I read a lot of fiction. Some of it is worth commenting on, some of it is worth reviewing. Some of it is worth reviewing reflectively. This is one such novel. One reservation I have of recommending this novel is that it does have some explicit language, themes and event descriptions that aren't necessary for plot or character development. Personally, this doesn't bother me but it may be an issue for others.
Prep is a novel written from the perspective of a scholarship kid at a wealthy preparatory school in Massachusetts. I was intrigued by it as I enjoy school stories with their blend of dormitories and communal eating, sports and social activities and the cliques and tension this brings to relationships. I think what kept me reading the Harry Potter series, despite not being a big fan of Rowling, was the school story element. I like it, it creates an interesting setting - a coherent universe with specific boundaries both social geographical.
As someone who did not enjoy high school and spent too much of their time worrying about what people thought of me and how other people were behaving, a story like 'Prep' evokes in me alot of nostalgia. 'Prep' tells the story of a high school girl from the mid west obtaining a scholarship to attend an East Coast Boarding school for reasons she only admits to herself by the end of the novel. The idealism that drove her initial decision is quickly dissolved, leaving her only to create a private persona to protect herself from the disappointment of not belonging.
The skill with which the author exposes the self-consciousness and obsessiveness of Lee's mind engrossed me and created a sense of an honest confession. If our heroine, Lee will expose herself to us, in a way that she dare not with even her close friends - why should we not admit to her our own vanity? Why should we conceal our own longing to be noticed and accepted?
Adolescence is a time of painful self-consciousness, a time when our identity and ability to discern are shaped, to some extent, in the pressure cooker of high school. The stifling enclosure of high school, where unformed personalities press up against many other teenagers who carry with them their own desire to be noticed, to achieve, to be accepted and to discover a voice to express adult ideas - is at times an unfriendly and stressful place to come of age.
This novel brings to the surface the ridiculously juxtaposed power of high school, hundreds of young men and women who care deeply pretending not to care so that they can be cared about. Given the complexity and confusion in Lee's thoughts, it is hardly surprising how often she can complain that 'no-one understands'.
