Accelerated, Bronwen Hruska
Accelerated, Bronwen Hruska
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Accelerated

Author: Bronwen Hruska

Narrator: Mauro Hantman

Unabridged: 10 hr 35 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/10/2012

Synopsis

Every afternoon Sean Benning picks up his son, Toby, on the marble steps that lead into the prestigious Bradley School. Everything at Bradley is accelerated—third graders read at the sixth grade level, they have labs and facilities to rival most universities, and the chess champions are the bullies. A single dad and struggling artist, Sean sticks out like a sore thumb amongst the power-soccer-mom cliques and ladies-who-lunch that congregate on the steps every afternoon. But at least Toby is thriving and getting the best education money can buy. Or is he?When Sean starts getting pressure from the school to put Toby on medication for ADD, something smells fishy, and it isn't the caviar that was served at last week's PTA meeting. Toby's "issues" in school seem, to Sean, to be nothing more than normal behavior for an eight-year-old boy. But maybe Sean just isn't seeing things clearly, which has been harder and harder to do since Toby's new teacher, Jess, started at Bradley. And the school has Toby's best interests at heart, right? But what happens when the pressure to not just keep up, but to exceed, takes hold?When things take a tragic turn, Sean realizes that the price of this accelerated life is higher than he could have ever imagined.

About Bronwen Hruska

Bronwen Hruska worked as a journalist and screenwriter for twenty years before becoming a publisher. Her articles have appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, More Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, Cosmopolitan, Village Voice, and San Francisco Chronicle, among others. She’s sold an original screenplay and original television pilots, even though, alas, none of them were ever produced. She lives in Manhattan with her two sons.

About Mauro Hantman

Mauro Hantman has been a resident actor at Trinity Repertory Company in Providence, Rhode Island, where he has appeared in over fifty productions since 1999. He's the artistic director of the Providence Improv Fest and a founding member of Improv Jones, an improv troupe formed in 1992.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Barbara on January 18, 2014

The best part of this novel is its accuracy in it’s portrayal of schools convincing parents that their Primary School-aged children need the overly prescribed ADD and ADHD medications. In this novel, it’s the private schools that encourage parents to get their children medicated so that the standard......more

Goodreads review by Mme on January 27, 2013

Interesting premise. Main character well-enough drawn. But VERY poorly edited. Limited vocabulary -- people "whine" too much. Misspellings galore: for example, a song does not have a baseline; it has a BASS LINE. A large group of beings is not a hoard; it is a HORDE. Inconsistencies in narrative: Wh......more

Goodreads review by Debra on January 23, 2016

How far would you go to help your child get ahead at school? This is the question being put to Sean Benning. His son Toby is in third grade at the prestigious Bradley School. The outrageous tuition is being paid his wife's parents. When the wife takes off, Sean is left to pick up the pieces and tak......more

Goodreads review by Laura on December 04, 2012

The best thing about this book is the author's name. Okay, maybe it's not that bad but it certainly could have been better. The sex is gratuitous, and unbelievable, the plot is so thin that it's see-through, and the ending is pat and trite. In addition, Hruska throws around a lot of factoids about A......more

Goodreads review by Orland on December 30, 2012

Very much the work of a "Lifetime movie" scriptwriter...the "big crisis" occurs exactly 2/3 of the way through. The research is almost literally cut and pasted in, in the form of article titles, etc. The "reveal" of the private school's dark secret is preposterous, as is the ridiculously happy endin......more

Quotes

“Riveting…Bronwen Hruska skewers the parenting habits of affluent Manhattanites…As knowing as it is entertaining.”  O, The Oprah Magazine

“[Hruska] has woven an engagingly believable narrative with just the right amount of snark. This compelling story of high-pressure early academics in Manhattan will appeal to readers of Tom Perrotta, Jennifer Haigh, and other authors whose novels about families in a particular segment of society illuminate the larger human condition.” Library Journal (starred review)

“In Hruska’s witty, piercingly relevant debut novel, she pulls back the curtain on the lengths to which people will go to produce successful children…Hruska perfectly captures the prep school milieu that crackles with rumors, money, and the hunger for success, while creating a wholly sympathetic father-son relationship that ranks love over Ivy League potential.” Publishers Weekly

“Hruska…knows her territory. She paints a convincing portrait of a regular guy trying to make it in competitive Manhattan, and the scenes between Sean and his love interest are sexy and fun to read.” Booklist

“What starts off as an entertaining romp through the world of privileged parents and private schools spins itself into a harrowing tale. A deftly, unexpectedly terrifying first novel.” A. M. Homes, author of May We Be Forgiven

“A fast-paced, crystal-clear, and funny exploration of a subject that, thanks to Hruska, can finally be openly talked about. A kind of Kramer v. Kramer meets Erin Brokovich in a dark dystopia with baby pharmaceuticals packed in lunch boxes set in the most treacherous world there is: New York City private schools.” Jennifer Belle, author of High Maintenance and The Seven Year Bitch

Awards

  • Indie Next List
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