I really enjoyed this book and kept thinking the author must have worked in a school, she has... No spoiler since it is in the 1st paragraph- the book is about the relationship or lack of one different character in the school with Mr. Lehrer. Mr. Lehrer worked at the school for decades, retired, and returned to substitute when he was in his 80's. He dies on the couch in the faculty lounge. The chapters are like short stories linked by a common setting and character- Baldwin High School and Mr. Lehrer. The book is current- references to COVID, lockdowns, CRT, and T-SOAR a Texas standardized test. The book is believable and relatable. As a former educator, my favorite quote was wanting to die during professional development because it would be a seamless transition. The teachers at the school were likable and recognizable if you have ever worked in a school. The darkest yet most realistic scene was when a central office person was sent to do grief support, making it "value added" to school test performance.

I thought this was great! The Faculty Lounge follows a group of teachers over the course of a single school year. The principal is being investigated by the central office after admin gets wind of him "releasing" a retired teacher turned long-term substitute's ashes post death in the faculty lounge. A mix of present day, flash backs, emails, text messages - it was great!

What a delightful book this was! More a series of vignettes set around a communal workplace than a traditional novel, this book opens on the dead body of 82 year old substitute teacher Bob Leher on the couch in the faculty lounge. Each chapter is told from the POV of a teacher who used that faculty lounge and was present both to see the body and later to attend the ceremony to spread Mr. Leher's ashes on school property that goes terribly wrong.

Some characters and their chapters are better than others, but they have in common a deep respect for the individuals that populate a high school. There's humor here (although it's quite dry and off-hand, not a broad comedy by any stretch) and there's emotion as well. The book covers new love, grief, alcoholism, sexual assault, and teen pregnancy, among others, but all with a kindness that shines through.

This is a wonderful adult debut for the author. A solid 4 stars for me. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This book is a must for any educator! Working in the classroom is such an interesting experience, and this book does a wonderful job handling the odd topics from workplace romance to administration holding unnecessary PD.

This one touched my soul, and I imagine it will do the same to others. A beloved teacher-turned-substitute passes away on school property - what comes next is the stories of all the teachers and staff he's impacted and touched through his years at this particular school.

What a wonderful novel. Perfect teacher gift, read for a current or former educator...or truly anyone!

Adored this book!

I would say it is like Parks and Rec (the show) meets education.

This book, while humorous, really showed the humanity behind the people that make education possible. It took the "educator" mask off of them to show the real struggles and victories that educators face.

It also, in a humorous way, really highlighted the way the system itself expects so much from its employees and blames them when they cannot reach the top of the pedestal.

As a former educator, I am going to be screaming all of 2024 for people to read this book.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

I had such a great time reading this book! I loved how the author weaved together the stories of various people who work at schools- from the veteran curmudgeon, to the beloved favorite, to the jaded burnt out teacher just trying to survive each day... and many more. This book is so relatable to anyone who works in a public school. It was filled with heart and had me both laughing out loud and crying numerous times... no surprise that the author is a teacher herself! Thank you to NetGalley for the eGalley- will be published July 2024!

The Faculty Lounge by Jennifer Mathieu is a witty, multi-perspective story about the behind-the-scenes of a school. I'm not a teacher, but I'm a professor, and I loved hearing all of the different stories about the teachers and staff at this school. I especially liked how the book went through multiple timelines so that you got to understand every person's perspective.

By the time I was a few chapters into The Faculty Lounge, I knew it would be one of my top reads of the year!

As a high school teacher, this book resonated so much with so many of my experiences. It made me laugh, made me cry, and reminded me of how important a job teaching is even on the days when it’s hard. From the first few pages, I was hooked as I imagined the odd series of events that the started the book happening in my own school. I expected this to be a funny book that chronicled the chaos of working in a high school, but as the school year progressed and we learned more about each of the staff members, I realized it was so much more than that.

Each of the chapters focused on a different member of the school community, which felt a little bit disjointed at first, but were woven together brilliantly by the end. The way we learned about all of the characters was so humanizing and really demonstrated the importance of relationships we build with the people in our lives. In her writing, Mathieu did a beautiful job of highlighting the fact that everyone in the school was an invaluable member of the community, from the custodian to the principal. It really made me reflect on the relationships I’ve built with colleagues and how much they mean to all of us.

This is a book that educators (and fans of Abbott Elementary!) will love, but so will many others. It was a heartwarming story that gave me warm, fuzzy feelings!

I’m not normally the kind of reader that reads this kind of prose, but I must say…this book was excellent. It gave me the warm fuzzies of contentment multiple times, and it felt like staying under the covers on a cold winter morning. I immediately felt an emotional connection to each of the characters in the book, which was only heightened by chapters on each of the major players. Getting insight into what my old teachers must have been thinking was so special and I enjoyed this book thoroughly. My only complaint is that the book was not longer!!

This novel captures the very essence of what it is to me a high school teacher at any given point in one’s career. As a beginning English teacher myself, I found that the many nuances of the education system that may be lost to the average reader struck such a chord with me, and the direct, descriptive language is exactly the type of writing an educator would use to clearly articulate themselves to any audience. Just brilliant!

Anyone who has spent any time in public education will immediately recognize the authenticity of this novel. It encapsulates the range of emotions teachers, administrators, and support staff experience every single day. There’s laughter, frustration, incredulity, anger, passion, and - most importantly - deep love and commitment to a profession that is often undervalued.

The Faculty Lounge is told through the perspectives of various school staff. We meet brand new, fresh faced, idealistic, nervous-as-heck teachers just entering the profession and their counterparts; the wizened, exhausted, seen-it-all veterans. There are administrators juggling the demands and needs of parents, school board members, teachers, students, and disconnected central office figureheads all while wading through a multitude of emails, paperwork, and meetings. There’s a long serving counselor, a school nurse who doesn’t always play by the rules, and a custodian who is often invisible, but sees much more than she is seen. Together they form the heart of Baldwin High School.

This book navigates all the distractions prevalent in public education and reveals the very heart of what makes it special: a well-defined sense of purpose and service to others. Jennifer Mathieu has written a highly entertaining and emotionally authentic book.

This was such a fun read! Mathieu is so good at creating compelling, life-like characters. Looking forward to sharing this with the educators in my life!

It was the first time in a while that I read some literary fiction and this was a great book to get me into it. I loved the complexity of the characters and the setting was a lot of fun. It was my first read by Mathieu and I look forward to reading others.

As a twenty=five year veteran of teaching high school English, I could relate to so much in this book! I found myself wishing I could share passages with my teacher buddies. Jennifer Mathieu takes us right into the real world of a high school which is so much more than just students at desks in a classroom. A high school is comprised of teachers, administrators, students, custodians, counselors, food service workers, bus drivers, school security people, substitutes, and more. As The Faculty Lounge opens we discover a beloved substitute teacher has died in the faculty lounge. Many of the subsequent events are framed around this and as the school year unfolds this unfortunate event continues to loom.
I loved the way the author structured her novel around the school year calendar: the holidays, the state testing, the assemblies, teacher observations, and end of the year gatherings are all here. If you've ever taught in a school, you will recognize at least one of Mathieu's characters!
A quick, page-turning read!
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

I will be gifting this book to my fellow educators! 5/5 STARS!
Mathieu has done such an amazing job of weaving together several different stories and perspectives of principals, teachers, admin, caretakers and some students at Baldwin High.
As an educator, I was able to relate to more than half of the faculty stories told throughout this book - including how the story starts and ends.
"The Faculty Lounge" provides readers with such a unique point of view and understanding of what goes on at a school, outside the classroom.

I am beyond lucky to have received an ARC of "The Faculty Lounge" - thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group!

Thank you, NetGalley, for the advance copy of this lovely book!

As a parent, I am so grateful for, and in awe of, teachers. This book was a funny and sweet ode to public education, an environment in which I have zero experience and even less interest. Which is to say, the whole thing could be wildly unrealistic. But I don’t think so. I loved this peek into their professional and personal lives, and how they intersect. Each person has their own chapter, which reads like a connected series of vignettes, rather than a progression of events leading to a plot conclusion. As such, the ending was a slight disappointment, in that there’s no real conclusion other than the passage of time and how a specific event at the beginning of the school year affects the characters as the book travels towards summer break. But I cared so much about these people and their stories! I’ll be looking for more adult novels by this author!

Stories from different points of view at a public high school in Texas over the course of a year. Some stories are funny, some hopeful, some are sad but what brings them all together is that they all attended a memorial for a substitute teacher who taught at the school. As an educator in Oklahoma the almost unbelievable stories about public schools are so true, carpets not being vacuumed since the Clinton administration, half the microphones working at a school play, useless teaching evaluations and a horrible professional development meeting with a district employee with less experience that most including markers and fun introductions. The story I liked the least was the last one about the single teacher on vacation who had a student pet sitting for her.

The Faculty Lounge delves into the tumultuous happenings at Baldwin High during a single school year, offering a mosaic of interconnected stories involving teachers, administrators, and staff. Rather than unfolding like a conventional novel, it embraces the format of linked short stories—a style that resonates, especially for enthusiasts of short fiction. The narrative's common thread is the unexpected passing of Mr. Lehrer, a seasoned educator turned substitute, whose demise in the faculty lounge sparks controversy with parents and the Central Office. The book's diverse tales include a contentious book banning, a man's transformation from punk rock musician to principal, a janitor's touching friendship with Mr. Lehrer, a vice principal embarking on recovery from substance abuse after an encounter with an unconventional colleague, and a nurse whose dedication to students transcends conventional medical care.

Remarkably, despite its high school setting, students are conspicuously absent for much of the narrative until the final stories. Even then, the focus remains primarily on the faculty's relationships with students beyond the confines of the classroom. While this deliberate choice aims to spotlight the individuals behind their professional roles, it occasionally feels disconcerting. The book's predominant concentration on adult interactions within the school environment, excluding significant student involvement, at times appears contrived or artificial. This approach might be more seamless if the narrative exclusively explored the personal lives of the characters. However, given the substantial portion of the story set within the school, centering solely on adult interactions—teachers, staff, administrators, and parents—can feel somewhat forced. Nevertheless, these adult interactions effectively shed light on the challenges faced by educators, including testing pressures, overbearing parents, curriculum disputes, and more.

For those intrigued by the intricacies of teaching, especially with a desire for more classroom scenes, Alexandra Robbins's nonfiction work, "The Teachers," provides a compelling exploration of the subject. Notably, Mathieu, the author of The Faculty Lounge, herself a high school teacher, infuses the narrative with authenticity, love for the subject, and perhaps a hint of frustration, offering a unique perspective on the teaching profession.

This is a fascinating read as I've been retired from teaching high school for quite some time, but still have incredible memories of my students and fellow co-workers who made it the best job in the world. As it opens, we see beloved veteran teacher-turned-substitute found dead in the teacher's lounge. And although the "spreading" of his ashes is quite comical, the rest of the novel has both humor and pathos as we witness all of the behaviors and hi-jinks that both students and teachers exhibit both in and out of school. Great snarky humor paired with pathos makes this a great story that I will recommend to all of my friends!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

This was a written book and not an audio as a result I was unable to listen to it but I would be interested in that if it were an audiobook it the cover looks interesting and is the type of book that I normally would check out