Title: Break the Glass
Author: Olivia Swindler
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Pages: 295
My GoodReads Rating: ⭐
Nora Bennet’s boss, Sal Higgins, has been fired from his position as athletic director at Renton University. She’s interim AD now, and she knows that she has to work harder to prove herself. Sal is accused not only of an alcohol addiction but also of asking professors for favours to get the athletes to pass their subjects.
Anne is an intern in the sports
department. Hired by Sal, she finds herself beginning work on the day that Sal
is fired, when the department is beset with chaos.
Alexis is a teacher in the English
department. Her boyfriend, Beau, is the assistant coach. She and Beau are both questioned
by investigators from the NCAA.
Lauren Higgins is blamed by her husband,
Sal, for all his indiscretions. She also finds herself under the scanner of the
NCAA investigators.
Break the Glass refers to the glass
ceiling broken by Nora as she works in sports as athletic director, a male-dominated
world. It’s also the glass behind which the fire extinguisher is encased, a
reminder of the resolution to be brought about when disaster strikes.
The first chapter of the story began on a
high. It brought out the fact that women have to work twice as hard but don't receive the appreciation. But after that, this book was a letdown.
The story is written in the first person
past tense PoV of Nora, Anne, Alexis and Lauren. Four PoVs is too many, and we
don’t find ourselves caring for any of them. There is nothing of note in any of
the PoVs, no action or plot development that takes the story forward.
It doesn’t help that all four PoVs sound
exactly the same with not much of a voice distinguishing one from another. Even
the vocabulary and expressions used are exactly the same.
The four characters are flat caricatures,
who take themselves far too seriously. Even the manner in which the resolution is arrived at is bland. One of the characters has a brainwave that hints at a
resolution.
There was no point to Anne telling us
that she was of Moroccan origin. The detail made barely any impact on the story
and felt forced.
All the characters, major and minor
alike, are somehow linked. Nora’s husband, Nathan, is the dean of the English department
where Alexis teaches. Alexis’s boyfriend, Beau, is the assistant football coach,
where Nora is the AD. Alexis’s cousin, Mason Pont, is the journalist who breaks
the story. Joel Bonne, the president of Renton University, is a very dear
friend of Lauren. Also, Lauren’s nephew Graham works in the University’s compliance
department.
The narrative, more tell than show, is taken
forward at various points throughout the day by the four PoV characters. It is interspersed
with the occasional news report. There are grammatical errors which mar the
reading experience further.
Even though this book was about football,
the author didn’t describe a single game in a manner that would convey the excitement
of watching a live match. It was all about the fans, the spectators, the buzz
in the stadium.
I struggled with this book, wanting to
set it aside several times. It was always more of the same. Nothing by way
of plot progression, until very late in the book. For two-thirds of the book,
it’s the slow investigation and how the characters react to it. The dialogues are a repetition.
I finally gave up at the 75 percent mark
and jumped to the end.
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