Curtis Sittenfeld's debut, Preliminary: The Highs and Lows of Lee Fiora, is a witty and witty novel that brilliantly dissects the class, race, and gender issues that permeate adolescent ambitions and angst. Named Book of the Year by The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Chicago Tribune, it regularly graced The New York Times bestseller lists and placed Sittenfeld among the most promising talents of her generation. Lee Fiora is a smart and funny teenager who wins a scholarship to one of the most respected and exclusive boarding schools in the country. Leaving her warm, middle-class family in the countryside and entering the world of the wealthy and privileged at Ault School, Lee soon realizes that the catalog images, with handsome lacrosse-playing boys and smiling girls in front of historic buildings, are only a fraction of reality. Almost ten years later, Lee recalls a time when, simultaneously fascinated and intimidated by this world, all she wanted—and also what she feared most—was to be noticed by others. Thus, she becomes a keen observer of the attitudes, rules, and rituals that govern the coexistence of that strict audience. Despite her efforts, because of her scholarship status, she constantly feels like an outsider, never quite able to belong. Lee's experiences during her four years of high school—complicated relationships with teachers, friendships with other girls, emotional distance from the family she left behind, a constant preoccupation with the gaze of a boy who never becomes her boyfriend—converge into a singular portrait of the difficulties and emotions that are part of the maturation process. Ultimately, Lee's incisive vision of herself and others is the cause of her greatest failure, but also—as this intense novel suggests—her greatest gift. With moments alternately melancholic, hilarious, and moving, Preliminary: The Highs and Lows of Lee Fiora goes far beyond stereotypes. Curtis Sittenfeld's honest and funny observations on adolescence make this book more than just a young adult novel, appealing to readers of all ages.
