Here’s the book that was mentioned in the comments thread on the Sweet Briar post. “The Preppy And The Trout” by Richard Reichardt was published (self-published?) in 2011. The synopsis reads:
Set in the glamorous resort town of Sun Valley/Ketchum, Idaho, the story revolves around a young, insecure, former lacrosse star who owns a fly-fishing shop, his demanding preppy wife, and a bungling older Ivy League man who’s recently moved west to escape his troubles by trout fishing.
It is currently available from Amazon in a kindle edition for $3.99. There is one review on the Amazon page, with the following observation:
In a very creative way, it shows the difference between east coast preps and those outside of New England.
A blog called The Preppy Times has an interview with the author here. — CC
Re: “A blog called The Preppy Times has an interview with the author here. — CC ”
There’s also an interview with one of our favourite ladies:
http://thepreppytimes.blogspot.com.tr/2011/05/inside-of-preppy-bloggers-muffy-aldrich.html
Surprised that’s still up. After all that’s happened since last Thanksgiving, I would’ve expected that demands were made that it be taken down.
An “amuse-bouche” from the book:
“But as she predicted, people did start reacting differently to him. It wasn’t anything earth-shaking, but Eric did become aware of the positive way others reacted to him. He felt they could no longer tell if he was poor, or just a rich guy out slumming. You know, showing the proletariat some respect. By wearing the same clothes as a preppy, a curtain of ambiguity settled over him – the purpose of camouflage being to blur the line between fact and fiction. The mere substitution of khakis for jeans, crocodile shirts for t-shirts, Scottish Shetland wool crewnecks for sweatshirts, and new navy boat shoes for beat-up tennis shoes did generate an abrupt shift in the perception of others. The whole idea, he concluded, was to look rich without trying. And in a weird way, he sometimes felt the clothes wore him, and never vice-versa, and they remolded his head, tongue and heart to their liking. She told him the clothes would make him feel more civilized, and he did perceive a subtle change underway.”
“It is both delusional and stupid to think that clothes don’t really matter and we should all wear whatever we want. Most people don’t take clothing seriously enough, but whether we should or not, clothes do talk to us and we make decisions based on people’s appearances.”
—G. Bruce Boyer
Furthermore, what we wear does, indeed, affect how we think.
“It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances!”–Oscar Wilde
I truly enjoyed this book for a variety of reasons. First, it educated me on some of differences between Eastern and Western Coast personalities. It sadly reminded me that greedy people rarely change their “spots”, or “colors” without a spiritual intervention or need. It allowed me to smile and laugh at the thought of a Trout being the narrator, and primarily, I enjoyed the conversational relationships amongst all of the characters. Finally, just when I thought it would zig, it zagged, and I like to be surprised, even if it isn’t the fairy tale ending I was hoping for. Nicely written Robert!