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Sex, Lies, and the Classroom
Nathaniel O'Connell thought he knew what it takes to survive at Southwest High School, a low-income, ethnically diverse, inner-city school. After seven years of teaching, he thought he had discovered how to get through to these children of poverty. That was before he met Tyreshia, Krysteal, and Ebony, who know how to inflict pain, both physical and emotional. After a confrontation on the first day of school, O'Connell finds himself fighting for his reputation, his job, his family, and his very survival. With his wife, Alexandria, O'Connell must battle the school system, the justice system, and his own weakness, as he seeks redemption. Faced with investigations by the school's administration, the Department of Family Services, and the District Attorney's Office, he must find the strength and the courage to reach out to these same students to save his very soul.
- GenresFiction
277 pages, Paperback
First published December 23, 2009
12 people are currently reading
112 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
January 12, 2012
This story is the crossroad where violent indifference meets disillusion. O’Connell is a teacher in a high-school in the center of a poverty-stricken district. He has a twisted sense of superiority about his seven-year tenure and refusal to give in like his fellow teachers who have left the school for “greener pastures.” His pride is wrapped up in the challenge to save the students by holding them to a high standard. Tyreshia, one of the students O’Connell is trying to save, refuses to be a part of his program and lashes back.
I honestly couldn’t relate to any of the characters. O’Connell appeared arrogant as he saw the school as a challenge to overcome by forcing student to conform to his standards. The students were to do things his way and brook no argument or debate. I felt this was a sharp contrast to his home life where he allowed his young children to walk all over him by interrupting his conversations with his wife and each other. It was if the statement were being made that rules and expectations are meant for the bad kids at school.
The students O’Connell taught who lived in abject poverty were even less relatable. I have never lived feared for my life walking home from school. I was never propositioned with drugs or prostitution. Going home meant a safe place. I can only imagine the horror of this reality. I could, however, feel the ring of truth to this tale. When you have several generations caught in the loop of ignorance, poverty, and pain, blame seems a momentary relief. O’Connell personified the act of life holding them down. The choice to attack him was a cry for some measure of control in the lives destined for failure.
I generally don’t read books of this kind because of the harshness about life it brings to light. That being said the story was compelling, original and gripping. I just had to know what decision Tyreshia was going to make when O’Connell’s fate rested in her hands.
This is a great for read for those that enjoy a story with one dramatic punch after the next.
I honestly couldn’t relate to any of the characters. O’Connell appeared arrogant as he saw the school as a challenge to overcome by forcing student to conform to his standards. The students were to do things his way and brook no argument or debate. I felt this was a sharp contrast to his home life where he allowed his young children to walk all over him by interrupting his conversations with his wife and each other. It was if the statement were being made that rules and expectations are meant for the bad kids at school.
The students O’Connell taught who lived in abject poverty were even less relatable. I have never lived feared for my life walking home from school. I was never propositioned with drugs or prostitution. Going home meant a safe place. I can only imagine the horror of this reality. I could, however, feel the ring of truth to this tale. When you have several generations caught in the loop of ignorance, poverty, and pain, blame seems a momentary relief. O’Connell personified the act of life holding them down. The choice to attack him was a cry for some measure of control in the lives destined for failure.
I generally don’t read books of this kind because of the harshness about life it brings to light. That being said the story was compelling, original and gripping. I just had to know what decision Tyreshia was going to make when O’Connell’s fate rested in her hands.
This is a great for read for those that enjoy a story with one dramatic punch after the next.
June 14, 2013
The book was intreguing in every sense of the word. Halfway through the book, my heart felt for the main character, O'Connell who was a teacher at a low income high school. On the first day of school he made three enemies which quickly turned into 30. Thirty students who were determined to give his life hell all because he wanted them to learn and to be quiet and to respect him in the classroom. Over the course of the book, he ends up losing everything until he and his wife becomes extremelly nice to one of the three students and helps her out in ways that her real friends could not.
January 3, 2015
Depressing
I enjoyed reading this book. I hoped it would have ended differently. It showed the truth of what such accusations, whether true or not, can do to one's reputation. I kept hoping for some type of turnaround for the teacher, but it just didn't happen. It was depressing because things such as the occurrences in this book happen in real life to good people all of the time.
I enjoyed reading this book. I hoped it would have ended differently. It showed the truth of what such accusations, whether true or not, can do to one's reputation. I kept hoping for some type of turnaround for the teacher, but it just didn't happen. It was depressing because things such as the occurrences in this book happen in real life to good people all of the time.
August 30, 2012
It started out very rough with language and such but has a story to tell. It is not an ax ample of anyone and/or everyone who works in a school system but could very well happen. Good read in my opinion.
Read
October 27, 2012Free on kindle. As an educator, I struggled with some aspects of this book. I decided to put the aspects beyond my own experiences aside and take the author's journey. Devastating and ended up being well worth the read.
Read
March 11, 2011self-published. made interesting by the perils.
September 20, 2012
good book
January 14, 2017
Compelling Read
I feel it earned 4 stars from me because it was not a typical book. The events that happened to O'Connell is heartbreaking to read through and to imagine everything unraveling just because of one person, who both started and ended the tirade, is intense. How little people seem to think of kindness and believe that it does not make a difference. This novel is prime example of showing kindness despite being hurt by the person, by still helping them through their daily struggles. A very worthy read.
I feel it earned 4 stars from me because it was not a typical book. The events that happened to O'Connell is heartbreaking to read through and to imagine everything unraveling just because of one person, who both started and ended the tirade, is intense. How little people seem to think of kindness and believe that it does not make a difference. This novel is prime example of showing kindness despite being hurt by the person, by still helping them through their daily struggles. A very worthy read.
July 11, 2022
This book was a train wreck. I should have passed it by with only a passing glance, but instead stopped to gawk. I had sympathy for the protagonist as a father, but I could never get behind him as a good teacher. I couldn't get past his his first day of school act, specifically designed to antagonize his students. Also, as a school employee, nothing pisses me off more than quizzing students over items not actually taught in class!
September 6, 2019
This was the most poorly written book I have ever read. Since the copy I read had a different cover, I am hopeful I had the first edition and the second is better edited. The book premise had potential but all in all was highly predictable, and the poor writing could not be saved.
January 2, 2016
Sex, Lies, and the Classroom is all about the struggles of students and teachers in rough neighborhoods. The schools there are often rampant with early pregnancies, drugs, violence, and all manner of problems that come with low-income families. The book attempts to tackle this issue by showing what it looks like from the viewpoint of a teacher (O'Connell), and that of his student (Tyreshia) who is dealing with being a young mother of a premature baby. Unfortunately, that goal is the only positive thing I have to say about this book, so if you are looking for happy, flowery discussion, it's cool to move along.
The most egregious problems with Sex, Lies, and the Classroom are repetitive dialogue, ham-fisted cliches and mirroring character arcs, and ridiculously poor plot "twists" (if they can be called that).
First, the dialogue. Wilcox repeatedly does a scene, with all of the students speaking in what is supposed to be representative of a realistic "low-education/high-poverty black student" and then will transition a chapter or so later with the teacher and his wife discussing the exact scene, often nearly word-for-word. Unnecessary repetition doesn't even begin to describe the way this book handles itself. When the slang from the students isn't present, the teacher and his family have dull, circular conversations, often ones adding nothing to the overall plot. It's a slog.
Second, and my least favorite aspect, mirroring character arcs and the cliches that accompany them. It is one thing to have similarities between characters, but a completely different (and unacceptable) matter to mirror details of their backstories exactly. Without spoiling too much, let's just say that O'Connell and Tyreshia have a major thing PRECISELY in common, and it is infuriating, and lazy of Wilcox. Other character pairings have this same issue, such as a social worker and Tyreshia dealing with abandonment. To make matters worse, almost EVERYTHING in this book is a cliche and/or trope. White teacher vs black students in inner-city schools? Check. Drugs, violence, teachers that don't care, students with early pregnancies? Check times four. Everything was canned, and it was brutal to read through as a result.
Third, and final, the plot twists that weren't. Student goes after teacher, then changes mind when teacher is nice, then back and forth and so on it goes, ugh. Other premature children for Tyreshia to compare hers with and learn from. Good samaritans stepping in to save the day, impossible niceness followed by ridiculous rage-filled blowups. Even introductions of new characters led to some of the most obvious plot developments possible. NOTHING was a surprise in this book. So disappointing.
However, no bit of Sex, Lies, and the Classroom was as terrible as the ending. Again, I'll avoid spoilers, but a complete character change for a MC occurs and it is in the worst way. It left me disgusted and furious, and most of all extremely saddened for Wilcox thinking that ending was acceptable in any way.
Overall Sex, Lies, and the Classroom was a forest fire of a book, it started badly, kept getting worse, and by the end it was a full-blown disaster area. The characters were stereotypical shells, the plot random but still somehow obvious, and the writing poor and circuitous. Don't pick this one up.
The most egregious problems with Sex, Lies, and the Classroom are repetitive dialogue, ham-fisted cliches and mirroring character arcs, and ridiculously poor plot "twists" (if they can be called that).
First, the dialogue. Wilcox repeatedly does a scene, with all of the students speaking in what is supposed to be representative of a realistic "low-education/high-poverty black student" and then will transition a chapter or so later with the teacher and his wife discussing the exact scene, often nearly word-for-word. Unnecessary repetition doesn't even begin to describe the way this book handles itself. When the slang from the students isn't present, the teacher and his family have dull, circular conversations, often ones adding nothing to the overall plot. It's a slog.
Second, and my least favorite aspect, mirroring character arcs and the cliches that accompany them. It is one thing to have similarities between characters, but a completely different (and unacceptable) matter to mirror details of their backstories exactly. Without spoiling too much, let's just say that O'Connell and Tyreshia have a major thing PRECISELY in common, and it is infuriating, and lazy of Wilcox. Other character pairings have this same issue, such as a social worker and Tyreshia dealing with abandonment. To make matters worse, almost EVERYTHING in this book is a cliche and/or trope. White teacher vs black students in inner-city schools? Check. Drugs, violence, teachers that don't care, students with early pregnancies? Check times four. Everything was canned, and it was brutal to read through as a result.
Third, and final, the plot twists that weren't. Student goes after teacher, then changes mind when teacher is nice, then back and forth and so on it goes, ugh. Other premature children for Tyreshia to compare hers with and learn from. Good samaritans stepping in to save the day, impossible niceness followed by ridiculous rage-filled blowups. Even introductions of new characters led to some of the most obvious plot developments possible. NOTHING was a surprise in this book. So disappointing.
However, no bit of Sex, Lies, and the Classroom was as terrible as the ending. Again, I'll avoid spoilers, but a complete character change for a MC occurs and it is in the worst way. It left me disgusted and furious, and most of all extremely saddened for Wilcox thinking that ending was acceptable in any way.
Overall Sex, Lies, and the Classroom was a forest fire of a book, it started badly, kept getting worse, and by the end it was a full-blown disaster area. The characters were stereotypical shells, the plot random but still somehow obvious, and the writing poor and circuitous. Don't pick this one up.
September 22, 2012
A white-male high school teacher (O'Connell) in a poor, black school district thinks he's in control, until three of his female students are pushed too far. They hate him so much that they make up lies about sexual misconduct and convince 27 other students to do so as well. O'Connell finds himself arrested, charged, and in front of a judge and jury. Meanwhile, he continues to help one of the three girls get support for her premature daughter. Eventually the kindness kills her and she confesses to making the whole story up.
The language was difficult to follow, but it made for a nice easy read.
The language was difficult to follow, but it made for a nice easy read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 4, 2013
This was actually very good for a self published book just a few things that could have changed in editing that bothered me. The way all of the students talked was so over the top it was almost offensive. I know there are places where ebonics rules but come on, not every person in the ghetto puts an s after every word. There was also a high usage of exclamation points where it was silly or the characters were supposedly speaking quietly or seriously. Other than that, it was a free book and it was an entertaining story. I sucked it down in a day, so the author did his job.
December 22, 2017
Teacher fear or neglect????
The students have won; I will have no control over them and will attempt to exert control no more. The one thing I have learned from being a father is that you cannot make anyone do anything they do not want to, so I will not even try. These are not my children; I was not present at their births, or the first fourteen years of their lives. I do not know them and I refuse to get to know them.
The students have won; I will have no control over them and will attempt to exert control no more. The one thing I have learned from being a father is that you cannot make anyone do anything they do not want to, so I will not even try. These are not my children; I was not present at their births, or the first fourteen years of their lives. I do not know them and I refuse to get to know them.
October 22, 2014
An interesting and somewhat scary portrayal of what can happen to a teacher when his students misinterpret his actions. He is a teacher in a highly challenging high school. On the first day of school, several of his students get mad at him and decide they need to get even. Their plan results in his world being turned upside down and inside out.
Want to read
August 20, 2012$0.0
August 18, 2013
This book is not the most well written book. But the common theme throughout the book that your actions will hurt others is so true. This book spoke to my heart since I am a teacher.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews