Access The Swallows Curated By Lisa Lutz Shown In Hardcover

never read anything by Lisa Lutz, but after devouring The Swallows, I think I may need to catch up on her previous works.
When new teacher, Alex Witt, begins her tenure at Stonebridge Academy, she starts noticing some secretive activity between some of her students and the faculty at large.
There's mentions of a social hierarchy between student classesthe Ten, as they like to be called are the social elite and there's one for each year in the school.
Alex also starts finding out about a secretive gathering of male students that keep mentioning "The Darkroom", Although teaching is not her passion, Alex stumbles on disturbing facts that she cannot allow to keep hidden, Why is Stonebridge Academy trying so hard to keep the statusquo when there's serious allegations and controversies happening under their discretion

Before I get any hate, I know that the story in The Swallows is a little all over the place at times.
We had some irrelevant POVs throughout the story, the ending is very melodramatic and overthetop, and we had a lot of mainish characters that served no purpose.
HOWEVER, I really was enthralled throughout the storyfrom beginning to end, I could not put down The Swallows even if I tried, I wanted to find out how Alex was going to deal with the conflict at hand which I cannot say or get into any further, and I wanted to also see how the students were handling it as well.
The Swallows falls in between adult and young adult fiction, which worked for me, The subject matter was very not young adult, but at the same time, the narrative felt geared for a younger audience at times.
Whatever that means, it worked for me, I usually do not enjoy young adult novels because they tend to gravitate towards ridiculousness, but it worked with The Swallows.
Overall, The Swallows is a very compelling and real depiction of how society has, and still is, in the stone ages when it comes to gender equality.
Perfect for anyone who wants a novel reflecting student life right before the metoo era book takes place in, I think this book will have a lot of differing viewpoints, but everyone will have an opinion,

In a perfect world, they wouldnt need to fight, Thats not the world I live in, You can keep telling girls to be polite, to keep a level head and itll all work out in the end.
But dont be surprised when they figure out that youve been feeding them lies, Dont be alarmed when they grow tired of using their voices and playing by your rules, And dont be shocked when they decide that if they cant win a fair fight, theyll just have to find another way.

I received an ARC from Ballantine via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, I find myself reading more and more fiction by women and POC about topics such as

feminism and racism, Call it my personal reaction to the political events of the last few years, Some of these works have been better than others, of course, The Swallows has been one of the best Ive read,

As I was reading the story, I was already trying to think about how itd summarize it in this review when, in a rather meta moment, one of the characters did it for me:

“Son, youll never get anywhere if you cant do a proper elevator pitch.
Youre burying the lead. Its a twisted noir about a bizarre sexual competition that has become the backbone of the social hierarchy at a longstanding boarding school.
”

That quotation really sums things up quite nicely, A new teacher, Alex Witt, immediately senses that theres something deeply wrong at Stonebridge Academy, Alex is a wonderfully written character trying so hard not to care this time, shes sarcastic, wry, and damaged, Alex inspires a group of girls, led by Gemma Russoanother sharply written characterto try to change the social order in the school once and for all.
The plot builds nicely, wellpaced and believable, until events begin to spiral beyond any of the characters control,

I can see from other reviews that this book was not loved by all, but I think The Swallows is a gem, turning the metoo movement into a noir thriller.
Highly recommended.

P. S. The blowchart is so perfect Ballantine should print it on posters and give them to every high school on earth.
Im going to blow the bank and give thisjust because I enjoyed it so much, Several other and better reviewers have expressed my exact feelings about this huge shemozzle of a book: its characterheavy and a bit long, and the plot is over the top the humour was uneven and the multiple points of view sometimes confusing.
However the book is more than the sum of its parts and I really did get a kick out of it.


I identified strongly with Gemma, the orphan who dragged herself out of one shitpile and into another, I wanted her to win no matter what, and I did end up getting my “what.
” I guess I should have cared more about that one guy, but ya know, it's a book, not real life, and he got what was coming to him, as grandma would say.
Justice must be seen to be done, My own takeaway from this is that selfishness and narcissismbychoice come with a high price, and the power of working together to succeed is priceless.


I enjoyed Alexs interaction with her sketchy parents, especially her birthday gift to Len plots for his next novel.
Im not a writer but I got a kick out of that,

The Blowchart alone deservesstars, It needs to be the basis of compulsory study in every school, Lisa Lutz, Im looking forward to your TED Talk on this, Im signing up all my granddaughters and grandsons now, The Swallows was ridiculous and overthetop and I loved it, If you're looking for Sex Education Netflix in book form for the MeToo generation, this is your book, Just make sure you go in wanting a bit of a romp, because I think if taken too seriously, The Swallows won't land.
It's a fun book.

It's multiPOV,st person with helpful chapter headings to let you know whose POV you're in, I only had to go back to remind myself who I was with once or twicehonestly it's a case where it could have easily been in third limited and felt the same the whole book has a punchy adult literary tone that really works.
Alex Witt is our primary main character, the daughter of a famous crime fiction writer who fled her last teaching job in scandal and has landed at Stonebridge, a middling boarding school with a dark secret.


The secret is sex, The boys are garbage and treat the girls like sex objects, There's this whole notsosecret society thing where the boys have a digital locker room of sorts where they rate girls on their blowjob skills, and the girls who find out don't like it one bit.
Our primary teen character is Gemma Russo, rebel with connections to the popular set called The Ten who is out to dismantle the whole system.
We also get POV chapters from Finn Ford, douchebag teacher/novelist, and Norman Crowley, techny nerd kid who helps fuel The Darkroom but feels bad about it.


Both the female protagonists read like Manic Pixie Dream Girls if you only concentrate on the top level details.
Alex is brusque but sexy, witty, doesn't care about trivial bullshit, etc, She's the ultimate Cool Teacher, like Dead Poets Society but asomethingwoman who gives no fucks, Finn immediately sexually objectifies her, thanks, his POV is there in large part to contrast to the actuallyfleshedout women and demonstrate gender bullshit it works, Gemma is pretty but actively hides it by styling herself punk/emo, she's smart and badass, always has a quip.
She's honestly a carbon copy of Maeve from Sex Education, and I even pictured her looking like her, hence why I drew that comparison.
Alex and Gemma are stereotypical "strong female protagonists," who in a different book by a different author with a different POV character male, like Finn would come across as very different charactersthin, shallow.
But they really work in Lutz's hands, Both women are complex, vulnerable, and, for me, relatable, Even though I have almost nothing in common with either of themI related to their spirits, and their palpable anger.


This is really a book, wrapped up in a hooky commercial and slightly ridiculous plot, about anger, About rape culture, MeToo, modern feminism, It presents everything mostly without explicit commentary, which I appreciated, It was there on the pagefemale characters Witt's age or older who enabled the rape culture at the school, even blamed the girls.
The men who participated and the men who did not, The spread of girls and their varying reactions to the sex games going on, One woman Witt's age approximatelycomments that they had it worse as teen girls, Witt responds that, no, she thinks these girls have it worse, It was straightforward, just there on the page to chew on, I liked it. Ultimately, I do think the book is a reflection of rape culture, rather than an answer to it, I didn't leave the book feeling anything would really change for the antagonist characters,

But then, okay, as I mentioned the boarding school stuff is RIDICULOUS, And I love a good ridiculous boarding school book so I liked this one, I almost rolled my eyes a few times though, From "The Ten," which posits the popular crowd in each grade was comprised of the "top ten" students, but not based in academicsjust at any given time in each grade there were ten kids who appointed themselves the most popular and they all hung out Really a stretch for me.
And then the Darkroom and the editors and the Dulcinea, Well, ok. The Darkroom I believe. But every time they referred to themselves as the editors I just deep sighed, The Dulcinea had a great payoffI mean it's the crux of the whole book,

But I'd just like to remind everyone thatof teens are not having sex, Today teens have LESS sex than in the past, So this is why you have to kind if disengage your reality filter and read this as a fun romp, because the sexual antics are a bit overthetop.
A LOT of these girls are having sex from ageor, which I think is meant to be sex positive but just feels statistically ridiculous Every single girl depicted in this book is having sex.
No one is queer. Many students sleep with teachers, I mean, it's fine, but just something I thought of a lot reading it, In that sense, it definitely feels properly like an adult book which it is, rather than a YA,

Anyway, I loved reading it, Highly recommend! A toxic ball of nastiness pervades a prep school and it's girls v boys in a twisted yet terrifyingly realistic scenario.
Full review near UK publicationth Sept, sitelinkBook Blog sitelinkBookstagram

This waspages about girls at a boarding school going all Sally FieldNorma Rae with shaved heads because theyve somehow fallen into a secret game of giving blow jobs for points to all the popular boys at the school who have a yearly championship bracket.


All of the teaching staff knows kind of, but turn a blind eye becauseI guessrich parents Or college admissions Or reputation Or whatever else rich people care about.
Im still a little fuzzy on why fullgrown, educated adults dedicated to Americas youth would be all elbow patches and tweed and please ignore our student sex ring.
But whatever.

When new teacher, Alex Witt, gives the first assignment to her creative writing class, she becomes very suspicious of the number of girls using the assignment to wish that blowjobs would cease to exist, so she starts a little investigation.
Soon, there are secret videos of her meant to be threats, footprints around her cabin like shes being stalked and all the other teachers are like, “Blowjobs What blowjob competition Stop talking about blowjobs! What even are blowjobs Girl, you are wild!”

And Ms.
Witt is all



Ms, Witt decides to lend her feminist expertise to the girls who have secretly mobilized to bring down the blowjob nonsense.
Witt even creates a handy flowchart for them about when/how you should give a blowjob, She calls it a Blowchart one star has been awarded in my review for this, and it basically goes: “DONT GIVE BLOWJOBS UNLESS YOU WANT TO.
”

I feel like I should have been able to clearly see a good point in this novel about sex culture and consent, but it remained too subtle throughout.
Were talking about underage girls and blackmail and manipulation basically between children, and yet nothing really comes of it.


Genrewise, I dont know why this is labelled as a mysterythriller, but its not, Parts of it feel like a contemporary trying to make a serious point about patriarchy and sexual freedom, and then other parts feel like its written about teenagers for teenagers.


My second star is given for the blowjob scene with the hot peppers because that was fucking hilarious.


Otherwise, this is a pointless book for me, It didnt make any solid points, The plot was full of logic holes and its not the mystery/thriller it was marketed as,

So. fart noises

stars, Having read and enjoyed a book by Lisa Lutz before I was really expecting to really enjoy The Swallows however that really didnt turn out to be the case.
Just picking this one up I began thinking it has a bit of an identity problem as it felt like a cross between an adult novel and a young adult read.


The main character in The Swallows is actually an adult, Alexandra Witt, who has found herself in the position of needing a new teaching job.
This brings Ms. Witt to Stonebridge Academy where after some odd negotiations she ends up with a job teaching creative writing and we as readers get our first glimpse into Stonebridge not exactly being a top ranked academy.


Now as our new teacher sulks into her new position she was not expecting she tosses a random writing prompt at her new class.
Well, after being told that the assignment could/would be anonymous some of the students gave answers which lead their new teacher to being concerned with what goes one behind these walls.


Now, as I mentioned I struggled with not calling this one young adult with it being set in a school and then having a good portion of the point of view being handed to the students.
It also had such a variety of characters in this story it never really became one I got overly connected to them either and would even mix the POV up even going back to adult.
When finished this one ended up with an overall meh feeling somewhat burying its better parts,

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley,

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