This is exactly what I thought it would be. It is a basic bookshelf that looks reasonably good. It is fake wood, but from a distance you can't tell. Assembly was easy. One thing I would like to see is perhaps a stronger fake wood core. If your items are heavy, the beams will start to bow in the middle. If you do have heavy items (I have lots of heavy college textbooks) you will have to put them near the metal supports. Other than that, pretty solid bookshelf for the money. If you are, in fact, looking for a bookshelf that will hold very heavy items and don't want to be restricted to placing them near the supports (I don't care, but you might), then look elsewhere.