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From Publishers Weekly
A self-conscious outsider navigates the choppy waters of adolescence and a posh boarding school's social politics in Sittenfeld's A-grade coming-of-age debut. The strong narrative voice belongs to Lee Fiora, who leaves South Bend, Ind., for Boston's prestigious Ault School and finds her sense of identity supremely challenged. Now, at 24, she recounts her years learning "everything I needed to know about attracting and alienating people." Sittenfeld neither indulges nor mocks teen angst, but hits it spot on: "I was terrified of unwittingly leaving behind a piece of scrap paper on which were written all my private desires and humiliations. The fact that no such scrap of paper existed... never decreased my fear." Lee sees herself as "one of the mild, boring, peripheral girls" among her privileged classmates, especially the über-popular Aspeth Montgomery, "the kind of girl about whom rock songs were written," and Cross Sugarman, the boy who can devastate with one look ("my life since then has been spent in pursuit of that look"). Her reminiscences, still youthful but more wise, allow her to validate her feelings of loneliness and misery while forgiving herself for her lack of experience and knowledge. The book meanders on its way, light on plot but saturated with heartbreaking humor and written in clean prose. Sittenfeld, who won Seventeen's fiction contest at 16, proves herself a natural in this poignant, truthful book.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From School Library Journal
Adult/High School–When Lee Fiona arrives at Boston's prestigious Ault boarding school for her freshman year, she enters a world unlike anything she knew in South Bend, IN. "I always worried that someone would notice me," she says of her first bewildering weeks at the school. "And then when no one did, I felt lonely." This dilemma follows her throughout her four years. In her senior year, when she hooks up with star basketball player Cross Sugarman, she asks that he keep their relationship quiet. But she is appalled when she suspects that he has done just that. Sittenfeld has exquisitely captured the angst of the outsider in this fine coming-of-age novel. Lee is 24 when she recounts her boarding school history. Those few years' perspective give her an authentic voice that makes her sound less eccentric and more mainstream than Salinger's Holden Caulfield. Lee's world is peopled with the geeks and greats of the high school years–super-popular Aspeth Montgomery, who warns Lee away from a relationship with a townie; Aubrey, her math tutor, who professes his unrequited love; and enigmatic Cross, who initiates Lee into sex, but seems less than the full-fledged boyfriend she craves. Much more than stereotypes, Prep's characters, in their depth and humanity, will appeal to readers, who will find themselves rooting for Lee despite her foibles and her insecurities. Her moments of self-doubt will reverberate with adolescents everywhere.–Patricia Bangs, Fairfax County Public Library System, VA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Good Writing...but the character is annoying, after a while,
By Michelle Erickson (Lynden, WA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Prep: A Novel (Hardcover)
Much of your enjoyment of this novel depends on your tolerance level for the meticulous details of boarding school life and the obsessive expression of insecurities that accompanies the narrator at her age. Of course, the story of Lee's stay at a boarding school is recounted at a later stage of her life, which led me to wonder: "How does she remember precisely how she felt in that exact moment, so many years ago?" Whatever. This is a story of "trying to fit" or the search for acceptance, not only at the school, but with herself. Lee is a bundle of insecurities and often her self-loathing spirals into self-pity. This is all like real life, except that in fiction a reader may expect something less "familiar" or drab.The overall prose is excellent. You can't say the author writes badly, yet after so many hundred pages, I found myself growing tired of the main character and this is a bad thing. The main character in a book is like a friend; and I found Lee to be a little draining, after a while. I would still recommend this book, along with another novel often mentioned by reviewers, The Losers' Club: Complete Restored Edition by Richard Perez. Ultimately, it's all a matter of taste, of liking a character, of tolerance levels regarding the subject matter, etc. However, I would still personally recommend reading either book. ---------------------
5.0 out of 5 stars
Story of an Outsider,
This review is from: Prep: A Novel (Hardcover)
Upon picking up the novel PREP, it wasn't easy to put it down while reading it or to forget it afterwards. Prep told the story of Lee Fiora, a painfully shy girl at a prestigious boarding school on a scholarship. The book takes the reader through all four years of high school, omitting the summers when Lee returns home. While the overall plot wasn't what kept the book moving along, it was the brilliant characterization that the author placed in Lee. Highlights of the book are Freshman Spring and Junior Winter. In Freshmen Spring Lee begins to make friends, and a sense of relief and happiness comes over her; from there on she knows she won't be completely alone. In Junior Winter she goes back on a forgotten friendship and starts to date a "townie." Throughout the book, Lee is in love with the most popular, best-looking boy in her class, and their affair is described later, in her senior year. You begin to love and hate some of the characters...the ones Lee treats well and the ones she treats badly. Basically, PREP is the story of an outsider, an isolated girl who just wants people to understand and love her. I would recommend this book to many, as PREP is a different take on the fantasy idea of boarding schools. So pick up a copy! I guarantee you'll be enthralled. Another book I need to recommend (very much on my mind since I purchased a used copy off Amazon) is THE LOSERS' CLUB: Complete Restored Edition by Richard Perez, a somewhat obscure, highly entertaining novel similar in age-range to this book -- and one I can't stop thinking about. So, without question, my last two Amazon recommendations would be: PREP: A NOVEL by Curtis Sittenfeld and THE LOSERS CLUB by Richard Perez.
5.0 out of 5 stars
I Recommend this book!,
By Terri Caouette (Waterville, ME) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Prep: A Novel (Hardcover)
Of course, PREP is a fish-out-of-water/coming-of-age story, this time set in South Bend, Indiana; and it tells the story of Lee Fiora who wins a scholarship at an upscale (yes, Prep) boarding school.What makes this novel particularly enjoyable is the clean and unpretentious writing and the ability of author Curtis Sittenfeld to get inside her character's head; this is a very convincing portrayal of the "angst years" of late adolescence; and many times throughout the novel, I was hit with pangs of recognition because of course I recognized myself. An excellent character study much unlike Holden Caulfield, although very authentic -- at least for this reader. It's great to come across such an intelligent and perfectly rendered depiction of the horribly self-conscious years of heartbreak and hope. Usually it's told from a male point-of-view; but here we have a new perspective: a gal's experience. And, again, it rings true. And, need I mention, there's also quite a bit of humor in the book, much of it arising organically from the characterization of Lee Fiora: it's not forced, artificially imposed. Truly artful. The only thing I don't like about this book is the title -- the rest is very well done and certainly worth your time and money. So pick up a copy! I guarantee you'll be enthralled. Another book I need to recommend (very much on my mind since I purchased a used copy off Amazon) is THE LOSERS' CLUB: Complete Restored Edition by Richard Perez, a somewhat obscure, highly entertaining novel similar in age-range to this book -- and one I can't stop thinking about. So, without question, my last two Amazon recommendations would be: PREP: A NOVEL by Curtis Sittenfeld and THE LOSERS CLUB by Richard Perez.
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