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Prep
One-time tag-artist, Nick tries to come to terms with the death of a friend, to protect the brother of his would-be girlfriend, to escape the violence of wealthy New York City prep school hoods, and to figure out who he really is.
176 pages, Hardcover
First published September 15, 2003
11 people are currently reading
157 people want to read
About the author
Jake Coburn
6 books33 followersJake 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, and is currently being made into a movie by Paramount-MTV Films and Benderspink.
While Prep has drawn critical comparisons to S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders and J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, it is Jake’s unique writing style that has captured reviewers. Booklist writes, “The staccato rhythm of Coburn's prose is the best part of this tale of Manhattan prep-school gangsters . . . Realistic, slang-filled dialogue and short, crisp narrative passages create a minimalist world of frenetic gang warfare, substance abuse, and wild parties that become nightmares.” School Library Journal writes, “Coburn's brief sentences and often-raw gang slang create a cadence and reflect the movement of the novel through four suspenseful days.”
Jake’s second novel, LoveSick (Dutton, Sept. 2005), also named an American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults, is based on his college years and his recovery from alcohol and drug addiction. Jake writes, “When I started LoveSick, I wanted to write a love story about two teenagers trying to survive addiction, loneliness, and their freshman year of college.”
Praised as a “classic love story” by Amy Gray (SpyGirl) and a “must read” by Koren Zailckas (Smashed: Story of a Drunken Girlhood), LoveSick impressed reviewers with its unflinching look at self-destructive teens. Publisher’s Weekly writes, “Coburn's wrenching descriptions of Ted and Erica's mindsets in the throes of their addictions make for the book's strongest moments;” Booklist declares, “Coburn’s writing skill is evident in his almost sensual descriptions of Erica’s bingeing rituals;” and The Bulletin states that “[Ted’s] struggle to stay sober in college will make readers long to reach into the pages and befriend this lonely and troubled guy.”
Jake is repped by Elaine Markson at Elaine Markson Literary Agency, Ted Miller at CAA, and Dave Brown at Benderspink.
Jake currently lives in Los Angeles, California, and can be reached at jakecoburnweb@yahoo.com.
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, and is currently being made into a movie by Paramount-MTV Films and Benderspink.
While Prep has drawn critical comparisons to S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders and J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, it is Jake’s unique writing style that has captured reviewers. Booklist writes, “The staccato rhythm of Coburn's prose is the best part of this tale of Manhattan prep-school gangsters . . . Realistic, slang-filled dialogue and short, crisp narrative passages create a minimalist world of frenetic gang warfare, substance abuse, and wild parties that become nightmares.” School Library Journal writes, “Coburn's brief sentences and often-raw gang slang create a cadence and reflect the movement of the novel through four suspenseful days.”
Jake’s second novel, LoveSick (Dutton, Sept. 2005), also named an American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults, is based on his college years and his recovery from alcohol and drug addiction. Jake writes, “When I started LoveSick, I wanted to write a love story about two teenagers trying to survive addiction, loneliness, and their freshman year of college.”
Praised as a “classic love story” by Amy Gray (SpyGirl) and a “must read” by Koren Zailckas (Smashed: Story of a Drunken Girlhood), LoveSick impressed reviewers with its unflinching look at self-destructive teens. Publisher’s Weekly writes, “Coburn's wrenching descriptions of Ted and Erica's mindsets in the throes of their addictions make for the book's strongest moments;” Booklist declares, “Coburn’s writing skill is evident in his almost sensual descriptions of Erica’s bingeing rituals;” and The Bulletin states that “[Ted’s] struggle to stay sober in college will make readers long to reach into the pages and befriend this lonely and troubled guy.”
Jake is repped by Elaine Markson at Elaine Markson Literary Agency, Ted Miller at CAA, and Dave Brown at Benderspink.
Jake currently lives in Los Angeles, California, and can be reached at jakecoburnweb@yahoo.com.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
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February 4, 2016Trust-fund thugs run amok in Manhattan. Over the course of a weekend Nick professes his love to Kris, one of his best friends, and has to bail her brother Danny out of trouble with the MKII gang after he was caught messing with the gangleader's girlfriend. Nick's been out of the life for awhile and really doesn't want to get involved anymore. But Nick is haunted by the time he witnessed his friend Kodak being stabbed by gang members and he froze, unable to jump in and help. Helping Danny out is his way of repenting and putting closure on his old gang lifestyle. Scenes with Kris drag. "Catcher in the Rye" with a hip-hop vibe.
October 14, 2015
I really enjoyed Prep by Jake Coburn because it was romatic, scary, and suspenseful. Prep is about a a teenage boy involved in gangs and violence. But when his best friend dies and his girl friend's brother is a target, he makes some choices of his own. Through this story Nick discovers what he really wants to do in life and who he really is. One thing I didn't like was that this book started out really slow paced. But, overall I really liked this book because it showed how Nick transformed himself from bad to good by sacrificing and making hard choices.
April 15, 2008
A very good read. This story is about a young mans many problems that he faces through high school. Everything that he doesn’t want to become a problem does. All of his problems revolve around his rep, he always wants to keep his rep up and that sometimes hurts him. Nobody ever thinks that in rich cities and neighborhoods their would be gangs because of the kind of people that live there. But in this case there are many of them and they all want the same thing, to be the hardest. Thet(the main character) wants to kind of change up his lifestyle but his so called friend keep on pulling him back into the lifestyle he wants to leave. Thet just goes about solving his problems the wrong way because his ways always land him in more trouble and that leads into more trouble and it never stops. I think a lot of it is that he spends too much of his time trying to get his girl. He never has time to hang out with his friends and they feel like he has abandoned them. There is just a lot of things that could go wrong and you don’t know how to handle it all.
December 23, 2010
I don't have much to say about this book. It was short, and, in my opinion, very unrealistic.
May 23, 2025
in this edition of re-reading books found in my childhood bedroom: prep school punks who need therapy and hobbies.
October 24, 2024
I like how this book empathizes on real life concerns like mental heath. in luke's poem he sounds really depressed, a refection of his own mind at the moment. there where very bad people in the book that did bad thing, drugs, steal, ect. They where all in a private school doing these things. there parents wanted them to be in a private school so they would make the right contacts.
January 22, 2019
Prep is a good book for teens. Highly recommend for a good exciting read. The ending wasn't what I wanted it to be but it was a good book.
November 8, 2010
Prep is a book about love and helping friends set to the gang life in New York this very original and unique book is written by Jake Coburn. I believe this book is geared towards several groups of people who like adventures and love storys I know it sounds strange when your talking about gangs but still there is no better way to describe this wonderful story
I personally loved how the characters feelings and emotions felt so real and how Jake Coburn allowed you to visualize everything that happened in this book and how you could almost see and feel what the was happening when I first go the book I looked at the cover and said eh I advise you not to do the same this book is well worth your time and I greatly recommend it.
Prep is about a teen named Nick he lives in Manhattan with his mom in a nice apartment they are rich and he goes to a prep school just like all the other rich kids. Nick however has a lot of baggage he used to be a hood and member of a gang and all that he went to partys all night went tagging did drugs and had sex. But out of all that he was most famous for tagging girls wanted to meet him and guys wanted to be him but he gave that all up for the girl he loved but then he found himself getting dragged back to all that when his girls brother gets in trouble with one of the gangs. So then Nick/Thet goes all out just to get closer to the girl he loves he goes back to the gang life and travels all over New York city and nearly gets killed several times.
Jake Coburn grew up in new york and as been writing about his experiences in his books. He has only written 2 books one being prep and the other is titled “love sick”. However prep was made into a movie in 04 and has won him 2 awards one is junior library guild selection and then the American library associations best book for young adults of 04 and love sick won that same award in 06. Jake Coburn has also written a 1 hour tv drama named the station. However I’m sure he is best know for the phenomenal book and movie prep.
I personally loved how the characters feelings and emotions felt so real and how Jake Coburn allowed you to visualize everything that happened in this book and how you could almost see and feel what the was happening when I first go the book I looked at the cover and said eh I advise you not to do the same this book is well worth your time and I greatly recommend it.
Prep is about a teen named Nick he lives in Manhattan with his mom in a nice apartment they are rich and he goes to a prep school just like all the other rich kids. Nick however has a lot of baggage he used to be a hood and member of a gang and all that he went to partys all night went tagging did drugs and had sex. But out of all that he was most famous for tagging girls wanted to meet him and guys wanted to be him but he gave that all up for the girl he loved but then he found himself getting dragged back to all that when his girls brother gets in trouble with one of the gangs. So then Nick/Thet goes all out just to get closer to the girl he loves he goes back to the gang life and travels all over New York city and nearly gets killed several times.
Jake Coburn grew up in new york and as been writing about his experiences in his books. He has only written 2 books one being prep and the other is titled “love sick”. However prep was made into a movie in 04 and has won him 2 awards one is junior library guild selection and then the American library associations best book for young adults of 04 and love sick won that same award in 06. Jake Coburn has also written a 1 hour tv drama named the station. However I’m sure he is best know for the phenomenal book and movie prep.
December 22, 2008
My first impression of this book was that it was some little romance with a little danger on the side.
Turns out, I was right, but not exactly. It was mostly danger, little bit of romance.
Most of the characters are stupid and full of themselves. They wear designer clothes and carry a gun—and use it. It's a harsh world where anything can get you knifed.
And it's all prep-school kids. You can't even respect them for what they're doing, like you could with a gangster (or hood) from the ghetto because they're not poor. They're just angry, and think they own the world. And in a sense, they do. No one can stop them in either sense—physically or monetarily.
The main character, the narrator, and his sort-of girlfriend, are the only ones who make sense. Her little brother is high throughout most of the book, or scared. Yeah, I want to root for him.
The main dude is scared, too, but he's not high...and he's doing something about the fear. He used to tag, and his friend got pretty much screwed by some hoods, so he's not ignorant about what they do. But he's smart enough to walk away from it, too, which makes him more likable. And that's why he does his best to help out his sort-of girlfriend's little brother. First because he loves her, but later because he promised to help her.
Believable and harsh.
Turns out, I was right, but not exactly. It was mostly danger, little bit of romance.
Most of the characters are stupid and full of themselves. They wear designer clothes and carry a gun—and use it. It's a harsh world where anything can get you knifed.
And it's all prep-school kids. You can't even respect them for what they're doing, like you could with a gangster (or hood) from the ghetto because they're not poor. They're just angry, and think they own the world. And in a sense, they do. No one can stop them in either sense—physically or monetarily.
The main character, the narrator, and his sort-of girlfriend, are the only ones who make sense. Her little brother is high throughout most of the book, or scared. Yeah, I want to root for him.
The main dude is scared, too, but he's not high...and he's doing something about the fear. He used to tag, and his friend got pretty much screwed by some hoods, so he's not ignorant about what they do. But he's smart enough to walk away from it, too, which makes him more likable. And that's why he does his best to help out his sort-of girlfriend's little brother. First because he loves her, but later because he promised to help her.
Believable and harsh.
July 30, 2025
picked up this book on a whim from a barnes & noble in chicago while on a family vacation in 2008, summer before i started high school. sped through it and fell in love with it. have re-read it a few times since, but as a 30 year old re-reading it i can see both why i loved it as a 14 year old and what's keeping it from scratching the same itch for an adult reader. in other words, textbook YA fiction novel - a great one, but still YA fiction.
coburn's prose is concise and flows very well. the intermittent italicized flashbacks are effective but only really in one key instance, the rest feel more like they're setting up the primary flashback. i wasn't a rich NYC teenager so i don't know how wild it actually is, but the characterizations feel very "you could learn a thing or two from me, young blood" coming from a bunch of teenagers. perfect mouthpiece of wisdom for me at 14 growing up in florida. teaching lessons about leaving instrumental phases behind and what love really feels like (or doesn't feel like???). if i'm being completely honest, i too am still madly in love with kris - tomboy manic pixie dream girl though she may be.
all in all, a quick enjoyable enough read which i very likely will read again one day. probably while waiting for my oil to be changed or while my wife is in labor or something.
coburn's prose is concise and flows very well. the intermittent italicized flashbacks are effective but only really in one key instance, the rest feel more like they're setting up the primary flashback. i wasn't a rich NYC teenager so i don't know how wild it actually is, but the characterizations feel very "you could learn a thing or two from me, young blood" coming from a bunch of teenagers. perfect mouthpiece of wisdom for me at 14 growing up in florida. teaching lessons about leaving instrumental phases behind and what love really feels like (or doesn't feel like???). if i'm being completely honest, i too am still madly in love with kris - tomboy manic pixie dream girl though she may be.
all in all, a quick enjoyable enough read which i very likely will read again one day. probably while waiting for my oil to be changed or while my wife is in labor or something.
April 18, 2008
There are many things that can be learned from Prep. It’s about a typical teenagers life that is just living everyday as it is. He dates, goes to school has many accomplishment in life. Nick has fallen in love with a girl who is his best friend, and the only problem is; is that she doesn’t like him like that. Nick knows that and tries dating other girls and become more social with other girls. Reality is he is madly in love with her. He doesn’t seem to know why she doesn’t like him he is very high class a very bright fellow. The down side to it all is that he is apart of the prep- school gang. Things turn bad and they end up going after his loves brother. He decides to be the hero and save her brother. I learned that even though you don’t always get what you want you could still be the hero in the story. Nick knows that Kirs didn’t see him in the way that she did, but he still chose to help save her brother from what could have turned out really bad. Nick put his life at risk for somebody else and that’s show that he is a true hero for anybody.
June 13, 2008
This book was well written. It wasn't the most fantastic book that I've ever read, but I liked it all the same. This book is about Upper class New York, kids who have everything and yet continue to form gangs filled with drugs, casual sex, and lots and lots of graffiti. None of this was a complete surprise or shocker to me, (it's sort of obvious to me that the rich kids have issues to) so I wasn't all to impressed with what was going on. Nick's having issues because he wants to quit this life after a particularly traumatic event in his past, but getting involved with his love-interest, Kris, means getting involved with Kris's younger brother, who is now being staked out by one of the gangs of New York. The entire book's only like 185 pages, and takes place during one weekend. I liked it, but again, nothing was too shocking to me.
December 16, 2013
Prep is a very good book. It has action and adventure in it as well as romance. The book is about gangs and a guy named Nick, or Thet was his nickname. In the book Nick is trying to help this kid named Danny get out of trouble with a gang called MK11. He messed around with one of the gang members girls and they didn’t like that. Nick was also in love with Danny’s sister Kris and she really didn’t know if she loved him or not. Nick was a pretty good and loving guy because he didn’t have to help Danny but he did anyways and he said that he didn’t help Danny because of Kris. He said that he helped Danny because he didn’t want Danny getting hurt. The book really has some good lessons in it. It is probably my favorite book because it always has something exciting happening and isn’t boring.
February 3, 2008
THOSE PREP SCHOOL BULLIES!
I read a book called Prep. Its about the world that most of us don't live in; rich kids in New York City, who go to expensive prep schools but have to deal with a suprising level of violence. This book is by Jake Coburn who, it seems knows of which he speaks.
The main character is a boy who used to run with the gangs, and put up his call sign Theta. But now, he's out of the gang life seeminly for good, until his best friend's (in whom he's secretly in love) little brother runs afoul of the toughest gang in New York. The kid had the audacity to hook up with the leader's girlfriend! Tackiness.
Anyway.
I liked this book mainly for the style of writing. Jake Coburn could write about Tupperware parties and make it seem gripping.
I read a book called Prep. Its about the world that most of us don't live in; rich kids in New York City, who go to expensive prep schools but have to deal with a suprising level of violence. This book is by Jake Coburn who, it seems knows of which he speaks.
The main character is a boy who used to run with the gangs, and put up his call sign Theta. But now, he's out of the gang life seeminly for good, until his best friend's (in whom he's secretly in love) little brother runs afoul of the toughest gang in New York. The kid had the audacity to hook up with the leader's girlfriend! Tackiness.
Anyway.
I liked this book mainly for the style of writing. Jake Coburn could write about Tupperware parties and make it seem gripping.
February 9, 2012
If I had to read a book about gangs it would difinitely be this one. At first i waan't too kin to this story, but once I started reading I couldn't put it down. They only reason why I gave it a four instead of a five was that the ending pissed me off a little.
!!!!SPOILER!!!
Jake was totally in love with Kris, and from my point of view I think she always knew but was too locked up in her own world to actually care. Then guess what this check did to my boy Jake after he went out of his way to help her brother, she sleeps with him. knowing she can;t return his feelings.
Cold...Just cold.
but other than that faint part I like the boy. I mean i actually got my older brother to read the book and her hates, i mean hater reading. He was particually in love with the book.
!!!!SPOILER!!!
Jake was totally in love with Kris, and from my point of view I think she always knew but was too locked up in her own world to actually care. Then guess what this check did to my boy Jake after he went out of his way to help her brother, she sleeps with him. knowing she can;t return his feelings.
Cold...Just cold.
but other than that faint part I like the boy. I mean i actually got my older brother to read the book and her hates, i mean hater reading. He was particually in love with the book.
December 30, 2009
This was an okay book. The action started to pick up at the end. This book is about gangs. It's perfect for a person who is in or knows people who are in gangs. This book uses slang. The members of the gangs have a very good life. They have expensive clothing, beautiful apartments, rich friends, and good schools. There are many gangs in New York. The main character Nick, was in a gang. His best friend's brother is a target to another gang. Nick has to make a couple decisions. Whether he joins the gang he was in, whether he lets his friend's brother get beat up, or gets one of his former gang friends to help.
October 20, 2008
I hate reviewing books that I really dislike. Oh well. Prep, Jake Coburn's story of a privileged gang of NYC prep school gansta thugz, is as hokey as it gets; even down to the white boy copping African American street slang language and spelling, up to and including boyz and stylez. There is nothing remotely real about this book, including the love story and the descriptions of graffiti. Sorry.
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February 28, 2009I couldn't get more than a few pages into this book because it started off like so many unrealistic, let's-pretend-this-is-how-teenagers-really-live other nonsensical books with the teenagers drinking in restaurants, staying out all night, and acting like just younger versions of adults, with no one around interested in maintaining a liquor license or maintaining any semblance of parental boundaries. Ridiculous.
January 20, 2015
I have read this book over one hundred times. I found this book on the back shelf of a teacher's library and have not gone a year without reading it since.
The plot line is amazing and easy to follow, and I spend all of my time sympathizing with Nick, yet every other character -even those with the briefest of appearances are just as easily relatable and well-developed.
I will keep this in my library until the binding breaks, and then happily get another copy.
The plot line is amazing and easy to follow, and I spend all of my time sympathizing with Nick, yet every other character -even those with the briefest of appearances are just as easily relatable and well-developed.
I will keep this in my library until the binding breaks, and then happily get another copy.
Read
May 20, 2009this book was really good and i never wanted to put it down just like the rest of the books that i have read, this book is about Nick wnating to get out of the gang that he is in right now for the one he loves. The only issue with that is he has his friends to presure him to stay. Does he quit to be with the one that he loves or does he stay in the gang to be cool like the others.
January 24, 2013
When I first disovered Prep at my local library, I was about 12 years old. It was among the first "edgy" teen books I read, and I was fasinated by it.
When I recently picked it up again, it didn't quite live up to my memories of it. To me, it held up as a well-written, believable book, but it's nothing special.
When I recently picked it up again, it didn't quite live up to my memories of it. To me, it held up as a well-written, believable book, but it's nothing special.
June 13, 2013
I give this book a 3 because it's not that interesting. All I kept reading throughout the book was "oh poor rich kids, boo hoo" I mean come on! Do they have nothing better to do than start trouble with each other? Of course this is New York and I don't live there and don't want to. I liked some of the characters like Nick and Danny but that's about it.
January 23, 2014
This was a very good book. I would totally read this book again in the future! I would say anyone who reads books this book who are into books like this will really love it. Its about gangs and what its like growing up in New York. Also its about falling in love and doing stuff for the person you love the most.
July 9, 2014
Good Lord. If Jake Coburn modeled his book after characters he knew in real life, these are the new movers and shakers on Wall Street and working in banks that will be the downfall of our culture and country as we know it. These people are a bunch of narcissistic brats who do nothing redeeming while flaunting their money and possessions. What meaningless drivel. Please let this be a fantasy.
November 11, 2014
the book prep by Jake Coburn is a really fun and easy read. this book is a little bit longer but, the way he writes it keeps you captivated until the very end. prep is a book about a teenage girl who goes to prep school and all the troubles she has. Jake Coburn also wrote lovesick and in the few books I have read by him I loved!
July 17, 2009
once again, I picked up a book that's going to be made into a movie.
not going to lie. it was pretty dumb and as soon as the characters were introduced, I predicted the the rest of the story.
the book was alright. It will make a GREAT teen movie.
not going to lie. it was pretty dumb and as soon as the characters were introduced, I predicted the the rest of the story.
the book was alright. It will make a GREAT teen movie.
April 15, 2016
One-time tag-artist, Nick tries to come to terms with the death of a friend, to protect the brother of his would-be girlfriend, to escape the violence of wealthy New York City prep school hoods, and to figure out who he really is.
October 3, 2009
The author attempts to show the prep school gansta lifestyle through a character who was in the life but has left it. Unfortunately his protagonist comes off as pretentious instead of sympathetic. It was a reasonable premise, but he didn't pull it off.
Currently reading
March 16, 2010prep is a book that im currently reading and so far so good im almost done but it's like off and on some part's are good and some parts are boring this book is based on a kid named nick and he is trying to get out this group that he is in he goes throw hell trying everyway to get to
June 27, 2010
This is another one of those books that tells it like it is, and really make a person get into the story. I think its a very good book and I would recommend it to just about anyone. It more for teens i think, but it really tells of the lives that teens live... well some teens.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews