In Which We Discuss Books I Read in my 26th Year, Week 30/52

Seven books this week!

Defriended is part of the Point Horror series; a new one, written and released recently, instead of in the late 80s/early 90s.  The first few chapters were totally rad, complete with bad texting and lots of facebook references.  It got a bit better after that.  It was interesting, but lacked the nostalgia factor of the older books.

Dark Places was good.  It was one of the few books I've listened to as an audiobook without having read the original.  It was also one of the first books I've really enjoyed under those circumstances.  I find it hard to focus on listening to things, and concentrate much better when they're written down, so that should tell you something about how compelling it was.

Prep is a book I've read before.  I recently read another book by Sittenfeld, Sisterland, which I really enjoyed.  I didn't like The Man of My Dreams, which I read eight years ago.  That's why it took me so long to try another of hers.  Anyway, that prompted me to read Prep again. 

The Talisman is me starting on my Stephen King chronological reading challenge again.  I'll write a longer post about the book at some point this week.

Fundamentals of Drawing is a book I picked up on the Kindle store for less than a pound.  Excellent for the price.

Howl's Moving Castle was another audiobook.  I listened to it with Tom, after we watched the movie.  He agrees that a Welsh Howl is much more fun.  I'm disappointed that there's no unabridged version available, because I do like the original text.  Luckily, I also have the book on Kindle, so I can read it I want.

Finally, The One.  It's the third part of the original Selection Trilogy, though there's a fourth book coming out in May, which focuses on the children of the main characters from the first three.  I first read the original books when I got my kindle, so near the end of 2012.  I did consider rereading them first, but I wanted to find out how it ended, and now I know it seems silly to go back.  I'll probably reread them some day.

I feel bad about my Kobo.  It was a constant and faithful friend to me for almost a year before I got my Kindle, and now it mostly lies neglected on a bookcase.  I've made a daily habit on HabitRPG to read a chapter of a Kobo book every day, just to get rid of the last ten unread books I have on there.  After that, I don't know.  I can use Calibre to load the books onto my Kindle, or read them on my Nexus or iPhone if I want to.  Maybe I'll sell it.  It's a nice little machine, but the Kindle is more convenient and has cheaper books on it.

In Which We Discuss Prep

Prep is a coming of age novel, so it's more character than plot driven. It essentially tells the story of Lee Fiora, a girl from Indiana, who has worked hard to attain a scholarship for renowned New England Prep school, Ault.

Lee soon adopts an MO of simply hiding in the background and watching her classmates, being too shy and uncertain of herself (and her Midwest background) to try and fit in. Like any teenager, she worries about the smallest issues, which, most people come to realise, matter very little once you're past the age of thirteen.

In essence, the plot simply follows Lee throughout High School, in a way which is reminiscent of many peoples experiences in High, or Secondary school. Many events in the novel remind me of things which I recall from my own schooldays, despite being set about thirty years before (a date isn't given, but I'd guess late seventies), which only goes to show that teenagers don't change much.

Although none of them embody pure stereotypes (or at least none that I implicitly recognise), most of the characters in the novel fit the mold of rich East coast Prep school students, and, Lee, who, although she was confident before, becomes worried that her Midwest accent and lack of knowledge and experience in certain situations will give her away. Another issue is her relationship with her parents - at one point she observes that she hates them for thinking that she's like them; but she worries that if she isn't, she's betrayed them, and if she is, she's betrayed Ault and everything she worked for.

The obvious characters to mention would be Cross Sugarman and Aspeth Montgomery. Cross Sugarman is the popular boy, and, throughout most of her high school career, her crush. He's one of the few characters in the novel constantly referred to by both first name and last name - except for the times when he's called Purple Monkey (a code between Lee and a friend, when they wish to discuss things privately).

Aspeth is the popular girl - blonde-haired, blue-eyed, rich, and flirty. At one point, Lee describes her as "the girl rock songs are written about". Later in the novel, it becomes apparent that she's become used to getting her own way, merely because of who she is.

Dede Schwartz and Sin-Jun Kim also warrant a mention. The two girls were Lee's roommates during her first year at Ault, and, despite not being close friends, they remain in each others lives from then on.

Dede is a follower. Although she's rich, that doesn't make her special within Ault. Although she takes good care of herself, she's not as pretty as many of the other girls. She spends much of her time trying to get close to Aspeth, and is sometimes mean to Lee or other girls in this aim. However, she and Lee have an almost sibling-like relationship; they remain close despite any arguments, and despite the fact that they rarely talk.

Sin-Jun, Lee's other original roommate, is the daughter of a rich Korean business man. Although at first she keeps her head down, later in the novel she comes into her own, and ends up being one of the few people the adult Lee remains in contact with.

Sittenfeld's writing is easy to read, and she has a talent for description and dialogue. It was said of the novel that "Sittenfeld's dialogue is so convincing that one wonders if she didn't wear a wire under her hockey kilt," and I must say, I concur.

The novel isn't strong on plot, and yet reads well, driven by character, and by the automatic changes which take place during your high school years, driven purely by time rather than any outward events.

The novel deals a lot with stereotypes and cultural distinctions. This was sometimes a little confusing for me, or rather, did not make the impact intended, purely because I'm English, and the book is written presuming that the reader was brought up in America. A lot of the time, I needed to ask why it was such a big deal that Lee was from the Midwest, or, for instance, what exactly the cultural significance of New England was.

Another theme in the book is money. As a scholarship student, Lee feels inadequate compared to her classmates, and, as has been said, she spends a lot of time trying to hide this. She does, however, work out various ways to tell if other students are on scholarships or not. I didn't discuss Lee as a character, because, since the novel is told through first-person narrative, Lee is essentially a conduit rather than a character in her own right, especially considering that she usually takes a reactive, rather than an active role.

In summary, Prep's an interesting novel, and the ideas and experiences told within it would have been helpful to me at a younger age, and, in fact, are still relevant right now. It's suspected that the story is more autobiographical than it's supposed to be, and I can see where that impression came from.

All in all, it's an interesting, easy to read novel, although I suspect that a teenage girl, or someone in her early twenties would get more out of it than any other reader.