This book has me torn. The writing is superb. I easily fell into the world that Harbach created and continued to think about the characters after I closed the book each night. Also, the premise of college athletes at a D-III school hit close to home; I served as a student athletic trainer at a D-III college during my college years. I knew the characters that Harbach created quite well. Almost too well. 
 The reason I deducted a star was the sometimes very improbable nature of certain events in the novel. While I loved Pella, her story seemed unlikely to occur in real life. Likewise, as Henry attempts to "drown himself from the inside out," I couldn't help but think that there's no way someone-- anyone-- wouldn't step in to help him. 
 Despite my issues with certain story archs, the book was a wonderful read and made me re-live some parts of my college career. I'll be thinking about Schwartz, Henry, and Pella (in particular) for a long time.