May 2, 2024
Starts at 7:30PM
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2024-05-02T19:30:00
2024-05-02T19:30:00
America/New_York
Yale Association of Rhode Island | Bright College Years: Online Book Talk with Andrew Pessin ’84
Andrew Pessin, Pierson College ’84, is out with a new novel, about — you!
Set at 1980s Yale, Bright College Years captures the timeless Yale experience (says one reviewer) in a unique blend of fact and fiction. You and your gang of college friends are in it (you will find), along with themes of memory, time, identity, change, and the impact of those formative years on one’s future trajectory. In this fun online session Andrew will talk about how he came to write the book, how it has resonated with Yalies of multiple generations, what it’s like to dredge up memories that are good, bad, and sometimes ugly, and how one is to go about relating to earlier, somewhat less palatable versions of oneself.
When a former close friend and rival is murdered, world-weary but still aspiring optimist Jeffrey goes back to the beginning, to those fraught college years at Yale and to her, to make sense of what happened — only to discover that what most needs making sense of is himself. By turns smart, funny, and heart-wrenching, Bright College Years tracks Jeff and an ensemble cast as they navigate the shortest, gladdest, most complex years of life — and then the rest of it.
Coming of age doesn’t only happen to the young.
Andrew is a philosophy professor and author of four novels. He was pre-med at Yale but promptly changed his mind during a medical school interview upon being confronted with a cadaver, and bolted the opposite direction into philosophy where there are far fewer cadavers. He is also an accomplished songwriter who, if he could sing better, might have become a musician (and is perpetually seeking talented artists who are looking for material to cover). He always treasured his Yale experience and friends, but didn’t realize just how much it all meant to him until he wrote this book.
More info about Andrew, Bright College Years, and his other works may be found at www.andrewpessin.com.
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