Title: way over-hyped
Product review: This is an extremely pretentious book. Although well-written in places, it is, on the whole, overwritten. It tries to be both erudite mystery and coming-of-age novel but the "mystery" and "erudition" take a distant second place to the portrayal of a group of friends going through college with typical relationship problems. Think a "Friends" episode with one character saying to another: "I spent 12 hours today reading the Hypnerotomachia and I made 21 pages of notes. How much time did you spend solving its mystery?" I'm sorry, if you want some truly erudite mysteries, read The Name of the Rose, and also The Club Dumas. For an excellent book combining mystery, erudition and university life, try Robertson Davies' The Rebel Angels.
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