Wednesday, February 04, 2026

Call It What You Want, by Brigid Kemmerer

Last year, Maegan got caught cheating during an SAT exam.  As a result, all of the tests in the room were invalidated and she became a social pariah.  To make matters worse, Maegan's sister has come home from college pregnant and Maegan is unable to talk about any of it with anyone outside of family. 

No one wants to work with a cheater, which is why when Maegan's Calculus class starts a project that requires a partner, there's a lack of volunteers to work with her.  The only person left is Rob and no one wants to work with Rob either.  It was Rob's father, a financial advisor, who was arrested last year for embezzling everyone's savings.  Unable to live with the shame of what he had done and how it destroyed his family, Rob's father tried to shoot himself...and missed.  Now, Rob and his mother live in a house stripped of all of their possessions (seized by the court) and tend a vegetative man.  

So, Bob and Maegen are at the bottom of the social hierarchy. Placed together to work through their project, Rob and Maegan find comfort in their shared woes and open up to each other.  Any romantic feelings are deeply complicated by the judgements of their parents and peers.

While obviously addressing issues of familial guilt and forgiveness, the novel also spends considerable time on class and race, observing the strain between richer and poorer students.  The story is compelling and, while wrapped up all too neatly in the end, fairly rewarding.

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