Prep
By Curtis Sittenfeld
Why this book?
This novel’s brilliance and unique female perspective wedged its way into my sensibility as a writer, stoking my desire to tell stories from unexpected voices. Set on a small Massachusetts campus and told from the perspective of a teenage girl who leaves her family behind in Indiana, Prep not only sends you back into the angst of adolescence but is an indoctrination into boarding school rites and rituals. Young Lee Fiora, a scholarship student with outsider status, spends three years earning respect, academically and socially, at the school. There is a price, however, and the saddest of those is a distancing from her family. I love this book’s exploration of class and teenage ambition, what teenage girls do for popularity, and the inept manner in which adults try to participate. Plus, it’s Curtis Sittenfeld’s debut novel!
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