Book Review: The Gifted School

Hi there, friends! Today, I am sharing a book review on The Gifted School by Bruce Holsinger. It was published in July of 2019. The novel was brilliant, and I can’t wait to share my thoughts with you. You can buy the book here.

The story takes place in the prosperous, liberal, high-achieving, fictional town of Crystal, Colorado. It follows the lives of five families, four of whom have been friends for over a decade. The fifth family cleans the houses of some of the other four families. The author wrote the story in the third-person omniscient point of view through one member of each family’s perspective. The title of each chapter tells you whose perspective you are going to hear. I thought it was nicely done, and I loved how one person from each family made you feel connected to all five families.

The community of friends are well intentioned, but when a gifted magnet school opens up for all local communities—not just Crystal, all of their kids are competing for a spot. Or maybe it’s just the parents competing, because most of the kids seemed to feed off that energy. And, of course, in the land of Ivy league degrees and old money—all of their kids are gifted—right? Even if their parents hire the best tutors to ‘teach’ their kids how to ace the gifted test, they are still gifted, right? High expectations for their children and individual ambitions end up colliding in a mess of emotions, old dark secrets, and special surprises.

Though we hear the perspectives of members from each family, the most amplified voices come from Rose and Beck. Rose works in a hospital where some kids fight to live another day, yet she still obsesses over her daughter Emma’s entrance into the magnet school. She is especially consumed by competing with her best friend Samantha’s daughter, also named Emma. Beck is characterized as a self-focused, alpha male. We have all met the type, right? His first marriage failed, and his second one seems to be on that same path, but his twin boys are talented and need a strong father figure. I won’t say anymore, because you need to read the book to find out.

My favorite character is the son of the cleaning woman, and grandson of the family member whose perspective we read in the novel. His small, service-oriented town falls within the qualified region of testing for the magnet school, and to say the boy is gifted would be an understatement. The eleven-year-old boy is an intricate paper folding (origami) genius. In my opinion he has to be the most gifted kid in the whole novel. But truly, within every kid, like every person, lives a unique gift, even if not the kind of gift required to get into a magnet school. And shouldn’t we all be grateful for our unique gifts? And shouldn’t we all be proud of our children’s unique gifts? 

The author held my attention with the suspense, intelligent writing, and a whopper of a surprise ending. I cannot recommend this book enough friends—5 out of 5 stars.

I will say goodbye with a quote from the book that made me chuckle: There is something so tantalizing about having a gifted child that some parents will go to almost any lengths to prove they have one. (Sheila Moore and Roon Frost, The Little Boy Book)

Hope you enjoyed this book review about The Gifted School. Will you be scooping this novel up for your next read? Have you read The Gifted School, and if so what did you think of it? Do tell, I would love to know.

See you again soon at my blogspot for the next bookish topic. Keep reading, fellow bookies.