In the Fall They Come Back

by Robert Bausch

Overview

Ben Jameson begins his teaching career in a small private school in Northern Virginia. He is idealistic, happy to have his first job after graduate school and hoping some day to figure out what he really wants out of life. He first sees teaching as a good temporary job until he decides about going to law school or chasing after a doctorate. In the two years he teaches English at Glenn Acres Preparatory School, he discovers what he believes will be his life's work; teaching is what he finally comes to with all his heart. It is not a temporary job, it is the work he hopes to do all his life. His fiance believes he suffers from a "Christ complex," that he wants to "save the world" entire by involving himself in the lives of his students. This is the story of a teacher who gets it wrong, and exactly right; a teacher whose work so involves him in the lives of his students, that he loses sight of the true nature of the work he has chosen. Three students in particular, draw him in: an abused boy, a mute and damaged girl, and a dangerous but utterly beautiful 18 year old woman who has come back to school for one more chance to graduate. His attempts to "save" these students lead him to territory his mentor and friend, the oldest teacher at Glenn Acres, Professor Bible, tells him he should not be in. It's not a book about teaching (the narrator even tells us that up front). It's a book about giving; it's about the nature of help -- and it takes on the true complexity of that urge as it plays out in that most fraught (and yet common) of settings, a school. It is a book that explores both human frailty and the limits of benevolence.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940011389337
Publisher:	Robert Bausch
Publication date:	06/20/2011
Sold by:	Smashwords
Format:	eBook
File size:	361 KB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Robert Bausch is the author of many works of fiction, most recently the novels Far as the Eye Can See and The Legend of Jesse Smoke. He was born in Georgia and raised around Washington, D.C., and received a B.A., M.A., and M.F.A. from George Mason University. He's been awarded the Fellowship of Southern Writers Hillsdale Award and the John Dos Passos Prize, both for sustained achievement in literature. He lives in Virginia.

Editorial Reviews

10/09/2017
Bausch tells the penetrating story of idealistic, newly graduated Ben Jameson, a hopeful young English teacher at Glenn Acres Preparatory School in Virginia. Enchanted by his own grandiose notions of inspiring young minds and changing young peoples’ lives, Ben flouts the typical English lesson plans, as well as the conventions of teacher-student relationships; he wants to “get in amongst them and stir them up.” Despite warnings from his girlfriend, the school principal, and more experienced (and more cynical) colleagues, Ben becomes increasingly involved in the lives of his students: he wonders at one student’s history of sexual molestation, he hopes to save another from abuse, and he becomes enraptured by a beautiful but troubled girl who has returned to the school for a fifth year with one last chance to graduate. Bausch perceptively explores the complexities and dangers of idealism and the motivations behind altruism. The book’s greatest strength is its portrayal of the earnest yet misguided Ben as being ignorant to the fact that the more he “helps,” the more damage he inflicts. (Dec.)

Publishers Weekly

"Inspired by a true story, this intense private-school drama follows an idealistic young writing instructor whose attempts to teach outside the box—and to intervene in the lives of three of his troubled students—dangerously backfires. It’s a heart-wrenching tale that reads like a soul-searching confession." - People Magazine"Bausch perceptively explores the complexities and dangers of idealism and the motivations behind altruism." - Publishers Weekly

"This richly drawn portrait of a private school explores the harsh realities of teenage life and the pitfalls of altruism. It's a deeply affecting read that's both generous toward and critical of the people who try to help us." - LitHub, "9 Books You Should Read This December"

"[In the Fall They Come Back is] written so fully that the reader feels certain Glenn Acres is a real private school in Virginia . . . it is poignant and familiar and comfortably sorrowful." - The Atlanta Journal Constitution

"Robert Bausch's simple but never simplistic story pours off the page with a fluidity gained from decades of experience." - Alan Cheuse, All Things Considered on IN THE FALL THEY COME BACK

"A funny, intelligent, poignant novel that courageously explores the fundamental truths in all our lives." - The New York Times Book Review on THE LIVES OF RILEY CHANCE

"An entertaining old-school western [in] the reluctant-hero tradition of Charles Portis (True Grit)." - The New York Times Book Review on FAR AS THE EYE CAN SEE

"An experience so intimate . . . that it almost blinds you with love." - O, The Oprah Magazine on THE GYPSY MAN

From the Publisher

11/01/2017
How involved should teachers be in the lives of their students? This question is at the heart of Bausch's latest novel, set in the hothouse atmosphere of a private high school in the northern Virginia suburbs. Narrator Ben Jameson looks back on his brief career as a teacher at Glenn Acres Prep in 1985. As a new teacher, Ben believes he can make a difference, especially in the lives of three damaged young people in his class. George is abused by his bully of a father, Suzanne is a trauma victim who moves silently through the halls like a ghost, and Leslie is a troublemaker, a beautiful but spoiled and willful daughter of wealthy parents. She is the one all the other teachers warn Ben about, but he, by turns cynical and idealistic, still thinks he can help these kids turn their lives around. But will he go too far in doing so? VERDICT The author of many works of fiction (The Legend of Jesse Smoke; Far as the Eye Can See), Bausch this time presents an absorbing character study of a young man who may not understand his students—or himself—as well as he thinks he does.—Leslie Patterson, Rehoboth, MA

Library Journal

2017-08-30
A young teacher mismanages relationships with his students at a small private school in Virginia.After announcing that "what follows is based on a true story," Bausch (The Legend of Jesse Smoke, 2016, etc.) opens his latest novel with ruminations. "What happened to me in those two short years may have been a consequence of some fault in the understanding between teacher and student, but it changed the world for me in ways I'm still contemplating. This is not a story about teaching. Nor is it about education, or school, although most of what happened started in a school. This is a story about caring a little too much; or maybe about not caring enough. I really don't know which. The only thing I know for certain is that I wish a lot of it did not happen." Readers may feel he should perhaps have settled some of these matters in his mind before embarking on this account, in which the trouble ahead is signaled so often that it is almost an anticlimax when it occurs. By that time, the narrator has thoroughly convinced us of his lack of aptitude for teaching, his immaturity, and his irresponsibility in handling his students' personal problems. He has one who is being physically abused, another who refuses to speak or make eye contact, and one who is so beautiful that he, a 25-year-old with a live-in girlfriend, is unable to think straight in her presence. His half-hearted attempt to teach writing involves showing the students movies about the Holocaust and having them keep copious personal journals. Supposedly they can fold a page to request it not be read, but in fact, both he and the head of the school read whatever they want. Most of the time, he admits, it's all so tedious, he just writes comments in the margin—"Thank you for sharing"; "It's good to be honest"—without even reading what's there. This is probably exactly what really happened—down to the dog who craps in the classroom—but that's not good enough in a novel. Vivid details and tricky situations fail to come together to create a compelling or meaningful story.

Kirkus Reviews