Exit Tickets is a grounded and unflinching look at a school year that feels both specific to 2007 New York City and familiar to anyone who has worked inside a stressed public system. Chanko captures the emotional weight teachers carry and the complicated dynamics that form when vulnerable students collide with adults who are grieving or overwhelmed. I admired the honesty in the multiple points of view and the way the novel shows how small choices ripple through a community that is already stretched thin. The atmosphere is vivid, the characters feel real, and the story raises important questions about responsibility, care, and the limits of good intentions. While the reading experience did not fully land for me on every level, I appreciated its sincerity and the effort to portray the difficult spaces where education and humanity meet.

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This is a work of fiction that reads, in many places, like a memoir. It is a recounting of one man’s experience as a New York City school teacher in district 75, the portion of the school system that admits and teaches those students who are significantly disabled such that it is deemed that they need a setting that is different than regular public schools. This particular teacher becomes embroiled in a scandal concerning a student.
This was a well written novel with multiple perspectives. We see things, of course, from this teacher’s perspective but also from that of the student and others in the system. I think that was a wise choice, as it provides some authenticity into some of the teacher’s actions rather than possibly having an unreliable narrator who sees things only one way. The chapters were clearly marked so that the reader know who is speaking (one of my pet peeves is when it takes too much work to figure out who is narrating).
This is a debut and I think particularly for a fledgling author, this was a valiant effort. The characters were compelling and while flawed, they seemed authentic and good, even when making bad decisions. An issue that I had with the novel, which is more my own personal problem but which will impact other readers, is that it was difficult to read without inserting my own experiences. Like the author, I was a NYC school teacher for many years (twice as long as he was) and not only that, I taught Special Education, started in district 75 and was a teaching fellow (and likely not much earlier than he was). There were moments where I found myself questioning authenticity because of my own experiences, though admittedly they could have just been different. Taking off that hat though, and substituting a normal reader without such parallel experiences, there were details which seemed authentic but which would have made my eyes glaze over. In other words, there were things that were relevant to my experience but which readers without such experience might find tedious or more than they could comprehend. I wonder how much interest this book would hold for those who are not teachers and wonder where the author will go beyond this. This novel has what I think is a limited audience and in order for Mr. Chanko to have continued success, he will need to go beyond this setting.
This said, I think this was an excellent debut and I look forward to reading his sequel. Thank you to NetGalley and Luminaire Press for providing me with a copy of this novel. All of the opinions expressed herein are my own. Three and a half stars rounded to four.

Exit Tickets by Kenneth Canto is a character-driven debut novel told from multiple perspectives, set in a New York City public school over the course of a year. The story centres on Martin, a new teacher dealing with personal grief, and Kandra, a troubled but perceptive student whose fixation on him becomes increasingly unsettling.

The novel is strongest in its characterisation. The shifting viewpoints work well, offering insight into students, teachers, and administrators, and creating a convincing portrait of the emotional and moral pressures within the school environment. The dialogue and psychological detail feel depressingly authentic and carefully observed.

Overall, Exit Tickets is a thoughtful and promising debut.