Protagonists

  [ ] Hot garbage

  [x] Boring boring boring

  [ ] Serviceable

  [ ] Likeable leads

  [ ] I love them so much

Side Character

  [ ] Every character is terrible

  [x] Characters commit sin of being boring/generic

  [ ] Enough interesting characters to balance out the few terrible ones

  [ ] Likeable side characters

  [ ] Amazing characters all around

Antagonist(s)

  [ ] Hate them for the wrong reasons

  [ ] Cliché as hell

  [x] Serviceable

  [ ] Sympathetic or likeable enough that I don't want to hate them

  [ ] Love to hate them

Plot

  [x] Average, generic plot

  [ ] Average plot made interesting with creativity

  [ ] Crazy plot that is either so bad it’s good or just plain bad

  [ ] Unique plot that keeps you interested

Writing

  [ ] Terribly written

  [ ] Very simple but effective language

  [ ] Average writing that does the job

  [x] Beautiful but accessible writing

  [ ] Challenging

Short summary:

Well. The writing is good.

Even the parts where it’s the author’s words and not lines ripped from Shakespeare.

Because there is a lot of that.

I’m pretty sure if you took all those lines out, the book would be half as many pages if not less.

The story revolves around 1990s senior theater major students at a liberal college in the Midwest. The Bard is their core curriculum. All the Shakespeare being acted in performances and said so candidly out of performance amongst themselves is to foreshadow the tragedy that is about to befall them.

In most scenes, it made sense but sometimes it just felt the author couldn't think of a witty quip for a character so she just snatched something from Shakespeare. 

I probably would have appreciated it more or could have endured it better if the book didn’t get so boring by the middle. I get the tension and the mystery the author was going for but it did not work. It just felt so drawn out.

The characters weren’t great either. Oliver is a competent, reliable narrator but I just did not give a toss about him. Yes, he’s caring and naïve. Yes. he has some baggage. However, there was nothing gripping or interesting about him.

As for the main friend group, I cannot describe anyone outside of Meredith and Richard. I get they are suppose to play archetypes but they just felt like extras and didn't feel like they added much to the story. Funny enough, I do feel the love triangle that develops and the realization Oliver has that he loves a certain someone was well done (though that certain someone was not interesting either). Going back to Meredith and Richard, I think Meredith was handled well and was nuanced. Richard, like his name, was a dick but that was the point. He felt over the top at times but that just made the fall so much harder and satisfying.

Overall, I am just conflicted about the book just because of the potential it had. The beginning was good, the middle was boring and the ending was underwhelming.