Savage mockery of the attitudes and values of very young men that seemed sophisticated when I was the main protagonist's age but now seems rather cruel. It is masterly cruelty, however. ( )

All in all quite disappointing. One gets the feeling that the true subject of the book is the anxiety of not being admitted to the Oxford college of choice and that the sexual shenanigans are a way to deal with this anxiety just as the numerous drugs and schools of literary criticism in the book are presented as a way of dealing with sexual anxiety. There are however some really good images. My favorite: "A checkerboard of nuns crossing the street". ( )

Hmmm. A bookish teenager trying to get into a posh university while being distracted by girls (specifically, by a girl slightly out of his league)? What's not to like? ( )