The Optimists
Why should an eighth-grade teacher remain in thrall to even an exceptional student who doesn’t keep in close touch? Why should he fixate on a relationship between her and another 14-year-old? ... The question that propels The Optimists is: Just what is so remarkable about Clara, anyway? And the fact that it never gets answered is one of the novel’s shortfalls ... Keating’s neurological impairments and the effort required to record his thoughts mean that the narrative is often choppy, out of order, repetitive and even contradictory ... The irony is that there’s another novel hiding behind the story Keating is telling about his former student, one much closer to home and very worthy of Platzer’s obvious skill as a writer. Keating may not, himself, be a luminous Clara, but he’s thoughtful, erudite and humble, and his late-in-life experience is far from ordinary .... We can only wish Platzer had directed his protagonist’s focus inward instead of tailing the ever-obscure Clara to pick up the Maughamian crumbs of her specialness. In the end, she is no more interesting a person than the narrator who’s spent his life in her thrall, and I’m left with the sense that Keating has spent his limited time and extraordinary effort in telling the wrong story.
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Platzer’s sad, wistful, and moving story is also filled with humor and tenderness.
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Memorably moving ... A virtuoso performance that may very well prompt readers to get in touch with their own favorite teachers.
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