#37. Prep

Number #37 on the 50 book challenge list was Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld. And let me tell those of you who dig the "comfort food" of addictive mainstream chick lit but prefer books with a bit more substance, this book delivers the goods. Unlike Goodnight Nobody (which I admitted in my previous entry was a guilty pleasure), this book goes far beyond the surface stereotypes of girls and women. It centres around Lee - a scholarship student at a prestigious boarding school. Sittenfeld manages to capture that oh-so-slippery emotional stability of teenaged girls - the strange world between feeling like an outsider and a member of the crowd at the same time. As a reader at times you loathe her constant insecurities and posturing, and at other times you want to assure her that the world outside of high school is much bigger and can get better.

I felt submerged in Lee's world the entire time I was reading it, and I was sad to see it end. Always the sign of a favorite book for me - feeling pissed when it's over.

Most definitely recommended.