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Cum Laude

Review

Cum Laude

It’s easy to think that Cecily von Ziegesar’s first
book for adults is merely Gossip Girl gone to college. But
in many ways it’s better. The novel takes place in the
’90s, before Bill Clinton was elected and before its
characters can rely on text messages and gossip blogs to do their
dirty deeds.

CUM LAUDE begins as a story about Shipley Gilbert, a poor little
rich girl on her way to Dexter College, an affluent liberal arts
school in small-town Maine. Determined to be what her prodigal
brother, Patrick, was not when he attended Dexter (he has
since disappeared without finishing school), the shy Shipley just
wants to make some friends and do well in school. She has no idea
that she will be breathtakingly beautiful to all the guys she
meets.

Enter Tom and Nick, Shipley’s dorm neighbors, and Eliza,
her roommate. The four students bond quickly on their orientation
camping trip, when they steal a professor’s car and end up at
the Gatz house, home to Adam, another Dexter freshman; his younger
sister, Tragedy; and their hippie parents. It’s freshman
year, of course, so all six get drunk together until their
androgynous professor manages to find them and gives them the
closest thing to detention you can get in college --- none of them
are allowed to leave campus for a week.

The rest of the book continually changes perspectives to show us
what freshman year is like for each of our five heroes. Tragedy, in
the meantime, makes friends with a homeless young man she meets at
Starbucks. Shipley learns how hot she is and soon has a boyfriend,
while Eliza becomes a nude model for an art class in an effort to
be the most interesting person she can be. Adam spends his time
mooning over Shipley while acting in a play with her boyfriend, and
Nick just tries to make his college experience worth
remembering.

You almost don’t notice that CUM LAUDE takes place in the
’90s, though von Ziegesar inserts little clues, like denoting
that the school is receiving its first Starbucks rather
than its 101st, and then she brings up an oncoming election and
casually drops that students are discussing Bill Clinton and Ross
Perot. From political awareness to sexual awareness, this book is
an excellent depiction of what the first year of college often
brings to people. Still, there doesn’t seem to be any greater
meaning behind any of it.

In some ways, the novel is no better than the worst parts of
Gossip Girl; namely, adoption is treated unrealistically,
and von Ziegesar’s understanding of the middle class is fairy
tale-like. She also sets her characters in worlds where there are
no people of color to be seen. However, it’s also better than
the best parts of the original Gossip Girl, and
that’s nothing to sneeze at. The lack of 21st-century
technology is refreshing because it forces the characters to take
more action, and the plot twists and the ways that they meet each
other are fun and clever. You just need to get past the book cover,
which resembles a YA novel, and have faith in its plot and
characterization.

CUM LAUDE is a low-key summer read, good for a couple days of
lounging around poolside. I wish its plot had been more cohesive,
but I definitely had fun with it.

Reviewed by Sarah Hannah Gómez on December 28, 2010

Cum Laude
by Cecily von Ziegesar

  • Publication Date: June 1, 2010
  • Genres: Fiction
  • Hardcover: 272 pages
  • Publisher: Hyperion
  • ISBN-10: 1401323472
  • ISBN-13: 9781401323479