Minor Indignities

Book excerpt: Nothing in his rural New England upbringing could have prepared Colin Phelps for freshman year at an Ivy League college: the House Master crashes hall parties; public nudity is practically an intramural sport; and French intellectuals spouting arcane theories cast a spell over the undergraduates. Colin plunges into the hookup culture, competing with his brash, rule-breaking roommate. But as he soon discovers, the pursuit of transgression is fraught with unexpected pitfalls, and his suave pose must be stripped away if he is to find genuine freedom.