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Schooled, Anisha Lakhani

Anna Taggert is a recent Ivy League graduate with a dream.  She wants to be an awesome teacher, and she seems on track for this dream when she joins the staff of Langdon Hall, a exclusive private school in Manhattan, as an English teacher.  There are some pitfalls, namely her tiny paycheck and run-down fifth-floor apartment.  She’s determined to instill English literature into her students’ heads in creative ways, but her determination ebbs away as she realizes that neither the parents nor the school appreciate her efforts.  Then she discovers tutoring – a fast way to make a ton of money, and she spirals down from eager graduate to shopping-obsessed tutor who has no time for actual teaching.

A lot of other readers enjoyed this book, so I was expecting to enjoy it too.  I had an idea that it would be fun and sassy, chick lit with a brain.  Well, not really.  It was fun at times, but Anna whines about her life a lot in the beginning – and never stops whining even when she’s making big bucks doing rich kids’ homework for them instead of creating lesson plans for her students.  She’s never satisfied either, which is what bothered me.  She goes on to take more tutoring clients so she can afford more Chanel bags and live in a ritzy apartment building with a doorman.  She got corrupted too easily, in my opinion.  I’ve never been offered so much money, but I can guarantee I wouldn’t spend it on a $1400 handbag.  As a result, the name-dropping was more than I’d have preferred.

If this is real life in elite Manhattan, however, it is quite surprising.  I’d never imagined that kids could get out of doing any work whatsoever in school just because their parents were rich.   I’ve never read any of the other books that cover this type of lifestyle, (one of which is apparently The Devil Wears Prada), so I had little idea that this kind of lifestyle existed. I don’t think I want it, and perhaps that’s why I didn’t enjoy this book. I couldn’t understand Anna’s motivations. I’m happy with my mountain of $1 used books and my $10 no-name handbag. I don’t enjoy or understand this world that Anna wants to live in. Sometimes the book is fun, though – I liked Anna’s lessons, her interactions with the other teachers and her students, and the ending – just didn’t get the rest.

If you think you would, you can buy Schooled on Amazon.


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1 comment to Schooled, Anisha Lakhani

  • Another book that explores that type of lifestyle is The Nanny Diaries. I was appalled at the way the people lived in that book.