Education and seduction collide in Brooklynite’s new novel
Brooklyn BookBeat
Brooklyn writer Susan Choi, the Pulitzer Prize and PEN/Faulkner Award-nominated author of “A Person of Interest” and “American Woman”, has just released her latest novel, “My Education” (Viking), which has garnered much attention and praise from esteemed writers and critics.
The story begins in 1992 when Regina Gottlieb begins her graduate education. Even before arriving on campus, she’s been warned about a particular professor – the handsome, brilliant Nicholas Brodeur – who has gained notoriety among the female population for his supposed sexual deviance. Against her peers’ advice, Regina becomes Brodeur’s TA and is soon inextricably entwined in his world. But it is his wife, Martha, who ultimately complicates Regina’s circumstances.
Tracing Regina’s mistakes from the bedroom and beyond, Choi’s novel examines the complex intersection – and divergence – of desire and responsibility.
This summer, Choi will appear in Brooklyn to read from her novel, first at powerHouse Arena in DUMBO (July 17), and then at Greenlight Bookstore in Fort Greene (July 30). Brooklyn Eagle recently checked in with the author, who spoke to us how mothering and teaching have informed her writing.