Reader Response to "Admission"

So I'm going to post my reactions to this story as I go along page per page. Kind of like live tweeting, but not as cool. Depending on how you view the entity that is Twitter. Anyway.

Page 1: I hate interviews. I literally have one tomorrow and I can think of 180,000 other things that I would rather be doing than answering, "What is your proudest moment?" "What is one thing that you would like to improve about yourself?" One thing that I would probably like to improve about myself is not wanting to smash my head against a wall during interviews.
I like this opening though. It immediately sets up intrigue. Ooo the letter was unexpected - that leads to the question why was it unexpected. I don't really know what the Institute for Early Childhood Development is but the narrative ball is already rolling. I guess I'll keep reading this story.

Page 2: I don't like Duncan. I want a mango.

Page 3: Cassie is staring at the back of Duncan's head and it looks "egg shaped and vulnerable" - does she want to hit him or something? I would. He referred to their child very impersonally and told Cassie she should be working while he's sitting there eating a mango. I still want a mango.
I also drive an old Subaru! Me and Cassie would be friends.
I like what Senna is doing with the intrigue surrounding the institute. We don't even know who Cassie's kid is yet, but there has to be something special about her, perhaps like a super smart Rory Gilmore-esque kind of situation.
There is also a lot of telling, not showing, about Cassie and Duncan's jobs and backgrounds, but that's okay because it's straightforward and necessary.

Page 4: We find out the kid's name is cody. Ok so maybe he won't be like Rory, since for some reason I assumed the kid was a girl.
Being Google-worthy is a frightening concept. I may have just googled myself.
Duncan stop complaining about the work you have to do when you were just sitting around eating your mango.
I also can't tell if we are in the past or the present now which is kind of bothering me.

Page 5: Now I can't tell if Senna views the school in a satirical light, because that celebrity question was pretty satirical.
...zaftig? Back to Google I go.
Esther Vale. I'm curious how other people think of names when they write because when I make up names, either I just think of one off the top of my head that would fit the character or I actually put meaning into it. Esther Vale just sounds like Senna might have been trying to think of something upper class-esque.

Page 6: "The crowd around Cassie seemed to thrum, silently, with excitement and desire." I just don't like this sentence. I always am wary of using "seemed" because why did it seem to thrum instead of actually thrumming? How do you thrum silently? What is thrumming anyway? How do you do it with excitement and desire?
Why do I feel like the token racial images are ones that could totally appear at Chapman? And someone talking about a generous financial aid program?
I think Senna is being satirical with Esther Vale's speech, too, but I'm not sure to effect.

Page 7: Is Julia Roberts actually supposed to be there...Isn't Richard Nixon dead...?
If I was given edamame when I was a toddler I would probably just throw it at a wall.

Page 8: There's a lot of layers here, with Cassie saying she's looking at the institute just to write a play, but getting sucked into the glamorous lifestyle that she once sought to satirize; Senna is satirizing and also pointing out how people lie about the things they want.
Also, they never think of asking Cody what he wants. That might be cool to consider.

Page 9: Ooooohhhh Cassie and Duncan are black? I missed any other tells of this information, but I'm wondering if this is going to turn into an affirmative action piece - the only reason they are getting asked back to interview might be to have the token black kid at the school. Not cool.
I have no clue what "the dew is off the rose" is supposed to mean but I feel like that is some kind of horrible insult.

Page 10: WASPs? Why are there so many words and acronyms in here that I haven't heard of.

Page 11: I feel like Cody probably has more words in his vocabulary than I do.
I like Duncan more now. He is becoming the voice of realism in his story.
Also not gonna lie I just realized this story was 33 pages long and I really want to watch the SNL 40 year thing in fourty-five minutes even though I like the story. So I might just combine some pages.

Page 12-13: I had no idea there was an ethnic barbie named Kira. With stuff like that, I always feel like making the doll in the first place is just trying way too hard to be racially sensitive, but there's really no way around it I guess.
We still really have no clue what Cassie's playwright career entails.
"Why had there been so many fire-related tragedies?" Ok usually if I throw a sentence in like that, it means that the only example I could think of were fire-related tragedies and I just rolled with it.

Page 14-15: I just realized how ridiculous it is that Cody's two years old and they're already worrying about school. I didn't go to school until I was five. What's going to happen next, the kid gets sent straight from the hospital into a classroom?
Okay I googled Sneetch too.
"Neither father nor son saw her where she stood in the shadows." Woah okay that is a little different from the rest of the tone of the story, but it makes sense that it's getting a little darker because Cassie is starting to feel sucked into society.

Page 16-17: Cassie doesn't really care about Cody at all. She only really cares about the status that he can bring her.
Ok I am officially team Duncan now, sorry we got off on the wrong foot. He actually plays with Cody and doesn't care about the school.

Page 18-19: I also googled acerbic.
I wonder if I would have known what acerbic meant if I went to a fancy school when I was two years old.

Page 20-21: "She felt the blood slamming against the inside of her head." I really like this sentence because it sums up basically exactly what a stress headache/getting in an argument feels like without sounding cliche.
"I've almost made it to the other side" this is sad, she finally says what she's been thinking the whole time. What is so wrong with the side she's on?

Page 22-23: Now I'm really curious why they want Cody at their school so badly, which is a sign of a good story. If Senna doesn't let his readers know afterwards I'm going to be annoyed. I didn't expect Cassie to turn down the offer to go to the Institute.

Page 24-26: Ah. Iconoclast. Hi again Google.
That's a really clever bully.
Cassie's motivations for wanting to be on the other side are kind of cliche to me. She didn't have what the other people had growing up. I mean, that's a perfectly plausible reason but the rest of her character seems less stereotypical than this explanation.

Page 27-30: (The SNL 40 year anniversary is hilarious by the way)
Why do they want Cody at the institute so badly? Something is fishy here.
Okay now it's turning into a weird creepy version of When a Stranger Calls -not that that movie isn't creepy anyway. If we don't find out why they want their family to go to the school so badly I'm going to flip a table.
I think Nedra would be the reason the character has issues.

27-33: WHAT WE DON'T GET TO KNOW WHY PENNY IS SO CREEPY AND DESPERATE AND SHOWS UP TO THEIR DOOR IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT WHY
Are we supposed to just guess and interpret it to find the deeper meaning agh no I don't like that.
I think when it comes down to it we're supposed to realize that in life when we're given two choices of things, we should all take into account Cody's question of whether the school has swings.
They both have swings.