Take one thirty-something modern man.

Add in a wife, a job, a son.

Take away the wife, and suddenly you have a man with too much to do.

Sean Benning, the protagonist of Bronwen Hruska’s novel, Accelerated, goes from ordinary problems, i.e. a job he hates, to single-dad problems. He’s the only one around to praise the kid’s drawings, redirect blunt comments made in public, explain death, make sure there’s milk in the fridge.

“Mom never ran out of milk. Ever,” says son Toby.

Then there’s Toby’s school. It’s the most prestigious private school in Manhattan. Sean can’t afford it, but his in-laws gladly pay the bills. The Bradley School is their family tradition. It’s alumni pretty much run the nation. Sean calls the place an “Ivy-League Factory.”

This would not be your ordinary third-grade. And Toby’s teachers, the principal, the school counselor, the nurse, all send home reports that Toby can’t keep up, Toby can’t sit still.

They recommend medication.

Not so fast, says Sean.

But can he hold out? What if it would help? What if his reluctance ruins Toby’s chances at a good life?

And are the Bradley School experts recommending? Or pressuring?

The child medication angle is the strength of this story, even though a few passages read more like a Good Housekeeping article.

Otherwise, the novel takes some strange turns. We start with a cow-pattie of a scene, which we regard here at Read Fast, Eat Slow, as a story crutch, especially since it teases us with a plot possibility that goes nowhere. Tension peters out in wrong places. Tempers flare a little too soon. Forgiveness blossoms a little too quickly.

If you have a day full of airports in your near future, this book will do.

Photo credit: Reading Tom on Visual Hunt / CC BY