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I find the negative comments about this novel mystifying--it's a brilliant satire, and was deservedly nominated for a National Book Award (a prize rarely given to comic novels or satires). I suspect that the lack of suspense, the reader's foreknowledge that certain things will happen blunts their pleasure in Prose's wonderful writing and the insight she has into each of her characters, and the affectionate but acerbic picture of life in a small, somewhat pretentious and second rate college. But for me, the plot is the least important feature of the book. The title alone tells you that Prose is playing with a well-established trope, one explored many times, and that she has something in mind other than letting the reader find out "what happened"--the book is primarily a character study crossed with a satiric send up of political correctness as played out in a creative writing class. Anyone who has ever taught such a class will recognize the emotional land mines lurking in the seemingly innocent offerings of students who have great ambitions and dreams but do not necessarily have the talent (or the discipline to utilize the talent they do possess) to realize them. This is the first of her novels I've read. I now look forward to reading others.