Charming as a Verb: 12/15/20

Charming as a Verb by Ben Philippe is primarily set in New York City, in and around FATE school. Henri Halti Haltiwanger is a senior and his entire life he's been set on attending Columbia. To save up money he's been working as a dog walker and it's through that gig he meets the girl who might help him reach his goal.

Corinne Troy lives in the same building as him. Her mother is a Columbia dean and might be his last ditch hope to get in after bungling his interview. She, though, can see through his charms and blackmails him into helping her be more social so she can get into her first choice college. While helping her, they become friends, and then fall in love.

Author Ben Philippe is a Canadian living in New York. Midway through the novel, Henri's path to college takes a detour. Like Tiana in the Disney adaptation of The Frog Princess (2002), he'll get what he needs, not what he (or his parents) want. The novel also touches realistically on the fall out of highly competitive schools and imposter syndrome.

The Canadian detour places the book on the road narrative spectrum, down in the realistic fiction. Halti and Corinne travel as a couple (33). Their destination is the city (33) of Montreal. Their route is via railroad (00). Thus the narrative tangent that puts Halti on a new, unimagined path, can be summarized as a couple going to the city via the railroad (333300).

Five stars

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