It's rare to find a book that speaks directly to you--a book that seems to narrate your own life for you, as you're living it. For me, one of those books is "Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You." (Let's stop pretending I don't see, in that narrator, a carbon copy of myself.) Another is: "Ms. Hempel Chronicles," which I write about again and again, because it's just that good. This, to me, is required reading for anyone who is ambivalent about the teaching profession (and that's maybe all teachers, secretly or not-so-secretly). There's so much I admire about this bold second novel, and here's the main thing: Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum does not feel constrained by the tyranny of linear narrative. She doesn't need to tell us when Ms. Hempel met her boyfriend, or when the engagement was officially ended. She doesn't need to recall the exact moment when Ms. Hempel handed in her letter of resignation. As far as I recall, the de...