Ben Jameson is fresh out of graduate school when he lands a teaching job at a small private school in Northern Virginia, Glenn Acres Preparatory Academy. It doesn't matter that he didn't pursue education as a course of study while in college, and never really thought of himself as a teacher—the school needs an English teacher and he needs a job. He doesn't think this is what he'll want to do for the rest of his life, but he's fine with that.

He finds the atmosphere at Glenn Acres a little unorthodox, but that doesn't bother him, because his teaching methods aren't quite by the book, either. (At one point the head of the school has to remind him that he needs actual lesson plans, because the state mandates students learn some specific things, not just participate in discussions about writing.) Ben is tremendously idealistic, it's not long before he thinks this job may be a noble calling of sorts, one that will allow him to make a difference in young people's lives.

When Ben is told by his colleagues that one of his students is being physically abused, and encouraged to watch over him, Ben cannot sit idly by and allow this to continue to happen. Even though his colleagues tried unsuccessfully to intervene in the past, Ben believes he must get involved and he must save this boy. Instead of helping, he makes even more of a mess of the situation, causing trouble for the school, and causing him to have to act contrary to what he feels he should do if he has any hope of keeping his job and keeping the student in school.

This idealism happens a few more times for Ben, once in the case of a withdrawn, mute, and psychologically damaged student, and another time in dealing with a precocious troublemaker who is over 18, but is bound and determined to graduate anyway, even if she hasn't to date. In each case, Ben feels compelled to do the right thing, even if he has no idea what the right thing really is, and even if his blundering actually makes things worse rather than better.

"This is not a story about teaching. Nor is it about education, or school, although most of what happened started in a school. This is a story about caring a little too much; or maybe about not caring enough. I really don't know which. The only thing I know for certain is that I wish a lot of it did not happen."

Reading other people's reviews of Robert Bausch's In the Fall They Come Back leads me to wonder if I completely missed the point of the book, because I really didn't like this at all. While I saw the point he was trying to make relative to the fact that the best of intentions is often not enough to change things the way we want to, and how idealism can sometimes be a harmful thing, I found much of this book tremendously predictable, and many instances in which if people had just said what they meant, or what needed to be said, chaos in some cases might be avoided.

I also found the description of the school and its administration to be very far-fetched; while this private school might not have had to hew to all of the same rules and regulations public schools did, I found it hard to believe that a school which allowed two aged dogs to do their business in classrooms would actually be able to operate. I found many of the characters to be unlikable, even the main character, whom you just couldn't believe could be so stupid over and over again, yet his desire to give, to make a difference, blinds him.

Bausch is a storyteller with a strong body of work, yet I found this book to be one of his weakest, plus it runs far longer than it should. However, since many other reviewers have loved this book, you may want to see if you hew closer to their opinions than mine, which might be the mark of a clueless reader rather than an astute one.

NetGalley and Bloomsbury USA provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!

This book was soooo good. So impressed. Likable characters, but you can see obvious flaws. Hightly recommend this book.

STRONG 5 STARS.....
      This book was my 'best friend' while I worried about Hurricane Irma, this past week. 
When I took worry breaks for our daughter in Saint Petersburg knowing that the 'eye-of-the-serge' was coming right through her neighborhood- 
"In The Fall They Come Back" kept me fully entertained!  Our daughter contacted me this morning- on this 16th anniversary of 9/11.  She's safe. Thankful and grateful-I'll always associate Robert Bausch's novel with my experience of Irma - the fears I went through and ultimately the miracles of the largest Hurricane in America and memories of  9/11. 
As I said -- this book, 'my friend', was wonderful 'comfort-company' to me.  I enjoyed it very much!!! 

I'm a sucker for a good story in a private Preparatory school - and this novel more than satisfied my cravings.   

This story begins in the fall of 1985--shortly after Ben Jameson, 25 years old, graduated college. He got a teaching job teaching English in Virginia at a school called Glenn Acres....a private Preparatory school.  Ben taught at Glenn Acres for two years before becoming a lawyer... which was his plan from the get-go. At the time when Ben wrote his book -he had already been practicing law for 20 years for the federal government in the antitrust division.  Even after 20 years he still had regrets about what happened during those two years and was still contemplating the consequences from those years. 
He 'underlines' that his story is not about education, or school, or teaching even though what happened started in a school. 
He says: "To say this story is about teaching is exactly the same as saying the adventures of Huckleberry Finn is about the Mississippi River". 

I WAS HOOKED FROM THE START..... 
     I was never bored reading this book -- but I wondered how long it was -- as it seemed to take me longer to read than I thought it would. I wasn't sure if it was me with my 'worry-wart'  breaks - or if the book was just long. Its 521 pages.  
Regardless, even during a traumatic week in life, this book had me hooked and involved!!!! 

Our teacher, Ben was 'involved', too.....with his students!  Ben's girlfriend Annie, whom he lived with would press him with questions such as, "why did he feel it was his job to help his students personal problems? Annie accused Ben of having a Christ Complex...a label she gave Ben for wanting to help make situations better. 

The headmistress of the School, Mrs. Creighton, wanted to know why Ben felt he had to teach about the holocaust and death in his writing classes and "wing it' rather than stick to the writing topics in the text. 
Mrs. Creighton wanted Ben to show her a summary on definitions, and descriptions, and comparison contrast, on analysis, and in proper grammar. 
Heck, Ben was already exhausted from so many papers to read each night from his students - more work was the last thing he wanted. I laughed silly when Ben said,
"I mean, I could say predicate nominative, but I have no freaking idea what it was". 
I laughed - because I sure know I can't write...but to see an English/writing teacher admit their limitations- made me not feel 'too' bad!  Ha! 

This Ben guy made me laugh....( but he was sincere too). 
Watching  the hot water he would often step into was almost painful.   

But.....Ben's intentions were good.  He really 'did' want to help his students lives be better.  He took a special interest in students George Meeker and Leslie Warren, and Susanne Rule. 
George was the the kid who often got picked on. Kids called him Gay-Org.....( after hearing George's mother call him that - in front of his peers).  WE ALL WANTED TO HELP GEORGE!!!  As for his parents ... that's another story! 

Leslie - is another can of worms. She's the most drop dead beautiful girl in the entire school.... ( teachers and students can't seem to look away). Leslie also has a promiscuous reputation... drugs ... is savy & smart.... and the faculty has warned Ben to stay far away.  She's trouble!    

With Susanne --broken and voiceless -Ben gave her poetry.

There are soooo many terrific scenes in this book. I enjoyed many of the classroom discussions.  One was about heroes and villains. The interactions between then and the students were great. They looked at how literature is about everything....history, 
psychology, sociology, philosophy, are anthropology, music, biology, mathematics, and about being human.  What made the discussions so engaging were the characters themselves having them!! 

There was another great discussion about affirmative action with one of the senior teachers who called himself Professor Bible, .... with Ben, and Leslie.  Thought-provoking dialogue looking at both sides of the issues.  

There are other compelling characters: the headmistress, the faculty- the students - etc. and two dogs: SOUTH and NORTH ..... named after the Civil War: South Carolina and North Carolina. 

Oh... and Professor Bible teaches an awesome 'chalk' trick!  I'm dying to try it!  

THE STORYTELLING IS WONDERFUL! 
Many flawed characters ....precisely what I loved!!!
Boundaries and moral issues get explored.
I found this novel be intellectually stimulating-- with a kick-up-your heels joy!!!

Many Thanks to Netgalley, Bloomsbury, and Robert Bausch