Glamorous Disasters by Eliot Schrefer

I'm slowly making my way through this huge list of books to read that I've accumulated over the years. One of the books on the list is Eliot Schrefer's Glamorous Disasters, a novel that describes a lower-middle class Princeton graduate's experiences as a tutor to the wealthy of Manhatten. At first, this book seems to be along the same lines as the Nanny Diaries or Hotel Babylon -- a middle class protagonist's observations of the behavior of the upper class people that they provide services to. However, in this book, the main character, Dylan, who worked his way through Princeton, and has tens of thousands of dollars of student loan debt to pay off, does more than just observe the behavior of the uber-rich families whose children he tutors so they can get higher scores on the SAT. At first, he wants to join this elite group, and he thinks he can do so by becoming a professor; so while he's tutoring, he's also thinking about his grad school applications. But after a few interactions with some people with less than upright morals by middle class standards, he starts to re-think his goals in life. He spends some time being unsure of where he is in life, and actually thinking about what it is he wants to do. By the end of the book, he's decided that being part of the 'in crowd' isn't all that it's cracked up to be, and he's found something he enjoys and finds worthwhile.

I enjoyed reading this book. Dylan was an interesting character who underwent change based upon his experience. I also think this is a book that focuses on the conflict between the middle and upper classes of society, and the clash between the two. The morals and standards of the two groups are so different, which makes for an appealing story line as the middle class realizes what's going on after first beginning to feel like they've been accepted and how they're being used and decides enough is enough.