KEY POINTS:
Home School is the sequel to that hit of the 60s, The Graduate. Forty-four years is a long time to wait for a sequel. So was it worth it?
The Graduate catapulted a memorable character, a monster of the libido, Mrs Robinson, into popular fame. In Home School she returns, this time as grandmother to Ben and Elaine Braddock's children. Time might have moved on, but she has not. Her sexual adventurousness knows no bounds.
Ben and Elaine have been home-schooling their two boys, but the local school principal is objecting. Solution - call in Mrs Robinson to seduce him. The trouble is, she then wants to stay.
Charles Webb's 1963 novel was a sharp satire on the sexual mores of the 60s and was memorably filmed in 1967 with Dustin Hoffman. The novel had it all going for it. This sequel has a lot to live up to.
Sadly, Home School comes nowhere near its ancestor. Its characters are simply ciphers, vehicles for plot manipulation. Webb has sights set on Hollywood but this novel doesn't make it out of New Jersey.
* Hutchinson, $34.99
- Detours, HoS
