Educating Waverley

by Laura Kalpakian

In the autumn of 1939 young Waverley Scott arrives on remote Isadora Island in the Puget Sound. She is to be a student at Temple School -- banished, she knows, because her features too closely resemble those of hermother's married employer. Alone, abandoned, and unloved, Waverley stepsoff the rain-washed boat and into the eccentric world of Temple School. The headmistress of this all-girl school, Sophia Westervelt, has amysterious past and a passion for education. She instills achievement intoher students, confident that one day they will have "dinner with theKing of Sweden," that they will win the Nobel Prize. Sophia is animmortal teacher, and under her direction, Waverley grows as her ownabilities and vision expand. But far away in Europe, nations clash, andeven isolated Isadora Island feels the impact. Sophia Westervelt struggles to keep Temple School going, though formidableforces combine against her. And in the midst of this turmoil, for thefirst time, Waverley experiences love -- a love so fierce and sensual that,like her education, it will shape the rest of her life.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction

336 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Jeanette (Ms. Feisty) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know why I like reading about girl boarding schools, but I do. It's a good thing I was never sent to one. Solitary bear that I am, I would not have fared well in the communal living environment.

This one is set on Isadora Island (fictional) in the lovely San Juan Islands (real) of Washington State (semi-real).
Temple School is supposed to be progressive and experimental, but it's sort of like a commune of the sixties, minus the LSD and tie-dyed shirts and peace signs. The school uniform is loose tunics and leggings and Roman sandals, the diet is spartan, and the curriculum is loose and arty. All of this is intended to produce North American Women of the Future.

Waverley Scott is shipped off to Temple School in 1939 at age fourteen. She develops deep bonds of friendship, learns all about love and sex, and eventually finds that her entire future was shaped by her brief years at the school.

Laura Kalpakian has a particular flair for the off-beat without going overboard. She has created a lot of very memorable characters and events in the book, and a few parts that made me laugh out loud.
I loved the Church of the Chocolate God, invented by Waverley. Chocolate is forbidden at the school, number one on the List of Nevers, so they're in big trouble when they are discovered:

"You made a church? You worshiped chocolate? After all we have done to spare our students the freight and weight of crippling religions and Untrue Foods, and you made a----chocolate god?"

Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Note: for actual plot summary, see other reviews.
Somehow or other, I came upon this book on goodreads, and added it to my to-read list almost against my will. Boarding school stories written for girls are one of my things. When they're written for grownups, I feel weirdly honor-bound to give them a try, but at the same time am wary of them because so many have fallen completely flat for me. (I couldn't finish the first chapters of City of Light, The Lake of Dead Languages, or Gentlemen and Players). I checked this out of the library fully expecting that I would confirm that it was another dud, and happily delete it from my books. Yet this one actually worked for me. I cared about the characters and wanted to find out what happened next -- astonishing! I wavered quite a bit with the rating. 4 stars means I'd like to reread it some day, which I can't honestly see myself doing, but if I'd read it when I was in my early twenties, it would have been a favorite, so I'm just being indulgent towards my younger self.

[Manik Sukoco · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Educating Waverly, local author Laura Kalpakian delivers an incredibly well-written, engaging tale of student Waverly Scott, her cohorts and teachers at the Temple School. Banished to the school on the remote island of Isadora in the Puget Sound, Scott comes of age amidst a cast of eclectic but lovable characters. Meanwhile, World War II explodes in Europe, soon to indelibly impact Scott's life as a French refugee is sent to the school for protection.
Kalpakian artfully describes Scott and her fellow teens as they discover their world in an alternative, private school owned and operated by Sophia Westervelt, the heir of a local logging family. With compassion and understanding, Kalpakian brings her characters to life with believable, memory-invoking descriptions of teen angst as the students attempt to embrace Westervelt's unconventional teachings on becoming a "North American Woman of the Future."
In spite of the book's cover, the Temple School is unconventional and the students' dress is anything but short skirts and penny loafers. Instead, the students are clad in comfortable tunics, slacks and Roman sandals to instill in them the freedom they will need to "see the unseen" and to "fear nothing save ignorance, untruth and ugliness."
Throughout the 300+ page read, the author interweaves life on the island with the tragic events of the war, each having an impact on the other. Slowly, she allows the character's pasts to unfold creating a fascinating interconnection that can only be understood as each piece is deliciously revealed.
With unmatched skill, Kalpakian smoothly transitions from one historical time to another, in one breath telling the impacts of World War II and the next describing the bitter disappointment of those who fought in the Great War before it. Without following a logical or chronological pattern, the author manages to paint the complete picture of each of the main characters as they move through life, love and loss.
Perhaps without realizing it, Kalpakian creates a suspenseful novel, holding the reader's attention with poignant descriptions of our nation's history, while sharing long forgotten adolescent pain and triumph. Her story is beautifully written, her words well chosen, and her story magnificently told. This novel is not your everyday romance novel. Rather, it is a rare treat to the discerning reader, one not easily forgotten.

[Barbara Bryant · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Educating Waverly" is a rollicking, accurate, and ultimately moving journey of young teenage girls' passions, explorations, and discoveries of who they really are. "In educating Waverly," Laura Kalpakian writes, "Sophia was the first person to treat her as though she had some intrinsic, if undiscovered merit."

I live in Washington state, so I took particular pleasure to live in Waverly's world. Both the schoolgirls' shenanigans and the scenery are specific and evocative. "She wrote, in a passionate amalgam of memory and imagination, of that very longest night, the winter solstice, and how she could so vividly picture snow powdering the island mountains, and at Useless Point the sleet silvering down. She described the school garden, all stalks and brittle stems and fenced against the deer who shivered in the woods and rabbits shaking in the underbrush. ...In the school's kitchen, Avril, Quizzer and Sophia sat together, warm, drinking branade, their voices, the laughter, their remembering Waverly."

I figured out one of the secrets early on, but that knowledge added to my pleasure to discover how that happened and what came next. However, another secret took me completely by surprise, and it added more complex layers of pragmatism and reality that made "Education Waverly" even deeper and moving.

This is the second novel I've read by Laura Kalpakian, and I love how clearly she sees people and writes unflinchingly, yet with humor and compassion. I remember being a girl this age and inexpertly discovering myself. As Sophia says, "A Woman of the Future, if she does not know the answer, at least can frame the question."

"Educating Waverly" frames many questions. It was a pleasure to seek some answers with Waverly, Avril, Sophia, and my schoolgirl self in Temple School on Isadora Island.

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought Temple School was an intriguing place ; to raise chickens, explore the woods, make friends. I always wished that I’d gone to a boarding school. WWII touches this novel-creating fear on this remote island. Those close friendships—how do they play out when the young move away, the war ends; modernization and greed changes what always was?

[Robin Ferguson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unique look at love, life, war and education. All being unconventional, spiritual and transforming.

[Maggie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quirky little book about a woman who sets up a school on a remote island in Washington State. Set in the 30's and 40's she wants to educate girls to become women of the future for North America. Her methods are bizarre to say the least. Into this arrives Waverley Scott a young girl who has spent her life travelling around the country with her mother who is the personal assistant and mistress of a wealthy but married businessman. Waverley is the illegitimate result of this union and resents her status and her mother's inability to stand on her own two feet. She is sent to this school by her father in order to remove her from his presence since she resembles him a little too much. So begins her "education". Hating it at first she comes to love the school and its inhabitants and more especially she forms a strong bond with a young jewish refugee from France. Sophia the owner of the school had in her younger years spent time in paris and had had a love affair with the girl's (Avril) father an artist. These two girls become very attached and also form a liason with a boy from the village. The story then spins to the future and how Waverley returns to the school and how her friend had died as indeed had her parents in the concentration camps. Waverley becomes a novelist of trashy romantic fiction and meets up with Avril's daughter who has been brought back to the island. An easy read and entertaining!

[Kelsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

In general, I really enjoyed this book. I happened to grab this book at a used bookstore recently and am glad that I did. The smoothness of the writing and the amusement the characters gave me caused me to finish this book in about 3 days. Phrases like:

"...my books are refreshing and indulgent. They are the chocolate truffles of literature. Naturally, you could go your whole life without ever eating a chocolate truffle, but would you want to?"

The story intrigued me, because as an avid watcher of the series LOST, in a similar fashion, it introduces you to characters in the present time. Then, the book goes back to the past, the late 1930s and takes you on a tale that is quite intricate. You get to discover why the characters are the way they are in the present and during this, the author is able to throw a few twists into the plot.

Overall: three stars. A great book. The ending almost seemed as though it made room for a sequel, which lead to the lower rating. (As, I feel this book should be able to stand on its own).

Caution: If you are not a fan of slight swearing and small (very brief, a page at most) intimate romance scenes, this is not the book for you.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I chose this book because it takes place on an island in the San Juan Islands, near where I live. From the descriptions of the area, the fictional island of Isadora is probably Orcas Island. Kalpakian's plot construction is well done, the way she moves her characters in and out of various settings and seamlessly ties them together. In the story, we follow the central character, Waverley, from her boarding school days at Temple School on the island until she returns later in life. Most all of the characters suffer from the after effects of some sort of traumatic circumstance. Their lives are spent looking for reconnection, peace and resolution. For many, their time spent at Temple School with their teacher, Sofia, provided for each memories of a time of self discovery, connection, and love. For Waverley, it became the catalyst that shaped the rest of her life. Educating Waverley was sad and yet beautiful for its range of expression and emotion.

[Quixotess · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was very interesting for me to read, because I found myself frequently disliking the characters. At several points, Sophia Westervelt did things that made me dislike her (insisting that all the students follow her husband's diet, for instance). There was also a section I would have removed--Sophia's recounting of her time in Paris toward the end of the book didn't tell us anything we didn't already know. And a lot of what the author seems to believe, I don't believe. Her conclusion about Sis Torklund, for instance, didn't seem quite right to me.

My favorite aspect was all the meditations on love and loss and time, and how our lives aren't what we wanted them to be, but we can still make something of them. I found what Kalpakian had to say very meaningful. I will say that Chou-fleur and her red geranium broke my heart. I may lose sleep over that.

To me this book was lacking something, some kind of leap that would make it great. As it was, I'm glad I read it.

[Maurine Tritch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part fun school story, part generational drama, the bulk of the action takes place in an eccentric girls school on a tiny island in Washington state. The founder, a free thinking heiress, wanted to educate girls to become the future of America since men had made such a hash of it. The school has passed its heyday when Waverly arrives on the eve of World War II, has her hair cut, her clothes taken away, and is told to try to imagine herself flying. Despite the skeleton cadre of students and faculty, the privations, and the odd curriculum, Waverly finds herself bound to the people around her shaped by the tenets she is taught, and irrevocably changed.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a book that pulled me into the setting, Isadora Island, and made me care about the characters, even when I put the book down. The school was somewhere I wished could exist so I could send my girls, even if the people running it were a bit off the wall, reminding me some of characters from Dickens. The references to literature, and the arts were fun too.
One thing I also appreciated was the way the author worked a bit of eroticism into the story. For someone who studies all manner of different erotic writings, this angle was welcome. It was well done, tasteful and resonated.
I definately recommend this book.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Waverly is sent away by her mother and rich father (who until recently didn't take part in her upbringing) to Temple School. The school is 'new age' to say the least and past its prime with few students. Waverly meets Avril and they become Wavril because they are one together. The story goes from their to their mutual crush on the same boy, who loves them both together it ends up. Then Waverly is sent away from the school. Many years later, Waverly is now a romance writer living under a new name, she is reminded of the past by her new intern.

[Jillian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book on a whim and for a dollar, so I didn’t know what to expect when I finally got around to it as part of my latest reading challenge. I ended up being very surprised and impressed. Kalpakian is a sharp and funny writer with exquisite prose and a real knack for developing her characters, who in this case are the inhabitants of an isolated island and its eccentric school for girls. Against the backdrop of WWII, they experience love, loss, and the blessings and burdens of the “transformation” that their headmistress pushes them to find.

[Iva · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am surprised Kalpakian is not more widely read or possibly known. I had admired her short stories and she had quite a different style in this novel. But what is demonstrated here is a wonderful treatment of a unique boarding school experience. I felt hints of both Iris Murdoch and Muriel Spark. The characters were fascinating: they changed, they surprised, they compelled the reader to see where they would go. Boarding school novels abound, but good ones stick with you. The cover choice was not a window into this novel.

[Deborah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Waverley is sent away to Temple School, a remote all-girl school in 1939. The school doesn't teach education the traditional way. The girls and teachers become a family of their own. Waverly befriends Avril who is sent to Temple School from Paris by her mother to escape the Nazi invasion. They become very close, they become "Wavril". They both love the same area boy who loves them in return.
I enjoyed this book very much...life, amusing, love, grief....

[Anne Van · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved the setting on one of the San Juan Islands, with nice descriptions of the island in the 1940's, then some decades later. I thought the characters were built on having interesting back-stories, but a little flat emotionally, or less than plausible maybe. Not a waste of time to read, but nothing that will stick in my mind, either.

[Kirsten · Rating 2 out of 5]

I couldn't resist the Puget Sound setting, and I found the trappings of a 1940's "progressive" girls school amusing: togas, sandals, dancing a la Isadora Duncan, short hair, fresh vegetables, and countless lectures on women as leaders. Ultimately, I wasn't fond enough of Waverley to care where she ended up.

[Caroline · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would recommend this book if you have a lot of spare time and you have nothing else to read. It was a good book but I wouldn't put it above all other books out there.

The story got a little long in some parts and I wasn't sure how the author was going to bring everything back around together. The last 1/4 of the book was the best part of the book when the author tied it up.

[Linda Shields · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book years ago, and I recently read it again because I couldn't find anything new to read. I loved this book both times. I can't believe Kalpakian isn't more widely read. I've read all her books, and they are all uniformly excellent. Her characters are quirky (think Anne Tyler or -- if you have to--Sherwood Anderson); yet, they are believable.

[Arlene · Rating 4 out of 5]

An unusual school on a remote (fictional) island in the San Juans at the start of WWII. Some interesting characters, and interesting relationships.

The characters in 3 separate time periods - leading up to WWII, during WWII, and the present. Some surprising relationships come to light.

[Vonnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was interesting, yet not enough to gush about & refer to friends. It had an unexpected element which was probably the only reason I gave it a 3. In my opinion too many books are predictable, this one had an interesting thread I didn't expect, but overall just not great.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A terrific read. Kalpakian's writing is smart and funny. Her characters are unlike any others I've encountered. A mysterious, otherworldly tale that had me hooked pretty early on, and captivated until the end.

[Cassie · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took me about half way through to really get into it. Then was was re-reading the beginning and jumping all over to connect the dots. I LOVE how all the nuances of each character are intermingled. A great read.

[Elaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Setting: 1939 on remote Isadora Island in the Puget Sound.
A rich story of a girl's life. Wacky characters. Very engaging.

[Vikki · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is a small boarding school designed after the Isadora Duncan style. This was a very good book. I loved her writing.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the originality of this story. Boarding school run by hippies, before hippies were ever heard of.

[Joanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a .... strange book. I liked the first half... but then it just got weird. And it never really got un-weird.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written, great use of imagery. The time and POV changes were a little difficult to get used to. Great use of foreshadowing.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5