Review "Developing minds" by Jonathan LaPoma

Synopsis:

Developing Minds: An American Ghost Story follows a group of recent college graduates who struggle with feelings of alienation and their addictions as they try to survive a year of teaching at two dysfunctional Miami public schools.

A poetic and insightful coming-of-age novel, Developing Minds is centered on 24-year-old Luke Entelechy, an aspiring writer who sees his creative output suffer when he begins teaching at one of Miami’s most challenging middle schools. As the year progresses, however, Luke begins to relate to the neglect and abuse his students suffer, and is faced with a “haunting” decision: continue to let his dark past destroy him, or rise above the struggle to realize his potential as an artist and a "real" human being.

Equal parts disturbing and humorous, Developing Minds offers a brutally honest look at the American public school system and the extreme measures many teachers take to cope with working in it.

Review:

I started reading this book with some high expectations and I must say that those expectations were met.

The book is about a professor named Luke, who is struggling to be successful in the school he's teaching. He’s got a job in an F school - a problematic school – where he found the most unexpected students that try to be tough on the outside — not because they want, but because they are also struggling at home and trying to fit in the society.

As we follow Luke's path as a professor, we also watch the struggle within himself. Luke feels that his life deserves more than that. He wants to be a writer, but he's not sure that's the right path for him — which is interesting to see because while reading, we notice that he is not being himself. He's having doubts about following his dreams. And that’s something that happens to a lot of us, every day.

What I liked the most about the book was to watch the professor's evolution path: the apprehensive way he reacts to the students in the beginning, and then, as the time goes by, the way he starts understanding their feelings, life experiences, and how they must live with it every single day.

The book reveals American's schools reality, particularly the struggles some teachers have to endure in order to teach and the way that influences their own life.

It was a good and easy reading. I loved how the description is so straightforward and how everything is raw, blunt and direct. 

I rated it 4 stars.

I highly recommend it.

Review by Helena - Sem Tudo 

Our greatest thanks to the author.