Troy Loudermilk is a huckster, but not really with any real end game. He pressures his friend Harry to come to a seminar school with him so Harry can write the poetry that Loudermilk passes off as his own. While at the school, Loudermilk entertains a bevvy of beautiful women, charms everyone with “his” poetry, and lives his best life. Harry, however, is miserable, socially awkward, and increasingly disgusted by is frenemy.

The cast of characters that fill out this novel are charmingly cliched. There is the alcoholic, sad teacher whose more successful and beautiful wife he is in the shadow of. Their precocious daughter is a true “artist” who spies on the goings-on of the school and probably knows more than anyone else. There is the student who knows something is not right about Loudermilk, and who is determined to figure it out and expose him. There is the creative fiction writer who can no longer write and is hoping that something at the seminar will kick-start her writing.

This was a very enjoyable read. I loved the author’s writing style and expression. It is full of satire and pokes fun at campus life, writing culture, and even itself.