Book Review: Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld

This book might have been one of the worst books I have ever read. I had to force myself to finish it, never a good thing. To give a quick synopsis it is about a teenage girl, Lee Fiora, who attends a wealthy boarding school in New England but she is from a middle class family in the midwest and feels out of place. It was her decision to go, she even had to convince her parents to let her, but she constantly wonders why she wanted all of this so badly. She is the protagonist however she is extremely self-absorbed and pities herself constantly making it difficult to be "for" her. In my opinion I would like for the protagonist(s) and antagonist(s) to be clearly defined. I want to love to hate the enemy and love to love the good guy. I found myself thinking Lee was stupid and I did not care what she got herself into. I thought all of the negative things that happened to her were well-deserved, which sounds terrible, but seriously this character is annoying!

On top of disliking the main character to the upmost the book was vulgar at times; inappropriate and gross. The author obviously has very different moral and political views than I do which also made me constantly roll my eyes.

I could go on forever about the things I hated but I will make one final point. Lee's family is completely horrid. Yes, she has a stable nuclear family where her parents are still together and her dad has a decent job however her parents have no concept of how to have a functional relationship with their daughter. Ok, let's be real, teenage girls are difficult, I know, I was one but in the same breath her dad is disgusting and does not even begin to try to listen to her. Her mother is totally awkward and is not bold and upfront with Lee. She lets Lee walk all over her emotionally. Lee also has two younger brothers who think she is cool in a distant way because she is not there. Even when she does come home she practically ignores them. They are an awful, disgusting, weak family that does not truly care about each other.

I would recommend to never read this book as it is too long and too obnoxious to waste your time on.

The End.

--L