J. Courtney Sullivan is the author of Dating Up: Dump the Schlump and Find a Quality Man. Her writing has also appeared in a variety of publications, including In Style, Elle, and Glamour. A graduate of Smith College, Sullivan works in the editorial department at the New York Times.
The Story: A dorm assignment throws together four very different women during their freshman year at Smith College. Sally, grieving over the recent loss of her mother, finds comfort in the arms of an English professor. Celia, an Irish-Catholic party girl, immerses herself in alcohol and one-night stands. Raised by a neglectful single parent, April embraces a radical activism that threatens to consume her. And Bree, a Southern beauty engaged to her hometown sweetheart, finds unexpected romance with another woman. In her debut novel, Sullivan chronicles their exuberant highs and extreme lows as they navigate the turbulent waters of family, friendship, sexuality, and postgraduate life.
Knopf. 324 pages. $24.95. ISBN: 9780307270740
Entertainment Weekly
"Even as several subplots take soapy turns, the author manages to find that sweet spot between Serious Literature and chick lit. Commencement is a beach book for smart women-and the girls they once were." Leah Greenblatt
New York Times
"Ms. Sullivan introduces strong, warmly believable three-dimensional characters who have fun, have fights and fall into intense love affairs, sometimes with one another. Smith's feathers may be ruffled by the candor with which Ms. Sullivan describes campus life." Janet Maslin
Philadelphia City Paper
"Sullivan writes fiction you might expect from a journalist: Her clean, precise prose stays carefully neutral and balanced, even as she shifts points of view from chapter to chapter. ... [The women's] struggles, reactions and decisions feel real. How they pull through-and pull together-proves inspiring." Mark Cofta
New York Observer
"Ms. Sullivan's voice is funny and smart, and three of the four characters are complexly drawn. ... [A] fun, fresh and sometimes insightful read!" Sara Vilkomerson
NY Times Book Review
"For all its insights into female psychology, Commencement doesn't know what to make of men, who are presented as at best benevolent blanks, at worst menacing nonentities. ... [An] undertow of denial and avoidance is unfortunate in a novel with so much verve, making it feel overly tame." Maria Russo
Critical Summary
Sullivan skillfully explores the complexity and depth of female friendships, including their dark side. Most critics (two of whom write for the same newspaper, of course) praised her richly drawn characters and her ability to give each woman a distinct, and believable, voice. Many favorably compared Commencement to Curtis Sittenfeld's Prep ( ) and Mary McCarthy's groundbreaking novel The Group (1963), which follows friends after their graduation from Vassar in 1933. Several critics did find April's character to be the least convincing, noting that her man-hating, hairy-legged, radical-activist persona verged on parody. Overall, however, critics hailed Commencement as an entertaining and intelligent story about modern friendship by a gifted young writer.