Second Quarter Outside Reading Book Review

Prep by Jake Coburn, Dutton Books, 2003

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Nick is a teenage boy who resides in the city of Manhattan. He has friends and a family at home. Nick's life is based on gangs, sex, alcohol, drugs, graffiti, and love: what every teenager's life is like in Manhattan. Nick has a best friend named Kris that he is in love with. Kris is yet to find out about Nick's dark secret. Nick is also in the process of being recruited in a prep-school gang: a huge movement from a three-man crew whose purpose is revoled around "tagging". In a world of trouble, Nick is faced with the initiation of a prep-school gang and revealing his deepest, darkest secret, which can put his friendship at risk.

"In Prep, Jake Coburn has written a minimalist movel that turns the world of J.D. Salinger inside out. A fresh, startling look at an unexpected subculture, the raw, ugly world of affluent prep-school gang boys in name-brand jackets who talk like punks and put their knives where their mouths are." -Norma Fox Mazer, author of After the Rain, a Newberry Honor Book.

Prep is based on Jake Coburn's teenage life. He went through everything that Nick did and even grew up where he did. Jake Coburn uses a large amount of profanity in his story. The usage of expletives in the story sets the personality of the characters. It also exhibits the area of which the story takes place which is Manhattan.

This story reminds me of Payback by Paul Langan. The story revolves around love, sex, and fighting and is about teenage life. For example, in Payback Tyray Hobbs is bullied by Darrell Mercer. This connects to when Nick is bullied and threatened by Derrick, a member of MKII which is a prep-school gang.

"Well, I didn't know square one. So I asked Jessica if he's her boyfriend, and she just starts laughing and reaching for her nose candy. Right there on the fucking floor. I bug out, throw on my shirt, and run down the back staircase with a hard-on. It's fucking difficult to run with a hard-on." (18).

From readin this piece of literature, I fell in love with Jake Coburn's work. It relates to my life, as things are rough in my city. I reside in Holyoke so I can relate to Jake Coburn and Nick in that they grew up in a rough neighborhood. Although I loved the book, I became frustrated at the end. It couldn't have just ended the way it did. What happened between Nick and Kris? What;s going on with the gang? I still have unanswered questions and I hope that there is another part to the book.