"His Favorites," by Kate Walbert

This book made me sick. Almost literally. I picked up “His Favorites” (Scribner, 2018) because it is by the wonderful Kate Walbert, author of, among other novels, the beautifully written and compelling “A Short History of Women” (see my post of 6/13/12) and the equally terrific “The Gardens of Kyoto” (see my post of 7/13/13). “His Favorites” too is well written, but the subject matter just made acid rise in my throat. In order to explain, I need to write what is a spoiler, so if anyone is about to read the book, perhaps you don’t want to read further. There is a sad accident at the beginning of the book, and the reader thinks that is the main focus. But after the accident, the teenaged girl who caused it goes away to an elite boarding school, and then the real story becomes evident, and the meaning of the title becomes evident as well. It is the classic story of a charming male in his thirties who first grooms and then seduces a teenaged girl (not the first young student he has seduced and abused). In this case, he is a teacher – the kind of teacher who is good-looking, intriguing, attentive, poetic, and with whom many of the girls are a little in love, which he encourages. As the main story became clear to me, I almost stopped reading. This kind of story is so much in the news these days (but has existed forever) and is, as I said in my first sentence, sickening. I applaud the author for writing a convincing version of this all-too-common story, and I know we need to know more about the epidemic of sexual abuse, read about it, talk about it, do something about it. In this MeToo moment, there is a little bit of hope for change. But there are also so many related matters in the news and about our national political leaders (see the recent Kavanaugh-for-Supreme-Court-justice hearings in the United States, for a major example) that one feels discouraged all over again. Because I trusted the author, I continued reading. I respect the author and the book, but I hated reading it.