Nevergreen

by Andrew Pessin

A smart, fast, funny, and incisive portrait of today's liberal arts college scene, cancel culture, and more.A chance encounter—if it is by chance—gives J. the opportunity of a lifetime. A physician in a midlife funk, he is invited to speak at a small college. But when he arrives at the secluded island campus of Nevergreen College he gets a lot more than he bargained for. No one actually shows up for his talk, but that doesn't stop it from becoming the center of a firestorm of controversy—with potentially fatal consequences."Nevergreen brings to mind Vonnegut's brilliant short story, Harrison Bergeron, but on steroids. Pessin's is an unsparing satire, at once funny and horrifying and compelling because it's so real."—Howard Gordon, Emmy Award Winning Producer of Homeland, 24, The X-Files"One part Lucky Jim and three parts One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Andrew Pessin's terrific and terrifying novel may just be the great campus novel of our generation. Every page delivers a hearty laugh, and every laugh soon blooms into a painful stab of recognition, reminding us that we're all stuck on Nevergreen. This one is a pure delight."—Liel Leibovitz, editor at large, Tablet Magazine"Sharp, funny, and ultimately scary, Nevergreen cuts right to the quick of campus cancel culture and the ideological excesses that generate it. It may officially be a satire but it may as well be a documentary, it's so close to home. That something so serious can also be so entertaining is impressive."—William Jacobson, Cornell University"Welcome to Nevergreen, a small college in full descent into madness. Intelligent and witty, with crackling dialogue and keenly planted in the cultural firmament, Nevergreen engages from start to finish. More Animal Farm than Animal House. Be prepared to be offended and like it."—Scott Johnston, author of Amazon bestseller, Campusland "A biting satire of a college campus driven literally mad with political correctness. Funny, disturbing, and thought-provoking, Nevergreen will change the way you look at college life."—Michael Satlow, Brown University"Nevergreen is so painful I wanted to stop; yet so funny I kept going. Pessin has written a delirious yet detailed roman à clé for almost any campus today. Parody imitates life as Kafka wanders through Wokeland. In its own outrageous way, a triumph of sanity."—Richard Landes, Boston University"A rampage of a novel. Pessin's nightmarish, all-too-real satire of contemporary academia is part Pynchon, part Kafka, and the most ominous campus horror tale since C. S. Lewis had demons infiltrate Edgestow University in That Hideous Strength."—Michael Weingrad, Portland State University"Read Professor Pessin's fantabulous book on the nuking of the college mind. It is Kafka's Trial meets the movie American Pie, and it will make your sides heave with hilarity while your heart weeps over the horror that is 'wokefulness.' Read this book NOW, and then JOIN THE RESISTANCE."—Ze'ev Maghen, Shalem College, author of John Lennon and the Jews"Think a brilliant case of David Lodge meets 1984. You laugh until you realize just how close this is to reality. Pessin updates the academic novel to include cancel culture and virtue signaling.

Genres: Fiction

187 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 15, 2021

About the author

Andrew Pessin is Professor of Philosophy at Connecticut College, with degrees from Yale and Columbia, and author of four novels—and portrayed “The Genius” on the Late Show with David Letterman (link below). Author of many academic works and philosophical works for a general audience, his book, "Uncommon Sense: The Strangest Ideas from the Smartest Philosophers," was named an “Outstanding Academic Title of 2013” by Choice. In recent years he has published four novels. "The Second Daughter," written under the pen name J. Jeffrey—read the novel to find out why the pen name!—was a Semi-Finalist in Literary Fiction at The Kindle Book Review Book awards, and he greatly enjoyed meeting (either in person or by video link) with the many bookclubs that adopted it. His novel, "The Irrationalist," is an historical murder mystery based on the tragic life and mysterious death of the famous philosopher, René Descartes. "Nevergreen" is an academic satire examining cancel culture and the ideological excesses that generate it, and "Bright College Years" aims to capture the essence of the college experience. In his spare time Pessin composes and can occasionally be coaxed to perform amusing philosophy songs. For more information, visit www.andrewpessin.com.

Reviews

[Joseph MacKinnon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nevergreen is an excellent dark comedy, which takes the reader on a Lovecraftian ferry to a Goldingian island suffused with Conradian madness of a kind that Pessin's protagonist might call "academentia."

The island at the center of Pessin's tale is a palimpsest of lunacy. It once was home to an asylum, but is now, at least in our encounter, the home of the titular college. It might take a professional to determine whether Nevergreen's latest inhabitants are any sounder of mind than past inmates, but even an amateur might spot something amiss amongst those overrunning the island's latest installation: hormonally maladjusted youths pursuing useless degrees; pomegranate-juice-swilling ideological captives; phenomenological postmoderns; neo-nazis; janist pro-lifers; and vicious pro-choicers, all ostensibly unsure both of themselves and reality. There are also big sisters and Big Chiefs who have revived some of Big Brother's more iconic traditions, including taking time aside to project hate (i.e. against hate and haters), and mad scientists looking through myriad glasses darkly.

The administrators are certainly criminally insane, but the students, at least according to the protagonist, are just kids. It's worth recognizing, however, that kids can be just as dangerous, murderous, and rapacious as adults...

Though the novel is full of excitement, intrigue, shock, and awe, the true terror most readers will be left with at novel's end derives from the recognition that the lunacy confined in Pessin's novel to Nevergreen has long ago made its way to the mainland. In fact, nowadays, one must seek out islands to find a little bit of sanity and common sense.

[Will Worsley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the concept of the satire -- the protagonist visits an isolated college named Nevergreen which he discovers has been taken over by crazed students who "hate haters," which can mean just about anyone. Soon, without evidence, he is accused of being a hater and is chased around the island by the mindless students, who vow to kill him in the manner of "Lord of the Flies". Some of the characters were funny, particularly the Librarian and the feckless administrators. Although the irony seems highly relevant to the madness that has seized today's college campuses, the jokes grew a bit tiresome about halfway through the book (a common problem with political satires). The tie-in with "Lord of the Flies" was appropriate but it made the ending too predictable. On the whole, an interesting and timely read.

[Bruce Newsome · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anti-woke literature is growing, although you’re unlikely to hear about it. Anti-woke authors have been ignored by publishers and agents, denied by literary editors, canceled by social media, refused by libraries. Yet anti-woke authors have survived by self-publishing, building their own websites and listservs, and advertising on social media without being so honest as to alert the social media censors...[read more at:
https://amgreatness.com/2021/09/26/th...

[Jon-Erik · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is really more of an essay in disguise, designed to provoke reactions through invoking numerous symbols and references. The story itself just pulls us through the series of symbols and references. So, as far as it goes with fiction, the story is just ai'ite and the characters are all seemingly allegorical. Debra, who is mostly absent, is the best character.

But the author's purpose here isn't to write the great American novel. It's to critique the cancel culture present on college campuses, something that the author went through on his own at Connecticut College. Though it's not obvious, it's also about the antisemitism contaminating a lot of the activism.

What strikes me is that books like this were also showing up 100 years ago and were only really noticed in retrospect. One I think of in particular is Feuchtwanger's Power which tells the story of a Court Jew who is murdered in the end despite his great wealth and power. Although we're not talking about the Holy Roman Empire here, a lot of what this book is calling out has happened in the last few weeks.

Some of the humor isn't and some of the use of extremes in humor give cheap laughs and cringe, but you get the point. Much of this is actually less exaggerated than you might think, as we are seeing recently.

Among the many references I mentioned, it seems to me that I have to pretend to be a wine taster here. There were flavors of 1984 and Brave New World. Hints of Lord of The Flies and notes of, I believe, The Matrix and even Bladerunner if I'm not mistaken and perhaps One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. The ambience created by all of these things combine to create a sort of cloying high mindedness that makes you think of the university in the past, in strong contrast to what is presented.

And to be honest, some of it seems like a personal complaint about the author's own experience, which he seems to have survived. Not that I lack sympathy to that, but that's worth pointing out too.

It would be easier to skip this one if wasn't an accurate forecast.

[Art · Rating 4 out of 5]

J., a physician worried about his marriage and kids, is invited to give a talk at Nevergreen College. Located on a small island that originally was home to an insane asylum, the school's informal motto is "Keep It Crazy!" J. is surprised at the condition of the campus and is somewhat disappointed that no one comes to hear his lecture. The day following his unattended lecture, a girl with piercing eyes takes a picture of J. and accuses him of a face offense. Although he isn't sure what offense he committed, J. follows the advice of the school's administration and apologizes. But, The Resistance doesn't accept his apology. Things rapidly go downhill from there. The campus, filled with virtuous haters who hate haters, is soon in an uproar and J. isn't sure if he will be able to escape the campus alive. Is there anyone here he can trust? Not the librarian! This contemporary campus satire is sort of Kafka meets Animal Farm and the Lord of the Flies with a bit of postmodern philosophy and 1984 thrown into the mix. I enjoyed it. 

[Lisa Emelio · Rating 4 out of 5]

As if the world and universities could get any more woke. It was hilarious yet frustrating at the sheer absurdity so it took me a while longer to read. Good story.

[Stef · Rating 2 out of 5]

After a while, the satire became repetitive and not enough to sustain interest over a book-length format.

[Jessica Richardson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too on the nose and repetitive