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Prep
Prep
Author: Curtis Sittenfeld
Curtis Sittenfeld?s debut novel, Prep, is an insightful, achingly funny coming-of-age story as well as a brilliant dissection of class, race, and gender in a hothouse of adolescent angst and ambition. — Lee Fiora is an intelligent, observant fourteen-year-old when her father drops her off in front of her dorm at the prestigious Ault School in Mas...  more »
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ISBN-13: 9781400062317
ISBN-10: 1400062314
Publication Date: 1/11/2005
Pages: 416
Rating:
  • Currently 3.5/5 Stars.
 212

3.5 stars, based on 212 ratings
Publisher: Random House
Book Type: Hardcover
Other Versions: Paperback, Audio CD
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

Patouie avatar reviewed Prep on + 131 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 11
Very well written, this book felt in many places like a memoir rather than a fictional account. It's a coming of age story with a twist: although told in the first person and the present tense, the narrator's voice is obviously a bit older and wiser than the main character, viewing her own struggles and triumphs with an eye that is sometimes sardonic and sometimes wistful.
reviewed Prep on + 19 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 8
This book was so good - I was tempted to keep it for my daughter to read when she grows up. It was a slow start, but after I got into it, I could not put it down. No matter what cliche you were part of in high school, you will be able to relate to the characters. All the things you thought and felt no one else was going through - this author clearly understands. She did a great job capturing the turbulent emotions of teenagers. If you have a teenage girl - you should definitely check out this book. Excellent read!
reviewed Prep on + 4 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 7
This was definitely one of the most engrossing novels I've read so far this year. PREP is the story of Lee, an insightful and eloquent (yet insecure) teen from Indiana. Remembering words her middle class father spoke years before ("these are the kinds of houses where they send their sons to boarding school"), she has made it her goal to attend an elite boarding school. And she achieves it-- with a scholarship. The story commences as Lee begins her first year at Ault (think Andover) and concludes as she graduates four years later. Lee's story is told as a kind of memoir-- she's an adult now, recalling these events of years before.

This was an Amazon recommendation since I read Tom Brown's Schooldays. And, it's similar-- a bit. Like Schooldays, History Boys, Charlotte Simmons, and even Harry Potter, etc., the book follows the lives of several teens during their formative years. I'm not sure everyone would like it-- I'm not sure I'd recommend it to my husband, for instance, but it was indeed excellent. The author, Curtis Sittenfeld , really has the voice of a young insecure teen growing into a more confident, but never completely secure, young woman. Initiallly, I thought the author was a man and was completely taken aback-- how could a man actually know this girl so thoroughly? However, Curtis Sittenfeld is indeed a woman. And, the protagonist and her friends and classmates lives were exactly as I remembered my own life and those of my friends and classmates during high school. Truly, the authenticity the author brought to this book-- the dialogue, the events, the crushes, the friendships-- was uncanny.

I've read the negative reviews here, but disagree with some of the reasoning. One reviewer, for instance, writes about how boring the sex scenes were. With all due respect, that reviewer missed the point-- of course the sex was boring and empty and that was the very purpose of writing about it. So much the narrator believed or hoped to be important was or turned out to be empty and insignificant (even while remaining a pivotal event in her own life).

If you're female and if your own memories of high school are less than ideal, I completely recommend this book but also warn you to read this with caution. For me, this brought back memories I haven't even thought about in years. And, worse, it made some of those memories absolutely new-- as if they happened yesterday. Obsessions over insignificant events become magnified . . . analyzing and over-analyzing every response and comment from every person within your social circle. . . reading between the lines when the lines themselves are perfectly clear. . . accepting much less than you deserve. . . giving less to others than they deserve (or maybe worse-- giving more to others than warranted). . . Prep will make all these memories new again.
vprosser avatar reviewed Prep on + 161 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 6
While I liked the references to the 80s teen culture (as I was also a teen in the 80s), I absolutely could not stand the main character, Lee. I cannot remember reading a book where I so disliked the main character. She was so irritating, I contemplated just quitting the book, but I wanted to see how it ended. I'm glad I read it, but I still can't get over how much I disliked Lee. It made me wonder if the author had any of the character flaws like Lee...and if she did, I feel sorry for her!
paigu avatar reviewed Prep on + 120 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 6
I really enjoyed this and felt I could relate to the main character, Lee, on many levels. She's an unusually introverted, sensitive character; that's how she chooses to be. She isn't the butt of school pranks or even a victim of "mean girl" teasing, so don't even think that's what this book is about. Rather, this is just the collective views and thoughts of a midwestern girl trying to graduate from a WASPy New England prep school. Her narration and observations into her rich classmates are spot-on, from the casual way in which they pay $3000 for laundry service to the flowery bedspreads that cover the rich girl's beds. The whole rich vs. poor theme really didn't seem offensive, nor was it overly played. The part that struck me was the reaction of Lee's father, and the way his teasing became increasingly cruel and hurtful.
The end of the book, where there is conflict with Lee giving a scandalous "tell-all" interview to a NYT reporter seemed overly done and out of place. Aside from the ending, the book is quite entertaining.
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crytal avatar reviewed Prep on + 155 more book reviews
The book its self was ok. It made me think about when I was a kid and had wanted to go to boarding school. It also made me consider if I would ever allow my daughter to go to one. There were many times that I felt like I could understand what Lee was going through, and my heart hurt for her. There were other times, like in most tween stories that I read, that I just wanted to strangle her for being so naive. But I guess that's what the teenage years are for.
reviewed Prep on + 19 more book reviews
I loved this one. Susan Cain referenced this book a few times in "Quiet: The Power of Introverts.." so I thought I'd check it out.

Lee is an introvert with an inferiority complex. On scholarship at a very wealthy New England boarding school, she manages to convince herself that she'll never match up with her peers at anything. This results in a shyness to participate in life, a keen observational style and sometimes snobbery. She can be an unlikeable character, but she is definitely one of the more honest and relateable characters in fiction today.

Some of the conversations and characters in her peer group are so spot-on, it's almost heartbreaking. There are no one-dimensional people, or situations, here. Some parts were uncomfortable to read, like her "relationship" with the only boy in class who pays any attention to her, and the way she treats a classmate and teacher, both of whom she disdains for trying too hard - but they ring true.

This is an engaging, well-written book with surprising depth. It's written from the point of view of Lee as an adult, so there's some removal from the teen angst, but it is angsty... But if you ever were a teenager, or an outsider, it comes highly recommended.
reviewed Prep on + 3 more book reviews
Loved this book! First discovered Curtis Sittenfeld through American Wife, which I also loved. Read Prep and Man of My Dreams, and Prep is definitely my favorite out of those three. For anyone who has gone off to college or prep school and felt like they weren't quite fitting in the way they thought they would, this is a perfect read.
ouischbabe avatar reviewed Prep on + 9 more book reviews
This is one of the most true-to-life fiction books I have ever read. Main character Lee Fiora is shy to the point of neuroticism. She is desperate to be noticed by her peers, but when she is, it embarrasses her. While the main character spends most of her time reporting on the activities of her fellow students while watching from the sidelines, its with a longing to be included that you can actually feel. Wonderfully written.
reviewed Prep on + 5 more book reviews
It took me forever to get into this book. There was very little character development and I just couldn't like the main character even at the end.
GeniusJen avatar reviewed Prep on + 5322 more book reviews
Reviewed by Amanda Dissinger for TeensReadToo.com

Walking through the typical young adult section of a bookstore, there are usually five, maybe even ten, books about a teenage girl, perhaps from a small town, who transfers from that wee little town to a prep school.

Typically, this prep school is in Connecticut, or Massachusetts. Typically, the girl starts out struggling, tries to fit in with the popular crowd, misses her hometown, faces many moral problems, and meets a handsome, promising young prep school boy who shows her the ways of love. Seeing the plot of Curtis Sittenfeld's PREP for the first time, a normal reader would write it off as being another cliché prep school book.

There's where they'd be wrong.

PREP is a searing, creative look at the life of one small-town girl, Lee Fiora, who comes from her home in South Bend, Indiana, to Ault, a prep school in Massachusetts. Exposed to many new kinds of ideas and people, Lee stands on the thin line between misery and naivety as she explores all that her new life has to offer.

Sittenfeld writes about teen angst in a way that doesn't try to make it seem petty or unimportant; she embraces it, and fully understands it. This is what sets the book apart from many other titles. Wallowing in loneliness and heartbreak, the reader feels as if Lee is actually a part of them, and that they are experiencing all of the awkward and horrible events that are occurring in the story.

Lee acts as an opposite-gender Holden Caulfield, the main male character in J.D. Salinger's classic novel THE CATCHER IN THE RYE. She takes everything with a grain of salt and a little bit of dry humor while making wise observations well beyond her years. PREP is bound to become a classic, for its brutally honest interpretation of a time that plagues all of us: high school.
reviewed Prep on + 2 more book reviews
This was a great book to listen to! I enjoyed it.
reviewed Prep on + 6 more book reviews
Really enjoy Sittenfeld's writing.


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