College Girl Hardcover - 2008

by Patricia Weitz

College Girl is a vivid portrait of life on acollege campus and a poignant look at whathappens to a twenty-year-old college senior(and her self-esteem) when she loses hervirginity and falls for the wrong guy.

Just as Curtis Sittenfeld's bestselling Prep drew usinto the world of boarding school and its social relationships,College Girl perfectly captures the experienceof college, of being a student at a big state university complete with its jocks and hipsters, fratsand sororities, drinking rituals and cafeteria food, itseconomic, academic, and social pressures and howit gets funneled into the campus culture of collegiatesex and dating. In particular, College Girl reveals whatall this means for a girl inexperienced in sex and romance,dealing with the demons she's brought fromhome.

College senior Natalie Bloom is beautiful and ambitious,but also incredibly insecure and painfullyuncomfortable with the subject of sex let alone theact. She's awkward at developing friendships with girls,but it's sexual attention from boys that really makesher lose her cool. At age twenty, she's a virgin neverhaving had a boyfriend. Avoiding her peers, Nataliehides out most weekends in the library. That is, untilshe meets Patrick, her fantasy (she thinks) of a cultured,intellectual Prince Charming and everythingchanges. But the more time they spend together, themore Patrick brings out her worst insecurities. Natalieloses her virginity before she's ready, and as their sexualactivity escalates, Natalie's emotional responsesbecome dangerously self-destructive. Ultimately, shemust take extreme measures to reclaim her sense ofself, her confidence, and her ambition.

An insightful, moving, and achingly self-aware novelthat offers the psychological and emotional insight ofJudy Blume and Ann Brashares, College Girl will resonatewith anyone who remembers the often awkwardtransition from adolescence to adulthood.