Dr. Edith Vane is an English Lit Professor trying to navigate academic politics, sick buildings, sick colleagues, her soon to be published book and hares. The book follows Dr. Vane during the fall semester as she begins the semester full of hope. There is a lot of humor among the horror. I enjoyed reading the book and the ending did surprise me. Enjoy

This book was hilarious and such a great send-up of the academic world! It felt a bit like a cross between Jane Smiley’s Moo and Alice in Wonderland.

Dr. Edith Vane and the Hares of Crawley Hall by Suzette Mayr was a really fun read. The novel takes us through an academic term at the University of Inivea (a fictional Alberta-based school). Edith is a university professor who is struggling in her career and believes that her fortunes are about to change. She finally has a new girlfriend, a friendly therapist helping her sort out her life, and a major publication (a book) to add to her yearly review, which will save her from a career “refresh” at the hands of her new Dean. Of course, her term does not turn out as she had hoped.

Edith felt a bit like a lovable loser. I hoped to cheer her on, but instead was forced to cringe repeatedly when things just didn’t work out as hoped. If you are someone who is interested in the academic world, then this book will reveal a humorous version of the worst of that world. If you are an academic, then you will recognize quite a lot of these characters (as I did). There are the back-stabbing colleagues, hapless colleagues, the Dean who wants to refresh the university, the disgruntled undergraduate and graduate students, and the post-doc trailing his supervisor. There is quite a lot more going on than the regular university, though—hares have overrun the campus, Edith’s office building is falling into a giant sinkhole, there is endless asbestos abatement and things falling from ceilings, and strange smells and sounds at Crawley Hall.

“Everything good at the U of I?” asks a former colleague of Edith’s.
No, says Edith. “It’s a horror show.”
“So nothing’s changed then, he says.”

this is an absolutely fantastic academic novel set somewhere in coldland, canada. it's not really magical, not in any tangible sense of magic (i'm saying this because the synopsis can be misleading on this point). what it is, it's funny, it's on the money, and it's brutal. if you are in academia you will want to quit, and if you are on your way there you will want to change career. if you are not in academia, believe every word. this is why we are all so fucking stressed out.

well okay the people portrayed here, every last one, are pretty miserable -- students, administrators, and faculty alike -- and for the most part the people in academia are more decent that this, especially the students! suzette mayr has taken all that truly really sucks in academia and stuck it in this book.

there's quite a bit of physical comedy, and, for some reason, a whole damn lot of bad smells, depicted hilariously. the eponymous protagonist, a caribbean canadian (i think; she is dark-skinned but are we told which way-station her ancestors made their way to canada?) lesbian, is the mandatory loser, which is kinda of shocking, because academic novels don't pick on brown-skinned lesbians as the designated schlemiels. unless the author is one herself.

race or sexuality are never made a big deal of. gender a bit more. mostly, though, what are targeted here are the massive administrative pettiness, the disregard universities have for the well-being of faculty, draconian anti-tenure, pro-productivity programs, ridiculous, newfangled practices adopted from the business world, and the lives academics lead that cause them to be always sick and show up for class anyway because time off for sickness is really not part of your contract.

some gentle fun is poked at the intense scrupulousness professors put into their work in spite of the massive lack of reward that generally comes with such scrupulousness -- we are all a bit too obsessed, a bit too ethical.

and then there's the rat race, the back-stabbing, the bizarre colleagues, the desperation over prestige or the lack of prestige, and this love for books you once had that has been killed by mountains of papers and paperwork.

i hope suzette mayr has tenure because her administrators might not quite like this book of hers. i loved it so much, i think it's simply the best academic novel ever written. and mayr is not a novice, so the style and the writing are really quite beautiful and perfect.

i loved the end beyond words. enjoy y'all.