This book was a goddamn fucking exasperation. It becomes, was only ever, goddamn fucking exasperation. Good and bad things that happen to us are not always a matter of deserving or having earned them.more The good things we do today do not ensure that we will have good experiences in the future. It alludes to the argument that what you get in life is not necessarily based on merit.
The title, You Deserve Nothing, sounds bleak, and it is. Reading an all-too-believable story like this one just makes me more appreciative of those instructors I had who knew where to draw the line between themselves and their students, and were perhaps less popular for doing so. A beloved, unconventional teacher gets too chummy with the students and is eventually betrayed by one of them, leaving the rest of the students feeling betrayed by the teacher.Īdoration from young people is intoxicating and hard to resist, as is the possibility of shaping young minds and lives. There are echoes here of Dead Poets Society and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.
That's never happened before, right? Somehow it's more disappointing when Silver falls from grace, because he's not the initiator and he just lets it all happen without so much as a whimper.Īnd after ten years of teaching, is he really naive enough to think that high school students don't spill all to their friends? Which leaves you wondering-does he really care if it all goes down the drain? Is he deliberately self-destructing? Silver is also very much in need of sexual release, which turns out to be his downfall.ĭon't act so surprised. Sometimes weak, sometimes strong, admirable in some ways and despicable in others. Silver teaches high-minded philosophical principles in his classes, and his teenaged students naively expect him to be the embodiment of those principles. The other is a male, Gilad, who worships Silver as the pinnacle of intellectual and moral uprightness, and fantasizes about being singled out by his teacher as special. One is a female, Marie, who worships him sexually and fantasizes future domestic bliss with him. Is there anything more universal or more potentially devastating? At the International School of France, Will Silver is a beloved teacher with two especially worshipful students. With this new development, I'm going to leave the book without a rating. The Will Silver character is Maksik himself.
Turns out this book really was based on the author's transgressions. Is there anything more universal or more potentially devastating? At the International School of France, Will Silver is a beloved teacher with two especially worshi UPDATE: November 29, 2011
Here is my original four-star review: Bleak but mighty impressive. UPDATE: NovemTurns out this book really was based on the author's transgressions. It heralds the arrival of a brilliant new voice in fiction.more Utterly compelling, brilliantly written, YOU DESERVE NOTHING is a captivating tale about teachers and students, of moral uncertainties and the coming of adulthood. Set in an international high school in Paris, YOU DESERVE NOTHING is told in three voices: that of Will, a charismatic young teacher who brings ideas alive in the classroom in a way that profoundly affects his students Gilad, one of Will's students who has grown up behind compound walls in places like Dakar and Dubai, and for whom Paris and Will's senior seminar are the f Set in an international high school in Paris, YOU DESERVE NOTHING is told in three voices: that of Will, a charismatic young teacher who brings ideas alive in the classroom in a way that profoundly affects his students Gilad, one of Will's students who has grown up behind compound walls in places like Dakar and Dubai, and for whom Paris and Will's senior seminar are the first heady tastes of freedom and Marie, the beautiful, vulnerable senior with whom, unbeknowst to Gilad, Will is having an illicit affair.
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