admission // julie buxbaum

published: 2020
pages: 304
readd: 3/10-11/2020
book: 22 in 2020

"An important part of growing up is letting yourself see the world around you as it truly is, even if you don’t like what you see or your own complicity in it.”

SYNOPSIS
It's good to be Chloe Wynn Berringer. She's headed off to the college of her dreams. She's going to prom with the boy she's had a crush on since middle school. Her best friend always has her back, and her mom, a B-list Hollywood celebrity, may finally be on her way to the B+ list. It's good to be Chloe Wynn Berringer--at least, it was, until the FBI came knocking on her front door, guns at the ready, and her future went up in smoke. Now her mother is under arrest in a massive college admissions bribery scandal. Chloe, too, might be facing charges, and even time behind bars. The public is furious, the press is rabid, and the US attorney is out for blood.

As she loses everything she's long taken for granted, Chloe must reckon not only with the truth of what happened, but also with the examination of her own guilt. Why did her parents think the only way for her to succeed was to cheat for her? What did she know, and when did she know it? And perhaps most importantly, what does it mean to be complicit?

THOUGHTS
I was surprised at how funny this book was at parts. not because I thought it wouldn't be, but because of the subjects. I also wasn't expecting it to be a bit heavy at times (deportation and "privilege" due to money but also white privilege) even giving the fact that it has to do with a real life, on going, current event.

I couldn't eat this book up fast enough!
I read it in 2 days at work and I kept telling myself to stop so I could enjoy it at home and get some work done but nope, I just kept going.
and the subtle shaaaade. aaahhhh. I loved the fuck out of it.

That being said, this was not my favorite JB book.
I don't know. I just didn't care for this story. (that sounds harsh cus I did care for it but i guess I'm just trying to say is that it didn't resonate with me).
It was....off for me.
Even though I ate it up it just didn't work for me in the end. I have no emotional connection to this book. but to be honest, I think it has to do with how it ends, how it resolves. all of that for...that? I don't know....I can't put my finger on it but it just wasn't for me.

....

this book is brought to you by the word: culpability.

for someone who can't score "good" on her own, on her own SAT after like 3 different tries, she sure is using words that had me reading this side by side with my dictionary. It kinda takes away from her whole "not being able to get a good score on the SAT because she doesnt get it" deal. I can chalk it up to her studying all the time so okay, maybe then, but still! phew.
the last time I had a dictionary next to me while reading a book was when I read Chelsea Handler's newest book.
I'm choosing to believe that she's just lazy because she's coming off smarter than what she's leading us to believe otherwise. I've never even heard of half the words she's using. and not only that but her position in the whole narrative...i think homegirl is just lazy as fuck. and there's nothing wrong with that, we don't all need to go to Harvard. I know. this story, along with the real life one, just shows what it means for parents to have kids who are getting the best of the world just because they can.
Privilege.

....

Characters:
I was sad over the end of a relationship in this story, I won't say whose because I don't want to spoil it for y'all and I understand why it ends the way it ends because the issues are bigger than the relationship itself but part of me wishes that they would have found a way back to each other because it could've been a huge teaching/learning moment for those involved.

Isla!: Tbh in the beginning I wanted to choke her out a little bit. she was kinda annoying. but in the end, homegirl comes through and if I'm ever in any kind of trouble, i want her on my side all the way. I also understand her feelings throughout the story.
100% valid.

Hudson: i feel like maybe it felt like the story wasn't going to have enough umph if it was based only on the admissions scandal so they threw his ass in but honestly, i would've preferred if they left his ass out.
I get his role towards the end buuuuuut nah. I didn't care for this dude at all. I wouldve been 100% okay if he was never in the story.

There are others but, again, I don't want to spoil it.

....

Overall, I think what doesnt work for me is the end.
I think maybe I'm overthinking it and not allowing myself to take it for what it is. especially because the real life trial is still going on. but that's 100% completely on me.
It was interesting to see how Chloe had no idea about what her parents were doing and how that whole issue develops as the story progresses. 

If you take everything away from this story and just focus on how it's her parents that want this, it makes you think deeper about the pressures that you can put on your child just because its what you want and what you think you deserve because of your place in the world...

anyway, I'm glad I scored an ARC.
this isn't out until May so i'll just do the most basic spoiler ever because really, this follows the real life story so its not like you're missing much. 

if ya end up reading it, let me know what you think! 

kthxbyye!

#bookslesreads on IGSPOILERSthe mom is adamant of pleading not guilty. 

her lawyers had planned for her to be the first to plea since she was the most famous but as they were holding that meeting someone else plead first further fucking her over. 

Hudson is the son of Chloe's dad from his first marriage. he's a drug addict. he only comes around to fuck shit up. 

in the end, the mom ends up turning herself in because Hudson has a bad relapse that lands him in the hospital and no one knew for a while if he was dead or alive (the parents were on a trip away for the charges at another court and the nurses wouldn't tell Chloe anything). once they finally make it in and see him, she realizes that she needs to turn herself in asap so that she can stop wasting time not spending time with her kids and get her sentence over with. 

what was supposed to be 40 years was set to 14 months. 

Chloe ends up going to Santa Monica College and her sister Isla makes it into Yale. 

and das it.