Remember moving far away from the comforts of home to a part of the country you knew nothing about, socially, to go to high school? Remember dormitory living at 15 years old, the ins and outs or formal dinners, and how to tell the differences between the different types of "rich" amongst your peers? Me neither...
But I still found Curtis Sittenfeld's 2005 novel, Prep, about an ambitious girl from South Bend, Indiana, from a middle class family who's dad runs a mattress factory, who gets accepted to a prestigious boarding school in Massachusetts on (gasp) scholarship. The book is divided by parts of the academic year beginning with the heroine, Lee's, Freshman Fall semester and follows her through her time at the institution.
What impressed me most about Ms. Sittenfeld's writing (yes, "Ms.") is how accurately she wrote the internal dialog and thought process of a high school student. Hanging around them all day long, I can vouch that she was spot on. High School can be an interesting and challenging time for a kid, especially one attempting to both just survive and simultaneously discover who they are. Sittenfeld nails both, finding ample time to sprinkle in plenty of humor that will make anyone, whether still in high school or years removed laugh out loud at how some things never change.
Sergio del Limónar
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