{"product_id":"laurens-line-sondra-spatt-olsen-9781578066148","title":"Lauren's Line","description":"When Professor Lauren Goldberg drops dead in her windowless office, her job in the English Department (a line item in the budget) is up for grabs. Her opportunistic colleagues eye this nifty nugget, snub any dignified lull for the obsequies, and begin at once to tussle. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e In this incisive, comic novel about job scrambling in academe Sondra Spatt Olsen exposes the messiness in an urban university of the mid-eighties, a time of hefty budget cuts, occupational instability, Machiavellian stratagems, and scholastic angst. Signs of breakdown are ubiquitous. Hallways are dark, classrooms are cold, and chalk is scarce. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Who will win Lauren's post? None of the posturing candidates is a shoo-in. All jostle for favor, money, power, and prestige. Cherry Binder, the department's popular feminist scholar, has been bringing her infant to class and breastfeeding in the office. In an endless, shameful quest to nail down his tenure Brian McGlinchee has forged his student-evaluation forms. Moreover, he is having an affair with one of his students. Nor could George Reilly, the department's playboy and the late Lauren's lover, be earmarked as a stable candidate. He goes bonkers at the memorial service. Steve Speck--young, naive, and introspective--is more interested in index cards and note topics than in his own promotion. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Added to this assorted cast of professorial misfits that keep the plot careening are a distinguished African American professor, a Russian poet, a beastly administrator, a crusty custodian, and the world's oldest graduate assistant. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Olsen's first book was praised by \u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e as \"a compelling collection, overall, by a lively and interesting writer\" and by \u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e for its \"cool, delicious irony.\" This new novel combines acidic wit, sharply drawn characters, a twisting plot line, emotional conflict, and a refreshing candor that ignites hilarity.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Sondra Spatt Olsen\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 157806614X\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781578066148\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University Press of Mississippi\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 04\/05\/2004\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 254\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.81lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 7.25h x 5.25w x 0.89d","brand":"Sondra Spatt Olsen","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":44054807609599,"sku":"9781578066148","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_0df06d6a-4b54-440d-8664-074ac6bb605b.jpg?v=1685032112","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/laurens-line-sondra-spatt-olsen-9781578066148","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}