I picked up this novel because I so enjoyed Sittenfeld’s debut, Prep. But I was disappointed – so much so that it took effort to get through it. Her first book, set in a cloistered upper-crust prep school, explored class, clique and identity, as well as a young woman’s coming of age. A wonderful read. Her new novel, The Man of My Dreams, is again about a girl’s journey into womanhood, but it’s an overly precious rendering, and it feels like it lacks resonance beyond this particular girl; it’s not a story that seems to refer to much beyond its own pages.

Sittenfeld created a challenge for herself by making the main character lean toward shyness. That’s a valid choice but it’s hard to make such a character interesting. Difficult, too, is the fact that the narrative jumps from era to era, leaving out chunks of years; again, that’s often a good technique, but in this case when the story picks back up we see that the protagonist has changed, but we didn’t see it happen, so we never get involved.

I give Sittenfeld credit for a prose style that’s simple and natural. She’s not trying to be “writerly,” instead she uses ordinary language to tell the stories of real people. But unfortunately, when the story and characters don’t support her effort, the effect is pretty flat.