** spoiler alert ** 
 I liked this book a lot more during the first third. While the characters were pretty self-absorbed and sometimes unlikable, I did enjoy reading about their insular little world and Richard's inclusion into their social circle. I was reminded of my own college experience, which also took place in a conservatory at a smaller northeast liberal arts college, albeit with a lot less, um, extracurricular activities. But then it just kept going, and going, and going. Entire days of these students doing not very much were being described in what felt like real time. I lost my patience with them very quickly. 
 The incident I was most interested in, the first murder, gets glossed over and described as hearsay. The second murder also takes place "off camera". The search for Bunny takes an excruciatingly long time - I understand that we're supposed to be feeling the uncomfortable anticipation of the characters, but I didn't kill anyone, and I didn't enjoy being left to squirm with characters I had no sympathy for. 
 The last 200+ pages describe the group's implosion, and as opposed to the exhaustive, leisurely, drawn-out detail of the book's first half, it occurs with dizzying speed. Incest, alcoholism, nervous breakdowns, hospitalizations, attempted murder, suicide - the hits just keep coming! At this point, I actively disliked most of the main characters, and so didn't much care about what was happening to them. 
 There were other things that reduced my enjoyment of the book ... for example, the professor Julian seemed like he was going to be a really interesting character, but other than his initial meeting with Richard, he barely factors into the story. The anachronisms were also distracting - when exactly is this book supposed to be set? Everyone else seemed to be in the 80's or 90's, but then one of Richard's friends didn't even know about the moon landing? Not to mention them all using fountain pens and dressing like funeral directors. 
 I really did enjoy a good chunk of the book, which is why I did't rate it one star. If I could, I'd give it 2.5. But two-thirds of what essentially felt like a drunken, never-ending ramble as told by a pretty unlikable character about other unlikable characters was too much for my optimism to outlast.