You Between the Lines by Katie Naymon

 

Summary (from the publisher): A former sorority girl starts a prestigious poetry MFA program only to discover that one of her fellow grad students is her high school crush-turned-nemesis—​who can't stop writing about her.

No one’s more surprised than Leigh when a prestigious MFA program in North Carolina accepts her. A former sorority girl, Leigh’s the first to admit she knows more about the lyrics of Taylor Swift than T.S. Eliot, and she’s never been able to shake the “all-style-no-substance” feedback her high school crush made in their poetry workshop. Bad enough that her tattooed, New Yorker tote bag-carrying classmates have read all the right authors and been published in the country's leading literary journals, Leigh's insecurities become all too real when Will, that same high school crush-turned-nemesis, shows up at orientation as a first-year in the program, too. And now, he’s William, exactly the kind of writer Leigh hates, complete with his pretentious sweater vests and tattered Moleskine.

Leigh’s determined to prove herself—and William—wrong by landing the program’s highly-coveted fellowship. But Will’s dead-set on it, too, and in a small cohort, they can't keep apart for long. When Will submits an intimate poem (that's maybe, probably, definitely about Leigh) to workshop, they’re both forced to realize there’s more to the other than what’s on the page. And what’s between the lines may be even more interesting.

Review: Leigh is shocked when she's actually admitted to a prestigious MFA program in North Carolina and is even more surprised to find her former high school crush Will also in the program on the first day of class. Leigh, already plagued by her own insecurities, views Will (now William) as the ultimate version of a pretentious writer, but is determined to prove herself. But all the time spent together, intimately analyzing each other's work, allows tension to rise between the two. 

I appreciated a lot of this one: 

• I always really enjoy academic rival stories, so this was right up my alley. I love that they are reading and analyzing each other's work and are both passionately invested in their writing. 
• Loved the North Carolina setting. It didn't specify but I am assuming the MFA program is set at University of North Carolina at Greensboro since that is where the author completed her own MFA. 
• I really appreciated how intimidated Leigh feels and how she fights to work through those feelings. As someone who has experienced it as an English major, it is incredibly humbling to have a group of your peers analyze and provide feedback on your writing in front of you. Leigh feels insecure and like she doesn't fit in with others who are more widely read and who more adequately look the part - or so she believes. Will and Leigh both address these stereotypes and assumptions about writers, and he confronts her interest in him based on the way he dresses, which is in the preppy, stereotypical way many of us envision poetry writers might dress. 

Things that didn't work as well for me: 

• Something was just missing between Will and Leigh for me. Their main tension was that they just continually refuse to admit they're interested in the other and its sort of a missed connection over and over. I just found it sort of annoying and belabored. But I also didn't think they had the best chemistry or spark either. 
• The narrator was great overall; except the forced low and slow voice she used for the male dialogue during spicy scenes gave me the ick. I'm sorry to my fellow Sarah Beth narrator!!! Again, the narration was great otherwise.
• I didn't love Leigh. When confronted with uncomfortable conversations, she repeatedly lashes out and says really mean, hurtful things. I understand this is human instinct, but she just goes for the jugular, and I didn't love that about her at all. Her biggest flaw, and what holds her back the whole book, is her unwillingness to make herself vulnerable both in her personal relationships and her writing. I think she works through this some, but it made most of the book feel tedious until she gets to that point.
• The plagiarism subplot. This felt really serious and just becomes sort of a non-issue?? Really made me question the integrity of the character involved. 
• I know it's the whole point, but the MFA program and the worries of these characters just gave this an air of privilege and entitlement. I'm sorry!!! I love writers and appreciate their craft, and Will does call Leigh out on her own participation in this pretentious but it's just true in this case. 

I enjoyed parts of this and would absolutely read another book by this author. But ultimately, this one ranks lower than other academic rival books I have read lately, namely An Academic Affair by Jodi McAlister and Love and Other Brain Experiments by Hannah Brohm. 

Stars: 3