Prodigy, Dave Kalstein
Prodigy, Dave Kalstein
List: $20.95 | Sale: $14.66
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Prodigy

Author: Dave Kalstein

Narrator: Richard Powers

Unabridged: 12 hr 52 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 01/01/2007


Synopsis

In the year 2036, the world’s best boarding school is the Stansbury School. The students, better known as specimens, are screened at a young age and then given twelve years of the finest education—and developmental drug regimen—available. Graduates go on to dominate in all the top colleges, Forbes 500 companies, and government positions.But when several alumni are murdered, school officials decide to keep the police in the dark. They discreetly ask the school’s valedictorian to solve the mystery, but he discovers that the most obvious culprit, the school’s chemically-imbalanced delinquent—and his own nemesis—is being framed. Together, the two unlikely allies uncover a massive conspiracy that reaches to the highest levels of the Stansbury administration and the United States government.

About Dave Kalstein

Dave Kalstein became a film writer and director working out of Hollywood after getting kicked out of several prep schools. His first novel, Prodigy, is based on a short film he made in 2003.

About Richard Powers

Richard Powers has published thirteen novels. He is a MacArthur Fellow and received the National Book Award. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for The Overstory, and Bewilderment was shortlisted for the Booker Prize.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Marshaferz on May 15, 2010

An interesting premise, but the writing is clunky and the characters two dimensional, so in the end, it's a pretty weak book. The vision of the future is kind of interesting, but it seems like every time he wrote himself into a corner, he created a new sci-fi device to get himself out.......more

Goodreads review by Laura on January 05, 2013

To be honest, I didn't quite make it all the way through this one. I really started to lose interest and I felt the story wasn't moving fast enough. The concept was really interesting, but I couldn't stand reading the author's dialogue, ESPECIALLY the girls. These women are supposed to be among the......more

Goodreads review by Jenny on July 25, 2017

An interesting premise poorly executed. Characters fall flat and too many plot points are explained in an overly simplified manner.......more

Goodreads review by Eric on August 12, 2013

This was a random buy for me and the book kind of matched the purchase. The story developed slowly and the descriptions were rather lengthy throughout, and while that did add desired depth to certain aspects, it also made certain parts drag on longer than necessary. However, eventually it did pick u......more

Goodreads review by Dennis D. on June 15, 2009

The year is 2036. Stansbury School, A New Order of the Ages, is an exclusive preparatory school that gives its students the best possible education along with the best intellect- and performance- enhancing drugs. Those that graduate at or near the top of their class are destined to become world lead......more


Quotes

“Kalstein’s writing mirrors the world he creats: bold, textured, rife with dark secrets. Watching the ambitious boy genius and the angst-ridden thug piecing together the clues—about a conspiracy, about themselves—makes Prodigy a wonderful coming-of-age story hidden inside a riveting mystery.” Dustin Thomason, New York Times bestselling coauthor of The Rule of Four

“Kalstein’s action-packed comment on the price of ‘progress,’ the absurdity of hypercompetitive education, and the myth of meritocracy hurtles to a satisfying…conclusion.” Publishers Weekly

“Narrator Paul Michael Garcia is at his best giving gravity and emotion to the voices of the valedictorian, the punk, the misfit, and the brainy beauty, who band together to solve the murders. Kalstein weaves biting dystopian discourse with teen romance to create likable characters and a surprising, moving epilogue.” AudioFile

“Engrossing…The book is so well imagined that one cares about the school’s fate from the start. And the characters are vivid as well, befitting what is, beneath its fast-paced surface, a thoughtful novel about boarding-school life.” Booklist