num_pages: 311
description: In the tradition of Prep and Old School a sharp and evocative portrait of insiders--and outsiders--at an elite boarding school who must face a reality very different from the one they imagined.St. James is an exclusive New England boarding school known for grooming generations of leaders. Ben Weeks is a true insider -- his ancestors helped found St. James his older brother was a legend who taught him all the slang and he's just won a national championship in squash.But after fourteen long years of waiting Ben arrives at school only to find that the reality of St. James doesn't quite match up with his imaginings. At the same time his new roommate Ahmed Al-Khaled the son of a fabulously wealthy Emirati sheik can't navigate the unspoken rules of New England blue bloods. Even as Ben and Ahmed struggle to prove themselves in the place they have revered for so long each of them must face losing it forever.The Expectations is at once a finely drawn portrait of American privilege and a subtle exploration of class race and tradition. Above all it is a tender sharp and evocative debut about the pain and treachery of adolescence and the difficulty -- wherever one finds oneself -- of truly belonging.
language: English
title: The Expectations
publisher: Little, Brown and Company