Hummingbirds

by Joshua Gaylord

A wonderfully compelling debut novel about the intertwining—and darkly surprising—relationships between the teachers and students at an all-girls prep school Spend a year at the Carmine-Casey School for Girls, an elite prep school on Manhattan's Upper East the year when the intimate private school community becomes tempestuous and dangerously incestuous as the rivalries and secrets of teachers and students intersect and eventually collide. In the world of students, popular and coquettish Dixie Doyle, with her ironic pigtails, battles to wrest attention away from the smart and disdainful Liz Warren, who spends her time writing and directing plays based on the Oresteia. In the world of teachers, the adored Leo Binhammer struggles to share his territory with Ted Hughes, the charming new English teacher who threatens to usurp Binhammer's status as the department's only male teacher and owner of the girls' hearts. When a secret is revealed between them, Binhammer grows increasingly fascinated by the man he has determined is out to get him. As seasons change and tensions mount, the girls long for entry into the adult world, toying with their premature powers of flirtation. Meanwhile, the deceptive innocence of the adolescent world—complete with plaid skirts and scented highlighters—becomes a trap into which the flailing teachers fall. By the end of the year the line between maturity and youth begins to blur, and the question on the final exam Who are the adults and who are the children?

Genres: Fiction, Literary Fiction, Audiobook, Academia, Coming Of Age, Teachers, Adolescence

352 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2009

About the author

Joshua Gaylord lives in New York. Since 2000, he has taught high school English at an Upper East Side prep school (a modern orthodox co-educational Yeshiva). Since 2002, he has also taught literature and cultural studies courses as an adjunct professor at the New School. Prior to coming to New York, he grew up in the heart of Orange County: Anaheim, home of Disneyland. He graduated from Berkeley with a degree in English and a minor in creative writing, where his instructors included Bharati Mukherjee, Leonard Michaels and Maxine Hong Kingston. In 2000, he received his Master’s and Ph.D. in English at New York University, specializing in twentieth-century American and British literature.

Reviews

[Danielle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Joshua Gaylord is a fantastic writer. There are paragraphs in Hummingbirds that I reread 2 and even 3 times because they were just so well written as to warrant it. For the use of the word "palimpsest", which is one of my favorites and criminally underutilized, 10 points are awarded in my book. However, just as man does not live on bread alone, the author does not work with words alone, he must also be a storyteller. This, in my opinion is where Gaylord is less strong.[return][return]I have to admit that through much of Hummingbirds I found myself longing for it to be over. Gaylord seemed unable, even with all his fantastic words, to develop emotions fully. I thought that this might be because so many of his characters are conflicted, trapped in developmental and relational limbo, but even when the scene evolves to true climax, such as Binhammer throwing out Sybil, the emotions seem muted. Even when the characters are angry or hurting, it is through some narrative scrim.[return][return]I feel like I have to get my dislike for the manner in which Mrs. Mayhew is dispatched off my chest as well. I know it is not particularly central to the plot, but I reached that particular point in the story and had to go back and check what had just happened. One paragraph she is reading desk graffiti and the next she is gone, with seemingly no lead up.[return][return]The book did wrap up into a somewhat appeasing story. Ted Hughes is dealt with in a way befitting of the ridiculous and large character he is by that point. Dixie and Liz learn they are not really so different. Liz, who was disappointingly unrelatable to me considering I was an overly self-aware, judgmental, withdrawn teenage girl, gets her fulfillment and her disappointment. And Binhammer seems just as far from reaching real, solid happiness as he always was, but also just as far from misery. The problem, to me, was that while the ending is acceptable I doubt I would have gotten there had this not been part of a personal reading challenge. I would have succumbed to the screaming desire to return Carmine-Casey high school to the library shelf whence it came.

[Kwoomac · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just learned that Joshua Gaylord and Alden Bell are one and the same. This is way different from zombies but I have to check it out.

Okay, so now I've read it. It's possible I would have given this book 4 stars if I weren't reading it on the heels of Exit Kingdom by Alden Bell. I could find no commonalities in writing style between the two. Gaylord said as much in a review. He took on the name Alden Bell when he wrote The Reapers... because he knew he was writing for a different audience. Fans of Joshua Gaylord may not be fans of Alden Bell.

The author is a teacher at a private girls high school on the Upper East Side. The story takes place in a fictional private girls high school. I really don't know how male teachers manage the girls, who are practicing their flirting and trying to exert power over the males in their life. When I was in high school, an all girls high school, I had a math teacher who was fresh out of college. He asked us to call him Mr. Saff because he had a long unpronounceable name. He was young and cool and probably a little flirty. At least half the girls I knew had a crush on him ( including me) and looked for reasons to talk to him after class. Anyway, he was not invited back at the end of the school year. I don't know if anything happened or if the administration was afraid something might happen.

This story involves teachers and students trying to maneuver their way through a difficult place. Two teachers. Leo binhammer has always been the only young hip teacher and the girls are all half in love with him. Along comes new teacher Ted Hughes. Leo can feel the girls transferring their crushed to Hughes do he ups his own flirtatious behavior. No good can come of this. To complicate things further, Leo's wife had a short-lived fling with Hughes while away at a conference two years ago. Leo wants to hate acted, but he also finds himself failing under Ted's spell.

Obviously, Gaylord knows teenage girls and has created some very real characters here.

[Tara · Rating 1 out of 5]

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Overly crafted, pretentious, writerly writing. I suppose I'm not "Liz Warren" enough to get it. Honestly, from the character names to the neurotic main character...what was there to like? Everything in this book took forever and yet...nothing happened. Some characters seemed to be forgotten by the end. I couldn't care about anyone, even when I wanted to.

I can just see this book forced upon an English class somewhere, as the only people I think would like it are sadistic English teachers who will love the tendrilly organic writing which lumbers along like some mechanical bovine in the hallways of girlflesh.

[Emily Kestrel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't care for Hummingbirds. It's a novel about teachers and students at an exclusive all girls prep school in New York City, and about the gossip, jealousy and speculation that runs rampant after a new male teacher joins the faculty. Once again, I have to concede that the book wasn't bad, per se, although I found it rather tedious.

My internal conversations tended to go like this:

Would I rather watch Desperate Housewives on Netflix or read more of Hummingbirds? (Housewives won.)
Would I rather watch a house sparrow eat a potato chip or keep reading Hummingbirds? (The house sparrow won.)
Would I rather go to bed early or read another few chapters of Hummingbirds? (My bed won.)

And so on.... So why did I finish it? Well, the book wasn't terrible. And it wasn't all that long. But the characters were insipid and unconvincing, nothing much ever happened, and the writing style was so distant and "clever" that I could picture the author congratulating himself on his wit while he wrote it. (Whether he actually did or not, mind you). Final criticism: the POV ping-ponged randomly from character to character on each page, which drove me crazy after a while.

On the other hand: Would I rather clean my toilet or read more of Hummingbirds? The book finally won a round!

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had a lot of thoughts about this book but still cannot put all of them into words but first I would like to say I like the voices of the book. It is very contemporary. Even though there is a lot of poetic scandal (?) in the book you are never quite on anyones side and that is what I liked most about the book. You didn't hate anyone nor did you feel bad for anyone. Things just happened and I never really felt against anyone and I thought that was kinda nice.

It's nice to read a book for pleasure and feel for everyone as a whole but not hate them or love them. It kinda felt like everyone is your friend and you are hearing all sides of the stories.

I liked it and I recommend it to people who enjoy a nice read. There is nothing too complicated about this book and no one drives you mad but there is this beauty in the way Joshua writes and you will not know it until you indulge yourself in it!

[snowplum · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think JG is a better writer than this is a book, and I would recommend it to someone who can enjoy a book for its prose even if they aren't really enthusiastic about the characters or plot. I do think it works well as a character study of a man who is dealing with growing up (as an adult), identity and jealousy -- but the circumstances are a bit contrived and it's never a total delight to read a book with no character you can just outright love. Not a strong recommendation, but I'd borrow it or buy it at a sale price and give it a try if you can sympathize with a rather neurotic and intelligent 30-something main character and if you generally care more about prose than plot.

[Elena · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.) Horribly poetic. Too many metaphors.
2.) Each chapter started without any indication as to who was speaking, thinking, observing, etc.
3.) As a teacher, I was very uncomfortable with the parts of the book that implied teachers are attracted to their students.
4.) Constantly predictable. You know exactly what's going to happen way before it happens. Makes for a very boring read.

[Jess · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been reading a lot of books this summer. And since I love writing reviews on Goodreads, I've been looking for ways to make my reviews more comprehensive. So I've started carrying my little yellow and black Charlie Brown spiral notebook and a pencil with me wherever I'm reading my current book and jotting down ideas, likes and dislikes, themes, and quotes to put in my reviews. It has been very useful, and I planned to continue with my writing while I read Hummingbirds.

But unfortunately, I did not write one word in my notebook. The page with the underlined Hummingbirds heading remains blank. I've discovered it is hard to write commentary on a novel when you can't even put it down.

Gaylord's only other novel is "The Reapers are the Angels," written under the name Alden Bell and encompassing quite a different tone and theme. Hummingbirds is not a post-apocalyptic revenge story but rather a tale of the line between adulthood and girlhood in an all-girls private school in New York City. Mr. Leo Binhammer is the sole male English teacher at an all-woman institution and he revels in this environment, basking in the attention he receives from students and teachers alike. But when the aptly named Mr. Ted Hughes comes to Carmine-Casey and starts taking the girls' attention, Binhammers feels his firm grasp on his lady-centric life is starting to slip, especially when the intelligent, charismatic Ted Hughes ends up being the man Binhammer's wife Sarah had a short affair with. Meanwhile, two bright, polar-opposite students--Dixie Doyle and Liz Warren--navigate their last year of high school, work out their admiration and devotion to the two male teachers, and learn a lot about themselves and each other.

I loved Gaylord's characterization of everyone in this novel--I truly loved all of it. There is not one character who did not provoke sympathy, empathy, or insight and by reading this novel you can tell Gaylord has such an intense relationship with his characters. He knows them so well and he wants us to know and love them too. In another novel by a different writer, Binhammer could have been this really gross, jaded, cynical man who craves the attention of women and has all these rivalries with men because he is looking for fulfillment in life, but this novel is so far from cynical and jaded. There is just so much life in every character, so much potential, and even as Binhammer feels jealousy and betrayal and anger, we never get the feeling that his life is taking a downward turn.

My favorite chapter was the one where Binhammer and Ted Hughes, taking a short trip to another school on assignment, meet a young woman named Dora who they befriend and walk around town with before letting her crash at their hotel with them. I've never read a book scene like this before--there is usually so much heavy, palpable male-female tension, the smell of rivalry or alpha-male emotions, the hint of after-school special "two men one girl DANGER DANGER" alarm bells, but this scene was so damn unique and well-written and we learn so much about these two men in this short scene. Binhammer could just be an every-man Decent Guy who gets shit on by life and Ted Hughes could just be this slightly-odd Manic Pixie Dream Guy, but we never feel like that, even with the thick homoerotic tension between them that makes us believe a Fuck or Fight scene is coming up. They are two guys cut from the same cloth, navigating the same world, and by the end of the novel, we realize it was a race the whole time, and the book ends with no real winner.

It took me until the end to realize this, but what Gaylord has done is written two real characters, not archetypes. It also made me realize how many books nowadays rely on two-dimensional characterizations that leave me cold.

And I haven't even started on the girls yet. I applaud Gaylord for the way he writes teenage girls, because a long line of poorly-written YA novels show that oftentimes not even young female authors are able to write believable young women. Dixie and Liz are so realistic as 18-year-old girls that it makes me smile to even think of them--confident and self-conscious in alternating bursts, flitting in and out of fads ranging from speaking French to renting foreign films, having hobbies and talents and goals outside of men and boys, having personality, having agency, feeling sure of who they are as people even when they aren't sure what their futures will hold. Young girls making choices for themselves. Teenage girls are pretty much the #1 target audience for consumerism in America, yet they are shit on constantly. But this novel doesn't abide by that. Teenage girls are deep, multi-dimensional characters, just as real and interesting as Binhammer and Ted Hughes. I kept expecting to feel a slimy, Lolita-like victimization of the two girls by the men, but that was so far from happening, because Gaylord realizes that teenage girls are not innocent little kittens who are unaware of the world around them. They may be even more cynical then their older counterparts, something I loved about this book.

This book left me pensive, satisfied, smiling, and very surprised. I have a feeling Hummingbirds is my summer Dark Horse read, similar to last summer's The Good People of New York. I wasn't even expecting a walk in the park and I got a damn parade. Also, if possible, invest in the Harper Perennial P.S. copy of this novel, because there are some great little extras in the back--interviews with Gaylord, a novel soundtrack, and a recommended reading list.

[Maya · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was not worth the read, nor the $6 I spent on it. The characterization of the female characters feel extremely flat, either “studies but boring and reserved” Liz Warren, “girlish and seductive but childish” Dixie Doyle, or any of the other female teachers who are described only in a sexual light by one of the male teachers. This book tries too hard to poetic, and romanticizes a teacher-staff affair, playing it off as normal and “understandable”. 80% into the book there had yet to be a plot, though everything happened in the most predictable fashion possible. I came here after having received recommendation for this book, following my reading of “The Secret History” by Donna Tartt. I thought that the two would be comparable, but Hummingbirds fell short of the mark, leaving the reader wholly unsatisfied. I would not recommend this book.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing captured teenage girls in an evocative, Nabokovian (Is that a word? It should be. . . ) way. And the plot kept me asking "What's next?" And the writing was exquisite. But the resolution veered off in an unrealistic way. I thought the climatic scene where everyone's identity was revealed didn't make sense. Why were the two infidels (I know, it's not the right word, but it should be . . .) made at the man they had betrayed? It seemed odd that after all that time, they would immediately form an alliance against the husband. And more importantly the he would immediately feel he had wronged them. Did anyone else find that an odd reaction by all the characters?

[Susan McGilvray · Rating 1 out of 5]

Note to author:
Not all high school girls have alliterative names.
Not all male high school teachers have a sexually charged classroom.
Audiobook narrators should pronounce all words correctly.
Sheesh!

[530 Book Club]

This man [Joshua Gaylord/Alden Bell] can write a menu and I will read it. I want to be him when I grow up. I want to write like him. He is my hero.

[DW · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this book up because I thought the cover looked old, but it turns out it was published in 2009. Huh. The word that comes to mind is "labored". It had an interesting story, but every page had about fifty metaphors and similes and every detail felt so conspicuously placed so that the reader could pick it out and savor the meaninglessness or something. As if it wasn't enough that the book is by an English teacher and about an English teacher, the main character thinks of his life as if he were a character in a book. Gag. I guess I have a short attention span for "literary" writing. Too much time spent reading to-the-point easily-digestible magazine articles.

Dixie is a high school senior and she wears pigtails and most of the time has a lollipop in her mouth? Are you kidding me? I identified more with Liz Warren (until the end). The entire school seems to consist only of the English department, which is okay for the teachers but when it is following the girls, they should have some concern about other classes. (And isn't the English department huge for a school of 400 kids?) Also, I don't remember gossiping that much about the personal lives of my teachers when I was at school. And just for the record, in all our high school productions, the on-stage couples would always hug instead of kiss. Paid actors are one thing, high school kids actually kissing a scene partner (and taking direction in doing so) seems like going too far. Binhammer sounds like a terrible teacher - he dismisses them fifteen minutes early, and by the end of the book he's cutting class? Wouldn't they fire a teacher for not showing up to class? And I really don't get why Binhammer keeping Sarah from meeting Ted was an offense anywhere near what they did.

One thing I will say for this book, though, is that it does a good job of alluding to things, making the reader guess - is that his wife? Why is he upset? What's going to go wrong at the Christmas party? I feel like I should go back and study how he does it (because it's so transparent) in case I ever want to write a book. And there is not a whole lot of detail about the sex scenes or the fight or the death, which is much nicer than actually having to read about those things.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hummingbirds was not the book I expected it to be, and I am unsure whether it is a good thing or bad thing. The point of view and author's voice takes a different look at the all-girls prep school narrative that has been examined and re-examined in the Gossip Girl series and the like. If you enjoy references to classical (Western) literature then this book might be right up your alley. I liked Gaylord's poetic style of writing with tons of imagery and creative language. I wasn't exactly sure where the story was going and some parts are difficult to follow. It is a very plot-based book and the conclusion came quickly and without much fulfillment to the reader. Overall, I would say this is a good casual read for enjoyment in a unique style, rather than one that will be thought-provoking.

[Ruby · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a big fan of his other book "when we were animals" so I decided to read this one too. I think I just really like his writing style so Hummingbirds did not disappoint. Loved the imagery, it was definitely giving that fall, private school, lana del rey profile picture pinterest girlies aesthetic. Also i liked the relationship between Binhammer & Ted, some homosociality themes. I don't really consume books critically, if I had fun reading it then I liked it. That's about it. But there definitely were some uncomfortable, male gaze-y aspects in the way he wrote about & sexualized the young girls that other people might think a little deeper about. I thought it was a fun little fall read tho, so 4 stars!

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sigh.... It brings me no pleasure to post a bad review for a fellow teacher. I teach in an independent school. It's a boys school, so maybe the author know something I don't. But to believe this book everyone at girls schools are miserable and all the male faculty are all a) secretly lusting after their students b) fighting for the attention of their students and women colleagues c) engaged in some sort of triangular relationship with Freudian subtext. Because none of those I know who teach at girls schools have shared this with me, I'm going to assume that this novel was overwrought and unrealistic.

[Colleen Rockafellow · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very descriptive with most of the book taking place in the minds of the characters. I felt empathy towards Binhammer and confusion when others were upset with him. Ted Hughes just seems like a teengager himself and I found their friendship unlikely in the real world. The girls of the prep school seemed more adjusted than the instructors teaching them.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leo Binhammer is an English instructor at Carmine-Casey Academy, a private high school for girls. Adored and admired, Leo finds great contentment and solace in his profession as the only male teacher in the English department, doting girls following his every move. But Leo's world is disrupted when, one day, a charismatic new teacher named Ted Hughes arrives. This teacher is also a young and attractive man, and although he is friendly and amiable, Leo begins to feel displaced from his high perch at the school when the girls begin to notice and appreciate the attractive newcomer. As Leo learns to adjust to his new circumstances, life continues on at school and complexities and rivalries crop up in not only the students' lives, but in the teachers' as well. Leo and Ted become unlikely friends and Leo begins to unwittingly uncover all the many secrets and intrigues that Ted has kept hidden. Wryly amusing and stylistically deft, Hummingbirds is a cautionary and provocative tale about the overly fragile egos of two very educated men.

I really enjoyed this book, and for the most part, I would have to say that it was extremely well crafted. I was impressed with the author's writing style. It was very fluid and engaging, and in addition, most of the writing was very witty and humorous. The author seemed really adept at creating humorous situations and dialogue that really made the story sparkle and sizzle. Other sections of the book were written a bit like prose: great imagery and succinct word choices that made an impact without being overbearing. The writing struck the perfect balance for me by being neither too sparse nor too wordy, and instead I felt that the author was able to capture the emotions and conundrums of his characters perfectly. The narrative was told through several points of view, but these shifts were handled very solidly and without a lot of confusion, making the multiple narrator strategy very successful.

The story actually had three subplots: two involving the teachers, and one involving the students. It was very amusing to see that the teachers and staff had more drama and intrigue going on than the students did and that they handled their dramas with much more immaturity and snark than a group of teenage girls ever could. Though the story that focused on the students was interesting and involving, I thought that the grist behind the teachers' escapades was much more satisfying to me personally. I think on the whole, the story was integrated very well, with neither side dominating the limelight excessively.

I also thought that all of the characterizations were done very well and were remarkably detailed, though my favorite was the exasperated Binhammer, who sometimes could be a bit churlish when it came to his waning popularity. The author really had the knack for crating well rounded three dimensional characters, and I thought that he was quite brilliant in his creations of the schoolgirls. He managed to capture all the innocence and seductiveness that was teetering on the edge of their femininity remarkably well, and it was not hard at all to take them seriously as both girls and women due to their expert creation.

The only part of the book that I took exception to was the ending. Up until the last section of the book, I was happily reading along and spending most of my mental energy in being impressed by the author's turn of phrase or expert scene creation. I was completely taken by surprise by the turn the book took towards the end, and the main thing that bothered me was not the direction that the action took in the story, but the way the characters reacted to it. I don't want to say too much about the plot twist because I fear I will be giving too much away to those that are going to read the book, but after a certain point, I didn't think that the reactions of the surrounding characters were very realistic, especially in the case of Binhammer. It was almost as if he changed some of the fundamental aspects of his character. After examining it more closely, I also draw the conclusion that perhaps the reader doesn't know the true Binhammer until the ending of the book, and that these revelations about his character had always been there just waiting to be exposed under the right circumstances. Whatever the case may be, I felt that the ending left me a little bewildered, if not taken aback. I don't think that my bewilderment at the conclusion of the book drastically affected my enjoyment of it, and to a certain degree, I think it may have changed or even enriched the complexity of the story, so I can't really say that the ending was a disappointment. Rather I will say that I think it was a little unexpected and made me reshape the terms under which I was reading.

There were a lot of wonderful aspects to this story and I think that if you are the type of person to appreciate witty and satirical writing, this is definitely the book for you. The plot and character creation were first rate, as was the smooth writing. This is not only a great book to lose yourself in, it is a book that will make you think and evaluate the power of interpersonal relationships. A great read.

[Harold Walters · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as entertaining as I had hoped.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

It could get wordy at times, but overall beautifully written and not predictable in the same way of most bildungsroman pieces.

[Griflet · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great writing but too slow for me, no plot :(

[Kristy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have no words for this Lolita-esque, teen gossip novel.

[Amanda Stanzel · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a good waiting-in-line book. It was one I could pick up and put down easily.

[Terry · Rating 1 out of 5]

So many pretentious sentences strung together, so little story.

[Charlotte]

Vindicates the feeling you have as a teenage girl that every adult man is creepy.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first encountered Joshua Gaylord in a zombie novel (this is me so really that fact should not be surprising) however his name then was not Gaylord but rather Bell. It says something about a book when it is so good that you simply cannot help but look up the author and their history. It turned out that Alden Bell had not always been Alden but instead had been Joshua. " The reapers are the angels" also wasn't his debut novel, but rather his second one. All of this of course, had me ordering his original book from Amazon faster then my mother can retract her credit card number.

What came in the mail a few days later was HUMMINGBIRDS, a novel dynamically different then the one that had started me down its path. No zombies exist in hummingbirds, neither does it have active violence and games of cat and mouse. Rather this book takes us to an even darker world then the one riddled with the dead. We find ourselves in an all girls school in Manhattan, and we watch as these childish intellectual girls stumble upon their own maturity and budding sexuality.

Leo Binhammer, the only male teacher in the school's english section dotes on each of the girls in turn and they of course dote on him. He is the Hercules of their small universes, and the only male to breeze in and our of their small "hummingbird" lives. They cling to him and need his approval in the way that all girls do when separated from their paternal figures. Binhammer basks in their attentions, as well as the attentions of the female teachers at the school, joyfully acting out his part as lion at the head of the herd.

However, this all changes when Ted Hughes enters the school. Hughes is an instant threat to Binhammer's empire, and a threat to Bin hammers home life. Hughes presents Binhammer with the male friend that he never had as well as the masculine energy that the school has never had to face. Now the two teacher battle for the girls attention ( as well as the female faculty) in a rush to preserve their own sense of manhood in a world where everything swirls into female voices, female thoughts, and female emotions.

While the teachers battle over their own positions many of the girls are doing the same. Dixie Doyle and Liz Warren, two incredibly different girls struggle to come to terms with the world as it crashes in on them at the end of the senior year. Dixie flaunts her new found sensuality, ripe for the taking even if she does not know how to use it. Liz is the opposite, locking herself within the confines of baggy clothes and poetic words in order to stave off the inescapable sexual awakening that lies at the root of all of her plays.

The novel follows these two teachers as well as the two girls as they go through their final transformations, discovering and identifying with parts of themselves that they did not realize was their before.

This over all was an incredible piece of literature. In fact it was so good that it has been given the privilege of sitting on my favorite shelf ( very few books are allowed this privilege let me tell you) The knowledge and language that surrounds each character is riveting. I have always been a fan of imagery, ( hence my well known devotion to Cormac McCarthy) and this book presents imagery by the bucket loads. My favorite paragraph in the whole novel is when Binhammer first see's and Hughes.

" He'd felt it in the past- that feeling that his insides where melting into his toes, his bottom half filling up with the liquefied remains of his heart, his stomach, his lungs. "

This is just one of the many beautiful lines that weave this story. All I can say is every bit of this book took my breath away. It deserves to be a New York Seller and if it was up to me I would be singing its praise from every rooftop, of every building across this great nation. I will of course suggest it to everyone I know, pushing it onto their laps and hiding it in their stacks of magazines. I will leave it behind in cars, accidentally drop it in the hallway, and maybe even give it as a gift.

I will as always try to force the beauty of it onto others, and be rebuked for the fact that I have once again fallen in love with something that many people do not care a lick about. My dangerous literary obsession has spurred up in time to make me the perfect sales person. I cannot make people read this book but I certainly can say you will not look at relationships or the people around you in the same way after you have finished it. I also promise that this is not a painful book to read, all the lines are beautiful, powerful, moving and completely intoxicating. You will not have to dredge through a single paragraph, but simply allow your mind to go into the characters and let their wisdom and experience fill you.

I hope that If you read this book you love it and I hope that you have a wonderful summer and enjoy all the books that are to follow. Many blessings and summer love

[Bonnie Brody · Rating 4 out of 5]

This debut novel takes place in the backdrop of an elite girls' day school in Manhattan, the Carmine-Casey School for Girls. Here we find a heated and flurrying mixture of adolescent girls, the men and women who teach them, and the occasional visitors from the local boys school.

As in every school, there are stars. The star students here are Dixie Doyle, the lollipop sucking, pigtail wearing popular student with her cadre of followers. There is also Liz Warren, the studious, non-smiling student who always gets 'A's', and is a playwright. There are two male teachers who the young women adore, Mr. Binhammer and Ted Huges (with the unfortunate name of a dead poet). Binhammer has been in the school much longer than Mr. Hughes and they have a competitive relationship for popularity and adoration. As Binhammer says, "Carmine-Casey, of course, is the right place for him. Women to the left of him, women to the right of him. Like Alfred Lord Tennyson in a sorority house. That is, until the new teacher came along".

Binhammer is married and we find out early in the book that Sara, his wife, has been unfaithful to him at a conference. Incredibly, the young man she has her short-lived affair with is none other than Ted Hughes, the new teacher at Carmine-Casey. Binhammer attended this conference with his wife and shortly after they returned home Sara confessed her infidelity. He recognizes Ted Hughes when he first makes his entrance into Carmine-Casey. However, he chooses to keep his connection with Hughes a secret from Sara. How long can he do this without Sara finding out as their are a lot of events at Carmine-Casey that take place in the evenings where wives are expected to attend?

This is a story of women and the men who love and seek to understand them, who watch them flutter and dream, and really, truly LIKE women. "He likes women. He's not just attracted to them - - he likes them." It is also a story of girls becoming women and their travails and kudos as they seek to be admired and taken seriously. This is also a story about the women who teach at Carmine-Casey and their attempts to compete with their male counterparts as they attempt to be noticed and attended to by them. The mingling of the female teachers and male teachers often goes well beyond the confines of Carmine-Casey.

Friendship is another important theme of this book. The students and teachers wrangle to be noticed and listened to by those that are important in their lives. Dixie wants Liz to take her seriously, she wants Binhammer to listen to her. Liz wants to be noticed by Hughes. Binhammer wants to be admired by Ted Hughes. "Ted Hughes, the center of so much feminine attention. Binhammer realizes, embarrassed, that what he wants most is to beat those women and girls at their own game, to be dynamic enough to hold the gaze of Ted Hughes. To be the center of attention of the center of attention. That would be something." Friendships are vied for by students and faculty and they are evolving and changing as the seasons. Nothing at Carmine-Casey is static except the architecture.

The issue of gender is looked at with true puzzlement, as though it is something that is always just beyond our ability to understand. The girls love boys and men. The men love girls and women. However, loving and understanding are two different things. It is easy to love. Understanding, however, is a river that will flow forever, ephemeral and obtuse.

The girls want to be women, the women want to be girlish, the boys want to be men, and the men want to be boys. Carmine-Casey is a sea of wanting to be something else other than what you are. As one girl says, "You think you're going to get a look at something new. You think that the adult world is going to be like Oz - - once you're through the door everything is suddenly going to be in color. You find someone to take you there, and it's like going to a different country. But when you land on the other side you realize you haven't gone anywhere at all. You're back where you started. There aren't any new colors".

The book is a languishing and lovely read about the people who spend their days in the hallowed halls of Carmine-Casey, and sometimes their evenings as well. It is also about what they do when they leave these hallowed halls. It is about friendship, gender, age, love, sex and wanting - - wanting to be something different, something that is colorful and special, that all will notice and admire. They want to be "the voice that rings out clearer through the halls than any bell at Carmine-Casey".

[Judi]

I actually abandoned this book after a few chapters. Having lived through NYC private schools, I just found it too annoying to revisit the people and circumstances.

[Ti · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Short of It:

A perfect mix of wit and self-doubt.

The Rest of It:

Carmine-Casey is a swank, all-girl prep school in Manhattan. There, girls like Dixie Doyle and Liz Warren walk the hallways, somewhat innocent of the effect they have on others but at the same time, aware that somewhere within them, lies the power to take grown men down.

Enter Leo Binhammer. Binhammer, as he is affectionately called, is the only male teacher in the English department and prides himself on the fact that nearly every female he encounters finds him fascinating in some way. His position as stud is challenged when Ted Hughes joins the staff. Ted is also witty with the ladies. So much so, that years ago he had an affair with Binhammer’s wife, Sarah. Although Binhammer keeps this info to himself, the two find themselves jockeying for a favorable position and the result is entertaining and amusing.

This is not your typical prep-school fare. The girls are blown-up stereotypes of what we know popular girls to be, but these girls are innocently charming as well as dangerously sexual and bright. Extremely bright. Young and green but on the verge of becoming something else. They possessed a freshness that I found so appealing.

The men, although full of testosterone and practically strutting the halls, had a vulnerability to them that I found wildly attractive. I could easily see myself as one of their students hanging on their every word. As I was reading, I recalled my middle school days when I had a huge crush on Mr. Taylor, my history teacher. I gazed at him every chance I could and when I had him again as a professor in college, imagine my surprise! College meant I was older and not jail bait. Get my drift? Of course nothing happened but my point is that Gaylord’s depiction of such a formative period was spot on. The fawning, the exaggerated sighs, the doubt that manifests itself in preening and five layers of lip gloss.

The other thing that impressed me is how the author managed to create such flawed, yet likable characters. I don’t recall one character that I disliked in any way. They all had their faults but their vulnerabilities saved them from being vapid, empty creatures. I enjoyed their insecurities far too much but I couldn’t help it, I was sucked into their world every time I opened the book.

I also thought quite a bit about the significance of the title. These girls flit and float around these men as hummingbirds do to flowers, but it’s more than that. To me, the fleeting quality of their youth is what stood out. Their inability to remain young forever and the unknown of what was to come is what occupied my thoughts long after I finished the novel.

I highly recommend this one. It somehow captures adolescence and adulthood in one fell swoop.

For more reviews, visit my blog: Book Chatter.

[Staci · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why I wanted to read this book:

* I was totally intrigued by the dynamics of an all-girls school and seeing it from the male teacher perspective.

What worked for me:

* Have you ever read a book that you really really liked, but yet you had an incredibly hard time describing it well enough to someone else so that they would be excited about it too?? Yep, this is one of those books.

* Call me crazy, but about 50 pages into this book I was vividly reminded of the movie 'The Virgin Suicides.' There is just 'something' about this story involving the intimate relationships of girls and the boys/men that they let into their world which made me draw parallels from that movie to this book.
* I liked the two male characters. Each was very different, yet I felt that they had much in common. I don't want to delve too deeply into their relationship because I truly feel that the reader needs to experience it and draw their own conclusions. I think their relationship is my favorite part of the book.
* The title is apt and just. I thought the author made great connections between the women/girl's behavior and how a hummingbird behaves. There is also this humming throughout the book of something sinister or bad that will occur.
* The crushes on the teachers were spot on. I've experienced a few of them myself, even though I never took one as far as some of the girls in this story, I understood that 'secret thrill' of having the teacher look at you in a way that isn't entirely innocent, but it wasn't perverted either.

What you should do before reading this book:

* Read the P.S. Insights, Interviews, and More...I sometimes like to read this first because I've found that it helps set the tone of the story for me and sort of puts me in the mindset of the author. I loved Gaylord's essay on "Being a Student." I too loved school and learning and had a few great teachers who made an impact on me. For that I will be forever grateful.
* A Soundtrack for Hummingbirds- Listen to the songs (but don't read the reasons why he picked them, save that until after you finish the book) that Gaylord's selected as a soundtrack to this book. I've never heard of any of them until tonight and I can honestly say that it made the book even more meaningful for me. In fact, I loved the songs so much that I'm going to add them to my iTouch soon. Reading his thoughts on why he picked each song allowed me more insight into the characters that he created.

Recommend? I would recommend this one to my friends. It's quirky, weird, but yet excellent. The worst thing that can happen is that my friend doesn't like it as much as I did. But the best outcome is that they really enjoyed it and could actually understand why I had such a hard time putting my thoughts into cohesive sentences!!!

My Rating: 4/5