Coming-of-Age in 1998

My Last Innocent Year by Daisy Alpert Florin is a coming-of-age novel set in 1998 against the backdrop of the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal. The story revolves around Isabel Rosen, a Jewish New Yorker attending Wilder College, an elite liberal arts institution in New Hampshire. Isabel's final semester is tumultuous, marked by a nonconsensual sexual encounter and a complicated affair with her married writing professor, R. H. Connelly.

My Last Innocent Year stands out for its poignant exploration of difficult themes within a vividly rendered historical context. Florin's debut novel is a compelling read, particularly for those interested in stories of personal growth and the complicated transition from adolescence to adulthood. Its strengths lie in its evocative writing and the nuanced portrayal of its protagonist's internal and external conflicts. However, readers seeking fresh insights into college life and sexual politics may find it somewhat familiar.

Overall, Daisy Alpert Florin's My Last Innocent Year is a resonant and thought-provoking addition to the coming-of-age genre, offering a timely and wise portrait of a young woman learning to trust her voice and navigate the challenges of her final year in college.

This character-driven novel set in the 1990s captivated me with its beautiful prose and immersive academic atmosphere. While the pacing was occasionally slow, the compelling main character kept me engaged throughout. The audiobook narration enhanced the experience, bringing the story to life with skill and nuance. Overall, the evocative writing and nostalgic setting were the standout elements that made this a memorable read.

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher/author for providing me with an ALC in exchange for my honest review.

OMG!!! This book was exactly what I wanted it to be! I loved it. I will make sure to check out other books by this author. When I requested this I was just intrigued by the concept of it and I loved how it turned out. This story had a great plot and if you have read this and enjoyed it, This was so much. It was such a great story. I would say give this one a try. I will continue to follow this author. Way to go to this author for not letting me down.

I highly enjoyed the narrator of the audiobook. Kept me listening.

Thank you so much for this ARC. This book was heavy, in the most positive way possible. It is a coming of age story that makes you realize that you should trust your gut. This was my first time doing an audible so some parts o did get distracted none the less I think this was a solid debut.

One of the best books I have read in 2023. I could not put it down. The narrator was flawless, the story delectable, and the characters raw and real. I devoured this book. I enjoyed it so much I picked up a physical copy as well to display on my shelf.

I thought I had submitted this review a while ago, i apologize for that, but it has given me time to reflect on the novel. While I did love it (as you can see above, which was written when I read it), I have now found it quite.. forgettable? That doesn’t feel right to say though, as I did love it and still do really enjoy it, but I just can’t remember it. Maybe it’s how I consumed it so fast. But it has not left the lasting impression on me I thought it would.

This coming of age debut perfectly sums up that end of college feeling of being on the cusp of adulthood and realized all the fancy "grown ups" you thought had their lives together are just as clueless and damaged as your classmates. I adored the characters Florin created and the way they played off of each other in the most messy and interconnected ways.

The classroom scenes are so well written and really capture the strange hierarchical nature of fourth year seminar classes in a small program where everyone knows everyone. I will always jump at a story of a college girl trying to find her place in the world and this is one l'II be carrying with me for a while. equal parts academic campus novels, a young woman trying to get her shit together, and 90s nostalgia/political commentary. my last innocent year is a really great read.

A bunch of mixed feelings on this one. I breezed through it - the writing kept me engaged and I am a complete sucker for an academic New England setting. But I think where this one fell short for me was in its reliance on worn out tropes and the lack of depth in writing the protagonist. There were a couple quick glimpses into a deeper rooted perspective from her, but those thoughts were gone as soon as they were introduced.

Isabel is in her last year of college. She's faced some challenges in life, with her mom dying young and living tight on money. She's led a pretty tame life with a few brief exceptions. One night she has a sexual encounter with a male friend that leaves her unsure she consented for it to go so far. Her roommate responds by marching Isabel to his door and spraypainting RAPIST on his door. So ends Isabel's last innocent year.

This wasn't overly emotional or dramatic, and Isabel felt hard to understand at times, as if she didn't learn from mistakes. The narration was very good and I'd definitely read this author again.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for an audio ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

This is a very strong debut that reminded me a lot, unsurprisingly, of [book:My Dark Vanessa|44890081]. I felt that the author was trying to do and say a lot, about things like consent and agency in young womanhood; success as an artist; a woman's role as a daughter, wife, mother, and artist; coming of age as a young woman during the Clinton–Lewinsky scandal; and much more. Some of it was successful and stood out as strong themes, but others could have been stronger. There is a lot to think about. Florin doesn't tell you what to think, necessarily – Isabelle has a fairly strong voice as a young woman who is still figuring out a lot, and her uncertainty about her place in the world and her stances on certain topics felt accurate for her.

I do wish there was just more there. As another reviewer said, it felt like Florin was "driving the speed limit" for the whole book, and I would have liked more of a shakeup, more emotional turmoil, more volatility. I also have to say I didn't particularly like Isabelle. She's one of those characters who pretty much everyone likes and wants. I did like her complex background, though, the nuanced description of her own poverty, trauma, and sense of duty.

Thank you to the publisher for the audio ARC via Netgalley.

A very timely and interesting story that examines the "me too" movement in a very real and relatable way - explores the grey areas that arise when consent is not given.

This story hit me like a straight punch to the gut. It’s gripping and shocking and often hard to stomach but in the best way. It is a hard hitting story about the reality of being a young woman in this world.

I absolutely loved this one! It gave the vibes of My Dark Vanessa meets Vladimir and left me a lot to ponder with afterwards. This was a great one to discuss with my book club as well!

My Last Innocent Year is an interesting character study about a young woman in her final year at a remote prestigious university in New Hampshire. It's set in 1998, when the Clinton / Lewinsky scandal was all over the media. The story is told in Isabella's perspective and somewhat slow-paced. Isabella is in her early 20s, Jewish, from a small working-class family in New York. We learn about her parents and background as she navigates college, her senior thesis, and romantic entanglements. She is pursuing an English degree and is very involved in the department and is deeply enamored with her creative writing professor. Through her relationships, the story probes at questions like, how do we define consensual and can we understand the power dynamics at play in relationships, especially when we're young? Overall, an intriguing coming of age novel.

Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for providing this ebook / audiobook ARC. All thoughts are my own.

"My Last Innocent Year" was a gritty and gripping read. This was different that what I normally read, but I enjoyed the book immensely. The audio was excellent and added to the emotionally charged story. I would recommend the book to those who enjoy coming of age dramas.

Outside of some of the taboo topics, I really enjoyed this audiobooking experience. This was a debut publication and I was engaged throughout the saga. I think it would be great if converted to the screen. It was well written and left me thinking long after my completion. Some potential triggers #CampusRape #Adultery #MentalHealth #AbuseOfPower #Manipulation #Addiction #Death #NetGallery

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for a copy of the digital audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

For fans of My Dark Vanessa (who want slightly less trauma) and Life is Strange (for the strolling around campus vibes and professor obsession, not the time travel).

My Last Innocent Year tells the story about Isabel’s senior year at an elite New England college. A year in which the hits just keep on coming. A death in the family, a sexual assault, a roommate struggling with mental illness, an affair with a professor, student debt, and a missing girl.

Set to the backdrop of the 1997 Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, making it a very dangerous time to have an affair with a married professor who has questionable motives.

Whatever I was expecting, this novel evades expectation. Think of your ailing grandmother who must pass on her life story to you on her death bed in which she unloads every trauma she endured in life. Or ask any nurse or PSW if they’ve had an 80 year old patient casually confess to a decade old murder. That’s My Last Innocent Year, and we are all Isabel Rosen’s grandchildren or nurses.

Told in a deadpan, detached manner. And while the story was never uninteresting, if I were listening to this deathbed confession, you can be sure I’d be checking my watch. It deals with a great many sensitive topics, but none of it really touches you because of the emotionless delivery. There’s no connection to Isabel. In fact, if she were a real person, she’d have NPD if she can safely assume that anyone wants to know so much about her life and affairs. But I think that’s what I like about her.

I hope to read more from the author in the future.

A beautiful and powerfully written book. In reading this book as a woman in her early 30s, the college mindset of a younger woman seems so far away, yet so familiar at the same time that it could never be foreign. At the same time that I wanted to throttle the main character or yell through the pages of the book for her decisions or roll my eyes at her thoughts, I found myself empathizing with her completely because I remember being her age and feeling how she felt. Similar readers will know all too well what that college setting was like, what it did to us, and how we grew from it.

I enjoyed "My Last Innocent Year" much more than I thought I would. For the most part, I enjoyed Isabel's character, I thought she was a strong character. I liked how this book had a little bit of everything from issues with friends and family, complex relationships, sexual assault, grief and college and starting ones career. Lots of unexpected things happened but I enjoyed it overall!

MY LAST INNOCENT YEAR by Daisy Alpert Florin is a coming of age story about a Jewish college girl fron NYC, an English major that attends a prestigious school in New Hampshire. She goes through several life changing experiences (at that age, don't we all?) from grief from her mother's death, a dubious sexual encounter, an affair with a professor. The subject of consent is conrasted with the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal. I did audio and it was enjoyable. It's a solid story and would recommend if you like beautiful writing.

Overall this was a really good debut, set at a small college campus in New Hampshire as a young woman starts a professor-student relationship.

The story features themes of coming-of-age and gave me My Dark Vanessa vibes. I listened to this as an audiobook and enjoyed the narrator, and would recommend this to my fellow audiobook loving friends.

*many thanks to Holt and Macmillan Audio/netgalley for the gifted copy for review.