‘Prep’ a powerful debut

A feeling that almost every one of us has experienced is the day when your parents first moved you in, dropped you off at your dorm and said goodbye. “Prep” is a coming-of-age story where a young girl discovers her identity while studying at a conservative, private, upper-class school that is hundreds of miles away from home. This is something most college students can relate to on many different levels. Even though it is only high school, the story is powerful and riveting. Lee Fiora, an innocent young girl from South Bend, Ind. was dropped off at the prominent private Ault School in Massachusetts. Due to her humble background, she was feeling inadequate compare to other girls. “I wanted my father gone from campus as soon as possible, so I could try to miss him.” Lee struggles to find her identity in school and as an adolescent. She often refers back to the yearbooks to understand others’ identity voyage. “I learned their nicknames, their sports of choice, which sweater or hairstyle they’d worn on repeated occasions.” There had been many occasions where thefts had occurred in the dorm. Lee was unfortunate enough to witness one of her closest friend in the act. She was forced to make the hardest decision ever by either turning in her friend for stealing or just letting it go. In words of comfort, a friend told her, “You did the right thing. You didn’t have a choice.” Among these episodes, there are many more emotional and thrilling rides that Lee allows us to experience with her. Curtis Sittenfeld makes her debut with a captivating and delightful story. She graduated from Stanford University and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and she also won the Seventeen magazine fiction writing contest at the age of sixteen in 1992.