Teachers--and the gifts they bring to their students and vice versa--reside at the center of The Optimists. This eccentric, character-driven story is written by Brian Platzer (Bed-Stye is Burning; The Body Politic), who based his protagonist on a real-life teacher and mentor who changed his own life.
Rod Keating was once a dedicated, creatively inventive, inspiring and joke-telling 8th grade English teacher at St. George Episcopal School in Lower Manhattan. Clever and perceptive--a real stand-out with the students--Mr. Keating always dreamed big. However, when he suddenly becomes infirm at the age of 70, he commits to writing a novel about his life—namely his teaching career and the impact of one very gifted (yet often troubled) student, Clara Hightower. Mr. Keating saw something special in Clara when they first met in the late 1980s. He watched her develop from a bright, conniving child, accelerate academically in high school, and witnessed her success in becoming a star of Silicon Valley, an animal rights activist, and finally, a terrorist.
A staggered timeline and
brisk pacing mark Platzer’s lively, stream-of-conscious-style narrative. A cast
of well-drawn, off-beat supporting players deepen the tender wit, heart, and
intimacy of this poignant, original story that probes the meaning of life and
death and how ordinary people often connect in extraordinary ways.
The Optimists by Brian Platzer
Little, Brown and Company, $29.00 hardcover, 978-0316576956, 304 pages
Publication
Date: February 24, 2016
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more about Brian Platzer HERE
