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A Degree of Futility
Is getting a PhD worth it these days?
A Degree of Futility is the story of three friends, Lily, Simon and Greg, as they finish their history PhDs at the turn of the millennium and enter the toughest job market ever. There are ups - independence, travel, and Oxford postdocs - and downs - no job security, even less money, and putting lives on hold. Will sacrificing relationships, family, established careers, and even sex in their quest for academic careers prove to be worth it ten years later?
A Degree of Futility is the story of three friends, Lily, Simon and Greg, as they finish their history PhDs at the turn of the millennium and enter the toughest job market ever. There are ups - independence, travel, and Oxford postdocs - and downs - no job security, even less money, and putting lives on hold. Will sacrificing relationships, family, established careers, and even sex in their quest for academic careers prove to be worth it ten years later?
270 pages, Paperback
First published January 20, 2014
1 person is currently reading
25 people want to read
About the author
M.P. Fedunkiw
1 book3 followersMy career has been spent writing, first as a journalist for newspapers, magazines and television, then as a graduate student and communications consultant.
This year, my first novel, A Degree of Futility was published. It deals with a timely topic – the vast number of graduate students who are having great difficulty finding full-time posts in this tough employment market. Having earned my PhD in 2000, I am familiar with this situation and decided to follow that old adage, “Write what you know!”
I have also had two non-fiction books published as ‘Marianne P. Fedunkiw’ and many articles on topics ranging from ice hockey goalie equipment to x-rays. My plays have been read and performed at Oxford University and at Toronto-area drama festivals. Where Do You Get Off?, a short play which deals with death and organ donors was published in a literary volume.
If you’d like to know more or to listen to readings of the first three chapters of A Degree of Futility , please check out my website, www.mpfedunkiw.com
This year, my first novel, A Degree of Futility was published. It deals with a timely topic – the vast number of graduate students who are having great difficulty finding full-time posts in this tough employment market. Having earned my PhD in 2000, I am familiar with this situation and decided to follow that old adage, “Write what you know!”
I have also had two non-fiction books published as ‘Marianne P. Fedunkiw’ and many articles on topics ranging from ice hockey goalie equipment to x-rays. My plays have been read and performed at Oxford University and at Toronto-area drama festivals. Where Do You Get Off?, a short play which deals with death and organ donors was published in a literary volume.
If you’d like to know more or to listen to readings of the first three chapters of A Degree of Futility , please check out my website, www.mpfedunkiw.com
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
October 31, 2020
A novel about the academic job market and the challenges faced by humanities PhDs. The characters were engaging and the dialogue was clever but I found there was not enough development of the grad school environment in either Toronto or Oxford beyond the personal lives of the central characters. There were very few scenes depicting the characters doing their research or even discussing their research, which would have taken up a significant part of their time. The names of landmarks in both places are mentioned but there is little description of the setting in each place or the bureaucracy a Canadian post doctoral fellow would likely encounter when relocating to the United Kingdom. The ending is moving and the eventual future for some of the characters is left open ended.
March 23, 2014
i LOVE LOVE LOVEd this book. it brought me back to the memories of grad school and although times were intense this book reinforced the camaraderie that existed between my mates and I as we delved through it. I actually couldn't put it down and read it coincident with being at conference with a gaggle of graduate students across disciplines which made the read even better. The book made me long to go back to GRAD school and I am damn near enrolled....
to get a Degree may be FUTILE but reading this book was not...
i gave it a 4 publications out of 5! and have already recommended it to friends....
thanks MP I hope we get a SEQUEL...
to get a Degree may be FUTILE but reading this book was not...
i gave it a 4 publications out of 5! and have already recommended it to friends....
thanks MP I hope we get a SEQUEL...
April 14, 2019
I know the author of this book and attended the same graduate program as her and worked with her as a TA in a course she instructed. So I am certainly not the most objective judge of this work. On the other hand I am certainly familiar with many of the experiences touched on in this book.
The book tells the story of three friends, three PhD students at a lightly fictionalized department of history and philosophy of science, technology and medicine at the University of Toronto. Are narrator is just finishing her PhD, one friend having graduated previously, the other yet to finish. The book her trials and tribulations as she gets a postdoc and attempts to navigate the often difficult task of gaining permanent academic employment and the alternatives. It is mostly a study in character and frustration as suggested by the title of the book. Her two friends serves as foils and explorations of some of the other trajectories of graduate students.
The book is a bit light on actual plot, but the characters are well drawn, if perhaps a bit melodramatic at times. I think it does a good job of drawing the readers into the characters trials and sympathizing with them (or perhaps that is just my identification). There is a fair amount of detail about the academic life, the logistics of seeking jobs, postdocs, professorships and so on there is very little about the content of the characters academic work. The narrator is a medical historian and one of her friends an expert on Newton, but no details of their work come up. This means that there is little of specialist interest in the book, except perhaps for some of the more obscure elements of the academic employment regime, much of which is explicated a bit in the book.
The book is among other things searing in its critique of the conditions under which academics employ junior scholars, the over supply of Phds and the proliferation of precarious contract work. Much of the emotional drama of the narrative relates to this. It is in no way a rosy or optimistic look at this. However I think it admits that the situation of many who get a Phd has enviable elements.
Just in terms of gossip I should say that although I was not a contemporary of the author and so do not know too many of her circle, I am pretty sure that all the characters are wholly fictional or at most fictionalized composites of people she had met in her academic career and one should not spend to much time guessing who is who. The narrator shares several characteristics with the author (both are medical historians who started a Phd at UofT after some time in the private sector working in communications), but I would assume much of the character is made up from whole cloth.
This e-book worked fine, I had no problems with it.
There are a few scenes of a sexual nature and lots of swearing in this book, so be warned.
The book tells the story of three friends, three PhD students at a lightly fictionalized department of history and philosophy of science, technology and medicine at the University of Toronto. Are narrator is just finishing her PhD, one friend having graduated previously, the other yet to finish. The book her trials and tribulations as she gets a postdoc and attempts to navigate the often difficult task of gaining permanent academic employment and the alternatives. It is mostly a study in character and frustration as suggested by the title of the book. Her two friends serves as foils and explorations of some of the other trajectories of graduate students.
The book is a bit light on actual plot, but the characters are well drawn, if perhaps a bit melodramatic at times. I think it does a good job of drawing the readers into the characters trials and sympathizing with them (or perhaps that is just my identification). There is a fair amount of detail about the academic life, the logistics of seeking jobs, postdocs, professorships and so on there is very little about the content of the characters academic work. The narrator is a medical historian and one of her friends an expert on Newton, but no details of their work come up. This means that there is little of specialist interest in the book, except perhaps for some of the more obscure elements of the academic employment regime, much of which is explicated a bit in the book.
The book is among other things searing in its critique of the conditions under which academics employ junior scholars, the over supply of Phds and the proliferation of precarious contract work. Much of the emotional drama of the narrative relates to this. It is in no way a rosy or optimistic look at this. However I think it admits that the situation of many who get a Phd has enviable elements.
Just in terms of gossip I should say that although I was not a contemporary of the author and so do not know too many of her circle, I am pretty sure that all the characters are wholly fictional or at most fictionalized composites of people she had met in her academic career and one should not spend to much time guessing who is who. The narrator shares several characteristics with the author (both are medical historians who started a Phd at UofT after some time in the private sector working in communications), but I would assume much of the character is made up from whole cloth.
This e-book worked fine, I had no problems with it.
There are a few scenes of a sexual nature and lots of swearing in this book, so be warned.
December 24, 2024
As a fellow PhD, I love the narrative of this book. Fedunkiw's expository style and her keen observations of her time abroad getting hers ( PhD) reminds me of several UK films , though they were the experiences of young men, not women, in rarified academic settings. Wouldn't be surprised if this gets optioned for a screenplay. Highly recommend.
March 21, 2014
Well done, very well done.
It was masterful how you made the most stable and likeable character the victim of academic machinations.
Everyone's rock of Gibraltar was suddenly eroded by the tides of quotidian indifference from the Ivory Towers.
I shed a tear - okay more than one, when he was assaulted. As someone who has spent far too much time in hospitals with loved ones, I can say you captured the mood perfectly.
Did not see your unfolding events coming until they were upon me.
It reinforces the old saying that the only constant is change.
And the changes you brought to the story from what I'd initially read are nothing short of moving.
Eric
It was masterful how you made the most stable and likeable character the victim of academic machinations.
Everyone's rock of Gibraltar was suddenly eroded by the tides of quotidian indifference from the Ivory Towers.
I shed a tear - okay more than one, when he was assaulted. As someone who has spent far too much time in hospitals with loved ones, I can say you captured the mood perfectly.
Did not see your unfolding events coming until they were upon me.
It reinforces the old saying that the only constant is change.
And the changes you brought to the story from what I'd initially read are nothing short of moving.
Eric
August 5, 2016
"I smiled as it struck me that you really only knew someone when you knew how they liked their coffee."
Great read. Found it easy to get into from the get-go. The humor that is interspersed within the story of these three friends, Lily, Simon and Greg is worth the read alone. You will laugh and sometimes cry at the situations they fall into as they try to figure out if the pursuit of their PhD's was a wise choice or not. The story really moves along and I didn't really want to put it down.
Great read. Found it easy to get into from the get-go. The humor that is interspersed within the story of these three friends, Lily, Simon and Greg is worth the read alone. You will laugh and sometimes cry at the situations they fall into as they try to figure out if the pursuit of their PhD's was a wise choice or not. The story really moves along and I didn't really want to put it down.
December 23, 2021
Frothy chick-lit about three PhD candidates who struggle to find work in academia. None of the characters are developed beyond flat caricature, and there is no character development nor any real substance beyond being one long whinge about how awful it all is. The ending was entirely predictable as was pretty much the whole storyline.
May 25, 2015
Smart and painful, with characters so real and authentic. It hurt to read but I couldn't put it down and just when I couldn't handle more, MP's humour poked through and made me laugh out loud. The dialogue is spot on, it could be a play. Loved it. N
October 3, 2016
Absolutely loved this book. Quickly warmed to the characters, especially Simon, and didn't want it to end. Laughed and cried and had to force myself to put it down. Would love for there to be a sequel. Look forward to reading more of MPF's work.
July 31, 2014
Loved the characters
Loved the humour
Hated that it ended - wanted more
Loved the humour
Hated that it ended - wanted more
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews