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167 of 192 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
'catcher' this is not, and thank goodness, January 22, 2005
This book reminds me of "Joe College" by Tom Perrotta and "Old School" by Tobias Wolff with the same formula of working class outsider attends an elite school and learns life lessons en route to graduation. Unlike the protagonists in those books, however, "Prep's" Lee Fiora, manages to make more than just temporary connections with her classmates, and it is that which distinguishes the book from others with male protagonists.
Much has been made by reviewers of the fact that the protagonist is a snob. So what. Many teenagers are judgmental and materialistic, regardless of class, and most are, at some point, intensely embarrassed by their parents. It's part of growing up. What a cop out it would be if Lee were the kind of Hollywood teen who in the end always does the right thing. It's refreshing to see an author create a first novel protagonist who clearly isn't some idealized version of herself.
I just wish the author had prefaced each section with a date - it took me a needlessly long time to figure out when it was set. Characters used today's lingo (hook-up, etc.), but there were also elements specific to both the 80's and 90's. This was a bit jarring.
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28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Authentic and beautifully written, April 18, 2008
This review is from: Prep: A Novel (Paperback)
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.
This was an Amazon recommendation since I read Tom Brown's Schooldays. And, it's similar-- a bit. Like Schooldays, History Boys, 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.
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30 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
High school flashback, July 5, 2006
This review is from: Prep: A Novel (Paperback)
This coming-of-age story is told from the perspective of Lee Fiora, an Indiana resident who is awarded a scholarship at the prestigious Ault School, an East coast boarding institution. "Prep" chronicles Lee's four years at Ault and details the numerous experiences and heartaches that help shape her life.
Author Curtis Sittenfeld has succeeded in writing a very adult book about something that nearly all readers will be able to relate to: high school. Being a teenager is not an easy experience for anyone, and all of us have our fair share of high school horror stories to go around. In Lee's case, the high school experience is even more challenging because she is thrown into a world where she is unbelievably out of place. Lee feels like an outcast at Ault: she's one of the few kids who are there on scholarship, and the other students come from very wealthy families. The money issue is one of several reasons why Lee is unable to fit in with her peers and really make her mark at Ault. She withdraws from her classmates and has a difficult time making friends. As Lee struggles to succeed at her new school, she finally forms a solid friendship with one girl, Martha, and has a huge crush on a fellow student, Cross Sugarman, who is a member of the "popular" crowd. Throughout her four years at Ault, Lee manages to learn a lot about relationships with other people and also a lot about the relationship she has with herself.
Critics of this book complain that Lee is an annoying character because she's incredibly insecure and obsesses about everything all the time. Personally, those qualities just make her more endearing to me. The teenage years are rough, high school is brutal, and experiencing all of that in a strange environment where you have no contact with your family must be a thousand times worse than what the average kid has to deal with. Yes, Lee can be hurtful, selfish, and downright stupid at times...but she's a teenager, and most teenagers go through a phase when they're extremely moody and self-centered. That being the case, I don't think there's anything unusual about Lee. I think her best quality is her honesty. Lee recognizes positive traits and tragic flaws in every person she meets, including herself. It's very refreshing.
I think the best thing about this book is that although the story is narrated by Lee and she is detailing her high school experiences, she is reflecting back on her time at Ault ten years after she graduated. "Prep" isn't a sappy story of teenage angst that belongs in the young adult section: it's a summary of Lee's boarding school experiences being told to the reader by Lee when she's in her late 20s. This isn't a book for teenagers; it's a story that was written for adults. I think most adults will be able to relate to Lee's experiences on many different levels, which is why I highly recommend this book.
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