I don't hate the prose, though the subject matter is a little boring, but one of the downsides of the MFA-ification of American fiction is that publication now selects for people who have their shit sufficiently together to get into prestigious graduate programs. The oracular outsiders with something interesting to say (like Vollman, McCarthy, Baldwin) are shunted aside in favor of PMC adjacent homework-doers who can put together a good set of recommendation letters. It's why you end up with tons of fiction about "my white boyfriend" and "everyone online is mad at me." These are the obstacles this class encounters. I say this as a homework-doer with an MFA lol