[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of Extra Duty Plays, the original title of what is now titled Vice & Voice, by Stef Aden by timd from Aug 12, 2020]
4 out of 4 stars
Kassi Stanton is an English teacher at Bantamville South High School. Although she has been there for most of her teaching career, she still has to cope with the career-enhancing management techniques of the glamorous principal, Rikki Parks. However, when Rikki appoints a new vice principal, Rob Portman, Kassi immediately sees through his slick veneer and it is not long before she is at loggerheads with him as well as Rikki. In a series of incidents ranging from cyberbullying to sexual pestering, she has to decide how she is going to react to these situations, as well as to possibly get the promotion that she so wants. Using some help from her colleges as well as strategies gleaned from Shakespeare to Machiavelli, she implements her plans with hilarious and disastrous consequences. This is a well-crafted novel about school and a school teacher. The writing instills a sense of dreary school routine, and one can almost feel the boredom of the protagonist and her frustration. This feeling tends to reflect in the actual plot, and for a while, I was left wondering whether there was a point to the narrative, or whether this was just a skillfully rendered tale of daily school life at a suburban high school. Fortunately, most of the characters were colorful and interesting. There were also some highly entertaining scenes at the school as well as the Wet Zone Water Park where she spent her long Summer break. Both of these elements prevented the novel from becoming boring before the more interesting parts of the plot surfaced. There are also some English exam papers included at the end of two of the chapters, with questions based on the book. These are fun to answer and give another insight into the novel as well as the protagonist. Extra Duty Plays (aka Vice & Voice) by Stef Aden is almost certainly a novel that women will enjoy more than men as it is written with a distinctly feminine touch with mainly leading female characters and males filling secondary roles. Even the villain is not portrayed in a particularly sinister manner and like the other male characters, he is almost inept and careless. The writing is carefully crafted and there were no mistakes of any sort that I could pick out. As the author was a high school English teacher herself, for more than thirty years, this is not surprising, and the book appears to have been professionally edited. There are no graphic scenes, either of violence nor of an erotic nature. Except for the occasional use of mildly offensive language, there is no profanity in the book, and no controversial religious issues are mentioned either. This is a comfortable and yet amusing read from the point of view of a middle-aged teacher who does not seem to be sure what she actually wants from life anymore, except the enjoyment of the old classic masterpieces which play an important role in her life, as well as the promotion that she feels she deserves. This book is not for readers who enjoy thrilling mystery and action. It is a leisurely experience with some unlikely but hilariously realistic scenes that punctuate an otherwise dreary image of suburbia and high school life. Well written, it is a pleasure to read and reminded me of my school days back in a once normal world. I have given it a rating of four out of four stars.
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