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Prolouge
The book starts with a summarization of the situation five greek students at a small New-England college in Vermont has found themselves stuck in; they have murdered on of their closest friends. Rather than them being sorry for this, they are concerned about getting caught, and an unexpected snowfall might cause for them to spend the next years locked in prison. -
Back story
Richard Papen, first-person peripheral narrator and main character, was born in 1964 in Plano California. He is born into a middle-class family with no siblings, and his childhood was nothing out of the ordinary. Yet he craves something more, something more meaningful in life; in comes the elite Hampden College in Vermont. -
Richard leaves California
In 1983 Richard Papen, main character, leaves his hometown Plano in California to attend Hampden collage in Vermont. He wants to study classic greek, but the greek class is not a normal class. Only 5 students are enrolled in the class, and he is quite expectedly rejected when he wants to apply. That is until he randomly translates an old greek text, which catches the attention of the greek students and their peculiar professor. -
Introducing the classic students
Richards classmates are quite extraordinary, both in their interest and their personalities. Edmund "Bunny", Henry, Charles, Camilla and Francis are the original students, and they are all constantly indulged in greek manuscripts or latin grammar. Richard quietly realizes that they are altogether separated from the rest of the college, as he also becomes after spending more and more time with them -
Francis' summer house
They spend almost the entire summer at Francis' summer house not far from campus. Here they go swimming, read greek or latin, go for walks, drink wine, smoke and just relax. All the classic students, except from Richard, have decent amounts of money. -
Henrys bacchanal
They are all indulged in old-greek culture, but no one quite as much as Henry Winter. Their professor, Julian Morrow, mentions a ritual, a bacchanal, and the rest of them becomes obsessed with it. They start with this before Richard came to the college, so he has no part in this. Put simply they try to "lose control completely", as old greeks would do and enter an altered mental state. They success with the ritual, but manages to kill farmer in the process. -
Bunny, and Henry's bacchanal
Bunny was originally a part of the experiments with the bacchanal, but due to him not being coefficient enough the other students tried without hime once, and succeeded. Therefore Bunny was not with them when the killed the farmer, and tries to keep it a secret from him. Eventually he finds out about the murder after reading Henry's latin diary, and he starts to blackmail his peers with the murder. -
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Attending college
This is the timespan Richard spends at Vermont college with his peers,as the others do not finish their degrees. Richard comes back after Henry's death to finish his degree alone, but returns to California. -
Bunny's death
It does not take long for the group to execute their plan. While Bunny drunkly took a hike in the forest, they confront him. Henry takes the final step with pushing him down a ravine and to his death. They leave the scene after checking his pulse, assuring that he is death, and simply pretends like nothing. -
Bunny's troublesome behavior
Bunny's personality as already quite provoking with him often going out of his way to set his friends in edge. With this new information, he becomes close to sinister. He often drops small hints about the situation to classmates, especially when he is drunk, which leads to his friends to get very anxious. What Bunny do not know know is that Richard also know, but one night he drunkingly tells Richard what their friends did to the farmer. -
Henry's plan
Henry is kind of the leader of the pack, at least when it comes to big decisions. Therefore he manages to convince the others, including Richard, that the only way to solve this is by murdering Bunny. Or as Henry explains murder; "distribution of matter". It do not take long for the others to agree with Henry, and the planning of their best friends murder begin. -
The aftermath of Bunny's death
The remaining students of the greek class all struggle in different ways after bunny's death. Firstly it took a long time before his body was found, and secondly they were his supposedly best friends. Funeral, speeches, meeting family, friends and their professor Julian. Julian finds out one day, and he simply leaves and never returns. They never got close to being caught for it, but the guilt and anxiousness takes a toll on the group both together, and individually. -
Henry's death
The groups is falling apart, in every way possible. They all randomly gather at Camilla's hotel room, and things go out of hand. Charles claim that Henry is to blame for their downfall, and threatens to kill him with a gun. Henry reaches for the gun in a dramatic small-fight, and kills himself with it. This is the last time the group is together. -
Francis' suicide attempt - Epilouge 1
After Henry's death the group separates and does not see each other for over half a decade. That is until Francis sends them his suicide letter, and Richard and Camilla (Charles has become an alcoholic and has run off to Texas) meets again to support their struggling friend, who luckily failed his attempt. They realise that none of them have truly healed from their past, and that their all equally tormented by empty lifes and sleepless nights. -
The dream - Epliouge 2
This also happens in 1992, and is the end of the book. Richard has a dream, or maybe a nightmare, in which he meets Henry at a museum. Richard asks Henry whether he is happy there, and Henry responds; "Not particularly, but you're not very happy where you are, either." Then Henry excuses himself due to having an appointment, and leaves Richard to look as he walks away. This dream is the last part of the book, the last part of the epliouge.