Title: Scathing, funny, deliciously entertaining
Product review: What fun! Hynes skewers academia so piercingly that I laughed out loud while reading his novellas. Some of the characters--especially characters in the first and third novellas--are loathsome, and it was fun to see them get their comeuppance. Hynes portrayal of academic conferences is so on-target that those in the academy should squirm. His twist on Poe's stories was clever, especially the riff on The Black Cat. The Cask of Amontillado is hinted at in spots of the second novella, but the allusions are weaker. Good summertime reading for anyone missing life in the university.
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