This book requires patience, but so did the Goldfinch (and I'm guessing by the length, but I haven't read it yet, A Little Friend), but much like the Goldfinch if you like languishing about while messed up rich kids ruin their lives, I'd absolutely recommend it. I can see why this has become THE Dark Academia book. It's beautifully written with a cynical wit and makes you (me, I mean me) want a do-over at college in a tiny New England town (though, let's be honest, I would never be accepted into this group, or even really want to be, if I'm being honest). There are a few moments of long exposition that I wish had been split up somehow, but I can understand plot wise why it wasn't.

I will say, the audiobook by HarperAudio, just like The Bell Jar, is recorded in the weirdest way I've ever experienced. They took out all the chapter headings making it one excruciatingly long recording. There are parts, but the parts aren't chapters and will end right in the middle of conversations or scenes that were clearly not supposed to be split up. If you don't have a weird glitch about stopping in the middle of chapters, you should be fine, but if, like myself, doing this short circuits your brain, just be prepared.