I don’t think I’ve ever done any of these, so I figured I’d give it a shot.
A bit about my book (blurb attached in the spoiler):
-Literary fiction in a high school setting
-Prominent themes include what it means to be a morally good person, the boundary between satire and reality, and idealism vs. cynicism
-Starts relatively cheerfully, but things go downhill
Blurb
Frank can think of no better way to prove his classmates have no moral compass than to write a manifesto satirically arguing for the virtues of selfishness; when this attempt at shining a light on his classmates’ behavior is taken at face value, he creates a club to spread his teachings, hoping his ironies will be more obvious on a grander scale. The authoritarian rule of law he establishes meets little resistance from his club members, even as he wonders privately when they’ll have enough and choose a more virtuous path. While Frank earnestly seeks to help his classmates, his methodology proves misguided in practice, and Frank must find where to draw the line before he permanently ruins his beloved high school. But then again, being a cult leader is too much fun to pass up…
You Must Remember This adapts the foundation of Catch-22 in a high school setting, applying the same notion of dystopian bureaucracy to lampoon Silicon Valley’s competitive spirit and, in these politically charged times, comment on the fragility of our own democracy.
CW: minor character death (non-graphic), dark psychological themes (e.g. gaslighting), authoritarian regimes (including references to communism and Nazism)
“Amazing, terrible, bourgeois horror”
“At first I thought the story was about silicone implants”
“I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves the classic American English course reading list or just wants to read something that will make them think.”
Well, you said “badly,” and even disregarding that, there were plenty of times when the Muppets have gone highbrow. Sometimes when I make antiquated pop culture references in class, my students are like “oh, the Muppets!,” and I have to explain to them they did not invent everything.
Good question! Frank and one of his very cynical classmates have an argument in which, after discussing some of the odder things that have transpired around the school lately, his classmate says there’s nothing any of them can do but put their heads down and ignore the weirdness around them. Frank thinks this is too insular of an outlook, and that it’s everyone’s responsibility to actively make the world a better place—and then he sets out to prove himself right, that there is something that can be done to make their school better. This position alone makes him believe he’s ultimately in the right, since he believes that his increasingly erratic and egotistical actions are accomplishing this greater purpose, while it becomes more clear to everyone else over time that he’s lost his way.
So as to what @NotARussianBot said, I think one could conceivably argue that through the entire novel for whatever reasons he’s maintained his high ground, but I think most readers have agreed that isn’t the case. Read the novel and find out, I suppose, where you stand.
