About the Author

Curtis Sittenfeld is the New York Times bestselling author of the novels Prep, The Man of My Dreams, American Wife, Sisterland, and Eligible, and the story collection You Think It, I’ll Say It, which have been translated into thirty languages. Her short stories have appeared in The New Yorker, The Washington Post Magazine, Esquire, and The Best American Short Stories, of which she was the 2020 guest editor. Her nonfiction has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Time, and Vanity Fair, and on public radio’s This American Life.

Reviews

“Do you remember what high school felt like? Curtis Sittenfeld does, and she captures the experience brilliantly. . . . Angst is everywhere between the pages, but so too is wit, wisdom, and empathy.”—Marie Claire

“Prep conveys the inner world of an entirely typical teenage girl with remarkable warmth. . . . One of the most tender and accurate portraits of adolescence in recent memory.”—San Francisco Chronicle

“Hilarious and excruciating . . . [a] richly textured narrative.”—The New Yorker

“[A] class act.”—The New York Times Book Review

“Funny, excruciatingly honest, improbably sexy, and studded with hardwon, eccentric wisdom about high school, heartbreak, and social privilege. One of the most impressive debut novels in recent memory.”—Tom Perrotta, author of Little Children and Election

“Gripping . . . The intensity of Lee’s experience gives it from the outset its own throbbing, undeniable legitimacy. . . . The novel never slows, due to Sittenfeld’s perfect pacing and almost reportorial knack for describing what it’s like—psychologically, logistically—to be fifteen. . . . Insightful, unexpectedly candid.”—The Washington Post Book World

“For everyone who wished that Holden Caulfield was a girl, your time has come with Prep.”—U.S. News & World Report

“Sittenfeld writes convincingly of the torments of adolescence, the anxiety inherent in every small gesture and conversation. Her dialogue captures teenage humor brilliantly, and her characters show remarkable depth and a surprising but believable maturity. . . . Candid . . . Moving.”—Chicago Tribune

“The details are perfect. . . . Lee is an appealing heroine.”—Newsweek

“The list of writers who have attempted to capture the angst of teens at prep school includes J. D. Salinger, John Knowles and, more recently, Tobias Wolff. Now an impressive new talent joins this distinguished roster. Avoiding overextended melodrama along with obvious clichés in her whole-hearted, raw, and impressive first novel, Curtis Sittenfeld unleashes a pure, unrefined narrative on the transcendental experiences of adolescence. . . . Sittenfeld’s brilliant writing sparkles in each turn, hitting the bitter isolation of adolescence spot-on.”—Rocky Mountain News

“Engrossing . . . Sittenfeld’s writing is wonderfully descriptive, as well as spare and clear-eyed; her talent is evident in the smooth pacing and well-developed characters. . . . A gorgeous and charming debut that belongs with the fine coming-of-age stories of our time.”—The Charlotte Observer

“[An] A-grade coming-of-age debut . . . saturated with heartbreaking humor and written in clean prose . . . [A] poignant, truthful book.”—Publishers Weekly

“Engrossing . . . Sittenfeld has an enormous knack for storytelling and dialogue, and a delightful feel for words. She vividly conjures the rollercoaster emotions of adolescence, no matter how recent and raw or longago and healed.”—The Cincinnati Enquirer

“Finely written . . . Teenagers and freshly minted grads will gobble up this voyeuristic trip inside an enclave of privilege.”—People

A self-conscious outsider navigates the choppy waters of adolescence and a posh boarding school's social politics in Sittenfeld's A-grade coming-of-age debut. The strong narrative voice belongs to Lee Fiora, who leaves South Bend, Ind., for Boston's prestigious Ault School and finds her sense of identity supremely challenged. Now, at 24, she recounts her years learning "everything I needed to know about attracting and alienating people." Sittenfeld neither indulges nor mocks teen angst, but hits it spot on: "I was terrified of unwittingly leaving behind a piece of scrap paper on which were written all my private desires and humiliations. The fact that no such scrap of paper existed... never decreased my fear." Lee sees herself as "one of the mild, boring, peripheral girls" among her privileged classmates, especially the Uber-popular Aspeth Montgomery, "the kind of girl about whom rock songs were written," and Cross Sugarman, the boy who can devastate with one look ("my life since then has been spent in pursuit of that look"). Her reminiscences, still youthful but more wise, allow her to validate her feelings of loneliness and misery while forgiving herself for her lack of experience and knowledge. The book meanders on its way, light on plot but saturated with heartbreaking humor and written in clean prose. Sittenfeld, who won Seventeen's fiction contest at 16, proves herself a natural in this poignant, truthful book. Agent, Shana Kelly. (Jan. 18) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

In this readable coming-of age tale, Lee Fiora is an Iowa girl on scholarship at elite and private Ault in New England, where the stress of being an outsider magnifies the usual adolescent dilemma of uncertain identity. While there, she befriends Little, also an outsider as a black girl from Pittsburgh and the thief stealing money from dormitory rooms. During junior year, one of Lee's freshman roommates attempts suicide, and Lee has a secret sexual relationship with popular and handsome Cross, who never dates her and is indifferent to her in front of other students. When she is selected to talk about Ault with a reporter from the New York Times, she opens up under the reporter's seemingly sympathetic questioning. The article, quoting Lee, depicts Ault as dominated by a wealthy and snobbish clique, and Lee is further ostracized. But when she graduates, she discovers that there is a world outside of Ault. To interest adult readers, a novel like this needs something special: Holden Caulfield's voice, say, or the literary flair of Tobias Wolff's Old School. Here, events add up to little more than a familiar picture. Suitable for YA collections if mildly sexually explicit scenes are not objectionable.-Elaine Bender, El Camino Coll., Torrance, CA Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

"Curtis Sittenfeld is a young writer with a crazy amount of talent. Her sharp and economical prose reminds us of Joan Didion and Tobias Wolff. Like them, she has a sly and potent wit, which cuts unexpectedly-but often-through the placid surface of her prose. Her voice is strong and clear, her moral compass steady; I'd believe anything she told me."-Dave Eggers, author of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius

"Speaking in a voice as authentic as Salinger's Holden Caulfield and McCullers' Mick Kelly, Curtis Sittenfeld's Lee Fiora tells unsugared truths about adolescence, alienation, and the sociology of privilege. Prep's every sentence rings true. Sittenfeld is a rising star."-Wally Lamb, author of She's Come Undone and I Know This Much Is True

"In her deeply involving first novel, Curtis Sittenfeld invites us inside the fearsome echo chamber of adolescent self-consciousness. But Prep is more than a coming of age story-it's a study of social class in America, and Sittenfeld renders it with astonishing deftness and clarity."-Jennifer Egan, author of Look at Me

"Sittenfeld ensconces the reader deep in the world of the Ault School and the churning mind of Lee Fiora (a teenager as complex and nuanced as those of Salinger), capturing every vicissitude of her life with the precision of a brilliant documentary and the delicacy and strength of a poem."-Thisbe Nissen, author of Osprey Island

"Open Prep and you'll travel back in time: Sittenfeld's novel is funny, smart, poignant, and tightly woven together, with a very appealing sense of melancholy."-Jill A. Davis, author of Girls' Poker Night

"Prep does something considerable in the realm of discussing class in American culture. The ethnography on adolescence is done in pitch-perfect detail. Stunning and lucid."-Matthew Klam, author of Sam the Cat

Funny, excruciatingly honest, improbably sexy, and studded with hard-won, eccentric wisdom about high school, heartbreak, and social privilege. One of the most impressive debut novels in recent memory."-Tom Perrotta, author of Little Children and Election