Description
Fiction. LGBTQIA Studies. In New York City, college isn't just paid for—it's bought. ADMISSIONS draws back the veil of privilege on New York's affluent applicants and the families that will do anything to secure their futures. The right high school, the right SAT tutor...everything counts. On top of that, there's the application itself. Describe yourself in one thousand words.
Uptown. If Gabrielle Levy had to describe her daughter Arianna in one thousand words, her first words would be "brilliant" and "unstoppable"—the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Gabrielle will do anything to make sure her daughter's future is wrapped up with a bow, preferably in Princeton colors. She's even hired one of New York's top SAT tutors, Randall Miller. When she learns that another top student at prestigious Valhalla High might be applying to Princeton as well, she knows there's trouble. In her mind, Mandela Robertson has one uncontestable edge over Arianna: race. Diversity, rather. To secure her daughter's place at Princeton, Gabrielle formulates a plan that will change her daughter's life—and her own—in ways she never dreamed.
Downtown. SAT tutor extraordinaire Randall Miller isn't feeling so extraordinary. His job at the tutoring company is bringing him down, his novel won't write itself, and The One isn't anywhere in sight. At least he has a steady client at Valhalla, Arianna Levy. When another Valhalla student, Legion Cartwright, falls into Randall's lap, he can't believe his luck. But Legion needs more than SAT prep—his father let him play the stock market with his college tuition and he lost everything. After meeting Randall—and seeing the way he looks at him—he knows this tutor might be the solution to all his problems if he plays things right. As Randall finds himself falling for Legion, his novel finally starts to take shape around their impossible relationship. When Legion raises the stakes, demanding the ultimate sacrifice, Randall can't refuse. If nothing else, he needs to know how his novel ends.
In an astonishing, challenging debut, Eric Sasson fashions a kaleidoscopic narrative of refracted perspectives that converge into a portrait of a flawed system and those it would break or mold.
Author Bio
Eric Sasson's short story collection MARGINS OF TOLERANCE (Livingston Press, 2012) was the runner-up for the Tartt First Fiction Award. He is also the author of the novel ADMISSIONS (Braddock Avenue Books, 2018). His stories have been nominated for the Robert Olen Butler prize, the Pushcart prize, and one is in The Best Gay Stories 2013. For three years, he wrote "Ctrl-Alt," a column on LGBT culture for the Wall Street Journal, and he is a frequent contributor to Vice, The New Republic and GOOD magazine, among others. His articles have been featured on Meet the Press and Morning Joe Scarborough, and in 2017, he was part of the team that was awarded the National Magazine award for Personal Service. He was born and bred in Brooklyn, where he still resides.
Author City: BROOKLYN, NY USA