Prep

Hated It

When I was reading the other reviews for this book, I was so happy to find that others didn't care for it either. I was completed dissapointed by this book, and the message that it was trying to send. The main character improves nothing in her life, she doesn't grow, and let others people ruin her life. There is really no climax in this book, and it seems to really have no point. Except maybe that some people like Lee are just cowardly, and choose to never improve their lives. How depressing. I finished this book only because I hoped that there would be a good ending....there wasn't. It's the first book I've ever thrown away. The one thing that drove me crazy about Lee, was that she let her long term crush, that idiotic boy use her, and treat her terribly. The explicit sex scenes that were introduced into the story were not in anyway helpful to moving the plot along, or even helpful to Lee's opinion of herself. He continued to use her, and she let him, and I think it's important to acknowledge that his behavior was not acceptable. The author never acknowledged this. The people in this book made bad decisions, and seemed to continue to make them, thus destroying themselves. This is not a message that I think should be sent out to the public.

7 out of 8 people found this review helpful.

Just Wow...

The main character of this book was very unlikable. I found myself waiting for something bad to finally happen to her. She walks all over people who are nice to her in the story. This basically sums up the book until the end when her character finally doesn't make you want to punch her or give you anxiety because she is so awkward. The supporting characters in the book are like-able and are what redeems the book. You feel sorry for them almost. In the end, the book was entertaining enough to get me to finish it. However, as a warning to those of you know prefer to like the main character, I wouldn't suggest this.

4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

It wasn't good

The only book I have read where I absolutely hate the main character. She has no redeeming qualities. We never really know what she wants. She climbed over the people who cared for her but was never fully happy when she got to where she wanted to be. If I could have figured her out I may have liked the story.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Why don't people like this book?

I read this book a few months ago;and i still look over it from time to time. I absolutley liked this book! Ok,Ok,so i did not LOVE it,but i still liked it. I thought it was a good read.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Addicting

I couldn't stop reading this book. I loved it, I own it and it's deffinently a book that iwll stay in my library.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Good Read

Curtis Sittenfeld writes very well. I have enjoyed both this and American Wife.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Great read....characters are very compelling & you felt like you were back in high school again!

It is like a modern day female Catcher in the Rye

1 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

amazing.

This book was great, but it was also deep and depressing. very depressing.
i dont recommend this book to anyone who can't handle sad situations.
i wanted to cry at the end of each chapter. but dont think i didn't like it because i absolutely love this book. it makes a person think about
their lives. and it gives an insight to most of the quiet people who sit in your class and do not speak. i love this book.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

A horrible book

I bought this at a book sale for a dollar and believe me, it's not worth that price. This was one of the worst books that i have ever read. The protaginist is a whiny brat who refuses to become friends with anyone and the reader is forced to listen to her for four years. The plot was unorginal and didn't do anything intersting. It was far from being accurate of teen life because being a teen, I have never met such an annoying person. The depections at the end of the book with Cross were unneeded and made me hate this author. If you choose to read this book, don't buy it because it's a waste of your money.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

For once, an accurate depiction of teen life!

Curtis Sittenfeld¿s novel, Prep, embodies all of the principles of the quintessential teen novel, yet it still has a message and is an accurate depiction of the cliques, teen angst, and loneliness that we all have to deal with as teenagers. Sittenfeld has neatly captured all of the things that other teen-fiction writers only wish they could describe, and does so while getting across a good point. The main character Lee Fiora changes a great deal through the story, and while some of these changes put her in a bad position, she helps us understand that we must change, no matter how much we want to stay the same. Ms. Sittenfeld has created a masterpiece.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

lover of books

this book was highly disappointing and i feel like i've wasted my time and money by reading this book. Lee Fiora is annoying and while reading i kept hoping for someone to smack some sense in her. high school was four years in my life that i grew into myself and i felt that Lee didn't change at all. This book is crap. i suggest watching some bad tv instead (it's more fulfilling).

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Anxiety laden read

This book was the most anxiety laden book I have ever read. True, this is what the author was trying to communicate I think, but it was too much of a good thing!
I kept waiting for a plot to form, but sadly, for me, it never really did.
Was very very disappointed in the ending....kept trying to turn the page thinking I had missed something!

For me to like a book I do not have to love the main character.

For me to like a book I do not have to love the main character. I understand that the lack of an obvious plot and the general lack of likability in the main character could really turn people off to this book, I actually really enjoyed this. I think the first thing to understand is that this is NOT a teen novel really. It is more a book for grown women looking back on their teen years, the mistakes we make because we are naive, the friendships we gain and then lose, and the belief that we are wholly different and separated from everyone around us. I am not saying that all teenage girls are at all times naive, shallow, and judgmental I just think the author was concentrating those teen traits into one character. She often times sees everyone else as simple, when she finds out later the opposite is true. She lets a boy use her because at least she is receiving some kind of attention from the boy she is infatuated with. The story is basically her experience in a boarding school during her highschool years. She concludes her prep school experience with a tirade about the school's students and largely acts superior when she is not in fact better than they are. So like I said previously, I think the target audience of this novel is grown women, not high schoolers. Though, High Schoolers might also enjoy this novel if they are prepared for a more bittersweet view of boarding school, rather than a rosy or glamorous one a la gossip girl.

Page Turner

I read this cover to cover in about three sittings. It is kind of like Degrassi Jr High meets East Coast boarding school. That description doesn't do justice to the outstanding writing. The main character is shallow and annoying but you will still for some reason want to keep reading.

What a disappointment

I read this book hoping that the main character would reach down and find a way to pull her boot straps up. She never did. She was not likeable and had a bad case of self-pity.

Private

This book was rly weird

Not good to say the least

The main character, Lee, is unlikable, whiny, and plain annoying. She wonders why she doesn't have any friends when she doesn't actually try to make them, and when people are nice to her so completely treats them like trash, and she's so insecure that the reader cannot feel sorry for her. There is almost no plot development, and she doesn't grow as a character at all. Apparently this has some "insight" into the mind of a teenager, but I'm a teenager, and I can assure you that most of us don't act like her. I wouldn't recommend this is to anyone unless the person didn't mind having to read a book where the main character is extremely unlikable.

Unpreppy

If boarding school is anything like this, I am glad I went public. I finished this book feeling underwhelmed and a bit depressed. Prep is the cautionary tale of uninteresting people leading boring lives, it's the feel good story of thank god that's not me. Set in the life of midwestern teen, Lee Fiora who receives a scholarship to the Ault school, it just feels flat, the flow is monotone. It is more of an obituary of the teenage spirt, than a coming of age tale. The editorial reviews state that Sittenfeld's "real gift lies in her ability to expertly give voice to what is often described as the most alienating period in a young person's life: high school", but I found life to be sucked out of the young person. My interpretation of Lee was as a girl trying to escape who she was and where she was from by entering into an elite school. But the upheaval in the end only created a character who was never good enough for the trust fund kids, and never quite fit in to her family again either. There was no acceptance or embracing of who she is, no lesson learned. The confused boring teen became a confused boring adult. Who managed to alienate herself completely from everyone including me and never recovered. It was like the angst that never ended. The story never went very far, the story line was like a trickling stream instead of a raging river, the main heroine was a very rigid unlikable character, who annoyed rather than revered, the romantic side fell flat, and her academic career wasn't spectacular either. I was unsatisfied. Sittenfeld formed from a very fun and interesting premise, a beautifully written dull work of fiction. Honestly I read for the fiction, I want to be excited and surprised, lead on a journey, not dropped into the life or lack of life of the mundane. The biggest surprise was that I actually finished this book, I kept reading hoping something would happen, something that would make me happy for Lee, only to be let down. When I finish a book I want to feel good and excited about the next book or what an author is doing. I only felt disappointed and empty.

Most realistic portrayal of boarding school life I have seen

As someone who attended a school mucn like the one in this book, I was impressed with the way this author portrayed the boarding school experience so succinctly. Brought back memories of the quad, formal dinners, and Mercedes driving juniors. I can see how someone who has not been exposed to this type of thing could have trouble relating, but for those of us that lived through these types of experiences, this is a great book. I read this cover to cover in two days last summer, and am rereading it now.

Yes

Really enjoyef this juicy book