This was an enjoyable read, but I can't strongly recommend it. The novel will join a handful of quick popcorn reads that didn't leave much of an impression on me. It is, however, probably the most accurate account of college life that I've seen in a novel. Other books that have tried to tackle it, such as "I Am Charlotte Simmons" and "The Rules of Attraction," have been too over the top. They've painted most college students as drunken, vapid, oversexed people much more concerned about the next party than the next final. "Joe College" makes them as complex as, well, everyone else.