sarahannkateri's review against another edition
4.0
3.5
A lot of people hated this book because of the whiny, self-absorbed, insecure, and generally unlikable narrator. Understandable. I wouldn't want to hang out with her either. But what I think those people missed is that the narrator is a horrible person in exactly the way that real-life adolescents often are.
Everything about this book seemed like it had been taken straight out of an angsty teen's (or perhaps the author's own) diary. It reminded me of a Mike Leigh film - the realism had that same sort of unpleasantness. Plot-wise, nothing much really happened, so if I wasn't interested in class issues and boarding schools, I probably would have thought it was boring and pointless. As it was, I found the narrator's insights interesting enough to make the book enjoyable.
A lot of people hated this book because of the whiny, self-absorbed, insecure, and generally unlikable narrator. Understandable. I wouldn't want to hang out with her either. But what I think those people missed is that the narrator is a horrible person in exactly the way that real-life adolescents often are.
Everything about this book seemed like it had been taken straight out of an angsty teen's (or perhaps the author's own) diary. It reminded me of a Mike Leigh film - the realism had that same sort of unpleasantness. Plot-wise, nothing much really happened, so if I wasn't interested in class issues and boarding schools, I probably would have thought it was boring and pointless. As it was, I found the narrator's insights interesting enough to make the book enjoyable.
wibblethefisch's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
lindsey_stogner's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
flapjacks's review against another edition
3.0
I love reading Curtis Sittenfeld's books because she's so good at writing inner lives but read at your own risk because boarding school sounds rough
jayfr's review against another edition
1.0
I tried so hard to read this but found the main character grated on my nerves. So I ditched it at 75% read after I realized I didn't care what happened.
jayfr's review against another edition
1.0
Didn't care about the characters or what happened to them, ditched this at 75% read.
lonestarwords's review against another edition
medium-paced
2.0
My first Sittenfeld. A campus novel set at a Massachusetts boarding school, should have been a slam dunk. I love campus novels, I'm from MA, I worked at a boarding school.
•
Lee Fiora is a 14 year old from South Bend, Indiana- she is accepted to the prestigious Ault school after submitting her own application in hopes of escaping her average life. From a working class background, we follow her as she navigates the intricacies of a northeast private school.
•
I don't know what I expected this to be, but I definitely expected more. It is a very simple and uneventful coming of age story. All the things you think will happen, do:
girl struggles to make friends and eventually does, girl struggles to get boys attention and eventually does, girl looks down on her family and eventually appreciates them; all the milestones of adolescence. And that's “fine" but it was pretty boring. The highs aren’t high and the lows aren't low, it's just plain dull. And much of the book felt like YA, and nothing is a bigger turn off to my reading life than those two letters.
•
Sittenfeld has a cult-like following, but I didn't find anything here that would make me want to read more.
•
Lee Fiora is a 14 year old from South Bend, Indiana- she is accepted to the prestigious Ault school after submitting her own application in hopes of escaping her average life. From a working class background, we follow her as she navigates the intricacies of a northeast private school.
•
I don't know what I expected this to be, but I definitely expected more. It is a very simple and uneventful coming of age story. All the things you think will happen, do:
girl struggles to make friends and eventually does, girl struggles to get boys attention and eventually does, girl looks down on her family and eventually appreciates them; all the milestones of adolescence. And that's “fine" but it was pretty boring. The highs aren’t high and the lows aren't low, it's just plain dull. And much of the book felt like YA, and nothing is a bigger turn off to my reading life than those two letters.
•
Sittenfeld has a cult-like following, but I didn't find anything here that would make me want to read more.
novelesque_life's review against another edition
3.0
3 STARS
"Lee Fiora is an intelligent, observant fourteen-year-old when her father drops her off in front of her dorm at the prestigious Ault School in Massachusetts. She leaves her animated, affectionate family in South Bend, Indiana, at least in part because of the boarding school’s glossy brochure, in which boys in sweaters chat in front of old brick buildings, girls in kilts hold lacrosse sticks on pristinely mown athletic fields, and everyone sings hymns in chapel.
As Lee soon learns, Ault is a cloistered world of jaded, attractive teenagers who spend summers on Nantucket and speak in their own clever shorthand. Both intimidated and fascinated by her classmates, Lee becomes a shrewd observer of–and, ultimately, a participant in–their rituals and mores. As a scholarship student, she constantly feels like an outsider and is both drawn to and repelled by other loners. By the time she’s a senior, Lee has created a hard-won place for herself at Ault. But when her behavior takes a self-destructive and highly public turn, her carefully crafted identity within the community is shattered.
Ultimately, Lee’s experiences–complicated relationships with teachers; intense friendships with other girls; an all-consuming preoccupation with a classmate who is less than a boyfriend and more than a crush; conflicts with her parents, from whom Lee feels increasingly distant, coalesce into a singular portrait of the painful and thrilling adolescence universal to us all." (From Amazon)
A great realistic and witty look at a prep school and a girl trying to fit in. While the story is about a teenage girl this novel is not aimed at teen readers.
"Lee Fiora is an intelligent, observant fourteen-year-old when her father drops her off in front of her dorm at the prestigious Ault School in Massachusetts. She leaves her animated, affectionate family in South Bend, Indiana, at least in part because of the boarding school’s glossy brochure, in which boys in sweaters chat in front of old brick buildings, girls in kilts hold lacrosse sticks on pristinely mown athletic fields, and everyone sings hymns in chapel.
As Lee soon learns, Ault is a cloistered world of jaded, attractive teenagers who spend summers on Nantucket and speak in their own clever shorthand. Both intimidated and fascinated by her classmates, Lee becomes a shrewd observer of–and, ultimately, a participant in–their rituals and mores. As a scholarship student, she constantly feels like an outsider and is both drawn to and repelled by other loners. By the time she’s a senior, Lee has created a hard-won place for herself at Ault. But when her behavior takes a self-destructive and highly public turn, her carefully crafted identity within the community is shattered.
Ultimately, Lee’s experiences–complicated relationships with teachers; intense friendships with other girls; an all-consuming preoccupation with a classmate who is less than a boyfriend and more than a crush; conflicts with her parents, from whom Lee feels increasingly distant, coalesce into a singular portrait of the painful and thrilling adolescence universal to us all." (From Amazon)
A great realistic and witty look at a prep school and a girl trying to fit in. While the story is about a teenage girl this novel is not aimed at teen readers.
kellydemchuk's review against another edition
4.0
This one is hard to rate as Lee, the MC, is a pretty loathsome character. I was so frustrated by her selfishness & insecurities throughout the book, but her experience was so raw and so awkwardly and uncomfortably honest. I felt angry at her many of her choices but was reminded of my own insecurities at that age - I never liked feeling like I related to Lee, and was uncomfortable every time I did, but it's what made it so memorable.
Didn't like how she seemed to not grow/mature/change throughout the story, but I feel like that rings true for many, so as frustrating as it was to not see her become a better person, it rang true.
Didn't like how she seemed to not grow/mature/change throughout the story, but I feel like that rings true for many, so as frustrating as it was to not see her become a better person, it rang true.