My Education

The throes of an obsessive relationship allow a young graduate student to avoid growing up for a little while in Choi’s dark and stormy fourth novel (following A Person of Interest). Regina Gottlieb, anxious about being a new student in a prestigious graduate English program, finds a welcome distraction in Nicholas Brodeur, her seminar professor. His offer of a TA position calms her fears of inadequacy, and even Regina’s roommate, Daniel Dutra, a med student and born eccentric, approve of the connection. Despite Nicholas’s good looks and the rumors about his raffish ways on campus, Regina is able to keep a personal distance from him. It’s different, however, when she meets his wife, Martha, during a party at the Brodeurs’ house. The two women soon embark on a torrid, all-consuming affair, with Regina measuring her days in a toxic swirl of hours in Martha’s bed and at a local bar. Even as Regina loses her way, though, the narrative never lacks direction. Choi keeps the moments between her characters believable while building momentum toward the illicit lovers’ inevitable falling-out. Agent: Lynn Nesbit, Janklow & Nesbit. (July)