"Accelerated-A Novel" by Bronwen Hruska was chosen as one of Oprah Magaine's best new books for October 2012. And it's now available as a downloadable or CD audiobook.
When his wife leaves him, Sean Benning finds himself a single father raising his 8 year old son Toby in a culture he is unfamiliar with and unprepared for: the upper class world of a private upper-east side Manhattan school (paid for by his in-laws.)
Toby and his Dad are close, so Sean is baffled when the school suggests that Toby may need medication for Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) to help him "concentrate" and improve his school performance. Sean sees Toby as a normal, energetic third-grader, and he's always questioned the hyper-competitive atmosphere of Toby's school and the pressure placed on grade-schoolers to perform like Ivy Leaguers—which is what they all must become.
Fortunately, Sean finds an empathetic ear in Toby's teacher Jess, and when Toby's best friend is discovered unconscious in a school stairwell, together Sean and Jess uncover the unsavory truth behind the prestigious school's formula for success.
"Accelerated" is Hruska's first novel; prior to publishing it she worked as a journalist and screenwriter for twenty years. Her articles have appeared in the New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, More Magazine, Entertainment Weekly and Cosmopolitan, to name just a few.
Hruska has said that her inspiration for the novel came from an experience in which her own son was placed on medication for ADD at his school's request. About a year later, the medication didn't seem to be working, and she questioned the necessity and frequency of the ADD diagnosis.
"It's just too many kids for this to be a disorder. You've got to start to wonder what the barometer for normal is", Hruska has said.
"This was a terrific book about officials at a high-achieving school that pushes their students to use Ritalin and other attention-enhancing drugs. I'd have given it 5 stars but I felt that the ending was too easy. I'd have liked to see more detail, more drama there."
—
Bobbie (4 out of 5 stars)