{"product_id":"the-english-experience-9780593860748","title":"The English Experience","description":"\u003cb\u003eA \u003ci\u003eNEW YORKER \u003c\/i\u003eBEST BOOK OF THE YEAR - Beleaguered Professor Jason Fitger chaperones Payne University's annual \"Experience: Abroad\" to London and beyond, with eleven undergrads in tow - The bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eDear Committee Members \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eThe Shakespeare Requirement\u003c\/i\u003e completes her hilarious trilogy of academic mishap\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Wise and hilarious and heartbreaking.\"--Richard Russo, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of \u003ci\u003eEmpire Falls\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eJason Fitger may be the last faculty member the dean wants for the job, but he's the only professor available to chaperone Payne University's annual \"Experience: Abroad\" (he has long been on the record objecting to the absurd and gratuitous colon between the words) occurring during the three weeks of winter term. Among his charges are a claustrophobe with a juvenile detention record, a student who erroneously believes he is headed for the Caribbean, a pair of unreconciled lovers, a set of undifferentiated twins, and one young woman who has never been away from her cat before. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThrough a sea of troubles--personal, institutional, and international--the gimlet-eyed, acid-tongued Fitger strives to navigate safe passage for all concerned, revealing much about the essential need for human connection and the sometimes surprising places in which it is found.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJULIE SCHUMACHER grew up in Wilmington, Delaware, and graduated from Oberlin College and Cornell University, where she earned her MFA. Her first novel, \u003ci\u003eThe Body Is Water\u003c\/i\u003e, was published by Soho Press in 1995 and was an ALA Notable Book of the Year and a finalist for the PEN\/Hemingway Award. Her 2014 novel, \u003ci\u003eDear Committee Members\u003c\/i\u003e, won the Thurber Prize for American Humor; she is the first woman to have been so honored. She lives in St. Paul and is a faculty member in the Creative Writing Program and the Department of English at the University of Minnesota.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Diversified Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50727480295698,"sku":"9780593860748","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_c1ef8912-491e-492f-88b7-ade9976a9e45.jpg?v=1744215817","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-english-experience-9780593860748","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}