Changes

Robin works at a university. Olivia is one of his students. Francine works behind the scenes in admin. Katrin is a waitress in a local café, and Ed has a role in a rather unique bit of local government. This bizarre cast of characters are is the stars of ''Higher Ed'', a story which eventually combines all of their lives, and they are assisted by an admirable list of supporting players, too extensive to list here.

The backdrop is a low -end university, probably a former polytechnic, that is having a bit of a cash crisis. The sort where staff reapply for their jobs, and students start to notice that they are somewhat distracted. Each of our stars has issues to address, and this book essentially rotates through these, with characters that start off quite separate but soon become linked to each other, whether they realise it or not.

This is an interesting book in style, language and substance, but I thought it was a little too kooky for my tastes. I felt the short chapters never really gave the characters much chance to develop, as it was time for a scene change and someone else's turn to narrate before they realised it, and some of the character traits such as eating disorders where were thrown in almost haphazardly without much rhyme or reason. Ed, in particular, is an odd fellow and I don't think he added as much to the story as Robin and Katrin, despite being given equal billing.

I also felt the author was trying to be too diverse and pulling in too many cultures into one story, not because London isn't a melting pot of diversity, but because the stories almost got diluted because as soon as we'd discussed Francine's background, we were yanked off to Poland to hear about Katrin's. If there had been a unifying culture to knit them together it might have worked better for me, but instead , it read almost like a statement of facts without any coordination.

[[First Novel by Nicholas Royle]] gives another inside look at the world of education. You might also enjoy [[Escape Attempt by Miguel Angel Hernandez and Rhett McNeil (translator)]].