Prep

PREP

by Curtis Sittenfeld

 

Nominations: NY Times Finalist 2005, Women's Prize Longlist 2006

 

Date Read: December 24, 2021

 

I have very mixed feelings about Prep. I was excited to read it because a salacious novel about hormonal teenagers at an elite boarding school sounded like mind-numbing fun. The mind-numbing part turned out to be true enough. 

 

Lee is already an outcast before she even arrives at Ault School. She’s from the Midwest, on scholarship and, perhaps worst of all, has a tragically underdeveloped self-esteem. Instead of throwing herself into the decision she made (at the age of 13!), she holds herself apart and continuously ponders why anyone would want to be friends with her, imaging how other are judging her and avoiding as many social situations as possible.

 

During her 4 years at Ault, she has a heart bursting crush on Sugar Crossman (what’s with that name?). After a brief afternoon meeting up at a mall on their day off in Freshman year, they haven’t had contact with each other until one night, Sug shows up in Lee’s dorm slightly inebriated. Instead of telling him to fuck off, Lee makes out with him and over the course of the next month, loses her virginity to him. She has no input as to when he visits. No say in parameters of their relationship and is basically Sug’s sexual doormat.

 

Bits and pieces were really insightful and interesting but I felt this novel was about 200 pages too long. After a while, living in the head of a developing human who is trying to figure out herself and her place in this world was exhausting reading. Then again, it did stir up compassion for this time in life when nothing is certain and the future can seem simultaneously thrilling and terrifying.

 

So, of this I could identify with and a lot of it I couldn’t. But if there’s any writer that can encapsulate the teen experience in the bizarre world of a boarding school, it’s Sittenfeld for the win. She definitely captured that mindset and made me realize that I wouldn’t go through that period again for all the money in the world.

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