An Expensive Education - Nick McDonell

4 out of 5 stars.

I loved this book! This has to do with the fact that it takes place in an elite grad school, that it deals with Africa and politics, and that the main character is really witty and smart. I might not have liked it so much had it not had all the ingredients of my dream life -you are now warned!

Susan Lowell -who will remind most readers of Samantha Powell, award-winning author and Harvard professor- just received a Pulitzer price for her book on Hatashil, a Somali rebel leader. Meanwhile, Michael Teak, a 25-year old Harvard graduate, goes into a village to meet the Somali leader, and unknowingly sets up a series of events that will turn his life, and the lives of all those involved, amock. The village gets bombed -and the US blames Hatashi for this. Lowell, who described Hatashil as a peaceful leader, might see her Pulitzer price pulled. Teak has to figure out what happened and who was behind the bombing. Other characters are David Ayan, Lowell's Somali student, Razi, Lowell's friend and journalist, or Jane, David's girlfriend and journalist for the Crimson, Harvard's newspaper. All these lives are intertwined and linked somehow.

I read this book in an afternoon. I found it clever both in its description of the politics of Harvard or the US toward Africa but also in its characters' development -though I wish Nick McDonell had spent more time on his character. When I finished the book, I felt that it went too fast. All the facts were presented but I wanted more out of the characters. At the same time, I also felt that this lack of development was perfect the way it was, since everything (from facts to people) seemed to be so superficial, almost on the surface. I really enjoyed this book. Again, people who do not share my interests in education and African politics might not enjoy it as much.