Title: Prep Author: Curtis Sittenfeld
Publisher: Random House, 2005
Read: May 2009; NYC, Paris, Barcelona
Format: trade paperback
Nutshell: Ambitious in a big-fish-small-pond kind of way, Lee Fiora leaves her middle-class family behind in South Bend, Indiana to attend Ault, a prestigious New England prep school. There, she is confronted with the standard set of teen-angst problems: fitting in, socio-economic differences, crushes, dating and academics. We follow her 4 years at Ault and watch how she stumbles through situations that should change her, but do not.
I rarely meet a book that I absolutely don't like. The predictable and tiresome Prep, though, is an exception to this rule. Here are 5 reasons why:
1. It's character-driven, but I found Lee completely unlikeable.
2. Her unwarranted low self-esteem never eases up. She doesn't ever grow out of it, nor does she seem to want to.
3. The situations she gets into are believable enough, I guess. But the fact that she never learns from them is not. Hello? Lee? Where is your dignity?
4. The most relatable character is Lee's father, who calls her out for what she is: a whiny brat. I resented relating to this middle aged man.
5. I'm not sure what Sittenfeld wants readers to feel about Lee. But I don't think this confusion is some kind of clever or nuanced device. I think that she tries to earn sympathy for Lee through forced empathy - by way of first person perspective - and fails.
It's not like the novel was a total and complete waste of time. Sittenfeld's writing is earnest, emotional and engaging enough. Also, for me, it felt new to read a prep school story told from a girl's point of view. Of course, the girl in question is far from a strong female character and I guess that's ultimately disappointing, too. Prep seems like a wasted opportunity to showcase the evolution of a confused girl into a dignified young woman. In the end, though, it just furthers the stereotype of girls as insipid, whiny and cripplingly insecure.
Overdramatic and angsty. And not in that good way, either.
2 out of 5 stars.
I give it -2 stars
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