Home School - Charles Webb

Home School is the sequel to Webb's much celebrated novel, The Graduate. The book takes place 15 years after Ben and Elaine's fateful bus-escape from her almost-wedding to Carl. They are living in New York with their two elementary school aged sons whom they home-schooling. When the local school district threatens to force the children to enroll in public school, Ben and Elaine call out to Mrs. Robinson for help. The majority of the story is told through dialogue - which may be helpful if anyone decides to turn this one into a movie - but unfortunately, it means there is no description of these characters and how they came to be here from their awkward inappropriate beginnings. There is reference, but hardly any acknowledgment, of the affair between Ben and Mrs. Robinson. This past incident - and the characters' inability to address it made many of their current interactions unbelievable. I found all of the characters irritating and self-centered, but often for no explicable reason. In the 40 years between The Graduate and Home School, with characters the American public has been so enamored with, I would have hoped Webb could have written something a little more substantial.