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Dr. Edith Vane and the Hares of Crawley Hall
Dr. Edith Vane, scholar of English literature, is contentedly ensconced at the University of Inivea. Her dissertation on pioneer housewife memoirist Beulah Crump-Withers is about to be published, and she's on track for tenure, if only she can fill out her AAO properly. She's a little anxious, but a new floral blouse and her therapist's repeated assurance that she is the architect of her own life should fix that. All should be well, really. Except for her broken washing machine, her fickle new girlfriend, her missing friend Coral, her backstabbing fellow professors, a cutthroat new dean—and the fact that the sentient and malevolent Crawley Hall has decided it wants them all out, and the hall and its hellish hares will stop at nothing to get rid of them.
Like an unholy collision of Stoner, The Haunting of Hill House, Charlie Brown, and Alice in Wonderland, this audacious new novel by the Giller Prize–longlisted Suzette Mayr is a satire that takes the hallowed halls of the campus novel in fantastical—and unsettling—directions.
Like an unholy collision of Stoner, The Haunting of Hill House, Charlie Brown, and Alice in Wonderland, this audacious new novel by the Giller Prize–longlisted Suzette Mayr is a satire that takes the hallowed halls of the campus novel in fantastical—and unsettling—directions.
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First published May 16, 2017
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About the author
Suzette Mayr
18 books156 followersSuzette Mayr is the author of five novels including her most recent, Dr. Edith Vane and the Hares of Crawley Hall. Her fourth novel, Monoceros, won the ReLit Award and the City of Calgary W.O. Mitchell Book Prize, was long-listed for the 2011 Giller Prize, nominated for a Ferro-Grumley Award for LGBT Fiction and the Georges Bugnet Award for Fiction, and included on The Globe and Mail’s 100 Best Books of 2011.
Her first novel, Moon Honey, was shortlisted for the Writers Guild of Alberta Best First Book and Best Novel prizes. The Widows, her second novel, was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Prize for Best Book in the Canadian-Caribbean region.
Mayr is past president of the Writers' Guild of Alberta and teaches creative writing in the English Department at the University of Calgary where she was the 2002-2003 Markin-Flanagan writer-in-residence.
Her first novel, Moon Honey, was shortlisted for the Writers Guild of Alberta Best First Book and Best Novel prizes. The Widows, her second novel, was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Prize for Best Book in the Canadian-Caribbean region.
Mayr is past president of the Writers' Guild of Alberta and teaches creative writing in the English Department at the University of Calgary where she was the 2002-2003 Markin-Flanagan writer-in-residence.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 94 reviews
September 4, 2017
this is an absolutely fantastic academic novel set somewhere in coldland, canada. it's not really magical, not in any tangible sense of magic (i'm saying this because the synopsis can be misleading on this point). what it is, it's funny, it's on the money, and it's brutal. if you are in academia you will want to quit, and if you are on your way there you will want to change career. if you are not in academia, believe every word. this is why we are all so fucking stressed out.
well okay the people portrayed here, every last one, are pretty miserable -- students, administrators, and faculty alike -- and for the most part the people in academia are more decent than this, especially the students! suzette mayr has taken all that truly really sucks in academia and stuck it in this book.
there's quite a bit of physical comedy, and, for some reason, a whole damn lot of bad smells, depicted hilariously. the eponymous protagonist, a caribbean canadian (i think; she is dark-skinned but are we told through which way-station her ancestors made their way to canada?) lesbian, is the mandatory loser, which is kinda of shocking, because academic novels don't pick on brown-skinned lesbians as the designated schlemiels. unless the author is one herself.
race or sexuality are never made a big deal of. gender a bit more. mostly, though, what are targeted here are the massive administrative pettiness, the disregard universities have for the well-being of faculty, draconian anti-tenure, pro-productivity programs, ridiculous, newfangled practices adopted from the business world, and the lives academics lead that cause them to be sick and show up for class anyway because time off for sickness is not really part of your contract.
some gentle fun is poked at the intense scrupulousness professors put into their work in spite of the massive lack of reward that generally comes with such scrupulousness -- we are all a bit too obsessed, a bit too ethical.
and then there's the rat race, the back-stabbing, the bizarre colleagues, the desperation over prestige or lack thereof, and the love of books you once had that has been killed by mountains of papers and paperwork.
i hope suzette mayr has tenure because her administrators might not quite like this book of hers. i loved it so much, i think it's simply the best academic novel ever written. and mayr is not a novice, so the style and the writing are really quite beautiful and perfect.
i loved the end beyond words.
enjoy y'all.
well okay the people portrayed here, every last one, are pretty miserable -- students, administrators, and faculty alike -- and for the most part the people in academia are more decent than this, especially the students! suzette mayr has taken all that truly really sucks in academia and stuck it in this book.
there's quite a bit of physical comedy, and, for some reason, a whole damn lot of bad smells, depicted hilariously. the eponymous protagonist, a caribbean canadian (i think; she is dark-skinned but are we told through which way-station her ancestors made their way to canada?) lesbian, is the mandatory loser, which is kinda of shocking, because academic novels don't pick on brown-skinned lesbians as the designated schlemiels. unless the author is one herself.
race or sexuality are never made a big deal of. gender a bit more. mostly, though, what are targeted here are the massive administrative pettiness, the disregard universities have for the well-being of faculty, draconian anti-tenure, pro-productivity programs, ridiculous, newfangled practices adopted from the business world, and the lives academics lead that cause them to be sick and show up for class anyway because time off for sickness is not really part of your contract.
some gentle fun is poked at the intense scrupulousness professors put into their work in spite of the massive lack of reward that generally comes with such scrupulousness -- we are all a bit too obsessed, a bit too ethical.
and then there's the rat race, the back-stabbing, the bizarre colleagues, the desperation over prestige or lack thereof, and the love of books you once had that has been killed by mountains of papers and paperwork.
i hope suzette mayr has tenure because her administrators might not quite like this book of hers. i loved it so much, i think it's simply the best academic novel ever written. and mayr is not a novice, so the style and the writing are really quite beautiful and perfect.
i loved the end beyond words.
enjoy y'all.
June 7, 2017
A crater blossomed in the night right beside the building. Which is what prevented her from parking in her regular space. Part of the parking lot, the traffic circle, the walkway in front of the door on this backside of the building, have collapsed into a giant hole. Part of the concrete foundation of Crawley Hall exposed. Its root. She flushed with embarrassment; seeing the raw foundation feels like accidentally seeing an ancient uncle's naked buttocks.
I was prompted to read Dr. Edith Vane and the Hares of Crawley Hall by the rear cover blurb that describes it as “an unholy collision of Stoner, The Haunting of Hill House, Charlie Brown, and Alice in Wonderland”; how intriguing is that? Now that I've finished it, I have to admit that it delivers both more and less than advertised – more weird than spooky, this book is a satirical look at academia, as seen through the eyes of a lovable loser. It's an easy and compelling read – you never anticipate what's coming next – and while the language doesn't exactly sing, it has a creepy and ironic atmosphere that fully engages the mind. Even so, that list of books that DEVatHoCH invokes on its rear cover are some true heavyweights of English Literature, and by comparison, this comes up light. Still a worthwhile read.
As it begins, we meet Dr. Edith Vance; our lovable loser. While the book never divulges her age, we know that it took her eleven years to get her PhD in English Lit; that she now suffers hot flashes while still paying back her student loans. The kind of woman who doesn't even know how to properly dress herself, Edith decides to take the advice of her new phone therapist and make the upcoming school year her year – and why shouldn't it be? Edith has a sexy new girlfriend, has bought the same shoes with hourglass heels that the other women profs wear, and her first book – on Beulah Crump-Withers: “former sporting girl, then housewife, prairie poet, maven memoirist, and all-round African-Canadian literary genius” – is about to be published. And best of all, becoming published means that for the first time in her teaching career at (the fictional) University of Inivea, she will have enough points on her self-evaluation forms to satisfy the tough new Dean; a nightmare administrator who thinks that the primary duties of his professors are to publish in topflight journals and attract grant money.
But when September rolls around, Edith's optimism is short-lived: Her new students, just like her old students, only take her course as a mandatory part of their pre-med or pre-law degrees (when all Edith ever wanted from her career was to share her love of books with other wide-eyed bibliophiles); her former doctoral advisor (who had eventually turned on Edith and attempted to scuttle her dissertation) has been brought into her department as a visiting Chair; and the Humanities building – Crawley Hall – seems to be falling apart: maggots drop from the ceiling tiles, elevators get stuck between floors, and yellow-eyed hares bound from dark corners.
As a satirical look at academia, this book feels truthful – every funny-but-sad thing that happens (the cocktail receptions with donors, the backstabbing and credit-stealing, the business schools getting new branded buildings while the Humanities' literally crumbles apart) is funnier-but-sadder because it seems all too plausible. Edith's friend Coral – a feminist Sociology prof who drinks from a cup emblazoned with the words “Male Tears” – shares an office with three other profs; their varying office hours taped to the door in between photocopied cartoons about grammar and climate change. When Coral tries to start a protest about their “sick building”, Edith keeps her head low: she might have tenure, but the new Dean has the power to “refresh” her right out of a job.
I liked all of the Canadiana that author Suzette Mayr layers into this book – name-dropping The Friendly Giant, people sit on chesterfields and drive on the Queen Elizabeth highway – and loved that Edith's book on (the fictional) Beulah Crump-Withers was called Taber Corn Follies (I have lived in Lethbridge and eaten my share of Taber corn). I don't know that the weirdness going on at Crawley Hall really went far enough (I guess I was looking for more Haunting of Hill House), but this article on Mayr gives her the space to explain her process:
I grew up in Calgary in the 1970s, and there weren’t very many other black people. I was a bi-racial person and that was even more confusing for people around me. Then I became queer. I have kind of a complicated subject position. How do you write about that when there’s no language for that? Going into the magic, going into the supernatural, pushing language and metaphor into the literal, and suddenly there is room to write that experience if I go beyond the bounds of reality. Because then I can explain it.
Again, as enjoyable as I found this book, it's not a literary heavyweight. Taken on its own terms, there was much I liked and the four stars reflect its ranking against similar works.
May 29, 2017
Pretty much every academic -- especially women of color -- should read this book. It's brilliant and frightening. I might quit academia. It was VERY REAL. Just, very very terrifyingly real.
December 30, 2018
Holy moly, the horrors in this book are almost a little too real, brought me right back to suffering through my Master's degree. She has nailed the funny, well maybe not so funny, aspects of University life, the constant construction, buildings falling apart, the 'climbers', the eccentrics, those struggling to survive. Panic attack in a book I tell ya. That and I will never look at Calgary's jackrabbit problem the same again, shudder.
March 11, 2020
3.25 stars
The University of Inivea, huh? Well the author works at the same University that I retired from and they have a lot of parallels. There’s a hall designed in the brutalist style of Crawley Hall and I do remember a sink hole in the parking lot one year. I’ve had coffee in the Jungle (and I remember the coffee in the odd cardboard cups). I’ve dealt with the online ‘portal’ that employees use and filled out the horrible adminospeak forms required. Nineteen of my former coworkers were “refreshed” just last month.
Edith Vane (or is that Vain?) is exactly what conservative provincial politicians think of as an instructor in higher education. She’s a liberal, frumpy, lumpy lesbian who writes inexplicable articles for arcane academic journals and books that no regular person will ever pick up. It turns out that her barista girlfriend can mark essays just as effectively as Edith can. Edith is a frantic neurotic who is desperate to hang onto her university position (or as conservative politicians like to phrase it, “suck from the public teat.”)
Dr. Vane is chronically unprepared and is an uninspiring instructor. Mayr shows us how time crunched academics are, with teaching, researching, writing and dealing with students. In my own experience, the vast majority of my instructors were interesting and organized, so I’m assuming that Edith is a caricature in order to make a point of that.
Very interesting to read a book set in a world that I’m very familiar with.
The University of Inivea, huh? Well the author works at the same University that I retired from and they have a lot of parallels. There’s a hall designed in the brutalist style of Crawley Hall and I do remember a sink hole in the parking lot one year. I’ve had coffee in the Jungle (and I remember the coffee in the odd cardboard cups). I’ve dealt with the online ‘portal’ that employees use and filled out the horrible adminospeak forms required. Nineteen of my former coworkers were “refreshed” just last month.
Edith Vane (or is that Vain?) is exactly what conservative provincial politicians think of as an instructor in higher education. She’s a liberal, frumpy, lumpy lesbian who writes inexplicable articles for arcane academic journals and books that no regular person will ever pick up. It turns out that her barista girlfriend can mark essays just as effectively as Edith can. Edith is a frantic neurotic who is desperate to hang onto her university position (or as conservative politicians like to phrase it, “suck from the public teat.”)
Dr. Vane is chronically unprepared and is an uninspiring instructor. Mayr shows us how time crunched academics are, with teaching, researching, writing and dealing with students. In my own experience, the vast majority of my instructors were interesting and organized, so I’m assuming that Edith is a caricature in order to make a point of that.
Very interesting to read a book set in a world that I’m very familiar with.
April 2, 2021
As an ex-academic, not sure I've ever felt a book so viscerally before. Thanks, I hate it. Giving it five stars for the *incredible* evocation. But I didn't enjoy it. Infinite negative stars for reminding me of That. I need twenty showers.
A brutally honest and scathing take on academia. There could be no truer way to write this, despite its paranormal unreality.
Trigger/content warnings:
A brutally honest and scathing take on academia. There could be no truer way to write this, despite its paranormal unreality.
Trigger/content warnings:
June 6, 2017
I'm still pondering the ending, but I loved this novel. Anyone who has worked in academia will see themselves in this story.
October 23, 2017
This was such an enjoyable novel.
Between this and Emma Perez' book, I need to hunt down more lesbian prof books.
Between this and Emma Perez' book, I need to hunt down more lesbian prof books.
Read
November 17, 2023Read for my 1900-now literature class! Lots to digest about it but found it really unique of a story. I liked the academia perspective… made me a bit fearful of that career path tho lol
February 28, 2021
A demonic vengeful building devouring its occupants and making the gaslighting academics sick: not even an exaggeration of academia. The language is terrifyingly perfect at encapsulating a slow descent into mania, the building sentially eating away at your sanity as you continue to buy into therapist-bots. Super rich and atmospheric is the most skin-crawling, nauseating way. Of course the urban supernatural horror genre is the only genre that can truly portray the abuse of academia. The protagonist is pathetic and relatable and you can't help but hate yourself for relating to this terrifying situation where an academic has fully bought into a system that she's dying for. I really liked how it felt like the building and land was slowly taking back its space, how it essentially self-destructed with the academics as 'collatoral damage'. I thought the building taking back its land could be read through an indigenous lens.
April 13, 2018
I'm still not sure what to think about this book after finishing it...I like the discussion about the novel at book club, and I like the concept of the story now that I'm thinking back on it. Even though the events in the story were unpleasant at some points, I still enjoyed reading it. It's funny at times, very weird and brutal. I can definitely relate to the book (I started this book just after finishing my final academic essay of my degree) but it gave me some weird feelings (sad/moody because of all the bad things that continue to happen to Edith) and I think the general unease/discomfort I felt while reading brings the review down to a 3.5 instead of a 4.
June 28, 2017
I wanted to like this one more than I did, as I loved Monoceros. I found it somewhat overwritten and the characters too often veer toward caricature. Fascinating premise, but the novel never quite decides what it wants to be: horror? scathing critique of academia? an unreliable narrator descending into madness?
August 7, 2017
So close to the truth that I had heart palpitations reading it. Clever and funny and oh so disturbing.
October 10, 2017
I read this book in a day. I found it rivetting, chilling and anxiety producing, and I'd like my female academic friends to read it. It's the story of a woman working in a university. I think it covers some of the normal struggles that women in academia face, but there's a horror tinged aspect to the work, and it works really well as a horror novel. I was feeling creeped out for most of the day after I read it. It's also set in Alberta in a fictional university, and the main character is Black and queer.
April 5, 2023
I guess Suzette Mayr already perfected the surrealist spiraling horror novel before she wrote The Sleeping Car Porter. This is another book haunted by a sleep-deprived miasma, where the actual (crumbling asbestos ceilings) is worse than the paranormal (desks disarraying themselves). Edith has no allies, no friends, her relationships are terrifying and fleeting, in a position where she should be secure but the systemic dismantling of academia for corporate interests is destroying her hopes and her potential, and she was already so far beaten down and traumatized by her emotionally abusive doctoral advisor that her ability to do her job is maybe shriveled or vanished already and she is trapped in a pile of paperwork trying to convey the importance of Canadian poetry to undergrads and her outside life is austere and she yearns and wants more and she's already supposed to be at the pinnacle and the air in Crawley Hall is poison.
Super duper good in a chilling way. The Sleeping Car Porter was a little better, but maybe only because of all the historical research and Baxter is actually good at his job and eventually he gets off the train. Tenured professorship doesn't stop.
Super duper good in a chilling way. The Sleeping Car Porter was a little better, but maybe only because of all the historical research and Baxter is actually good at his job and eventually he gets off the train. Tenured professorship doesn't stop.
April 13, 2018
I finished in time for book club!!!
January 17, 2020
Pure chaos.
I'm not sure what I just read, but I enjoyed almost every moment.
I'm not sure what I just read, but I enjoyed almost every moment.
April 9, 2023
Only something rotting underneath needs to smell that clean. p61/62
We are talking about the halls of power here, of academia in bed with the corporate agenda and their sterile issue. Something still stinks despite the antiseptic efforts to gloss over what is wrong with an educational system that crushes critical and creative thinking.
Suzette Mayr has given us an exuberant and droll take on the situation in this breezy satire that exposes the collapsing structures that buttress the hierarchy of control.
This is what you need to do....You need to give up control and follow the current of the universe. That way, maybe, the world will stop shitting on you so much. Or when it does, you won't mind so much. Or get so excited by...mediocrity. p115
This isn't a perfect book but it is provocative and clever and not at all mean spirited, as a lot of books dealing with the subject seem to be. In my system, an easy 6/7 on GR 4
We are talking about the halls of power here, of academia in bed with the corporate agenda and their sterile issue. Something still stinks despite the antiseptic efforts to gloss over what is wrong with an educational system that crushes critical and creative thinking.
Suzette Mayr has given us an exuberant and droll take on the situation in this breezy satire that exposes the collapsing structures that buttress the hierarchy of control.
This is what you need to do....You need to give up control and follow the current of the universe. That way, maybe, the world will stop shitting on you so much. Or when it does, you won't mind so much. Or get so excited by...mediocrity. p115
This isn't a perfect book but it is provocative and clever and not at all mean spirited, as a lot of books dealing with the subject seem to be. In my system, an easy 6/7 on GR 4
October 15, 2017
Disappointing considering past books
I have no idea who would find this take on academia interesting. The characters are clichéd and the writing is painful.
"I’ve never felt another woman’s breasts before. Can I? Does it bother you that you’re my experiment? There, I said it. – I don’t … , said Edith, squirming, her back suddenly very straight. – I have work to do, Beverly. This is literally my coffee break. – Me too, said Bev, whipping off her long apron, then hurrying back to kiss Edith, her hands cupping Edith’s face, Bev exclaiming that Edith’s cheeks are so soft! Bev exclaimed about every inch of Edith, the softness, the roundness, the smoothness, the bigness of the breasts. – I’m converted, exclaimed Bev. – I officially love women’s breasts!"
I have no idea who would find this take on academia interesting. The characters are clichéd and the writing is painful.
"I’ve never felt another woman’s breasts before. Can I? Does it bother you that you’re my experiment? There, I said it. – I don’t … , said Edith, squirming, her back suddenly very straight. – I have work to do, Beverly. This is literally my coffee break. – Me too, said Bev, whipping off her long apron, then hurrying back to kiss Edith, her hands cupping Edith’s face, Bev exclaiming that Edith’s cheeks are so soft! Bev exclaimed about every inch of Edith, the softness, the roundness, the smoothness, the bigness of the breasts. – I’m converted, exclaimed Bev. – I officially love women’s breasts!"
October 19, 2019
What an odd little book this is. It's a bit horror, a lot bit satire, and a little slice of dystopian life of a current humanities academic. Edith Vane works at U of I and her job is supposed to be safe, what with tenure and all, but the new dean is evil, her colleague has gone mysteriously missing, and Crawley Hall, her building, seems to have developed sentience and is trying to kill everyone inside it. I admired but didn't always enjoy this novel. It was often painful to see things just keep getting worse for Edith, especially the situation with her flaky girlfriend. I do enjoy how it metaphorically and actually shows how academia can be truly horrific for women of colour.
November 22, 2017
I really enjoyed this story - satirical, haunting - black, queer, Canadian!
I didn't even notice the lack of quotation marks which is often a deal-breaker for me.
Anxious to read more of Mayr's work.
I didn't even notice the lack of quotation marks which is often a deal-breaker for me.
Anxious to read more of Mayr's work.
January 23, 2018
I'm not sure why the hares, unless it's because they are found on the prairie and there's something a little strange about them, but they certainly add to the out of sync feeling that is present right from the beginning of this book. I think the University of Inivea is in Calgary, judging by the view to the west of the campus, and there are those who would suggest that that puts it out in the desert of academe, but I would never think that.
Edith Vane always wanted to do something with books, make people see how important they are, love them the way she does, and make their lives revolve around them just as she does. It was logical that she should take an Eng. Lit. degree and go into the world of academe. Doing a PhD degree involves time, a long time if you have to have a job at the same time, a lot of hard work, and quite a lot of money. All that Edith accepted but what she did not expect was to find the other inhabitants to be red of tooth and claw, ready to jump on any weakness. She finds herself in a department of a university where you are required to fill in a form every two years with all the things you have done to benefit the university and yourself: what grad students have you supervised to their degrees, what conferences have you addressed, what papers have you published in top journals, what books have you published with good publishers. She is not good at much of that and, in fact, should probably have done an MLS degree and become a librarian. It is too late now because she has too much invested in her career, but she should consider it because she will probably be Refreshed out of her position as things stand. I love the phrase "refresh" which is left a little vague and seems to be intended as an opportunity for staff to go away and think things over before re-applying for a position as Coral did (with the backing of a court decision). It is actually a way for the university to fire tenured professors.
Crawley Hall itself appears to be attacking staff, but I have attended classes in buildings like that: windows that don't function as intended, air conditioning that makes more noise than freshened air, floors that are always gritty, venetian blinds that are always tilted, dirty and with permanent knots in their cords. Toilets that are out of order, garbage bins that are always full and smelling of old egg sandwiches and apple cores, and ceiling tiles that have been removed for some undetermineable reason are permanent features of places like this. It is no wonder that teachers are in stress states of unbelievable massiveness. When you add in the emphasis on the production of published material and the supervision of your upcoming competitors' academic debuts it is not surprising if people start having stress hallucinations.
Not that Edith is doing much to reduce the stress. She is a procrastinator and puts off her marking tasks as well as everything else. Smoking pot is not helping her accurate assessment of her situation, nor is her drinking. She has written for journals apparently and someone even mentions it favourably, but she does not have contacts who can help push her book to publication or bolster her reputation. Her doctoral supervisor, Lesley Hughes, is one of those destructive people who deal with their own publication problems by seizing credit for their students' work. I have seen that happen and heard that the justification is in the supervision. "I was overseeing what you were doing so of course I have a share in it." The field of Can Lit is not huge so if you have a piece of territory not yet trampled by half the academics of the country you really do want to clutch it to you the way Edith does Beulah. As for Joffrey and his denigration of Stephen Leacock's "Sunshine Sketches" well, what does he know? Unfortunately, Edith is unable to make the case for some rather wonderful light hearted writing due to her fear of her students and personal insecurity. (Prof. Leacock was not light hearted himself. He was an economics professor who drank heavily, but my great uncle said he was a pretty good lecturer - not humorous, but good.) Too bad the course was Can Lit prior to 1950 because Leacock could otherwise have been compared to Robertson Davies' early writing.
The end of the book is the fantasy result of all that has gone on in the book, the denigration of a senior professor, the theft of Edith's book, the refreshing of Coral and Prof. Froese (also a senior man), and Edith's disastrous love life which seems to have been one betrayal after another. I can't help but wonder what Lesley did in California to have herself so completely banned from any contact in that university and it would have been such a wonderful weapon if only Edith had not acquired it by unintended theft. It may all be delusion but one can at least be glad that Crawley Hall is collapsing into the sinkhole. [We at UBC felt that way about Buchanan Building and wondered why the old buildings such as Forestry & Geology didn't suffer that way.]
It was a pretty good read in spite of confusing time jumps - and why *did* Edith obsess so much about time?
Edith Vane always wanted to do something with books, make people see how important they are, love them the way she does, and make their lives revolve around them just as she does. It was logical that she should take an Eng. Lit. degree and go into the world of academe. Doing a PhD degree involves time, a long time if you have to have a job at the same time, a lot of hard work, and quite a lot of money. All that Edith accepted but what she did not expect was to find the other inhabitants to be red of tooth and claw, ready to jump on any weakness. She finds herself in a department of a university where you are required to fill in a form every two years with all the things you have done to benefit the university and yourself: what grad students have you supervised to their degrees, what conferences have you addressed, what papers have you published in top journals, what books have you published with good publishers. She is not good at much of that and, in fact, should probably have done an MLS degree and become a librarian. It is too late now because she has too much invested in her career, but she should consider it because she will probably be Refreshed out of her position as things stand. I love the phrase "refresh" which is left a little vague and seems to be intended as an opportunity for staff to go away and think things over before re-applying for a position as Coral did (with the backing of a court decision). It is actually a way for the university to fire tenured professors.
Crawley Hall itself appears to be attacking staff, but I have attended classes in buildings like that: windows that don't function as intended, air conditioning that makes more noise than freshened air, floors that are always gritty, venetian blinds that are always tilted, dirty and with permanent knots in their cords. Toilets that are out of order, garbage bins that are always full and smelling of old egg sandwiches and apple cores, and ceiling tiles that have been removed for some undetermineable reason are permanent features of places like this. It is no wonder that teachers are in stress states of unbelievable massiveness. When you add in the emphasis on the production of published material and the supervision of your upcoming competitors' academic debuts it is not surprising if people start having stress hallucinations.
Not that Edith is doing much to reduce the stress. She is a procrastinator and puts off her marking tasks as well as everything else. Smoking pot is not helping her accurate assessment of her situation, nor is her drinking. She has written for journals apparently and someone even mentions it favourably, but she does not have contacts who can help push her book to publication or bolster her reputation. Her doctoral supervisor, Lesley Hughes, is one of those destructive people who deal with their own publication problems by seizing credit for their students' work. I have seen that happen and heard that the justification is in the supervision. "I was overseeing what you were doing so of course I have a share in it." The field of Can Lit is not huge so if you have a piece of territory not yet trampled by half the academics of the country you really do want to clutch it to you the way Edith does Beulah. As for Joffrey and his denigration of Stephen Leacock's "Sunshine Sketches" well, what does he know? Unfortunately, Edith is unable to make the case for some rather wonderful light hearted writing due to her fear of her students and personal insecurity. (Prof. Leacock was not light hearted himself. He was an economics professor who drank heavily, but my great uncle said he was a pretty good lecturer - not humorous, but good.) Too bad the course was Can Lit prior to 1950 because Leacock could otherwise have been compared to Robertson Davies' early writing.
The end of the book is the fantasy result of all that has gone on in the book, the denigration of a senior professor, the theft of Edith's book, the refreshing of Coral and Prof. Froese (also a senior man), and Edith's disastrous love life which seems to have been one betrayal after another. I can't help but wonder what Lesley did in California to have herself so completely banned from any contact in that university and it would have been such a wonderful weapon if only Edith had not acquired it by unintended theft. It may all be delusion but one can at least be glad that Crawley Hall is collapsing into the sinkhole. [We at UBC felt that way about Buchanan Building and wondered why the old buildings such as Forestry & Geology didn't suffer that way.]
It was a pretty good read in spite of confusing time jumps - and why *did* Edith obsess so much about time?
April 16, 2022
ok i’ve collected my thoughts
1. very interesting, economic language. feels like it was written by a poet but as far as i know mayr isn’t one
2. feels like everyone in this room will someday be dead + bunny, but it came out before both of them so where’s her recognition??
3. but seriously what is it with literary fiction heroines and bunnies/hares??
4. the literary fiction girlies should eat this up tho! more vibes than plot, descent into madness, complicated female protagonist (but she’s a lesbian so the straight girlies won’t go for it)
5. the edition my library got is BEAUTIFUL. great type face, nice paper, beautiful illustrations + cover
6. as someone about to start her masters in the fall, uhhh 😅😳
1. very interesting, economic language. feels like it was written by a poet but as far as i know mayr isn’t one
2. feels like everyone in this room will someday be dead + bunny, but it came out before both of them so where’s her recognition??
3. but seriously what is it with literary fiction heroines and bunnies/hares??
4. the literary fiction girlies should eat this up tho! more vibes than plot, descent into madness, complicated female protagonist (but she’s a lesbian so the straight girlies won’t go for it)
5. the edition my library got is BEAUTIFUL. great type face, nice paper, beautiful illustrations + cover
6. as someone about to start her masters in the fall, uhhh 😅😳
November 8, 2022
Insufferable characters depicted through a mundane, yet strange and eerie plot has been a noticeable trend in contemporary lit recently (which I’m completely here for). Regarding this direction, I think Suzette Mayr takes the cake. She’s witty, direct, and insightful, and has a way of articulating things so beautifully.
I loved the honest (and brutally vivid) depiction of academia, specifically in the English department. It would be a treat to sit down with Mayr and hear about the individuals and events that inspired this novel.
Also this gal just won the Giller!! After thoroughly enjoying this novel, I can’t wait to read the Sleeping Car Porter next.
April 3, 2021
A horror story where the scariest moments are not supernatural but are about academic life. Being too busy with emails to pee, supervisors whose mission in life is to destroy you, the endless loneliness of trying to write... all these trump supernatural rabbits and sentient buildings in the scary sweepstakes. Suzette Mayr is good at disturbing and uncanny details but all it takes is a tenure application and a snide reference to impact factors at a faculty cocktail party to send me screaming to the hills.
March 31, 2022
2.5 stars. I'm rounding up, but I might round down later. The beginning really grabbed me: the writing was unique and I was curious to see where the story would end up. The answer is: I have no idea where the story ended up! While this book had some of my wheelhouses (a building as a character, a woman on the verge of madness-or-sanity-who-can-say), I just... was overwhelmed by the unrelenting grime and the ending didn't do any favours for it.
April 13, 2018
I don't even know how to rate this because I have no idea how I feel about it. At first it seemed dull but the wierder it got the more it sucked me in. I finished the last twenty or so pages after my exam and I still have so many questions.
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January 3, 2018I think everyone in academia, or who knows someone in academia, should read this... funny, satirical, but also ON POINT.
June 21, 2022
I have really mixed thoughts about this book - I found it quite well written but it hit too close to home. The depiction of academia from the imposter syndrome to advisor abuse to the farce of work-life balance...the author almost did too good a job so that I found this read painful.
May 19, 2024
3.5/5
Bizarre. Yes, there are rabbits. Maybe. There are definitely maggots. And a sink hole. The only confirmable thing is everyone is terrible.
Bizarre. Yes, there are rabbits. Maybe. There are definitely maggots. And a sink hole. The only confirmable thing is everyone is terrible.
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