Final Grade: D-

I gave up on this one long before I quit reading it. The Writing Class  by Jincy Willett is a story about a single, middle aged woman names Amy who was a hot shot young writer getting published right out of the gate at the age of 22. After he initial burst of success she had hit a block and jus as fast as she became a successful writer, she became an out of work, single, middle aged, unattractive woman who lives alone with her dog.

To make a living she began teaching a fiction writing course at a local college. Normally the classes were filled with a mix of old women and their romance novels, young hot shot guys with their love of James Patterson and the occasionally aspiring children's book author who never had kids. The only thing that all her classes had in common over the years was that very very few people in them had any actual talent and she spent her semesters faking enthusiasm and counting down the weeks.

Until a different kind of class came along. Amy found that this time she actually had a mix of people who kept her interested and had some talent. Things were shaping up nicely through the first couple of weeks until one among them started to play some pranks that bordered on inappropriate and dangerous. Dubbed 'The Sniper', Amy and the class begin to try to figure out which among them was playing these pranks and causing a disturbance.

This is when I quit. First of all I was really bored with the characters and didn't feel invested in them or their stories. Secondly, I think the term 'sniper' is so glib and annoying it pissed me off every time I read it. I don't know, maybe it's because I have never been a fan of the mystery genre or if I don't care for the 'Who done it' type story line but  I was not into this one at all. Digging through the last twenty pages that I decided to read was like pulling out eyelashes one by one.

I can't remember a time when I stopped reading a book this far into it but my 'to be read' stack is so deep that I realized I didn't have to waste time on books I didn't like so I stopped. I pulled my bookmark and went into my office to grab my next book.

There was nothing inherently wrong with the story other than I was really bored. If you like mystery stories I think the hunt for the dreaded 'Sniper' may keep you into it. Although I will say that there are so many books out there to we cannot possibly hope to read them all so I would bypass this one. They can't all be winners.

In this writing class, everyone got an F.