Prep: A Novel

"It’s a real Marmite book. People either love it or they absolutely hate it. Look at the way it’s marketed: it looks like a Gossip Girl novel. The other edition that’s quite famous is a white page with a pink and green belt cinched across the front; the semiotics of it are really quite patronising, and I think you see that quite often with coming of age novels aimed at a female readership. This doesn’t look like an adult fiction book, but Curtis Sittenfeld is a very serious and accomplished writer. I sent this book to my sister recently and had to write a little note on the front to say ‘please don’t be put off by the cover!’ I only read it myself because I read American Wife , which won all kinds of awards—that’s a fictionalised biography of Laura Bush, which sounds wacky, but it’s fantastic. So I thought I’d give this a try because American Wife is phenomenal. Anyway, Prep is terrific. So it’s a coming-of-age novel set at a fancy school in Massachusetts called Ault, and its entirely inside the head of this young girl called Lee, who is a very unlikeable, passive, whiny and kind of standoffish young woman, who’s convinced that she’s the consummate victim. That’s what makes the book such a great read; it’s a microscopically accurate, vivid portrayal of adolescent awkwardness and interiority. Okay, I’m a middle class white girl—or, a white-passing girl—so maybe I relate more to the interiority of this character more than other people might. But Sittenfeld does such a great job of narrating the social nuances of adolescent life inside this hermetically sealed bubble of privilege. The characters are largely ignorant of their privilege; Lee is totally convinced that she is an outcast, misunderstood, unloved. She’s the epitome of the unlikeable narrator. The other thing that’s interesting about this book is that, because the character is so aware of all the ritualistic behaviours and nuances of the social order, it makes her feel worthy. The fact that she has to be so hyper-vigilant gives her a sense of self-importance that is condensed into the school years, in a way that’s not carried over to adulthood. The narrator talks a bit about how she feels almost disappointed with the adult world. No one really cares if you haven’t brushed your hair when you go to the bank. No one really cares who you’re having drinks with after work. That level of minutiae in your life isn’t social currency. Get the weekly Five Books newsletter So I find that an interesting blip on the boarding school novel experience—that the real world is a bit of a let down. It doesn’t offer the opportunity for performativity on a constant basis, which allows an adolescent to define who they are against who they are not. The other thing I like is that the character doesn’t really grow or learn anything. That’s quite refreshing, actually. There’s no didactic lesson in there, it’s just like: maybe Lee should have snapped out of it. I think a lot of people who read the book don’t get that vibe from it. But, oh, it’s very good."