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Minor Dramas & Other Catastrophes
Minor Dramas & Other Catastrophes | Kathleen West
"Class Mom meets Small Admissions in this wryly observed debut about the privileged bubble that is Liston Heights High--the micro-managing parents, the overworked teachers, and the students caught in the middle--and the fallout for each of them when that bubble finally bursts. Isobel Johnson can't stand helicopter parents like Julia Abbott, a stage mom whose world revolves around interfering in her children's lives. Julia resents teachers like Isobel, who effortlessly bond with students, including Julia's own teenagers, who've been pulling away from her more each year. Isobel has spent her career in Liston Heights side-stepping the community's high-powered families. But when she receives a threatening voicemail accusing her of Anti-Americanism and a "blatant liberal agenda," she realizes she's squarely in the fray. Rather than cowering, Isobel doubles down on her social-justice ideals, teaching queer theory in AP American Lit. Meanwhile, Julia, obsessed with the casting of the winter musical, inadvertently shoves the female lead after sneaking onto the school campus. The damning video goes viral and has far-reaching consequences for Julia and her entire family. With nothing to unite them beyond the sting of humiliation from public meltdowns, Isobel and Julia will find common ground where they least expect it, confronting a secret Facebook gossip site and a pack of rabid parents in a suburb where appearance is everything"--
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review
dom._.inic
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Mehso-so

It was okay. I think the character actions could have been stronger. Once Juila and Isobel exhausted their list of potential solutions to their problems, the next thing they do is... shopping and yoga therapy?

But I do like how their characters changed towards the end, particularly Julia caring for her kids. As a young adult I probably feel sadder for Jamie than Kathleen West intended 😂

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Well_Read_Redhead
Pickpick

Once again, Julia Whelan is the reason I gave this 4 stars. I'm not sure I would have liked it as much if I had read the physical book. Not that it was bad, it just wasn't exactly my type of book.

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ShelleyBooksie
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Pickpick

What an interesting book. "Rumours and power plays rule this school and that's just the parents." This novel focuses over involved parents, the pushback from their children and the impact it has on teaching. This one kept me turning pages.

36 likes2 stack adds
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a.bookish.byrd
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Pickpick

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

31 likes1 stack add
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Sharpeipup
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In my opinion, it‘s more like drama with a capital D.

BiblioLitten 😄 4y
Megabooks I loved this book! 4y
Sharpeipup @Megabooks It was REALLY GOOD! 4y
27 likes1 stack add3 comments
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LiteraryinPA
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Bailedbailed

After eagerly anticipating this book for a while and finding it at my library, I‘m bailing after 20 pages. I work at a school and am SO stressed for the start of this school year with the pandemic that I just can‘t read anything in a school setting right now. I didn‘t realize I would feel that way, but maybe I can borrow the book again some time when it doesn‘t trigger anxiety for me. I bet it‘s really good!

MegaWhoppingCosmicBookwyrm This photo made me think of how appropriate it would be to have two cats, one named Minor Dramas and the other named Other Catastrophes. 😂🤣😂🤣 I think I‘m very sleep-deprived... 4y
rubyslippersreads 😻😻😻 4y
84 likes2 comments
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jesseastin
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Pickpick

The drama! The bullying! This book centers on two women, one an excellent teacher, trying to make her very entitled students become socially aware, and a snowplow mother at the same school, who becomes publicly humiliated by a viral video. The book is told from multiple points of view, which can be hard to keep straight because of all the “white bread” names. (Probably intentional.) I often found myself thinking, “what is wrong with these people?”

Megabooks This is such a fun book! 4y
jesseastin @Megabooks it was! I enjoyed it. One of my sisters is an educator at a private school, with “very involved” parents. I‘d be curious to know if there was any validity to the parental bullying and lack of administrator support that there was in that book. 4y
13 likes2 comments
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Airykah13
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Pickpick

This one was pretty good, although one of the main characters was pretty unlikeable. I did 95% of this on audio and the narrator was pretty good. Told from multiple perspectives, it‘s a story about what happens when a helicopter mom takes things too far and a teacher thinks too far outside the box.

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JennyM
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Cheers to litten recommendations and challenges. These I *think are courtesy of reviews by the fabulous @Cinfhen @MicheleinPhilly and #Booked2020. Happy Friday guys 😘

erzascarletbookgasm 👍Have a good weekend! 💕 4y
JennyM @erzascarletbookgasm you too, Jessie. Hope it brings lots of reading time for you 😘 4y
Megabooks Minor Dramas is fantastic! 4y
Cinfhen Hiiiiiiiii!!!!! So happy to see a post from you!!! I did recently review tagged book/ I thought it was great on audio 🎧much deeper than I initially expected 4y
Cinfhen Hope all is well xxx 4y
54 likes5 comments
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Cinfhen
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Pickpick

With multi layers, entertaining characters, insightful social commentary and sharp-witted dialogue this was a really SOLID satisfying read. The narration was perfect, Julia Whelan is always on point!! If you‘re looking for a “smart”ish escape, this one is such FUN!!!!

TrishB Expensive here- will keep an eye out for a bargain! 5y
Cinfhen It‘s good but not worth big $$ / hopefully it‘ll be a kindle deal soon @TrishB 🤞🏽🤞🏽 5y
Megabooks Glad you enjoyed it!! 5y
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CarolynM You've convinced me. Stacked 🙂 5y
Cinfhen It‘s on the lighter side @CarolynM and it‘s definitely rich people behaving badly but something about this one felt a notch better 🤷🏼‍♀️hope u like it 🤞🏽 5y
CarolynM Light is good right now🙂 I think I'd describe the one I'm reading now similarly - it's light, but it has more substance than you might expect 5y
Cinfhen @CarolynM looks good ....#stacked thanks 😊 How are you‘re parents?? 5y
CarolynM @Cinfhen It's gone a bit too formula romance at the 3/4 mark 🙄 I'm hoping it will recover its stride before the end. My parents are ok - they seem to be coping at the moment. We were supposed to be there this weekend for my father's 80th birthday 😢 but well... And it looks like we won't be seeing them for some time which makes me a bit anxious. Thanks for asking. Hope your parents are ok too.😘 5y
minkyb Sounds perfect right about now! 🤗 5y
Cinfhen Hi !!!!!!!!!!! @minkyb 💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗so happy to “see” you!!!!!! I missed you!!!!!! 5y
Cinfhen That‘s annoying ( regarding book) @CarolynM and really sad that you can‘t celebrate dad‘s big birthday with him. Thank God your parents are well, hopefully you‘ll celebrate in a few weeks from now. These are strange and difficult times. Thinking of you xxx 5y
90 likes3 stack adds11 comments
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Cinfhen
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This book is much deeper than the blurb would suggest. I‘ve been listening all day! If you liked Big Little Lies I think you‘d really enjoy this book. Plus all #TeachersOfLitsy would probably relate to the inaneness of snowplow parents!!!!

Megabooks Yes, such an underrated book!! 5y
TrishB Had to look up snowplow parents!! 5y
Cinfhen Snowplow parents are worse than helicopter parents/ helicopter parents only hover but snowplow parents just come right at you full force 😉I‘m sure you deal with those at your job @TrishB I‘m loving this book @Megabooks I agree, it‘s really underrated 5y
britt_brooke I placed a hold for this! 5y
Cinfhen I really liked it @britt_brooke it started to drag a tiny bit but still a TOTAL PICK💚 5y
83 likes3 stack adds5 comments
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Cinfhen
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Just swapped out Theft By Finding for this audiobook🎧🤓David Sedaris was wayyyy too dark ( I don‘t mind the words P*ssy, ejaculation, bosoms or crotch but it honestly became too much. Not to mention all of his inappropriate comments/jokes. I was only an hour in and it was 1983) Sorry, David #ItsNotYouItsMe

Megabooks Theft by Finding is near the bottom of my choices from him. I‘ve only read it twice, which is low for a Sedaris. This book, Minor Dramas, however is great! I read the print, so I hope you like the audiobook 💖💖 5y
Cinfhen The audio is great @Megabooks It‘s Julia Whelan 🙌🏻This is another book I think Steph& Brooke would love! don‘t you think ??? @Reviewsbylola @britt_brooke 💚💚 5y
Cinfhen And I think @JennyM and @KarenUK would like this book too!!! 5y
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KarenUK Oooh thanks for the heads up! Just put it on hold at the library.... Sounds like just my cup of tea! ☕️💕😘 5y
britt_brooke @Cinfhen Stacking - thanks! And I warned you about the Sedaris. 😜 I liked it but definitely prefer his essays. 5y
Cinfhen I‘ve been listening all day to the audio / it‘s great @britt_brooke @KarenUK and the Sedaris was just not working for me!!! I also prefer his essays, these snippets he shares are really twisted ( yeah, I get it‘s Sedaris!!!) 5y
britt_brooke @Cinfhen 😙😙 I‘m happy you switched off and found a book that works better for you! 5y
Cinfhen Thanks @britt_brooke Hope you‘re all doing ok!!! 5y
britt_brooke @Cinfhen Hanging in there! Hope y‘all are, too. 💚 Extra thankful for books right now! 5y
JennyM Thanks lovely. I shall be looking this up and #stacking 😘 5y
Cinfhen I think you‘re really gonna like it @JennyM 🤞🏽🤞🏽 5y
86 likes1 stack add11 comments
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JoyBlue
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Pickpick

Wow! That was funny and stressful . . . because it rings true! We've probably all encountered some horrible, entitled, helicopter parents (and other adults behaving badly).

Megabooks I enjoyed it too!! 5y
JoyBlue @Megabooks 👍 😎 5y
63 likes1 stack add2 comments
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Purrfectpages
Pickpick

I feel there is not enough fiction written with a backdrop in education. I say this as an educator. There are many issues to explore beneath the surface. This book addresses overzealous parents, idealistic teachers, and teacher burnout- and that‘s just in the first few chapters. Casting a wider net, it tackles how powerful social media can be, especially in educational trends. It‘s food for thought, but still a light enough meal to easily digest.

34 likes1 stack add
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Megabooks
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Pickpick

Juicy as the apple on the cover, this adult book set at an upper middle class MN high school definitely has a lot of drama!

It starts with a mother in a viral video, which ends up infecting both the English and Drama departments and exposing a secret websites where parents gossip and defame the school faculty.

A well-paced novel full of interesting characters, I really enjoyed this one!

Cupcake12 This sounds like a good read..your review left me no choice...another one added to my TBR 📚 5y
Megabooks @Cupcake12 I hope you enjoy it!! 5y
110 likes6 stack adds2 comments
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Megabooks
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I remember @LeahBergen ‘s exquisitely specific likes about book genres. Well, here‘s mine: I like adult books set on high school and college campuses. Multiple perspectives are a plus!

This book hits on it all! 20% in and loving the drama. Squee! 😁🤩💖😍

ChasingOm Me too! So, #stacked. 5y
Megabooks @ChasingOm awesome! Enjoy! 5y
LeahBergen Oooohhh! I like this genre, too! 👏🏻👏🏻 Stacked! 5y
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Cupcake12 I like this genre too...possibly I‘m a big kid who ever never wanted to grow up 😂 5y
Megabooks @LeahBergen woo hoo! Enjoy! 🥳 5y
Megabooks @Cupcake12 there‘s just something fun about the drama among parents, teachers/professors, and students. Maybe I enjoyed those times a little much too!! 😁😂 5y
erzascarletbookgasm I like too! Look forward to your review but stacking first! 5y
Megabooks @erzascarletbookgasm fantastic!! Will probably be reviewing Tuesday. I have to go out of town tomorrow and will probably just take my kindle 👍🏻 5y
youneverarrived I love these types of books too! 5y
Megabooks @youneverarrived 😊😊😊 5y
99 likes3 stack adds10 comments
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Purrfectpages
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A friend through my book club knows the author of this book and wanted it to be our next month‘s read. To show my support, this is the first physical book I‘ve gotten out of the library in awhile. Hope it‘s a good one!

47 likes2 stack adds
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abookishbutterfly
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Happy Pub Day to Alone in the Wild by Kelley Armstrong, #5 in the Rockton series, and Kathleen West‘s debut contemporary fiction novel Minor Dramas And Other Catastrophes. Are either of these on your TBR? What other new releases are you celebrating today?

Thank you Berkley Publishing Group and Minotaur Books for my copies.

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abookishbutterfly
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First of all, I have to say that I find the color contrast on this cover to be quite visually appealing. Secondly, I‘m excited to read Minor Dramas and Other Catastrophes by Kathleen West!

Do you have this one on your TBR? Minor Dramas and Other Catastrophes is due out in 2/4/20 but you can preorder now!

62 likes1 stack add