A candy-like book
I've read Curtis Sittenfeld's Prep this week. It felt like eating caramel or ice cream. It felt like being a teenager all over again.
I had read the reviews a couple years ago when the book went out. They were filled with praise and I was curious to know what it was. That's why I picked it up at a bookstore, not really sure of what to expect. I remembered it was about preparatory schools, those private schools of the East Coast that gather the sons and daughters of the elite and resemble their British twins: the public school like Eton. I also knew the adjective "preppy" and a former colleague of mine, out of one of these prep schools, fitted the type perfectly.
The heroin is a girl from Indiana, Lee Fiora, who submitted her application without her parents' knowledge and went on to Ault, the fictional prep school, on a scholarship. The book follows her through her four years of high school, through the ups and downs of girl friendships, boy crushes, growing up in a place that is so different from her own background.
I surely didn't expect to enjoy myself so much reading it. Like being in high school again. Like being ten years younger and a lot more foolish. In a good sense. The book is addictive like candy can be, like high school gossip can be. It also strikes themes like race, social and economic backgrounds, women's place in society. For all this, Lee's voice matches the great accounts of teenage experience.
And if you're feeling like traveling back, like being young again, read this one.
I had read the reviews a couple years ago when the book went out. They were filled with praise and I was curious to know what it was. That's why I picked it up at a bookstore, not really sure of what to expect. I remembered it was about preparatory schools, those private schools of the East Coast that gather the sons and daughters of the elite and resemble their British twins: the public school like Eton. I also knew the adjective "preppy" and a former colleague of mine, out of one of these prep schools, fitted the type perfectly.
The heroin is a girl from Indiana, Lee Fiora, who submitted her application without her parents' knowledge and went on to Ault, the fictional prep school, on a scholarship. The book follows her through her four years of high school, through the ups and downs of girl friendships, boy crushes, growing up in a place that is so different from her own background.
I surely didn't expect to enjoy myself so much reading it. Like being in high school again. Like being ten years younger and a lot more foolish. In a good sense. The book is addictive like candy can be, like high school gossip can be. It also strikes themes like race, social and economic backgrounds, women's place in society. For all this, Lee's voice matches the great accounts of teenage experience.
And if you're feeling like traveling back, like being young again, read this one.