<p>For those of you who have read this book, do you think it is an accurate description of the prep school experience?</p>
<p>well, many of the reviewers on amazon who claim to have gone to boarding school are nearly black with rage, furious at the author's negative protrayal of boarding school. curtis sittenfeld DID go to boarding school - to Groton School - but also like fifteen years ago, so perhaps things have changed then. Besides, all boarding schools are different from each other. Some Groton alumnis say that Sittenfeld's fictional boarding school in Prep does awfully resemble Groton. But remember, Sittenfeld didnt have a good time there, and tons other did - dont let it deter you. I read it, enjoyed it, and kept on applying.</p>
<p>I just graduated from (public) high school last month. I really liked the book, so I was curious how those with first-hand experiences at boarding school felt about it.</p>
<p>well curtis sittenfeld spoke at my prep school, and let's just say she wasn't given a warm welcome. That was also because she wrote her new york editorial on prep schools the week before. From my experience no one liked the book, and it even got a jab by graduation speaker. Actually, my women's lit class presented her with a letter about the book. . so yeah, I wouldn't let it deter you from applying because in a way, sittenfeld made a point with her character's outlook on prep school.... prep school is what you make of it (as is any highschool) you can either embrace and absorb the experience. if you have anymore questions... pm me</p>
<p>I think its silly how people have prejudices like that. i admire her for the writing of prep, and i hope that wont change once i get into boarding school.</p>
<p>Not even close.</p>
<p>If Curtis Sittenfield wrote a book on how nice prep school actually is, would anyone buy it?</p>
<p>I heard she didn't like Groton though, so maybe Prep is semi-autobiographical. If that's the case, read it like the coming-of-age story it was penned as and not as an authentic portrayal of prep school life.</p>
<p>I agree with god's favorite and iluva's in that... read it as a book, for fun. but don't use it as a basis of judgement.</p>
<p>generally, i liked the book though some details, such as the ones with Cross, were a bit too weird for my liking.</p>
<p>Try the book All Loves Excelling by Josiah Bunting (former headmaster of Lawrenceville). It is much, much better. It is a good account of out of control parents and the pressure they can put on a kid. It is about a girl doing a PG year so she can get into Dartmouth- which is the ONLY school for her.</p>
<p>I read All Loves Excelling and though it was good, it was kind of depressing and not novel-like, and I would appreciate more details about Amanda's friends.</p>
<p>idk i think prep was the epitome of trash writing. half the copies probaly sold because it sounds like gossip which it is. there are about 30r-43249- books that are better written. </p>
<p>the story was ok but the entire package wasnt anything to clap about</p>
<p>there are a lot of critics who disagree with you....well, i suppose i can't argue with your own opinion.</p>
<p>haha thanks for respecting my opiinion, not many people do that anymore, and i was kind of out of hand i think.</p>
<p>it is an ok book. there are many other books that i think are better written and have a better story, but prep is ok.</p>
<p>lol there you have it- in the fashion of entertainment weekly, id give it a B or B+ of a grade.</p>
<p>lol, true. Prep comes with a couple of pages with reviews from critics, and Elle and People are among them, but there's also the New York Times, Washington Post, etc. Wasnt Prep named one of the New York Times Book Review's top ten books of the year?</p>
<p>yeah it was. seems like most boarding school people don't like it that much while the critics loved it.</p>
<p>and it wasnt even like the portrayal of boarding school was totally skewed, it wasnt in many aspects. and i still didnt like it. </p>
<p>perhaps, im thinking now, one reason i dont like it is because drama like that happens at my school so it sounds like more gossip. comes to a point when u get really tired of hearing all of that</p>
<p>i thought the book was enjoyable. it's only one side of the boarding school experience. and it's true that negativity sells. i mean, nobody would buy a book about a happy-go-lucky girl who had the best time at boarding school -- that's just boring.</p>
<p>i didn't think the writing was that commendable. it was a run-of-the-mill, contemporary, fluffy novel. good for one read but easily forgettable. but of course, that's just my opinion.</p>
<p>i liked it because it was more than plain gossip - it wasnt just like "omg, she's going out with him!". it was more of an observation on society, or at least the one that Lee encountered during her years at prep school. she does dwell deeper into common teenage experiences than a person would normally do. and i liked it because all the people in it, all their remarks, actions, etc seemed much more realistic than your average teen drama.</p>
<p>I don't even know what brought me to this board, but it's really ironic, because I just finished this book about a week ago. </p>
<p>I liked it a lot. Now, I never went to boarding school, so I can't say whether or not it's an accurate description, but I loved how Lee was such a common peson that almost anyone can find something in common with. Not overly popular girl, but kinda sorta in with the popular kids, struggles with school, and what others think of her, has the crush on the popular boy, etc. </p>
<p>I only bought the book origionally simply because I was walking by it at Borders Bookstore, and i caught my eye. I took it to the beach, and never put it down. </p>
<p>One thing that did bother me however, was that I really never understood what exactly happened to Lee and where she ened up and everything. Minor details, but it kept me wondering. </p>
<p>It seems like there are a lot of mixed reveiws on this thread, but I just wanted to stop in and say that I, actually enjoyed it.</p>