Review of Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld

Curtis Sittenfeld has written a pager-turner about the four years of prep school in Massachusetts for Lee Fiona, a ninth grader from South Bend, Indiana. Coming into the boarding school scene, Lee is totally unprepared for the casual, unassuming wealth of the typical students at Ault, as she has been accepted on a scholarship and feels more awkward than her fellow peers, or so she thinks. She is very introspective, fixating on a particular boy for four years based on a random meeting off campus in her freshman year. This is understandable, he is one of the most popular boys, and he had paid attention to her for that one whole day. But would he realize she was interesting, and would she realize that she needed to take action to begin a real relationship? She meets a girl through a friend, and this new friendship "clicks" for her. For three years Lee and her new best friend, Martha Porter, room together, with Martha giving Lee the moral support that she needs. Lee learns about the students at Ault, she is shown to be compassionate with her friends; teaching Conchita how to ride a bike, working together with her younger student math tutor, and trying to show Sin-Jun that people do really care for her. Lee's impatience with her parents is understandable, too, what child isn't embarrassed by their parents at age sixteen, but given that the year and the drive to the school have been a great sacrifice on Lee's behalf, her parents are not willing to forgive her immaturity, at least not her father. I grow to love or at least care for this young girl, Lee, and like to think back on what high school was for me, especially that part that made me think it was my whole world and life wouldn't be better than high school, and how scared I was of the next step, but those next four years were truly greater, even with all the angst. I think reading this book helps me to see how hard decisions and relationships can be for young people, and shy students can learn a little about life from stories, "I feel that way , too, sometimes." The talk with Cross Sugarman in the basketball court had some very truthful statements, and it is good to read them, "That I bet things would be easier for you if you either realized you're not that weird, or decided that being weird isn't bad." This book also reminded me of another favorite of mine, A Separate Peace by John Knowles, 1959, about a prep school for boys in New Hampshire during the years of World War II.