Beet and over 350,000 other books are available for Amazon Kindle � Amazon�s new wireless reading device. Learn more

Quantity:

Search inside this book

Start reading Beet on your Kindle in under a minute. Don�t have a Kindle? Get yours here.

Beet (Hardcover)

by Roger Rosenblatt (Author)
Key Phrases: new pen, free speech zone, imaginative teacher, Professor Porterfield, Beet College, The Great (more...)

3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)

List Price:	$23.95
Price:	$23.95
	o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

Want it delivered Monday, September 28? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. Details

Formats		Amazon Price	New from	Used from
Kindle Edition $9.99 Available for download now. Published January 29, 2008	Kindle Edition, January 29, 2008	$9.99	--	--
Hardcover $23.95 In Stock. Published January 31, 2008	Hardcover, January 31, 2008	$23.95	--	--
	See # more hardcovers
	Show fewer hardcovers
Paperback $12.59 In Stock. Published January 31, 2009	Paperback, January 31, 2009	$12.59	--	--

Frequently Bought Together

Price For All Three: $46.11

Some of these items ship sooner than the others. Show details

This item: Beet by Roger Rosenblatt
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
Lapham Rising: A Novel (P.S.) by Roger Rosenblatt
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
Rules for Aging: A Wry and Witty Guide to Life by Roger Rosenblatt
Usually ships within 9 to 14 days.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Rules for Aging: A Wry and Witty Guide to Life

by Roger Rosenblatt

4.6 out of 5 stars (32) $9.60

The Pig Did It

by Joseph Caldwell

4.3 out of 5 stars (18) $10.97

The Elegance of the Hedgehog

by Muriel Barbery

3.9 out of 5 stars (174) $9.00

The Northern Clemency

by Philip Hensher

2.7 out of 5 stars (23) $17.79

Moo

by Jane Smiley

3.6 out of 5 stars (82) $10.85

› Explore similar items

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
The politically correct, rigorless American university is by now an easy comic target, one that cultural critic Rosenblatt (Lapham Rising), longtime contributor to Time and PBS's NewsHour, hits amusingly. Rosenblatt's Beet College is an old money New England university where students can major in such disciplines as Postcolonial Women's Sports and Little People of Color. But dear ol' Beet is going bust. The endowment's vanished and the chairman of the board of trustees, Joel Bollovate, is a paragon of anti-intellectualism. He's also a real estate developer with his greedy eye on the choice campus land. Peace Porterfield, professor of English, is charged with coming up with a new curriculum—one that will attract more students, more grants and more alumni gifts—or else Beet is beat. Arrayed against Professor Porterfield's honest efforts are the inept faculty on his committee as well as foulmouthed undergrad poet Matha Polite and her confused band of radicals. With plenty of chuckles along the way, Rosenblatt elucidates the grim shift universities have made toward the business model, where the president is CEO, the professors dunderheaded grant grubbers and the students mindless consumers. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review
"This is Mr. Rosenblatt’s first novel. I hope it’s not his last." -- New York Sun

"[An] uproarious debut…. Rosenblatt wields his satiric saber with skill and compassion. A-." -- Entertainment Weekly

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

Hardcover: 240 pages
Publisher: Ecco (January 29, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0061344273
ISBN-13: 978-0061344275
Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 1.1 inches
Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #674,273 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

› Visit Amazon's Roger Rosenblatt Page

Inside This Book (learn more)

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
new pen, free speech zone, imaginative teacher

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Professor Porterfield, Beet College, The Great, Matha Polite, Betsy Betsy, Homeland Security, Old Pen, Joel Bollovate, Ferritt Lawrence, New York, New England, Max Byrd, Communications Arts, Keelye Smythe, Bacon Library, Professor Lipman, Jamie Lattice, Akim Ben Laden, Sunset Park, President Huey, English Department, Billy Pinto, Henry Moore, Lapham Auditorium, Professor Kramer

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

	82% buy the item featured on this page: Beet 3.2 out of 5 stars (9) $23.95
	7% buy Rules for Aging: A Wry and Witty Guide to Life 4.6 out of 5 stars (32) $9.60
	5% buy Lapham Rising: A Novel (P.S.) 4.4 out of 5 stars (16) $12.56
	4% buy The Pig Did It 4.3 out of 5 stars (18) $10.97

Explore similar items

Customer Reviews

9 Reviews

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

Average Customer Review

3.2 out of 5 stars (9 customer reviews)

Share your thoughts with other customers:

Create your own review

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A hilarious satire! Another comic gem from Rosenblatt!, February 3, 2008

By	Roy E. Perry "amateur philosopher" (Nolensville, Tennessee) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

In Beet, Roger Rosenblatt, bestselling author of the hilarious novel Lapham Rising (2006), has written another comic gem--a satirical send-up of the college campus.

A liberal arts college north of Boston, Beet has mysteriously lost its endowment and may have to close its doors.

The villainous Joel Bollovate (think "bloviate"), a shady real-estate dealer, has envious eyes on Beet's 210 prime acres.

Idealistic Peace Porterfield, a professor of literature and a decent humanist, is trying to save the college.

Wannabe terrorist "Akim ben Laden" (Arthur Horowitz), the only student enrolled in Homeland Security, wants to blow up the school, but has trouble learning how to make a bomb.

When not engaged in "fraternizing" with Bollovate, radical feminist poet Matha Polite (rhymes with "elite") hatches various schemes, such as "The Trojan Pig," to disrupt campus life.

Beet is a laugh-out-loud yarn, the funniest novel I've read in many moons; but it transcends mere slapstick comedy. In addition to the devilishly funny wit of this uproarious satire, Rosenblatt has crafted a serious story woven through with intelligence and sensitivity.

Mark Twain is often quoted as saying, "The difference between the right word and almost the right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug." Actually, he really said, "The difference between the almost right word & the right word is really a large matter--it's the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning." And, as in Twain's analogy, Rosenblatt has the uncanny ability to select precisely the right word, the lightning rather than the lightning bug.

On reading Beet, one senses the ghosts of Jane Austen and Mark Twain hovering near. Do yourself a favor, and ready this book!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars BEET IS EXTREMELY WELL WRITTEN!!!!, April 27, 2008

By	R. Lyn Rousian "wizardroz" (NY) - See all my reviews

This is the funniest book I've ever read. I was quite shocked to read this, wondering & believing how some colleges may be run now. There is not a moment where this book isn't well thought out & written beautifully as well as intelligently, which other writers have seem to have forgotten lately. You actually believe such a place exists. This being a novel it is amazing how many truths are in it. Obviously D.Turck below has no clue what a well written novel is to save his life. This book will not only hold your interest but make you want to help the rantings of characters Miss Polite & Professor Peace's stuggles. I recommend this book to anyone in or out of college or even thinking about going & not only will you gain some insight into our pitiful educational system but may have you question the very existence of colleges at all! Mr. Rosenblatt you are a genius!

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars amusing tale of campus life, February 17, 2008

By	David W. Straight (knoxville, tennessee United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

This novel joins some other fine skewerings of campus life: Doonesbury's Walden and Jane Smiley's Moo U. The hero, Peace Porterfield, seems to be the only sane and honest character at Beet College (1800 students, 141 faculty, plus administrators and staff). Beet has made an effort to be more relevant to students, with majors in Wiccan History, Little People of Color, Serial Killers of the Northwest, and the like. The college faces a financial crisis, and Portfield is assigned to chair a committee to come up with a new exciting curriculum.

There is quite a mix of characters--faculty members (which perhaps should be in quotes), students (I use the term loosely), administrators (very loosely), and others. Campus life is not, shall we say, disciplined. Groups and clubs abound: Christians for Jesus, Up with Goats, Baptists for Fornication, etc. It's an exaggeration of what you'll find on most campuses, in much the same way that Delta House in Animal House was an exaggeration of fraternity life--although I did hear students watching the movie say "Boy! If they had Delta at UT I'd join in an instant!" It's all very madcap. The surrounding town--completely dependent on the college so there is no town-and-gown conflict--must condescend to the college. "Slow Children" street signs have been replaced in an atmosphere of PC-ness by "Please Be Careful As Younger People May Be Entering the Roadway" notices. Beet's President Bollovate is given to lechery and greed--rather like some recent presidents of my own university. There is a plotline, but it really takes a back seat to the descriptions of a totally dysfunctional college.

The book does go a bit over the edge. Most parents I know would want to ensure that their kids are getting marketable educational skills for their $40K a year. While there might be a few parents who would shell out those bucks for their child to major in Bondage Studies, I suspect that even fewer students would not be keeping an eye fixed on jobs after graduation. As I tell my own students, you may love poetry, but when you look in the Sunday Classifieds under "Poets Wanted", what do you find? Beet College does have some "ordinary" majors such as Physics, but we never meet any of those students. So Beet College is more like Doonesbury's wonderful Walden, where everything is flaky, and less like Faber College or Smiley's Moo U, which are somewhat more traditional, but where the fun is in the outlandish characters such as Bluto or Lionel Gift. Beet's a good read--fun and bizarre. There but for the Grace of God go I.

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review

› See all 9 customer reviews...

Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Higher Ed taken to the highest extreme
If you've ever wondered what life is like inside the academy, this book is for you. Populated with prima donna faculty members who have never encountered life in the real world...

Published 12 months ago by C. M. Godfrey

2.0 out of 5 stars A few laughs but very contrived
A few good laughs and observations about liberal arts institutions but I was expecting quite a bit more from the Roger Rosenblatt I have come to know from his essays on the News...

Published 17 months ago by Brent

4.0 out of 5 stars On the perils of the university
Roger Rosenblatt has taken on Higher Education in this satiric novel. Whereas I found Rosenblatt to be incredibly witty and his bleak view of current day academia to be...

Published 17 months ago by C. B Collins Jr.

1.0 out of 5 stars Read Straight Man Instead
I was bummed out by this book. I was expecting a humorous literary novel, but the book is poorly written and boring.

Published 17 months ago by Love to Read

1.0 out of 5 stars Beet is Beat
Beet is not well written, full of trite colloquialisms and has a plot which does not progress well enough to hold your interest.

Published 18 months ago by D. Turck

3.0 out of 5 stars Sweet and Sour Satire
The story is filled with zany characters who are mostly disagreeable types. The English professor, his wife, and his professor friend seem to be the only sane people in the Beet...

Published 19 months ago by J. E. Irby

› See all 9 customer reviews...

.jsOffDisplayBlock { display: block; } .jsOffDisplayInline { display: inline; } .jsOffVisibility { visibility: visible; } .jsOnDisplayBlock { display: none; } .jsOnDisplayNoneBlock { display: block; } .jsOnDisplayNoneInline { display: inline; } .jsOnDisplayInline { display: none; } .jsOnVisibility { visibility: hidden; } .jqOnDisplayBlock { display: none; } .jqOnDisplayInline { display: none; } .jqOnVisibility { visibility: hidden; } .jqOnDisplayNoneBlock { display: block; } .jqOnDisplayNoneInline { display: inline; }

Customer Discussions

Beta (What's this?)

New! See all customer communities, and bookmark your communities to keep track of them.

This product's forum (0 discussions)

Discussion	Replies	Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight

Start a new discussion

Topic:

First post:

Receive e-mail when new posts are made

Prompts for sign-in

Guidelines

Active discussions in related forums

Discussion	Replies	Latest Post
comics Comic Book Rants and Raves	3092	12 minutes ago
womens fiction Can't remember the title or author of this book.	2	1 hour ago
comics Best independent/self published comis out there	26	1 day ago
comics Best Graphic Novels for Adults?	77	1 day ago
humor Boomerang	0	2 days ago
humor my just released book	5	5 days ago
womens fiction women mystery writers	13	7 days ago