REVIEW☕️🍎

The Faculty Lounge ~ Jennifer Matthieu
Pages: 304
Genre: Literary Fiction

An Ode to Educators…
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Oh boy, if you’re a teacher this is a must! An inside look at the life of educators - if you’ve been in a classroom, you will just get it! The impact of a close colleague, the luck in a janitor that does it all, the poorly timed PD, the holiday party white elephant, even the text chain that ensues over a parent’s wild email - The Faculty Lounge dives into all of it and couldn’t be more spot on.

I laughed, my heart swelled, I loved the accuracy, and I didn’t want to stop reading. And I haven’t really wanted to read for months. Even if you aren’t a teacher you will most certainly be taken back to a favorite of yours and enjoy getting an inside scoop. Highly recommend. I wish more people were talking about this one as it deserves all the praise!

Teachers do so, so much more than they are ever given credit for. I imagined this being a pretty light read. It was marketed as funny. There is a sarcastic humor throughout the book, but the various stories are more serious in nature. I was invested in the characters and touched by several of the stories. And it's a great reminder that a day in the life of a teacher is never just about teaching the subject matter and grading papers.

The Faculty Lounge takes place across the span of one school year, with the events of the book being kicked off by what is referred to as the courtyard incident. Mr. Lehrer, an English teacher turned substitute in his retirement, is found dead in the faculty lounge. According to his son, his wishes were for his ashes to be scattered in the courtyard of Baldwin High School. The principle, doing his best to follow Mr. Lehrer's wishes, conducts a small ceremony for staff that is discovered by the president of the PTA as the ashes of Mr. Lehrer are mistakenly scattered on the visiting parents. Each chapter of the book follows a different member of staff at Baldwin and explores their relationships to their work and to each other in the aftermath of the incident.

I found this book to be really sweet and funny. All of the characters had a lot of depth to them and it was fun to see their interactions with the other members of staff at the school. Mathieu is able to talk about more serious topics with humor as well as heart, making this book a very heartwarming read. This book will be a great one for readers who enjoy really getting to know characters, fans of realistic fiction, and I think it will also appeal to fans of Fredrik Backman.

Chaos, joy, and tragedy combine in this story of teachers and staff at a high school.

Told using multiple points of view. Teachers and staff are faced with a variety of issues in their work and personal lives.

The Faculty Lounge is a humorous contemporary novel. Heartwarming and entertaining.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Faculty Lounge follows a group of teachers at the largest high school in Houston, TX. Working in education, I found this book equal parts entertaining and depressing. It is definitely true to life and provides a glimpse into several faculty member's lives including the principal, custodian, counselor, substitute teacher, nurse, and more. It really showed the struggles of education and the hardships educators face. The author is a teacher and wss able to capture the realities of education, both good and bad.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange be for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I am grateful that the publishers allowed me to read and review a copy of this book.

A a teacher, I could relate to many of the characters in this book. While it sometimes got slightly too political for my personal liking, so many of the sentiments about teaching in public schools today were relevant, relatable, and funny. I really liked the approach that the author took in writing from a different perspective throughout the year. I especially loved hearing from a custodian’s point of view (the unsung heroes of our schools!) and loved the way the book ended in such a touching way. I will definitely recommend this book to my friends who work in education!

I was really drawn to the premise of this book and it was so much more than I thought it would be. I liked that it presented different pov's throughout and that this book really came full circle in such a compelling way. There was a lot of this that was somewhat relatable and current. The character development was really good and offered something unique. Thanks for the ARC, NetGalley. I want to read more from this author in the future.

As a former high school teacher turned librarian, I was really excited to read this book. It started off great with an interesting cast of teachers and a dead body in the teachers lounge. I think I thought I might be in store for a bit of a mystery. However, the plot really became more about the fallout after the death of a substitute teacher and the effect he had on the school when he was a teacher there. I think there are some parts of this story that will really resonate with teachers, and the book itself is a story I can see recommending to lots of readers.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Penguin Group DUTTON for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The Faculty Lounge chronicles a year in the lives of the faculty and staff of a public high school in Texas and is a tribute to the trials (good and bad) and tribulations of working in the field. Each of the characters bring their views on the profession and what it's like working in education. There's satire, humor and connection. The book uses multiple points of view to tell the story.

If you are a teacher, know a teacher or have any experience in the field of education, you don't want to miss this one!

A series of humorous stories about Baldwin High School faculty. Cute, easy read.

Thanks to #NetGalley and the publisher for access to this book in exchange for an honest review.

I probably liked this more because of my time working as a substitute teacher, and I could not stop thinking about a sub who sat down with me at lunch one day and complained that he wasn't allowed to go back to a school where he had fallen asleep while supervising a class.
There isn't really a mystery here, but it's interesting that it starts with a substitute teacher dying while on break and then reveals the stories behind the different people who work in the school. Mr Lehrer was a beloved teacher before he retired and came back as a substitute, and he and the other teacher, students, and parents have so much effect on each other. I think anyone who has worked in education or been involved in school or who remembers what it's like to be in school might enjoy this.
Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this.

The cover should have tea, not coffee on it, because Jennifer Mathieu spills the tea on what it's like working in public education in America today. It's a zany, satirical, and humorous look at teaching, but I think it would appeal to anyone working in a large staff environment.

This book starts a bit crazy, and there are some zany antics, but honestly much happens, really, and that’s the charm of this novel - it’s about a year of ordinary teachers living their lives, doing their jobs, and reflecting on their careers. I enjoyed getting to know each of them in their chapters, and being a teacher myself I got the sense that there was so much reality here about what teaching is really like. Each part reads like a vignette about that person, but it all comes together into a cohesive whole, and it’s delightful.

CW: abortion, forced pregnancy, forced adoption, death, alcoholism, alcohol, infidelity, school shooting (mentioned), grief, death of a spouse, miscarriage (mentioned), death of a parent, cancer (mentioned), stroke (mentioned)

I would like to thank NetGalley and Penguin Group DUTTON for providing me with a free e-ARC of this title in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Chronicling a year in the lives of the faculty and staff of a public high school in Texas, The Faculty Life is both at times a satire and a powerful love letter to the profession. The overt formality of the third-person POV (which kind of tosses between omniscient and limited) does take a moment to get used to, but I think the interesting choice in POV works well for this book. With deep dives in each character featured in this book, Mathieu highlights the complexities and multitudes of the people who work in education as well as share in the challenges and joy this profession brings.

So if you’re looking for a contemporary fiction that accurately portrays what it’s like to work in education or you want a feel-good novel to end the year with, I recommend checking out this book.

The blurb for this book and the actual book do not match. There was no mystery and I felt that the story line was lacking depth. I didn't find it interesting. The book had several different POV's from faculty members reminiscing on fond memories, but I didn't fell a connection to any of them. It was just sweet. I think this would have been better as a short story or maybe if there was an actual mystery. I think it would have been much more interesting if it were framed as a faculty murder mystery party or even a real murder at the school.

What a fun and realistic look into the lives of educators. If you have ever worked in the field of education, you will probably find many connections and also see a lot of the humor. You may even cry a little as you see yourself and your coworkers contained in these pages.

“Oh God, not markers and chart paper,” … “Please God, anything but that.”

The above quote had me rolling because as a teacher, I HATE walking into PDs or meetings where these items are present. I was also rolling with what teachers in the story referred to the TDAF observation system (you’ll have to read to find that one out). 🤣🤣

This book was such a breath of fresh air. To read about all of the random and crazy things that truly do happen on a daily basis at school in a fictional way was wonderful and validating. I love teaching but man are there some days where your mind just reels with “wtf?!”

I felt like this book was pretty damn authentic (except for Lydia’s story) and had me laughing in solidarity during several spots.

4/5 <3
Okay this was actually a lot better than I expected expected??? Super funny, lovable characters, the whole bunch <3 and yet it also is quite deep and left me thinking a lot. Great book!!

When one of their own is found dead on the old dingy couch in the faculty lounge, his colleagues at Baldwin High School are left with chaos that follows. We peer into each of their lives briefly, through unlikely friendships, awkward situations, and the ups and downs of being educators.

Some of the storylines I could do without, which is common for such a cast of characters. This was also highly political. But I think anyone who has experienced public school in a way could find something in here to connect with.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dutton books.

A substitute teacher dies in the teacher faculty lounge at Baldwin High School, and the rest of the year pretty much falls into chaos afterward.

Many of the staff at Baldwin High School have each experienced their own escapades in and out of the classroom. Their lives don't stop after the bell rings, and they deal with everyday living just like other people.

This story delves into the humanity of these staff members and the professionalism they must represent while school is in session and the struggles some deal with in their personal lives after. It is a novel, dissecting with inmate appraisal, the lives and thoughts of teachers, and humanizing them.