Commencement: New Adult Annotation

Commencement
by J. Courtney Sullivan

Genre: New Adult
Publication Date: 2009
Number of Pages: 419
Geographical Setting: Primarily Smith College (Northampton, MA); Savannah, GA; San Francisco, CA; New York City
Time Period: Present (1998-2008)

Plot Summary: The book begins as four friends--Celia, Bree, Sally, and April--are preparing for Sally's wedding at their alma mater, Smith College.  Being back at Smith drums up memories of the four years they spent there together, and the narrative flashes back to those times and moves back to the present, spanning from the girls' first weekend at Smith in 1998 to where the story ends a few years after graduation, in 2008.  The book explores the relationships they made amongst themselves and with others, the trials and joys of the first years of adulthood, and the struggles to find identities during and just after college.  The characters demonstrate how choices during these prime years of growth can affect a person's life, possibly forever, and it gives new adult readers the sense that they are not alone during such an experimental, challenging time in life.

Subject Headings: Women college students--Fiction; Female friendship--Fiction; Young women--United States--Social conditions--Fiction.

Characteristics and Appeal:
Story Line -- This book is largely centered around the concept of feminism.  The setting is a women's college where students readily explore lesbian experiences and relationships, women's rights issues, and defying patriarchy.  Religion is heavily criticized in this book.  The author incessantly employs strong language, and she presents heavy issues, such as sex trafficking, abuse, intolerance, abortion, and family conflict.  The book is centered around the characters, and it follows both the group as a whole and four individual story lines.  The author intended to portray the reality of life at a college exclusive to women.

Tone -- The tone of this book is nostalgic, as the characters call upon memories of their past with each other to explain what is happening in the present.  Their history together at Smith College colors much of what they experience post-graduation.  For the most part, the story is upbeat and moving, as the girls' friendship gets them through their darkest days.

Characterization -- Being that she herself is a graduate of Smith, the author portrays the four main characters realistically.  They occupy certain "types" (for example, April is the uber-feminist who dresses in dark clothing and cares nothing about being ladylike or fitting social conventions), but they are lifelike nonetheless.  Secondary characters add much to the story because their interactions with the main characters cause significant life change for them.

Read-Alikes:
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell -- This is another character-driven story of a new college student searching for identity while navigating academic life.

The Group by Mary McCarthy -- This book follows eight friends following graduation from Vassar, exploring both their individual experiences and their lives together as a group, as they attempt to figure out adulthood.

Graduates in Wonderland by Jessica Pan and Rachel Kapelke-Dale -- This is a non-fictional account of two friends who met in college and rely on their friendship to get through school and into new adulthood.