Prep

by Jake Coburn

Overview

Nick and his friends have everything: expensive clothes, beautiful apartments, rich friends. The island of Manhattan is at their feet. But underneath this picture-perfect world of private schools and private parties lies a gang world filled with drinking, drugs, casual sex, and graffiti. And Nick wants out. He's had enough of the life, and he's in love with his best friend, Kris, even though she's oblivious to his feelings. When Kris's younger brother becomes a gang target, Nick thinks he can help, even if it means putting his own life at risk.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781101176771
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	03/17/2005
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	192
File size:	230 KB
Age Range:	12 Years

About the Author

Jake Coburn was born in New York City in 1978. He grew up on Manhattan’s Upper West Side and attended several different prep schools. In 2000, he graduated from Brown University magna cum laude with a degree in Modern Culture and Media.

Jake’s first novel, Prep (Dutton, 2003), is based on his teenage years, where he witnessed New York’s privileged offspring form some of the city’s most vicious street gangs. Prep was named an American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults and a Junior Library Guild selection.

Jake is also the author of LoveSick and lives in Los Angeles, California.

Editorial Reviews

"When you have money and everything still blows most of the time, you don't want to spend your life just making more." This sentiment drives the Manhattan private-school students in Coburn's debut novel to emulate the thuggish nihilism they see on MTV, creating tiered hierarchies of gangs, talking like rappers but wearing Rolexes and Ralph Lauren shirts. Narrator Nick, a reputedly legendary graffiti artist, has had enough of this scene and tries to get on with his life-and more specifically, to tell his best friend, Kris, that he has always loved her. Kris's drug-addled mess of a brother, Danny, runs afoul of the vicious MKII gang, and when Nick intervenes, he finds himself in the crosshairs of the MKII also. The two plot threads never quite mesh. The relationship between Nick and Kris is artfully conveyed, painful and bittersweet. But the sound bites of upscale white-kid ghetto-speak sound hollow ("That Nippon place is whack... sushi's mad dry by the time it gets here"), at times coming across as parody. Ages 14-up. (Sept.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Gr 9 Up-This novel focuses squarely on the world of Manhattan prep-school teens with too much money, too little family, and too few morals. These young men beat and cut one another for fun, territory, or girls, and generally use violence to gain reputations, power, and control. Nick, a famous ex-tagger, is haunted by the memory of the knife that nearly killed his friend Kodak, and ignores the recruiting efforts of various gang members. He is secretly in love with his best friend, Kris. When her younger brother gets in trouble, Nick tries to intercede and is once again drawn into the gang circle, though he's not sure that he's ready to fight. Prep does an excellent job of revealing the darker side of growing up rich, including drugs, easy sex, and drinking. Coburn's brief sentences and often-raw gang slang create a cadence and reflect the movement of the novel through four suspenseful days. While some of the gang members seem to be from central casting, the main characters are exceptionally well drawn and sympathetic.-Gail Richmond, San Diego Unified Schools, CA Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

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