In the Fall They Come Back

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.)