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Restless Virgins: Love, Sex, and Survival in Prep School | 
 enlarge | Authors: Abigail Jones, Marissa Miley
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
Category: Book
List Price: $13.95
Buy New: $7.72
You Save: $6.23 (45%)
New (43) Used (19) from $2.90
Avg. Customer Rating:  42 reviews
Sales Rank: 123801
Media: Paperback
Edition: Reprint
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.3 x 0.9
ISBN: 0061192066
Dewey Decimal Number: 300
EAN: 9780061192067
ASIN: 0061192066
Publication Date: September 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Expedited shipping is not available for this item. Items are mailed via USPS media mail within 2 business days and should arrive 4-14 business days later.
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Product Description
Established in 1798, Milton Academy had always had a proud history of achievement, integrity, and pride—until a sex scandal rocked the campus and made headlines in the spring of 2005. Written by two Milton graduates who know this world—and these students—like no others, Restless Virgins follows a group of seniors who were there as the "incident" (as it came to be called) unfolded. Startling, riveting, important, and true, it offers an honest, intimate look at the real lives of today's teens—an eye-opening yet sensitive depiction of normal kids with normal struggles that no teen, parent, or educator can afford to ignore.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 37 more reviews...
 lack of character development March 8, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Don't waste your time. There was no character development and I could not distinguish one character from another. I expected to get insight into the characters' minds.... but got nothing. It is poorly written. I tried to make the best of it, but toward the middle I gave up and skipped through the rest of it.
 The most complete look inside the teen psyche in ages January 11, 2008
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
The fact that virtually every reviewer loved or hated this book, may be reason enough to read it. What surprised me about the negative comments were that some suggested this excellent book was "boring" while others seemed to want more discussion of the unfortunate consensual sex that turned into a public scandal, only because it became known outside the circle of teens who saw it as just one more "story." The authors (significantly, recent Milton grads)clearly spent an extraordinary amount of time with the book's subjects and won their trust as the thoughts that are shared throughout the narrative are clearly embarassing, painful,heartfelt, and most importantly,real.Most books about teens sensationalize, infantalize or condescend to the subjects. This is the first book I've read in forever that made me believe I was learning what the kids were thinking and feeling, rather than what they wanted adults to think they were thinking and feeling. For those who felt the authors were prurient, I couldn't diasgree more. They did an amazing job of conveying different teens thoughts on sex, from the guys who took as much as they could to show off, to the girls who felt obligated to engage in activities because it was expected. The toughest part was how much sex led to so little caring and surprisingly so little joy.I think every parent should read this book as their child is already growing up in a world where no actual teenager would be surprised by anything written here.
 interesting though slanted look at teenagers today January 4, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I think that the authors intended to lure readers to their book by appealing to prurient interests, and then to give the reader a real understanding of what senior year in a high school might be like today. The book profiles the lives of a handful of private school seniors, and does a good job of that. As a high school teacher, I feel that I have a better understanding of the lives of some of my students. As a teenager myself during the sexual revolution and women's liberation of the 60's and 70's, I was saddened to see where we have come to. It's not great for guys and even worse for girls. The epilogue, though, left me with hope for these kids. In spite of this book's flaws (coming up shortly), I think this book is an important book for teens and adults to read.
Did I enjoy reading the book? Yes, much of it was a fun read. It started out very strongly, getting me very interested in the year ahead for this group of senior girls and boys. The middle of the book got a bit repetitive: more hookups, more drinking, more (mostly oral) sex. But as springtime arrived and graduation approached, kids made changes and decisions (some good, some not) which drew me back into caring about the lives of these kids.
I believe that the authors captured the lives of these students fairly well, but the flaws are that a small and non-random group of kids were picked to be profiled. While there was a certain cross section of kids chosen, it was skewed to include only students with sex lives consistent with the book title, "Restless Virgins." Not a single student profiled had a steady, monogamous relationship. There was not even a mention of one hockey player with a girlfriend. Meanwhile, I teach at a competing school, and a good fraction of the boys on our school's team have real girlfriends. Was Milton that different, or were those other students ignored because their stories were less interesting?
The other flaw was that there was so little focus on anything outside of these kids' social and sex lives. Vague mention was made towards how important some teachers, coaches and classroom experiences were to these kids. Yet, there are almost no details in these matters. A recital in the spring was one of the few specifics of school life which was delved into. While I do understand that the focus is on sexuality, there was a lot of specific family background, which added a lot to the stories. Comparable school background would have painted a fuller picture of the lives of these kids.
Overall, in spite of the trashy feel of this, "Restless Virgins" was an interesting read and did give the reader a good look at what the social and sex lives of kids today can be like.
Don't waste your time January 3, 2008
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
One of the worst books I have ever read. How these young authors were able to secure a publisher is beyond me - or perhaps it was only because they worked at the Atlantic (if so, Atlantic, you've shamed yourself). Furthermore, did they HAVE an editor? The writing was particularly atrocious and makes me question what sort of guidance the authors were actually given, for clearly their Ivy degrees were not in English. What could have been an insightful look into the lives of teenagers is instead a rambling, incoherent, irrelevant waste of paper. Don't waste your time.
Not worth reading January 3, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
The only reason why I read this book is because I'm an alumna of Milton. I had to force myself to get through this book. It's extremely poorly written, and that is particularly disappointing since the authors are also supposedly alumnae of Milton (a school that emphasizes writing and English grammar). Plus, the book's jacket says that they both worked at the Atlantic Monthly. I find it hard to believe that they actually wrote anything that was published in the Atlantic!
There is little to no character development, so the characters are almost indistinguishable from one another. Plus, it's very poorly researched. The authors have really lowered themselves by trying to titillate the reader with something sexual on every page. They miss the point. High school is tough for a lot of kids: everyone wants to fit in. Clearly, not all of the students at Milton feel compelled to have sex. What is really unique about this group of students that gets caught up in the scandal? We never really learn that.
More questions came to mind while I was reading this... Where are the students who weren't in this clique? What were they into? What did they think of this group? Plus, how could these students have been so naive to the law? Don't they have an understanding of the world around them? These are supposed to be educated teenagers.
I don't recommend reading this, unless you happen to be connected with this story in some way. It's much too painful.
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