The Swallows by Lisa Lutz

NIGHTSTANDS & COFFEE TABLES

REVIEW BY MEREDITH MCKINNIE

“You can keep telling girls to be polite, to keep a level head and it’ll all work out in the end. But don’t be surprised when they figure out that you’ve been feeding them lies. And don’t be shocked when they decide that if they can’t win a fair fight, they’ll just have to fight dirty.”

This novel is not a coming-of-age, but rather a coming-of-rage story. In an elite prep school in New England, the students make the rules. And what they’ve created is The Darkroom. When Ms. Witt comes to campus, she is introduced as the new Creative Writing teacher. She asks students to anonymously list one thing they love and one thing they hate. Her goal is to determine the author of each paper by the end of term. The anonymity allows students to speak freely, and Witt is introduced to the dark underbelly of private schools, where secrets trace back generations. The faculty members are more aware than they let on, but are bound by their own demons, and thus the animalistic tendencies of human behavior are allowed to roam free without the threat of consequence.

What ensues is a gender battle of epic proportions, where warriors are formed from the ashes and students and faculty are forced to choose a side. Lutz writes with a sense of detachment. While she intricately conveys the story from multiple perspectives, she keeps readers a few steps back, never really able to predict the motives or capabilities of the characters. She weaves a story of intrigue, cynicism, and reckoning. You find yourself rooting for actions you know are extreme, but seem appropriate to the circumstances. It’s easy to get lost in this world, this seemingly idyllic school environment, until you realize that away from the parents and professional watchdogs, all hell can break loose, and left to their own inclinations, boys will be boys, and the girls have to save themselves.

Each chapter shifts to a new character perspective, and some events overlap, reminding readers that perception rarely lines up with reality. It raises questions of what is allowed? What shouldn’t be tolerated? Is respect only expected from a girl who respects herself? “The young may have a better excuse for cruelty, but they are no less capable of it,” Witt says. She sees the injustice of what’s happening, she recognizes the injustice of her past, but she also sees how the lines can be skewed, how public opinion often shapes the narrative, and how all-out-war is sometimes the only option. Is encouraging bad behavior the same as committing it? How complicit are we when we know of evil but do not speak of it?

Lutz’s novel is a wild ride full of twists and turns and underdeveloped characters and erratic behavior, all devices that add to the suspense of what happens next. When the Darkroom is discovered, how will the victims seek retribution without destroying themselves in the process?