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Reviewed by Jamie Michele for Readers' Favorite
Something Rotten in the State of Research: Confessions from a PhD by Joanne McEvoy is a fictionalized memoir that follows Aisling, who moves to Copenhagen to begin a PhD in agile learning design while managing a laundry list of personal and professional upheavals. She juggles collaborations with colleagues like Manee, whose behavior crosses the line and strains their work relationship. Aisling leads multiple projects involving course redesign, EU funding applications, and cross-institution partnerships, often contending with conflicting agendas and leadership disputes. Meanwhile, she balances her evolving social life and boundaries as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic carries on. Central to the story is Aisling’s effort to establish herself academically and socially within a competitive, sometimes hostile environment while handling project management pressures and ethical dilemmas related to authorship and workplace conduct.
Something Rotten in the State of Research by Joanne McEvoy is an impressively sharp and tightly constructed story that packs a big punch in every way, especially in its length. The writing is excellent, precise, and observant, and the characters are fully fleshed out in a way that’s rare even in books triple its length. Aisling in particular stands out; I love her. She taught me quite a bit, too. Bumble BFF is a real thing, as it turns out! Seriously, though, her boundary setting amplifies her worth and agency, and her thoughtful handling of skepticism says more about her character than any description could. Interactions unfold organically, and even secondary characters, like Klaus, Victor, or Haosravah, are allowed to flourish. There is a true realism to Aisling's academic and professional projects that makes their progression and derailments feel both believable and sharp-edged. The book ends satisfyingly but promises more to come, which I am looking forward to reading.