Around Harvard Square

I have no time to read books for pleasure, but this was a blast from the past, and a page turner that I couldn’t put down! While reminiscent of the college experience on the cusp of Y2K, the discourse at the intersection of race, gender, class and technology, where we find ubersectionality, transcend time and location. Using humor and wit, C.J. Farley moves us effortlessly through these provocative complexities and to the beat of all the hip hop classics.

So I was on board with this book thinking it was weirdly profound for the time period. It's set in the late 90s/2000s.Then I found out it was written in 2019. Now all I can focus on is how absolutely no one, NO ONE, in the 90s talked like this, thought like this, acted like this. It reeks of virtue signaling instead of being an authentic social commentary

This book started great! The characters were fine and detailed. And I enjoyed the details of the different social groups. I had a hard time putting the book down. The ending however, was just drab. I’d definitely read more from the author I. The future though.

From the start, this book showed a lot of promise but then it seemed to veer horribly off track. By the time I arrived at its unsatisfying end, I was confused and uncertain as to what its actual point was in the first place.Tosh is a former high school basketball star whose career is cut short by injury. However, thanks to his intelligence, he's able to secure a spot at Harvard University, on the cusp of Y2K. In order to further secure his future prospects, he decides his best bet is to land a spot on Harvard's much maligned, but equally glorified, humor magazine The Harpoon. However, once he's begun his quest, the doors of reality open wide and he discovers the more sinister side of Harvard's elite.This is a satirical look at how privilege is pervasive and often generational. It also shines a bright light on how being a minority is always a roadblock to respect--even when your place on the economic spectrum is established.Each of the people Tosh meets along the way--from his eccentric, pot-smoking, roommate (Laos), to Meera (who's apparently asexual but whose asexuality isn't respectfully given much of an explanation), to "The Chair" (a mentor of sorts)--is considered a minority in one way or another. Their place in the world is one of an "outsider", and the reasons for that are considered legitimate, as far as the "establishment" is concerned.One of the more important characters is one whose always referenced in the second person, to the point of my often being confused as to when she was actually present, and she becomes a sort of siren for Tosh; in that her presence is at times his motivation for taking serious jumps in his own development.There are tons of characters in this book and each espouses his/her own degree of wisdom regarding the way the world works and how each particular cog fits. That said, the journey from beginning to end gets muddled, around the halfway point, and morphs into something that feels a bit like a crusade or a tribute.I have no idea.What I do know is that switch took away from what began as something promising.In the end, it's written intelligently, with a strong message about sexuality, privilege, race, and poverty, but it tried to execute far too much with too little and that made for something that didn't translate well on the page.

AROUND HARVARD SQUARE by C.J. Farley.I received an ARC (Advance Reading Copy) from Akashic Books for an honest and unbiased review.“Tosh Livingston, superstar student-athlete from small-town USA, thinks he’s made it big as a rising freshman at Harvard University. Once on campus, he’s ensnared in a frenzied competition to win a spot on Harvard’s legendary humor magazine, the Harpoon. Tosh soon finds that joining the Harpoon is a weird and surprisingly dangerous pursuit.” (Press Kit)AROUND HARVARD SQUARE is a coming-of-age story; a story about friendship; a story about class and elitism; a story about colleges with their faults and hypocrisy and scandal laid bare. It is very self-deprecating, humorous, witty and fast-paced.It is filled with interesting and bizarre characters - Tosh ‘Tech’ Livingston, Lao, Meera, D2 - Dorian & Davis, Professor Hyacinth ‘The Chair’ Bell, Tilfer Peerpont, Spooner Peerpont, Morven S. Morlington (editor of the Magenta), Festus the Hummingbird and Zippa (Zipporah Windward) of ‘ram pa pa pam’ fame.It is filled with interesting and bizarre terms and events - Ubersectionality, Final Clubs, Comps, Compers, the Harpoon (a Harvard student-run publication), pranks gone amuck, illegal disposal of sewage, suicide, corruption, inept college programs and personnel, vandalism, great wealth, prejudice, racism, sexism, student activism and inhumane treatment of hummingbirds.There were many witty and memorable quotes:“Lao gave us a look so sheepish it could have been sheared.” (Loved that one)“I had arrived at the one place where I could be exactly the person I wanted to be: anybody else.”“That’s how institutions survive - they change people who think they’re changing the institution.”I think I am a bit too old to be able to understand this book. There. I’ve owned up to that. I mean, I get that it is part farce. I know what a farce is - a theater piece marked by humorous characterizations and improbable plots; a ludicrous show; a mockery. And I get that it is part satire - irony, derision, or caustic wit used to attack or expose folly, vice, or stupidity. And I get that it is comedy. What is the book when it is a sum of all three parts?For me, it was part laughing out loud, part confusion, part admiration of the author’s cleverness and imagination, part sadness and part irritation.You see, just when I was beginning to ‘get’ what was going on and understand the characters better and glad that that smug creep, Spooner Peerpont was ‘going to get his’, I realized with a sinking feeling that I had been royally, mercilessly, Harpooned. And it hurt.I don’t want to spoil the ending. It is a bit complicated (or it was for me).I did like reading about the author, C.J. Farley. He is a very renowned author and editor.I did enjoy reading AROUND HARVARD SQUARE and would recommend it. I can say that my freshman year at a midwestern state university was absolutely nothing like this! (I might be glad about that!)

The first half of the book was really fun and the last half lagged. However, this author is very funny and smart. I will definitely read his work again in the future.

If you want to believe that your entire life is destined to be victim hood this is a good place to start. The author cannot manage to get out of his own way and the plot points feel so forced and cliche.

An intelligent, witty and poignant page-turner that also makes you think about social issues of today. I hope there's a sequel so we can see what the characters do as sophomores!