A compelling and controversial tale of student sex and romantic entanglements on a New England college campus. Lauren, who changes her course subject every time she changers her sleeping partner, is the centre of a curious love triangle which involves the shrewd and passionate bisexual Paul, and Sean whose ambivalence and cynicism conceal - even from himself - his own romantic yearings.
Through each of the characters' voices Ellis presents a kaleidoscopic view of clashing expectations and frustrations, of the dreams and tumultuous desires of youth. Painting a poignant and sometimes hilarious picture of the couplings and capitulations, the dramas and the downfalls of American college life in the 1980s, it is a compelling and sympathetic account of the "lost generation."
