Gwyeth Smith, known as Smitty, has made a national reputation by flouting the conventions of the college application ritual. He often steers kids from the SAT to the ACT, which he considers a more straightforward test that produces higher scores. He urges parents to home in on hidden bargains, scour the country for scholarships, and challenge financial aid offices rather than take out large loans. He will sometimes talk a seeming shoo-in candidate out of setting her sights on the prestigious Ivy League while goading another long-shot student into aiming for that same Ivy League school. His unorthodox approach is grounded on the principle that getting into college shouldn't just be about getting in; it should be a kid's first great moment of self-discovery.
David L. Marcus, a Pulitzer Prize-winning former education writer for U.S. News & World Report, follows Smitty and "his" kids around Oyster Bay High, a diverse public school in Long Island, New York, as he works his unique magic on their applications and their lives. Smitty's kids run the gamut from the sweet but pathologically disorganized boy next door to the valedictorian who applies to twenty-eight schools. As the year unfolds, Smitty deals in his own ingenious way with almost every complication that can bedevil the applications process. What about the kid who doesn't test well? The kid who plunges into depression after being rejected by Columbia? Theoverachieving Korean American boy worried about reverse discrimination? Smitty has answers for all of them.
While Smitty excels at easing the pressure of the college hunt, his success comes from imposing a different—and deeper—challenge. He makes kids articulate (orally and in writing) their profoundest fears, their drawbacks, their secret hopes. In short, he makes them figure out who they are. Along the way, he uses his savant's knowledge of America's thirty-six hundred colleges and universities to pair each student with the right one. He sidesteps the applications industrial complex, with its slick Web sites, private essay coaches, and obsessive focus on metrics. He brings to the college search counterintuitive insight and even wisdom—attributes that thousands of students and their parents, frustrated with the excesses of the process, will find useful and inspiring.
David L. Marcus is the author of What It Takes to Pull Me Through, a look at the secret lives of teenagers. He has been an education writer and foreign correspondent at U.S. News & World Report, The Boston Globe , the Miami Herald, and The Dallas Morning News, where he was the cowinner of a Pulitzer Prize. After a stint as a high school teacher, he returned to journalism as a writer for Newsday.
我得说,这本书的叙事结构非常大胆且富有实验性,初读时可能会略感挑战,但一旦适应了它的节奏,那种独特的魅力便会彻底俘获你。它没有采取传统的线性叙事,而是像多棱镜一样,从不同的时间点和人物的视角碎片化地呈现故事的全貌。这种处理方式极大地增强了悬疑感和解谜的乐趣,读者需要主动地将这些散落的线索拼凑起来,才能构建出完整的图景。这种参与感是很多平铺直叙的小说无法比拟的。更令人称道的是,即便结构复杂,作者依然保持了极高的可读性,那些充满哲思的对白和环境描写,如同精美的工艺品一般,散落在文本的各个角落。对我来说,阅读过程更像是一场智力上的探险,每一次成功连接一个情节的节点,都会带来巨大的满足感。它不是那种读完就扔的书,我甚至想回去重读几次,看看自己是否遗漏了哪些巧妙的伏笔,这本书的耐读性实在太高了。
评分这本书带给我的震撼是形而上的。它触及了一些我们日常生活中刻意回避的、关于存在的根本性问题。作者的文字冷静克制,却蕴含着足以穿透人心的力量。没有宏大的场面调度,没有夸张的情感爆发,一切都处理得如同冰面下的暗流,不动声色却暗藏汹涌。我尤其欣赏它对“边界”和“界限”的探讨——物理上的、心理上的,乃至于伦理上的。书中的角色似乎都在不断试探这些界限的意义,最终发现所谓的“界限”可能只是自己给自己设下的牢笼。当我合上书本时,感觉整个世界的颜色都变得更加饱和和深刻了。这不是一本能让你轻松度过下午的书,它要求你全身心地投入,去感受那种被剥开伪装后的真实。它更像是一面镜子,映照出我们自身在面对困境时,最原始和最真实的反应。如果说文学的最高境界是让人反思生命本身,那么《Acceptance》无疑达到了那个高度。
评分从文学技法的角度来看,这本书的对话设计堪称一绝。它摒弃了那种为了交代剧情而生硬的台词,取而代之的是充满了潜台词和暗示的交流。你常常需要去解读角色“没有说出口的话”,去体会他们眼神中的闪烁和停顿背后的巨大信息量。这种高密度的信息交流,使得每一次人物的互动都充满了张力,让人屏息凝神,生怕错过任何一个微妙的暗示。不同角色的语速、用词习惯乃至口音的微妙差异,都被作者巧妙地运用,构建出一个个鲜活的个体,而不是符号化的工具人。这种对语言艺术的精妙运用,使得即便是看似平淡的日常对话,也拥有了史诗般的重量感。它强迫读者从被动接收信息,转变为主动解码,极大地提升了阅读的参与度和智力上的回报。这是一部需要用耳朵去“听”文字,用眼睛去“品”节奏的优秀作品。
评分我最近读过很多关于成长和自我发现的主题作品,但《Acceptance》的处理方式绝对是独树一帜的清新之流。它没有落入那种老生常谈的“战胜一切困难”的励志俗套,反而极其坦诚地展示了“不完美”的必要性和美丽。主角的旅程充满了挫折和反复,每一次看似退步的经历,最终都被证明是迈向真正理解自身不可或缺的一步。这种对“过程”的尊重,而不是只关注“结果”的写作态度,让整个故事充满了人情味和真实感。而且,这本书在细节的铺陈上极其考究,比如某个角色的习惯性小动作,某个场景中光线的变化,都精准地烘托了当时人物的内心状态,显示出作者扎实的观察功底。读完之后,我感到一种释然,仿佛被允许可以不必完美,不必总是追求胜利,接受生活中的“灰度”也是一种强大的力量。
评分这本《Acceptance》简直是本让人欲罢不能的佳作!作者的笔触细腻入微,每一个场景的描绘都仿佛能把我拉进那个真实的世界里。我尤其欣赏它在人物刻画上的功力,那些复杂多面的人物,他们的挣扎、他们的选择,都让人感同身受。读到后面,我甚至会忍不住思考,如果是我处在那个境地,我会作何打算。书中的情节跌宕起伏,但绝不是为了制造而制造的狗血,而是紧密围绕着核心主题层层推进,每一次转折都带着强烈的宿命感和必然性。那种被命运推着走的无力感,以及在绝境中迸发出的微弱火花,都被作者拿捏得恰到好处。看完之后,心里久久不能平静,它让我重新审视了自己对“接纳”这个概念的理解,不仅仅是接受既定的事实,更是一种向内和解的勇气。这本书的文字本身就具有一种韵律美,读起来非常享受,是一次纯粹的文学体验。我强烈推荐给所有喜欢深度探讨人性与选择的读者,它绝对值得你投入时间细细品味。
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