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3.42 AVERAGE
3.42 AVERAGE
A page turner, I couldn’t put the book down. It’s a story about a girl who goes to prep school who doesn’t really belong but doesn’t really try. It made me thankful that I didn’t go to prep school but I’m glad I got to see it through her fictional eyes.
This would be a great choice for a book to take on summer vacation. It includes all the sex and drama that one could ever crave in a beach read, but it isn't a trivial book.
The book follows the life of Lee, a teenage girl who attends a swanky boarding school called Ault on a scholarship, from her freshman year all the way through her graduation. The story is told from the perspective of the adult Lee looking back on her teenage years. The reader sees occasional glimpses of the future and learns where Lee and her classmates wind up.
Having come from a middle-class background, Lee never quite fits in with her wealthy classmates--and she is conflicted about whether she wants to. She spends most of her time when she arrives at Ault memorizing the student directory and pouring through old yearbooks. And of course, she harbors a crush on the most popular boy in school. She learns everything she can about her classmates while remaining utterly anonymous to them.
Even after she makes a few friends, Lee remains largely inscrutable. Although she doesn't particularly like Ault and doesn't excel there, she is unwilling to confide any mixed feelings to her parents, whom she had to convince to let her attend the school.
Lee is someone I like who is not very likable. She's aloof, self-involved, and terribly insecure...in other words, a teenager. Moody, middle-class, and pretty yet unremarkable, Lee becomes a sort of "every girl." I related to her so well, and I sense that others would too.
The final chapter--in which her crush becomes a regular hookup--was so real and so true that I felt as if it might have been ripped right out of the pages of my adolescent diary (the emotions, anyway; I couldn't have expressed myself that well). Needless to say, the relationship goes horribly wrong.
When you are young and obsessed with someone for the first time, that person becomes everything; the meaning drains away from all else. And yet usually you know little or nothing about the other person in reality. Surprisingly, Cross (Lee's hookup) actually does know something about Lee. This book totally nails what it's like to be stuck between childhood and adulthood.
The book follows the life of Lee, a teenage girl who attends a swanky boarding school called Ault on a scholarship, from her freshman year all the way through her graduation. The story is told from the perspective of the adult Lee looking back on her teenage years. The reader sees occasional glimpses of the future and learns where Lee and her classmates wind up.
Having come from a middle-class background, Lee never quite fits in with her wealthy classmates--and she is conflicted about whether she wants to. She spends most of her time when she arrives at Ault memorizing the student directory and pouring through old yearbooks. And of course, she harbors a crush on the most popular boy in school. She learns everything she can about her classmates while remaining utterly anonymous to them.
Even after she makes a few friends, Lee remains largely inscrutable. Although she doesn't particularly like Ault and doesn't excel there, she is unwilling to confide any mixed feelings to her parents, whom she had to convince to let her attend the school.
Lee is someone I like who is not very likable. She's aloof, self-involved, and terribly insecure...in other words, a teenager. Moody, middle-class, and pretty yet unremarkable, Lee becomes a sort of "every girl." I related to her so well, and I sense that others would too.
The final chapter--in which her crush becomes a regular hookup--was so real and so true that I felt as if it might have been ripped right out of the pages of my adolescent diary (the emotions, anyway; I couldn't have expressed myself that well). Needless to say, the relationship goes horribly wrong.
When you are young and obsessed with someone for the first time, that person becomes everything; the meaning drains away from all else. And yet usually you know little or nothing about the other person in reality. Surprisingly, Cross (Lee's hookup) actually does know something about Lee. This book totally nails what it's like to be stuck between childhood and adulthood.
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I loved this book! I felt very seen by Lee as someone who was once a very anxious teenage girl. I read this book when I was actually in high school, but I didn’t fully get it until now. As a graduate of a small private college, I feel like I can relate (at least a little) more to Lee’s experience at Ault. Superb book, I will be reading others by Sittenfeld.
Loved this book...definite flashbacks to my own awkward adolescence. Could NOT put the book down until I was finished.
I've read a lot of hype about this book and had some high expectations for it. It's supposed to be really great and all... but for me it was just meh. I like Sittenfeld's writing style, but it's not *great* writing for me. The main character of this book never seems to go anywhere or do anything. I was just waiting and waiting for something to happen... and things did happen. She just never actually participated in it. Big disappointment. So it was a good read for a one-time read. I'll never read it again, though.
Total cringe from start to finish. It wasn't badly written, and some of the characters were interesting, but why? Why? Lee is such a miserable person. There is no growth, no realizations. Just four years of misery and self abatement. Points for authenticity, prep school or not, endless misery is on par for high school, but why do I want to read about it? Nothing happens in the whole book
I was really excited to read this book. I had heard great things about it from my friends, and while I didn't go to boarding school, I did go to prep school. I found it really difficult to identify with Lee, the main character. While I thought that the book was very well written, Lee was so negative that I found myself annoyed with her through most of the novel.
Audio/read - first person narrative of a mid western middle class 13yr old girl applying and getting into a very rich very snobby New England boarding high school,. She was the top of her class and teacher favorite in Indiana, but almost fails out and has no friends at her boarding school. To survive she becomes an observer of the class structure, cliques and social politics. She thinks this keeps her invisible, but what she doesn't realize is that the world around her is watching her as well. The narrator is kind of whiny, very self-absorbed, very judgmental and status speaking. Which is really annoying to read as a 54-year-old woman and yet a pretty accurate depiction of most insecure teenage girls.
emotional
funny
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes