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Prep

A Novel

By Curtis, Sittenfeld, Curtis Sittenfeld

(52)

| Hardcover | 9781400062317

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Book Description

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 offContinue

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 Massachusetts. She leaves her animated, affectionate family in South Bend, Indiana, at least in part because of the boarding school’s glossy brochure, in which boys in sweaters chat in front of old brick buildings, girls in kilts hold lacrosse sticks on pristinely mown athletic fields, and everyone sings hymns in chapel.

As Lee soon learns, Ault is a cloistered world of jaded, attractive teenagers who spend summers on Nantucket and speak in their own clever shorthand. Both intimidated and fascinated by her classmates, Lee becomes a shrewd observer of–and, ultimately, a participant in–their rituals and mores. As a scholarship student, she constantly feels like an outsider and is both drawn to and repelled by other loners. By the time she’s a senior, Lee has created a hard-won place for herself at Ault. But when her behavior takes a self-destructive and highly public turn, her carefully crafted identity within the community is shattered.

Ultimately, Lee’s experiences–complicated relationships with teachers; intense friendships with other girls; an all-consuming preoccupation with a classmate who is less than a boyfriend and more than a crush; conflicts with her parents, from whom Lee feels increasingly distant, coalesce into a singular portrait of the painful and thrilling adolescence universal to us all.

Critics

  • Prep

    La presentazione e le recensioni di Prep, opera di Curtis Sittenfeld pubblciata da Rizzoli. Lee Fiora, quattordicenne cresciuta in una cittadina dell'Indiana, ottiene una borsa di studio per la preparatory (prep) school di Ault, nel Massachussets, un ... (read full critics)

    Qlibri published on Tue, 15 Nov 2011

  • The happiest days of your life? Come off it

    Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld Picador £12.99, pp403 Lee Fiora is a dorky 14-year-old from an embarrassingly ordinary family in South Bend, Indiana, who ends up at Ault, an exclusive Massachusetts boarding school. Prep is the story of her survival there. ... (read full critics)

    guardian.co.uk published on Sat, 25 Sep 2010

6 Reviews

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  • 4 people find this helpful

    As an adolescent, with the conviction that you are dorky and weird while aspiring to be interesting and mysterious, how hard can you make life for yourself at an elite boarding school? This hard.

    Lee Fiora, the protagonist, thinks of herself as unremarkable in every way. Her classmates howeve ... (continue)

    As an adolescent, with the conviction that you are dorky and weird while aspiring to be interesting and mysterious, how hard can you make life for yourself at an elite boarding school? This hard.

    Lee Fiora, the protagonist, thinks of herself as unremarkable in every way. Her classmates however are touched by the golden rays of privilege and confidence. In her eyes, at least. While her life is a string of choices, stumbles and deliberations, her classmates seem to simply float along.

    Keenly observant, hilarious and deeply touching novel. If you liked Black Swan Green, try this one.

    Is this helpful?

    annemarie said on May 30, 2007 about the Others edition | Add your feedback

  • I found this book dark, depressing, and utterly pointless. I seriously doubt that anyone could possibly be that self centered and careless of others. I found the main character extremely annoying. I kept waiting for the book get better and it did not.

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    Heather Landry said on Oct 23, 2011 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

  • Can't believe people find this is how high school is now, where are your morals and values of who you are as a human being. No value in a girls self being. I don't want to go back to high school if I have to sleep with a guy to feel self worth, what happened to dating for several months, then tryi ... (continue)

    Can't believe people find this is how high school is now, where are your morals and values of who you are as a human being. No value in a girls self being. I don't want to go back to high school if I have to sleep with a guy to feel self worth, what happened to dating for several months, then trying a few things, but certainly not giving in to sleeping with a guy?

    Is this helpful?

    Pattiful said on Mar 16, 2011 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

  • The best novel about high school life in America that I've read. Extremely strong characterization-- all the people and the situations ring true. I think everyone can relate to this book on some level. It's brilliant and now one of my favorites. Be prepared though: this is a depressing read and it m ... (continue)

    The best novel about high school life in America that I've read. Extremely strong characterization-- all the people and the situations ring true. I think everyone can relate to this book on some level. It's brilliant and now one of my favorites. Be prepared though: this is a depressing read and it makes you remember a lot of painful things about growing up. Prep is psychological, intense, and consuming. It has left a huge impression on me and I'm glad I read it!

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    Moirne Stark said on Aug 9, 2010 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

  • “Prep” is a novel that tells the story of a girl that is not rich but ends up winning a scholarship for a very upscale high school. She spends three years there and while she goes looking around how privileged her classmates are, she also starts to realize that happiness in life is not only about mo ... (continue)

    “Prep” is a novel that tells the story of a girl that is not rich but ends up winning a scholarship for a very upscale high school. She spends three years there and while she goes looking around how privileged her classmates are, she also starts to realize that happiness in life is not only about money, and that a lot of times wealthy girls and boys are lonely and confused. What I liked the most about this book is the ability that the writer has to make the reader feel in the skin of the protagonist. She is telling the story and at the same time the reader is smiling or crying with her. It is amazing how she can do it using only words. I liked her style and will definitely read more things from the same author.

    Is this helpful?

    ariadna73 said on Jun 11, 2010 | Add your feedback

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