Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

The first one was fun. This one loses the thread. Prepdom is a quirky and unusual culture, not merely a sartorial style. And it's a culture that frankly can't be found much outside of New England and New York. The last book got that, had its fun with it. It recognized who was part of the culture and who wasn't and what was fun about the culture. Who is part of it and who isn't, is as clear, within prepdom, as in, say, the Hassidic community. You absolutely cannot just dress the part. But whereas the last book was designed for a small readership so it could be specific (and was a surprise hit), this book was intended to be huge and to that end has been fashioned to be all inclusive. Sadly, though, if you try to invent a version of "true preppiness" that includes everyone, it becomes meaningless and kind of silly. The book winds up just telling people where to shop. It's like a book about being Hawaiian that tries to include everyone who has ever worn a lei. Watered down and pointless. Oh, well.