician Chris Martin as a celebrity couple at a top-secret African resort, an oasis of luxury for rich white people on a blood-soaked continent.That said, one fears that this novel will date badly, given the author’s fondness for using brand names as descriptions -- Aeron chair, Jean Louis Scherrer perfume, Chanel sunglasses – descriptive shorthand that would usually get female authors dismissed as chick lit writers.And while the plot moves along at a fast trot, the cliffhanger ending feels more lazy than titillating, freeing the author from having to tie up the tangled web he has woven. Fast, dirty, and unmoving - which is not to say that An Expensive Education is bad. In fact, I rather liked it, despite it's flaws - in McDonnell's world, even the women are macho, and anyone who feels feelings is doomed - and the fact that a good 50% of it would be possibly unintelligible and definitely insufferable if you're unfamiliar with Cambridge (ah, the days of settling matters of geo-political import at Shay's and Daedalus!) But if you've spent any time in an ivy-festooned hall of higher education, you'll be on familiar enough ground here: An Expensive Education is just OK as a prodigal son of le Carre but great as a Very Special Episode of Gossip Girl, supremely in-the-know about special pathology of the socio-economic class precocious in matters of money, vice, and criticism but very much in need of some Remedial Conscience 101.
What do You think about O Educatie Costisitoare (2009)?
pretty one-dimensional intrigue about ivy league universities, foreign policy, and africal. blah.
—mkho
Very fun read ... and easy one ... and a great story btw Harvard and Africa ... worth the time
—Alexis3
College novel and spy thriller. Hard to put down.
—petrockjr
What kind of ending is that? How frustrating.
—groovitudelite
Didn't finish this one...not worth the time.
—LubiLittle
