Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld

Lee Fiora is fourteen years old when she is accepted to Ault Boarding School in Massachusetts. The brochure features state-of-the-art classrooms, a beautiful campus, and smiling students enjoying the freedom that boarding school offers. All this convinces Lee to leave her hometown in Indiana and attend this prestigious school. But when actually there, she feels alienated from the weathly students because she has a scholarship to pay for her tuition. As the loner, Lee becomes an observer of her classmates and learns a lot about race, gender, and the inequality that plagues many people.

I both liked and disliked this book. Impossible, you say. But not really. At some points I felt a real connection with Lee: she would say something funny or she would discover some untold truth, and I would really like the book at those parts. But other times Lee drove me crazy. Her status as a loner never appealed to me and I couldn't relate to Lee when she would pity herself. Most of the time she didn't even try to make friends. Sometimes when she discovered said untold truths, it would be something I didn't agree with, furthering distancing me from her character. Despite this, I geniunely enjoyed reading about the boarding school, Ault. I felt like I attended the school and was even reminded of my public high school when Lee talked about things that made Ault unique (for one, the way the students would extend roll call, and therefore shortening first period, by making silly announcements). Now that I'm finished the book, I still can't say whether I liked it or not. But I can say that you should give the book a chance, and maybe you won't be as undecided as me.

6 out of 10.