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Little Children
Tom Perrotta's thirtyish parents of young children are a varied and surprising bunch. There's Todd, the handsome stay-at-home dad dubbed "The Prom King" by the moms at the playground, and his wife, Kathy, a documentary filmmaker envious of the connection Todd has forged with their toddler son. And there's Sarah, a lapsed feminist surprised to find she's become a typical wife
in a traditional marriage, and her husband, Richard, who is becoming more and more involved with an internet fantasy life than with his own wife and child.
And then there's Mary Ann, who has life all figured out, down to a scheduled roll in the hay with her husband every Tuesday at nine P.M.
in a traditional marriage, and her husband, Richard, who is becoming more and more involved with an internet fantasy life than with his own wife and child.
And then there's Mary Ann, who has life all figured out, down to a scheduled roll in the hay with her husband every Tuesday at nine P.M.
They all raise their kids in the kind of quiet suburb where nothing ever seems to happen - until one eventful summer, when a convicted child molester moves back to town, and two parents begin an affair that goes further than either of them could ever have imagined.
12 pages, Audio CD
First published March 1, 2004
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About the author
Tom Perrotta
29 books2,832 followersTom Perrotta is the bestselling author of nine works of fiction, including Election and Little Children, both of which were made into Oscar-nominated films, and The Leftovers, which was adapted into a critically acclaimed, Peabody Award-winning HBO series. His work has been translated into a multitude of languages. Perrotta grew up in New Jersey and lives outside of Boston.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,564 reviews
December 15, 2024
Mme e M. BOVARY
Il personaggio del capolavoro di Flaubert infesta questo romanzo così come l’odore del caffè francese impregna i negozi Starbucks, dice il critico del New York Times (Will Blythe questa volta): a un certo punto, appare anche un gruppo di lettura su ‘Madame Bovary’ che viene definita da Mary Ann ‘una troia’, mentre Sarah ne pronuncerà elogio e sosterrà motivazioni.
Il film è del 2006, diretto da Todd Field, i due protagonisti sono interpretati da un’ottima Kate Winslett e Patrick Wilson, i rispettivi coniugi sono assegnati a Gregg Edelman e alla bellissima Jennifer Connelly (che davvero fa porre l’interrogativo: ma come si può voler lasciare una donna così bella?). Nel cast anche Noah Emmerich e Jack Earle Haley.
È possibile che la vita di provincia (vita davvero provinciale in queste pagine) influisca: generale insoddisfazione, voglia di cambiamento, sogni a occhi aperti irrealizzabili e irraggiungibili, rifiuto di accettare la realtà e le cose per come stanno…
Se il fenomeno ha trovato la sua prima definizione nell’Ottocento, non si può certo pensare che sia tramontato.
Al contrario, è vivo più che mai: allora, fonte d’ispirazione e ‘tentazione’ era la letteratura, erano i romanzi – adesso abbiamo mille altri stimoli in questa direzione, citare la televisione sembra quasi preistoria.
Come condannare il senso d’insoddisfazione e la sensazione di noia di questi personaggi (noia anche se si lamentano della stanchezza)? La loro realtà è oggettivamente opaca, mediocre.
Si direbbe quasi che siano i primi ad avere figli: la maternità è vissuta come una fatica incommensurabile.
La paternità ha svolgimento diverso: Todd (nel film, Patrick Wilson, qui non così in parte come in ‘Hard Candy’) sembra viverla in modo sereno, in realtà a me sembra che sia un modo ossessivo, un rifugio, un riparo, la sua fuga quotidiana; il marito di Sarah, invece, sembra ignorarla tout court.
Le giovani madri stavano parlando della loro stanchezza. Era uno degli argomenti che preferivano, insieme alle abitudini alimentari, di sonno e di defecazione dei loro pargoletti, ai pregi di certi asili nido locali, e alla difficoltà di fare esercizio fisico con regolarità,
è l’incipit di queste cinquecento pagine.
I matrimoni sono in crisi anche se nessuno sembra rendersene conto: Mary Ann programma l’amplesso settimanale col marito ogni martedì sera alle 21 (i bambini da quella parte del mondo vanno a letto prima che da noi), sicura che sia la ricetta giusta per una sana vita sessuale matrimoniale (salvo poi rendersi conto che il marito subisce la cosa, la scongiura di saltare un martedì, e di smettere di tormentare il loro primogenito); Sarah, la protagonista (Kate Winslett nel film, molto azzeccata) e suo marito Richard non si toccano da mesi.
Anche perché lui preferisce passare ore navigando su siti porno, acquistando biancheria intima femminile già indossata, che inala come se fosse un calvados (epperò, di tutti, sembra il personaggio più vitale, con maggiore slancio d’avventura, con più prospettiva di futuro).
L’intesa sessuale tra Sarah e Brad è molto buona e finché dura sembra possibile fare progetti e pianificare fughe.
Perrotta ha la vista acuta e apparentemente sembra aver la mano guantata con tutti i suoi personaggi, compresa Mary Ann, compreso il pedofilo (che spaventa gli abitanti del paese, ma regala anche un sacco di eccitazione e occupazione, riempie il tempo, cura momentaneamente la noia): personalmente, questa volta, ho invece avuto la sensazione che nessuno, né i due protagonisti, né i loro partner, né le altre figure del romanzo, bambini inclusi, si salvi.
Perrotta, da molti considerato il Cechov americano, generalmente sa dare umanità senza ricorrere al sentimentalismo: qui, però, mi sembra in particolare vena giudicante e tagliente.
Se è vero che c’è un momento di simpatia, perfino empatia, verso ciascuno, è anche vero che si tratta appunto di un attimo, e, facendo il bilancio finale, a salvarsi è solo Richard, il marito di Sarah, che sa sfuggire al bovarismo, dilagante tra il resto dell’umanità locale, insegue persegue e sembra raggiungere il suo sogno.
Lei si trovava lì perché aveva baciato un uomo in quel luogo esatto e assaporato la felicità per la prima volta nella sua vita. Era lì perché lui le aveva detto che sarebbe fuggito con lei, e lei gli aveva creduto: per pochi, brevi, intensi e dolcissimi istanti lei aveva creduto di essere speciale, una persona fortunata, un personaggio di una storia d’amore a lieto fine.
Piccoli adulti, grandi adolescenti.
Il personaggio del capolavoro di Flaubert infesta questo romanzo così come l’odore del caffè francese impregna i negozi Starbucks, dice il critico del New York Times (Will Blythe questa volta): a un certo punto, appare anche un gruppo di lettura su ‘Madame Bovary’ che viene definita da Mary Ann ‘una troia’, mentre Sarah ne pronuncerà elogio e sosterrà motivazioni.
Il film è del 2006, diretto da Todd Field, i due protagonisti sono interpretati da un’ottima Kate Winslett e Patrick Wilson, i rispettivi coniugi sono assegnati a Gregg Edelman e alla bellissima Jennifer Connelly (che davvero fa porre l’interrogativo: ma come si può voler lasciare una donna così bella?). Nel cast anche Noah Emmerich e Jack Earle Haley.
È possibile che la vita di provincia (vita davvero provinciale in queste pagine) influisca: generale insoddisfazione, voglia di cambiamento, sogni a occhi aperti irrealizzabili e irraggiungibili, rifiuto di accettare la realtà e le cose per come stanno…
Se il fenomeno ha trovato la sua prima definizione nell’Ottocento, non si può certo pensare che sia tramontato.
Al contrario, è vivo più che mai: allora, fonte d’ispirazione e ‘tentazione’ era la letteratura, erano i romanzi – adesso abbiamo mille altri stimoli in questa direzione, citare la televisione sembra quasi preistoria.
Come condannare il senso d’insoddisfazione e la sensazione di noia di questi personaggi (noia anche se si lamentano della stanchezza)? La loro realtà è oggettivamente opaca, mediocre.
Si direbbe quasi che siano i primi ad avere figli: la maternità è vissuta come una fatica incommensurabile.
La paternità ha svolgimento diverso: Todd (nel film, Patrick Wilson, qui non così in parte come in ‘Hard Candy’) sembra viverla in modo sereno, in realtà a me sembra che sia un modo ossessivo, un rifugio, un riparo, la sua fuga quotidiana; il marito di Sarah, invece, sembra ignorarla tout court.
Le giovani madri stavano parlando della loro stanchezza. Era uno degli argomenti che preferivano, insieme alle abitudini alimentari, di sonno e di defecazione dei loro pargoletti, ai pregi di certi asili nido locali, e alla difficoltà di fare esercizio fisico con regolarità,
è l’incipit di queste cinquecento pagine.
I matrimoni sono in crisi anche se nessuno sembra rendersene conto: Mary Ann programma l’amplesso settimanale col marito ogni martedì sera alle 21 (i bambini da quella parte del mondo vanno a letto prima che da noi), sicura che sia la ricetta giusta per una sana vita sessuale matrimoniale (salvo poi rendersi conto che il marito subisce la cosa, la scongiura di saltare un martedì, e di smettere di tormentare il loro primogenito); Sarah, la protagonista (Kate Winslett nel film, molto azzeccata) e suo marito Richard non si toccano da mesi.
Anche perché lui preferisce passare ore navigando su siti porno, acquistando biancheria intima femminile già indossata, che inala come se fosse un calvados (epperò, di tutti, sembra il personaggio più vitale, con maggiore slancio d’avventura, con più prospettiva di futuro).
L’intesa sessuale tra Sarah e Brad è molto buona e finché dura sembra possibile fare progetti e pianificare fughe.
Perrotta ha la vista acuta e apparentemente sembra aver la mano guantata con tutti i suoi personaggi, compresa Mary Ann, compreso il pedofilo (che spaventa gli abitanti del paese, ma regala anche un sacco di eccitazione e occupazione, riempie il tempo, cura momentaneamente la noia): personalmente, questa volta, ho invece avuto la sensazione che nessuno, né i due protagonisti, né i loro partner, né le altre figure del romanzo, bambini inclusi, si salvi.
Perrotta, da molti considerato il Cechov americano, generalmente sa dare umanità senza ricorrere al sentimentalismo: qui, però, mi sembra in particolare vena giudicante e tagliente.
Se è vero che c’è un momento di simpatia, perfino empatia, verso ciascuno, è anche vero che si tratta appunto di un attimo, e, facendo il bilancio finale, a salvarsi è solo Richard, il marito di Sarah, che sa sfuggire al bovarismo, dilagante tra il resto dell’umanità locale, insegue persegue e sembra raggiungere il suo sogno.
Lei si trovava lì perché aveva baciato un uomo in quel luogo esatto e assaporato la felicità per la prima volta nella sua vita. Era lì perché lui le aveva detto che sarebbe fuggito con lei, e lei gli aveva creduto: per pochi, brevi, intensi e dolcissimi istanti lei aveva creduto di essere speciale, una persona fortunata, un personaggio di una storia d’amore a lieto fine.
Piccoli adulti, grandi adolescenti.
February 1, 2016
The movie adaptation of this book was on TV recently which reminded me that I had read this book quite some time ago.
Little Children focuses on couples in their thirties living in a quiet Boston suburb where nothing really happens. One summer all of that changes when a convicted pedophile moves into the neighborhood.
Sarah and Richard:
Sarah was once a radical feminist. She never thought she would be where she is or who she is today - a common housewife. Her husband, Richard secludes himself in his study ignoring his wife and child as he becomes more and more involved with internet porn.
Kathy and Todd:
Kathy is a successful documentary filmmaker. Her husband Todd stays at home taking care of their toddler son. Kathy feels like she is missing out and is envious of the connection Todd has with their son. She continuously pressures Todd to take the bar exam (he doesn't tell her he doesn't want to be a lawyer). He tells his wife he is out studying for the exam but instead tries to relive his youth watching a bunch of kids skateboarding.
Mary Ann and Louis:
Mary Ann thinks the key to life is to have everything scheduled down to the minute. This includes scheduling sex with her husband, Louis every Tuesday evening at nine p.m.
When Ronald McGorvey, convicted sex offender moves into the neighborhood the residents are angry. Especially retired cop Larry. Three years ago something happened while on duty that ended up forcing him into early retirement. His wife and kids have left him. He decides to take it upon himself to rid the neighborhood of Ronald or "Ronnie".
To get out of the house Sarah starts hanging around the playground with her daughter, Lucy. Todd has also been bringing his son to the same playground. All of the other mothers think Todd is gorgeous and refer to him as "Prom King." One day the mothers dare Sarah to walk up to Todd and ask for his phone number. Things go even farther and soon the two of them are scheduling play dates for both their children and themselves.
I read this book over ten years ago. I clearly remember reading the synopsis of the book and laughing because there were a few similarities to my life. At the time I was still married and both my husband and I were in our thirties. My husband's name was also Todd, and he was staying at home to take care of our daughter. I wasn't a famous filmmaker but I was working full time and I remember feeling like I was missing out on raising my child. And bizarrely sometimes when I picked up my daughter from school, some women would ask where my husband, "Hot Toddy" was.
Anyhow back to the book. I really enjoyed seeing how the lives of the characters intertwined throughout the novel. I thought they were quite well-developed. Some of the characters were just perfect in their unlike-ability. The bitchy playground mothers were so well-written as were many of the other characters. The writer shows how flawed any of us can be. How we can all make a bad choice, or give into temptation. We don't all behave perfectly all the time. I'm not saying that everyone is going to give into their temptation but we'd be surprised probably to find out what really happens in some of our neighbors lives.
A lot of references to Madame Bovary in the book. At the beginning the women are reading it for their book-club.
Mary Ann: Oh that's nice. So now cheating on your husband makes you a feminist?
Sarah Pierce: No, no, no. It's not the cheating. It's the hunger - the hunger for an alternative and the refusal to accept a life of unhappiness.
I really enjoyed the dark humor and thought it was a good, quick and interesting read. Lots of food for thought with this one. Perfect for book clubs.
Little Children focuses on couples in their thirties living in a quiet Boston suburb where nothing really happens. One summer all of that changes when a convicted pedophile moves into the neighborhood.
Sarah and Richard:
Sarah was once a radical feminist. She never thought she would be where she is or who she is today - a common housewife. Her husband, Richard secludes himself in his study ignoring his wife and child as he becomes more and more involved with internet porn.
Kathy and Todd:
Kathy is a successful documentary filmmaker. Her husband Todd stays at home taking care of their toddler son. Kathy feels like she is missing out and is envious of the connection Todd has with their son. She continuously pressures Todd to take the bar exam (he doesn't tell her he doesn't want to be a lawyer). He tells his wife he is out studying for the exam but instead tries to relive his youth watching a bunch of kids skateboarding.
Mary Ann and Louis:
Mary Ann thinks the key to life is to have everything scheduled down to the minute. This includes scheduling sex with her husband, Louis every Tuesday evening at nine p.m.
When Ronald McGorvey, convicted sex offender moves into the neighborhood the residents are angry. Especially retired cop Larry. Three years ago something happened while on duty that ended up forcing him into early retirement. His wife and kids have left him. He decides to take it upon himself to rid the neighborhood of Ronald or "Ronnie".
To get out of the house Sarah starts hanging around the playground with her daughter, Lucy. Todd has also been bringing his son to the same playground. All of the other mothers think Todd is gorgeous and refer to him as "Prom King." One day the mothers dare Sarah to walk up to Todd and ask for his phone number. Things go even farther and soon the two of them are scheduling play dates for both their children and themselves.
I read this book over ten years ago. I clearly remember reading the synopsis of the book and laughing because there were a few similarities to my life. At the time I was still married and both my husband and I were in our thirties. My husband's name was also Todd, and he was staying at home to take care of our daughter. I wasn't a famous filmmaker but I was working full time and I remember feeling like I was missing out on raising my child. And bizarrely sometimes when I picked up my daughter from school, some women would ask where my husband, "Hot Toddy" was.
Anyhow back to the book. I really enjoyed seeing how the lives of the characters intertwined throughout the novel. I thought they were quite well-developed. Some of the characters were just perfect in their unlike-ability. The bitchy playground mothers were so well-written as were many of the other characters. The writer shows how flawed any of us can be. How we can all make a bad choice, or give into temptation. We don't all behave perfectly all the time. I'm not saying that everyone is going to give into their temptation but we'd be surprised probably to find out what really happens in some of our neighbors lives.
A lot of references to Madame Bovary in the book. At the beginning the women are reading it for their book-club.
Mary Ann: Oh that's nice. So now cheating on your husband makes you a feminist?
Sarah Pierce: No, no, no. It's not the cheating. It's the hunger - the hunger for an alternative and the refusal to accept a life of unhappiness.
I really enjoyed the dark humor and thought it was a good, quick and interesting read. Lots of food for thought with this one. Perfect for book clubs.
October 14, 2020
This was like if Richard Yates or Raymond Carver had written a suburban psychological drama bordering on chick-lit: but with added intelligence, covered with a dusting of dark satire.
Little Children is primarily about lackluster marriages, adultery, and child-raising in typical American upper and middle class suburbia. Oh, and there is a sex offender in here too.
We have Sarah, absent-minded mother of Lucy, who is member of a reading group, and the mommy tribe that meet at the local playground - though she kind of despises them. Herself and husband Richard haven't been intimate for months, as he'd rather be sat in his office sniffing a pair of dirty panties that he ordered through the post from Slutty Kay - his online infatuation.
There is Todd: nicknamed the Prom King by local women, husband of Kathy, who looks after their 3-year-old son during the day whilst Kathy works. And it's at the park that he first meets Sarah, who is just waiting for a decent, kind, good looking man to put some excitement back into her life, because she isn't going to get it from Richard!
Sarah begins to imagine a life with Todd, a former campus hunk and high school football hero who has always had his pick of the women. To his surprise though: despite Kathy being a stunner, Todd finds himself equally drawn to the plain looking Sarah. She diverts his attention from his desultory efforts to study for the bar exam he has already failed twice.
An affair was always on the table. Or the washing machine as it turned out.
And with added pressure from his wife, who is a documentary filmmaker, she thinks it's about time he was the one bringing home the biggest pay packet - so she can finally play mommy.
The view here of families in the eyes of Perrotta's men and women, are those of contemptible alliances, of boredom, and of disappointment. Every spouse feels the need to escape - though it usually ends up as some sort of new domestic arrangement that proves futile in their anguished hopes of starting afresh.
So now we come to Ronald James McGorvey, who returns to the neighbourhood after a three-year stint in prison for having exposed himself to a girl.
Now, you might think Perrotta treats this guy with total contempt - but he doesn't.
From the neighbours and mothers in the book yes, but not from the writer.
All main characters receive Perrotta's wry affection, and McGorvey gets it too. There are some really tender moments in the book, including moments between Ronnie and his elderly mother, who he moves back in with after prison. She loves her son, and sees him as someone who is suffering an illness, rather than believing he is an evil monster, and tries to help him as best she can. And as much as I tried to fight it, it was difficult not to have sympathy for him, and her, in the end.
What I liked a lot about this novel is that Perrotta humanizes without sentimentalizing, and pulls off being quite cold-blooded at times, but yet he is so full of warm feelings for his main characters.
Through the linked events that occur, Perrotta delivers a really satisfying ending to his narrative, which is crowned by a deeply touching and ironic scene, which takes place at the same playground where Sarah first felt attracted to the dashing Prom King.
The dialogue here is really astute, and so genuine depending on the situation each character finds themselves in, and with some really good interior monologues, these characters feel so real they could quite easily just be living down the road. Everything seemed to move along at a jolly old pace too, which was a surprise to me, so I felt compelled to just get on and finish the thing in as little amount of time as possible. Another reason not to drag it out is that I knew what was coming anyway, having seen the 2006 movie a few times. I'd put movie: which really impressed me, at least on a par with the novel.
October 13, 2019
“After all, what was adult life but one moment of weakness piled on top of another? Most people just fell in line like obedient little children, doing exactly what society expected of them at any given moment, all the while pretending that they’d actually made some sort of choice.”
― Tom Perrotta, Little Children
What happens when your bored and disillusioned? When the flatness of the days mold themselves into your soul and you are not SAD just indifferent?
And you think: is this all there is?
I have read two of Perrotta's books and loved both of them. He does have a way of creating bleakness and atmosphere in a really realistic manner.
Anyway..Little Children is about the daily grind of life in the suburbs. It kind of reminds me of a bit of one of my all time favorite books 'revolutionary Road". While I do not like this as much, it is still an incredible story.
The characters created are achingly real. And love them or hate them, they are drawn so vividly. I was deeply moved by the story of boredom, silent angst and wrong choices which can result in tragic turns of events as well all know.
I do seem to be drawn to these types of stories. I love the psychological components that often accompany books like this.
I had the opportunity to read several reviews and many said the film was better. I agree slightly but I think that is because the cast in the film gave such incredible performances. With his other book
Election, which was also a movie, I disliked the film and loved the book.
For fans of Literary Fiction, this is a great pick and it would also be perfect for book groups as there really is so much to talk about.
― Tom Perrotta, Little Children
What happens when your bored and disillusioned? When the flatness of the days mold themselves into your soul and you are not SAD just indifferent?
And you think: is this all there is?
I have read two of Perrotta's books and loved both of them. He does have a way of creating bleakness and atmosphere in a really realistic manner.
Anyway..Little Children is about the daily grind of life in the suburbs. It kind of reminds me of a bit of one of my all time favorite books 'revolutionary Road". While I do not like this as much, it is still an incredible story.
The characters created are achingly real. And love them or hate them, they are drawn so vividly. I was deeply moved by the story of boredom, silent angst and wrong choices which can result in tragic turns of events as well all know.
I do seem to be drawn to these types of stories. I love the psychological components that often accompany books like this.
I had the opportunity to read several reviews and many said the film was better. I agree slightly but I think that is because the cast in the film gave such incredible performances. With his other book
Election, which was also a movie, I disliked the film and loved the book.
For fans of Literary Fiction, this is a great pick and it would also be perfect for book groups as there really is so much to talk about.
July 31, 2007
Tom Perrotta is usually very fun to read. I'm pretty sure I've read all his books, and I typically polish them off (meaning I read them, not eat them; you should not eat books) within the day, which for me is impressive. A dinette set could finish a marathon with time to spare well before I complete a book, but Perrotta's voice is easygoing and funny, and a master at pacing if you ask me, so I happily breeze right through.
But "Little Children", for which he has arguably received the most attention, is in no way his best book. Now I still finished it in a day or two, so at least it's not boring. I got the impression that Perrotta felt like he was making this ostensibly mind-blowing point about the parent-child relationship, wanting us to sit down with our head in our hands and murmur "My God, my child is not the child, but I, the parent, am really the child, although my child is the child as well, but only because nature has forced him to be a child, whereas I, the parent, a supposed adult, have no such excuse for my childish behavior, and yet I remain a child, a child who has a child. I'm calling DHS on myself. Thank you, Tom Perrotta".
I hate to think of him snapping his fingers and declaring "Aha! I will name my book 'Little Children'! That's perfect! Because it involves little children, like real actual children, but really it's about the little children in all of us! Because that's all we are! Everyone! Honey! Honey? Where are you? Honey, are you in the bathroom? Where are you?! Honey?! Jesus, there you are! How can you stand the TV that loud? I just figured it out! Guess what I'm calling the book? 'Little Children'! It means two things!"
I guess if you had never read any of his stuff in the past, this book might seem pretty good, and where it was the first novel of his to really spend much time on the charts, it seems likely to me that better-than-usual marketing (coupled with the fact that, on the whole, young parents seem to like to read books) is the most viable explanation for the novel's comparatively runaway success.
Worst of all is the ending, which is just really, really stupid. Didn't like the movie much, either.
But "Little Children", for which he has arguably received the most attention, is in no way his best book. Now I still finished it in a day or two, so at least it's not boring. I got the impression that Perrotta felt like he was making this ostensibly mind-blowing point about the parent-child relationship, wanting us to sit down with our head in our hands and murmur "My God, my child is not the child, but I, the parent, am really the child, although my child is the child as well, but only because nature has forced him to be a child, whereas I, the parent, a supposed adult, have no such excuse for my childish behavior, and yet I remain a child, a child who has a child. I'm calling DHS on myself. Thank you, Tom Perrotta".
I hate to think of him snapping his fingers and declaring "Aha! I will name my book 'Little Children'! That's perfect! Because it involves little children, like real actual children, but really it's about the little children in all of us! Because that's all we are! Everyone! Honey! Honey? Where are you? Honey, are you in the bathroom? Where are you?! Honey?! Jesus, there you are! How can you stand the TV that loud? I just figured it out! Guess what I'm calling the book? 'Little Children'! It means two things!"
I guess if you had never read any of his stuff in the past, this book might seem pretty good, and where it was the first novel of his to really spend much time on the charts, it seems likely to me that better-than-usual marketing (coupled with the fact that, on the whole, young parents seem to like to read books) is the most viable explanation for the novel's comparatively runaway success.
Worst of all is the ending, which is just really, really stupid. Didn't like the movie much, either.
September 29, 2016
Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/
In case youhaven’t seen me brag about it before are unaware, I work a couple of blocks away from this beauty . . . .
(^^^^That’s just the parking garage.)
So I can go check out books conveniently during my lunch hour. (There’s also the porny library up in the ‘burbs that gives me the hookup on all of my . . . . scientific research projects.) Since Fall has finally fallen and the temps are no longer in the bazillions I’ve taken it upon myself to walk down to the ol’ bibliotech a time or two – and since I’m a farking crack addict I now have FIFTEEN physical books checked out in addition to a bunch of e-copies and eleventy thousand galleys. Added bonus, since I suck at reviewing I have actually read a few of these already but keep getting distracted bysquirrels the convenience of Kindle notes rather than the inconvenience of post-it notes so now I’m all like . . . .
Basically what all that amounts to is you should expect an even shittier review than I generally puke out.
Okay, so do you ever have alifetime phase where you are kind of like this . . . .
And then you take a new job in your company and for the first time in 10 years you are supposed to interact with others and it is extremely people-y and you just want to scream . . . .
But you’re trying to pretend you’re almost normal and that would totally blow your cover and so you bottle up all of your annoyance until you get home and then you flip out on your husband about shit like . . . .
And then you finally come to the conclusion that you need to give yourself a time out.
If the above has ever happened to you I highly suggest reading a book that confirms . . . .
In order to feel better about yourself. Little Children seriously delivered. We’re talking affairs and secret internet fetishes and a real over-achieving PITA supermom you want to punch in the throat and a child molester. It probably goes without saying these were all Mitchell’s type of people. A solid 4 Stars that worked so well it took me almost a whole month to get back to my typical approach to life . . . .
Even my friend Deanna liked this one and she is pretty much the nicest person ever so now you know you don’t have to be a total psychopath like me in order to enjoy it : )
In case you
(^^^^That’s just the parking garage.)
So I can go check out books conveniently during my lunch hour. (There’s also the porny library up in the ‘burbs that gives me the hookup on all of my . . . . scientific research projects.) Since Fall has finally fallen and the temps are no longer in the bazillions I’ve taken it upon myself to walk down to the ol’ bibliotech a time or two – and since I’m a farking crack addict I now have FIFTEEN physical books checked out in addition to a bunch of e-copies and eleventy thousand galleys. Added bonus, since I suck at reviewing I have actually read a few of these already but keep getting distracted by
Basically what all that amounts to is you should expect an even shittier review than I generally puke out.
Okay, so do you ever have a
And then you take a new job in your company and for the first time in 10 years you are supposed to interact with others and it is extremely people-y and you just want to scream . . . .
But you’re trying to pretend you’re almost normal and that would totally blow your cover and so you bottle up all of your annoyance until you get home and then you flip out on your husband about shit like . . . .
And then you finally come to the conclusion that you need to give yourself a time out.
If the above has ever happened to you I highly suggest reading a book that confirms . . . .
In order to feel better about yourself. Little Children seriously delivered. We’re talking affairs and secret internet fetishes and a real over-achieving PITA supermom you want to punch in the throat and a child molester. It probably goes without saying these were all Mitchell’s type of people. A solid 4 Stars that worked so well it took me almost a whole month to get back to my typical approach to life . . . .
Even my friend Deanna liked this one and she is pretty much the nicest person ever so now you know you don’t have to be a total psychopath like me in order to enjoy it : )
November 10, 2021
Sex and suburbia—my two favorite subjects in one sublime novel. And it certainly helps that I got to picture the film adaptation's gorgeous Patrick Wilson every time his character, Todd, appeared on the page. There's no need for a Venn diagram to compare and contrast novel and the film, which is largely faithful to the book, but I will say that the small changes relating to the ending of each was unexpected and refreshing. This is isn't the first or the last book to detail the minutiae of suburban life, and perhaps because of this, being the book-snob-without-an-English-major that I am, I've always been tempted to dismiss it in favor of something more Literary. You know, Yates or McCullers or Eugenides. How wrong I was—I used to do the same thing to poor John Irving. Except for the handful of excruciating pages detailing football plays, I was more than happy to spend a few days in Bellington, even with a child molester and his poor mother.
January 2, 2020
Tom Perrotta appeared in my library's Who Writes Like file when I entered Richard Russo's name. Personally, I don't see the resemblance; Perrotta has none of Russo's wonderfully wry wit nevertheless Little Children was a worthwhile albiet quick read. Yes, this is a satire but not a laugh out loud one for me. Infidelity, a knicker-sniffing husband, a convicted child molester, an unfulfilled housewife, a retired cop with a penchant for violence, but not too much actually about the 'little children'; it's an interesting mix. As I've discovered in his other novels, Perrotta likes to talk about moral dilemmas and he put this reader in the moral dilemma of actually pitying a child molester and that did shake me up a lot. Perrotta writes with a sharp intuition into the human condition; this is an interesting, sometimes compelling novel. 3.5★
June 26, 2008
This has got to be the first time in my entire life that I thought the movie version of something was better than the book. Yes, I saw the movie first, and perhaps that influenced me. But, man, Tom Perrotta is a crappy writer. I felt like he was just punching a clock here--so much of the writing was dull, cliched, and lifeless.
Not only that, the movie managed to create complexity in the characters where the book did not. For instance, the movie actually managed to make me feel sorry for a child molester. Not the book.
I also felt like the book completely failed to create a believable bond between the parents and children in the story. I'm a stay-at-home mom, and I completely get that staying home can be tough--some days, it's brutal, in fact. I have no problem seeing that portrayed in fiction; it can be done well. But the book does nothing to convince us that the main characters give even the slightest damn about their children.
It's a first for me, for sure, but this is one case where the screenplay writer was a better artist than the novelist.
Not only that, the movie managed to create complexity in the characters where the book did not. For instance, the movie actually managed to make me feel sorry for a child molester. Not the book.
I also felt like the book completely failed to create a believable bond between the parents and children in the story. I'm a stay-at-home mom, and I completely get that staying home can be tough--some days, it's brutal, in fact. I have no problem seeing that portrayed in fiction; it can be done well. But the book does nothing to convince us that the main characters give even the slightest damn about their children.
It's a first for me, for sure, but this is one case where the screenplay writer was a better artist than the novelist.
December 26, 2018
Perrotta got it just right in this expertly written examination of suburban ennui and disillusionment. Little Children focuses on some young married-with-children couples and how they interact with each other, in both private and public ways. It's sometimes uncomfortable and a touch sad, and that's what makes it so great--there's real truth here. Scenes at a public pool work especially well to highlight the "suburbanness" of these characters' lives. Anyone who's ever wondered, "This is it?" when pondering their mundane lives may find Little Children quite resonant.
May 18, 2016
A character study of regretful adults. All reverting back to childhood with their desires and deeds.
What do you do when you are unhappy with the choices you have made up to this point in your life?
You seek an escape.
That is what this novel is about.
One of my recurring complaints about books in general is product placement. Ignoring my anti-consumerist attitude this was a good read. The ending was perfect.
What do you do when you are unhappy with the choices you have made up to this point in your life?
You seek an escape.
That is what this novel is about.
One of my recurring complaints about books in general is product placement. Ignoring my anti-consumerist attitude this was a good read. The ending was perfect.
March 26, 2016
4.5 stars - Incredible. I really loved it.
Essentially, this is a very cynical book that explores the various forms selfishness can take through the viewpoints of several deeply flawed characters living in suburbia. If you don't count the measly 5% I read the night I started this one, then I read it in one day, not wanting to put it down. Apparently there is a movie based on it that I need to check out now. Loved this one and think it is a book that begs to be discussed in a group. But be warned, if you must like the main characters to enjoy a book, like "feel-good" novels, or prefer a neat and happy ending, then this is not the book for you.
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Favorite Quote: She would be a mentor and an inspiration to girls like herself, the quiet ones who'd sleepwalked their way through high school, knowing nothing except that they couldn't possibly be happy with any of the choices the world seemed to be offering them.
First Sentence: The young mothers were telling each other how tired they were.
Essentially, this is a very cynical book that explores the various forms selfishness can take through the viewpoints of several deeply flawed characters living in suburbia. If you don't count the measly 5% I read the night I started this one, then I read it in one day, not wanting to put it down. Apparently there is a movie based on it that I need to check out now. Loved this one and think it is a book that begs to be discussed in a group. But be warned, if you must like the main characters to enjoy a book, like "feel-good" novels, or prefer a neat and happy ending, then this is not the book for you.
-------------------------------------------
Favorite Quote: She would be a mentor and an inspiration to girls like herself, the quiet ones who'd sleepwalked their way through high school, knowing nothing except that they couldn't possibly be happy with any of the choices the world seemed to be offering them.
First Sentence: The young mothers were telling each other how tired they were.
August 30, 2016
Perrotta has written a caustically funny satire of thirty-something suburban American life that we laugh aloud even as we see ourselves and our faults unerringly displayed. Even with his opening salvo--descriptions of the mothers at the playground discussing their children, other mothers’ children, their husbands, their sexual habits (or not)--one cannot help but think this is one author who listens and can make a joke of even the most painful circumstance. No matter how bad or boring things get, he’ll be able to see what is funny in it.
Perrotta takes a stab at the politically correct: skewering the liberal left (for believing the child molester was probably innocent because he wasn’t convicted of murder), and the righteous right (for believing the child molester was guilty before he was convicted of murder). The problems and insecurities and small-mindedness and flat-out lying that all the characters exhibit tell us so much more about what we think we can get away with and never can…but such outrageous and egregious faults! Perrotta must have sat around thinking of what would be the worst of all the faults one could encounter in a spouse: faithlessness, online porn and used-panty fantasist, child molester, alcoholic, serial failure…when the child molester wishes he were an alcoholic instead, one just knows there is no way to escape unscathed.
But we have seen these characters, or parts of them, in the people around us. They are familiar, but not as funny as in this book. Here people are so flagrant and so flawed and so “other” that we can laugh and claim they are not us. But when our handsome no-pads neighborhood football QB and unfaithful spouse, Todd, says to his working wife, “Sarah? Sarah who?” we cringe for him, for his wife, for the children, for ourselves because he/we are fooling ourselves that we can get away with something when the game is already up. Someone has caught us out, seen us for who and what we are. But somehow, Perrotta still allows us to laugh, despite the sordid tragedy of it all.
Perrotta takes a stab at the politically correct: skewering the liberal left (for believing the child molester was probably innocent because he wasn’t convicted of murder), and the righteous right (for believing the child molester was guilty before he was convicted of murder). The problems and insecurities and small-mindedness and flat-out lying that all the characters exhibit tell us so much more about what we think we can get away with and never can…but such outrageous and egregious faults! Perrotta must have sat around thinking of what would be the worst of all the faults one could encounter in a spouse: faithlessness, online porn and used-panty fantasist, child molester, alcoholic, serial failure…when the child molester wishes he were an alcoholic instead, one just knows there is no way to escape unscathed.
But we have seen these characters, or parts of them, in the people around us. They are familiar, but not as funny as in this book. Here people are so flagrant and so flawed and so “other” that we can laugh and claim they are not us. But when our handsome no-pads neighborhood football QB and unfaithful spouse, Todd, says to his working wife, “Sarah? Sarah who?” we cringe for him, for his wife, for the children, for ourselves because he/we are fooling ourselves that we can get away with something when the game is already up. Someone has caught us out, seen us for who and what we are. But somehow, Perrotta still allows us to laugh, despite the sordid tragedy of it all.
February 19, 2020
So I liked this book; it's simplistic in plot and story, theme and development, but it's also aware that it is. It doesn't really try to make a mountain out of a molehill. Really, it just gives us a glimpse into the thoughts and lives of lost, confused, entitled, and intelligent adults. And who isn't at least one of those things? Adulthood is more mind-numbingly dull than any of us possibly imagined when we were five or six; fifteen or sixteen. The freedom promised by adults--"when you're grown you can decide; you can do whatever you want!"--doesn't really exist. Instead, you fall into a different lock-step routine, this time dictated by societal rules rather than your parents. It takes some of us a lot longer to come to terms with the fact that life is really only ever exciting in the imagination of the young. Monotony and boredom can creep into any routine--both the mundane and the daring. Keeping things "fresh" is a challenge nobody has ever really succeeded in.
I really liked these characters--every single one--because they all felt the fatigue of life. They were all stuck wishing for something different, unsure of what kind of "Different" they wanted.
The book is a fast read; not too dense or complicated. The surface is slightly dull, as is its depth, but it's a sluggishness that adds to the truth of the novel. I thought Perrotta's everyday novel was a joy, and would recommend it to anyone who believes that their personal "rut in life" is anything special. 3.8/5
I really liked these characters--every single one--because they all felt the fatigue of life. They were all stuck wishing for something different, unsure of what kind of "Different" they wanted.
The book is a fast read; not too dense or complicated. The surface is slightly dull, as is its depth, but it's a sluggishness that adds to the truth of the novel. I thought Perrotta's everyday novel was a joy, and would recommend it to anyone who believes that their personal "rut in life" is anything special. 3.8/5
April 2, 2008
I read Little Children after a friend recommended it to me and after I read the actual novel that inspired the movie Election.
Little Children is a fantastic book to read when you're in your mid-to-late 20's-early 30's. There was something about the book to me that made me very uncomfortable in some parts because I could recognise my own fears of getting older, being a graduate student, and the possibility that so many years of schooling could amount to absolutely zero.
Perhaps it is also because I grew-up in the area where this fictional town exists, North of Boston, that I felt uneasy with the text. I recognised many of the references, landmarks, and the beach that Sarah and Todd runaway to for the day, I spent many a childhood afternoon. The small town, the seemingly "cliche" characters: these people ALL exist in the context of small, posh New England towns.
In all, I loved the book and hated to finish it. I love a book that is not only enjoyable but makes me feel rather haunted and uneasy, and gives me a reason not to return to my hometown ever. again.
Little Children is a fantastic book to read when you're in your mid-to-late 20's-early 30's. There was something about the book to me that made me very uncomfortable in some parts because I could recognise my own fears of getting older, being a graduate student, and the possibility that so many years of schooling could amount to absolutely zero.
Perhaps it is also because I grew-up in the area where this fictional town exists, North of Boston, that I felt uneasy with the text. I recognised many of the references, landmarks, and the beach that Sarah and Todd runaway to for the day, I spent many a childhood afternoon. The small town, the seemingly "cliche" characters: these people ALL exist in the context of small, posh New England towns.
In all, I loved the book and hated to finish it. I love a book that is not only enjoyable but makes me feel rather haunted and uneasy, and gives me a reason not to return to my hometown ever. again.
July 19, 2019
Wowzers-- If you thought the movie was good (which it was) then you'll love the book. Simply amazing. And harsh. And brutal. And real. The child molester story was hauntingly sad, and the affair with 'The Prom King' was wonderfully written. You FEEL the excitement mixed with shame oozing from the characters. This was a great read- so good that I have bought copies of this book for friends to read! --Jen from Quebec :0)
June 22, 2007
(Full review can be found at the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com].)
For better or for worse, there are a small collection of writers out there who can be called "movie authors," for lack of a better term; those who have had multiple novels adapted into films now, because of writing screenplay-friendly books or having an amazing agent or whatever the reason. And as far as the traditional literary world, these writers can be found scattered all the way through the food chain: from those who are highly respected in the academic community (like Michael Cunningham, for example, author of both The Hours and A Home At the End of the World), to those whose books can scarcely be called literature in the first place (like Ira Levin, author of the "screenplay novels" Sliver and Rosemary's Baby and The Stepford Wives and The Boys From Brazil...whew!), to of course all the Stephen Kings and John Grishams and Michael Crichtons of the world, who have an odd mishmash of both mainstream and literary audiences.
And it might surprise some, but I'm actually a fan of several movie authors; I mean, you know, as long as you take them in the right context, and understand that the books are pretty quick reads that lend themselves to simple scripts, there are actually some pretty decent writers out there who happen to have had several manuscripts that have been shipped off to Hollywood. Take Tom Perrotta, for example, author of Election, which was made into a highly successful movie in 1999, and was in fact arguably the film that turned Reese Witherspoon into a bona-fide star; and whose book I just happened to read a number of years ago on one of those dreary Saturdays we have here in Chicago, where you want to do nothing more than read random books for free for eight hours in one of those superstores while lounging around their cafe, thin books that you would never want to actually spend money to read. And Election, to tell you the truth, turned out not only to be a lot better than I was expecting, but so much different than the movie; the original novel is quite the serious drama, as a matter of fact, not the farcical comedy the adapted screenplay turned out to be. I mean, don't get me wrong, both versions are entertaining; just that the book has a gravitas I wasn't expecting, a much darker and more pessimistic outlook towards humanity, that I really respected after thinking it was going to be a goofy Hollywood-friendly comedy.
So when I learned last year that Perrotta was also the author of Little Children, made recently into an Oscar-nominated drama starring Kate Winslet, Jennifer Connelly, Jackie Earle Haley and others, I ended up...
For better or for worse, there are a small collection of writers out there who can be called "movie authors," for lack of a better term; those who have had multiple novels adapted into films now, because of writing screenplay-friendly books or having an amazing agent or whatever the reason. And as far as the traditional literary world, these writers can be found scattered all the way through the food chain: from those who are highly respected in the academic community (like Michael Cunningham, for example, author of both The Hours and A Home At the End of the World), to those whose books can scarcely be called literature in the first place (like Ira Levin, author of the "screenplay novels" Sliver and Rosemary's Baby and The Stepford Wives and The Boys From Brazil...whew!), to of course all the Stephen Kings and John Grishams and Michael Crichtons of the world, who have an odd mishmash of both mainstream and literary audiences.
And it might surprise some, but I'm actually a fan of several movie authors; I mean, you know, as long as you take them in the right context, and understand that the books are pretty quick reads that lend themselves to simple scripts, there are actually some pretty decent writers out there who happen to have had several manuscripts that have been shipped off to Hollywood. Take Tom Perrotta, for example, author of Election, which was made into a highly successful movie in 1999, and was in fact arguably the film that turned Reese Witherspoon into a bona-fide star; and whose book I just happened to read a number of years ago on one of those dreary Saturdays we have here in Chicago, where you want to do nothing more than read random books for free for eight hours in one of those superstores while lounging around their cafe, thin books that you would never want to actually spend money to read. And Election, to tell you the truth, turned out not only to be a lot better than I was expecting, but so much different than the movie; the original novel is quite the serious drama, as a matter of fact, not the farcical comedy the adapted screenplay turned out to be. I mean, don't get me wrong, both versions are entertaining; just that the book has a gravitas I wasn't expecting, a much darker and more pessimistic outlook towards humanity, that I really respected after thinking it was going to be a goofy Hollywood-friendly comedy.
So when I learned last year that Perrotta was also the author of Little Children, made recently into an Oscar-nominated drama starring Kate Winslet, Jennifer Connelly, Jackie Earle Haley and others, I ended up...
November 26, 2014
Little Children by Tom Perrotta: A little stream-of-consciousness exercise... Intense. Polarizing. Revolting. Train Wreck. Cloying. I know these people. I am not these people. I understand these people. Did he really just say that? Sad. Comic. A perfect satire. Upsetting. Wonderfully unlikable characters. Suburban noir. Delee must read this.
So I've been in this women's book club at my lib for about a year now. We've been reading serious and usually depressing historical fiction that is aimed at a female audience. I have to say, there hasn't been a single book I've been all that psyched to take home, though a few of the selections did turn out to be pretty darn good. Anyway, I was really itching to spice things up a bit. Usually our librarian chooses the books, but the last time we got together I boldly brought a few different books with me and tried to sell them to the group. This was the one I was able to sell. So we're reading it for our next meeting. And now I am NERVOUS.
I wanted to spice things up in our group and spice we will have. This book is SPICY. And a little edgy and naughty. At first I wasn't sure what I thought about it. It was kind of repulsive. But also oddly satisfying. I just couldn't put it down. But I was also kind of hiding my eyes and peeking through my fingers. By page 50 or so I had finally let go and embraced the craziness of this novel and had come around to the side of loving it. It is really, really clever. I just hope that the gals in my book club will be able to get past Slutty Kay and her champagne bottle and come to love it too. Or not. Either way, it will be an interesting night at the library. :)
So I've been in this women's book club at my lib for about a year now. We've been reading serious and usually depressing historical fiction that is aimed at a female audience. I have to say, there hasn't been a single book I've been all that psyched to take home, though a few of the selections did turn out to be pretty darn good. Anyway, I was really itching to spice things up a bit. Usually our librarian chooses the books, but the last time we got together I boldly brought a few different books with me and tried to sell them to the group. This was the one I was able to sell. So we're reading it for our next meeting. And now I am NERVOUS.
I wanted to spice things up in our group and spice we will have. This book is SPICY. And a little edgy and naughty. At first I wasn't sure what I thought about it. It was kind of repulsive. But also oddly satisfying. I just couldn't put it down. But I was also kind of hiding my eyes and peeking through my fingers. By page 50 or so I had finally let go and embraced the craziness of this novel and had come around to the side of loving it. It is really, really clever. I just hope that the gals in my book club will be able to get past Slutty Kay and her champagne bottle and come to love it too. Or not. Either way, it will be an interesting night at the library. :)
August 3, 2024
For all of the times I have watched this movie in the past, I somehow never read the book until now.
I honestly think that the movie did a great job of bringing this vision to life. There were only a few extra background knowledge items and a few more views from Maryanne that weren't in the movie.
The significant difference was the end. The movie made the ending a lot more final and graphic. And the blind date was a lot worse in the film.
Overall, visiting this one in book form was enjoyable after not seeing the movie in about ten years. It brought the entire thing back to me.
While it is not the happiest of stories, it is a great contemporary look at the people connected in a town where a child molester has been released from jail and a few unhappily married MCs.
4 Stars for the diverse look at these lives.
I honestly think that the movie did a great job of bringing this vision to life. There were only a few extra background knowledge items and a few more views from Maryanne that weren't in the movie.
The significant difference was the end. The movie made the ending a lot more final and graphic. And the blind date was a lot worse in the film.
Overall, visiting this one in book form was enjoyable after not seeing the movie in about ten years. It brought the entire thing back to me.
While it is not the happiest of stories, it is a great contemporary look at the people connected in a town where a child molester has been released from jail and a few unhappily married MCs.
4 Stars for the diverse look at these lives.
October 12, 2017
Expertly written, with a cynical touch that keeps you smiling while you read, Perrota paints a perfect portrait of the lives of people engulfed by routine, regrets and lives that make them fantasize for a better tomorrow.
April 29, 2025
suburbia family drama might be my new favorite sub-genre
May 28, 2020
Wow. At over 300 pages, I enjoyed this book so much it seemed more like a short story. It reads like a steamy soap opera with lots of dark undertones and shrewd observations about parenthood and marriage; and characters who are flawed but mostly likable.
Even the villain of the piece, a convicted child molester, is portrayed with a degree of sympathy. This man moves back to his mother's home after being released from prison, sending the small suburban town into panic and paranoia. His presence among them serves as a catalyst for decisions and events that shape the lives of the other characters during that summer.
I noticed the cover of the book said, "Now a Major Motion Picture." Apparently it came out in 2006 with a great cast: Kate Winslet, Patrick Wilson, and Jennifer Connelly. It got good reviews by both critics and viewers. Somehow I completely missed it, never heard a word about it, and now I can't wait to see it. And to read anything else Tom Perrotta has written.
UPDATED: So for a rare change, my library actually had this movie and it was available. It was good and very faithful to the book except for a slight, but extremely stupid, change to the ending. Also, it’s annoying that you are expected to buy Kate Winslet as the “not pretty” character.
Even the villain of the piece, a convicted child molester, is portrayed with a degree of sympathy. This man moves back to his mother's home after being released from prison, sending the small suburban town into panic and paranoia. His presence among them serves as a catalyst for decisions and events that shape the lives of the other characters during that summer.
I noticed the cover of the book said, "Now a Major Motion Picture." Apparently it came out in 2006 with a great cast: Kate Winslet, Patrick Wilson, and Jennifer Connelly. It got good reviews by both critics and viewers. Somehow I completely missed it, never heard a word about it, and now I can't wait to see it. And to read anything else Tom Perrotta has written.
UPDATED: So for a rare change, my library actually had this movie and it was available. It was good and very faithful to the book except for a slight, but extremely stupid, change to the ending. Also, it’s annoying that you are expected to buy Kate Winslet as the “not pretty” character.
May 25, 2023
My first book by Perrotta, and darn it all, now I'll have to read the rest of them. I was drawn to this book by the movie version, and as hoped, the movie did not stray far from the book, and of course predictably the book offers more depth.
The cover blurb has Perrotta as a genius satirist. Maybe my perspective on the components of satire is just plain skewed, but this novel seemed closer to social realism than satire.
The cover blurb has Perrotta as a genius satirist. Maybe my perspective on the components of satire is just plain skewed, but this novel seemed closer to social realism than satire.
August 15, 2024
i love this book. nothing is perfect in a perfect world.
September 6, 2017
Starting tonight(9-1-17) ... and, I almost forgot, R.I.P. to Denis Johnson, one of my very favorite writers, who passed away in May. Just found out about it. Not big national news I guess. When he was good(Jesus' Son, Angels, Train Dreams) he was very, very good. Twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. One National Book Award for Tree of Smoke(not that good - IMHO).
Got well into this last night and by the time I'd put it down(reluctantly) I had reached a pretty favorable opinion of the proceedings. Mr. Perotta's approach seems like a bit lighter-in-tone straightforward accounting of the tribulations of young family-hood in middle-class white, suburban America. No location is given. Doesn't matter! I'm reminded of Curtis Sittenfield's "Prep"(a bit heavier in its angsty tone) and the folks here might be her kids about 10-15 years down the road. The book is funny, but more in a rueful, squirm-inducing, chuckling kind of way rather than laugh-out-loud. Mr. P. uses his kid characters VERY well.
- Todd didn't "get" calculus either. I can sympathize
- Slutty Kay = sex addict.
- TP is no Updike, but then, who is?
- Oh NO! A head whips around.
- The perv at the pool thing reminds me of some movie or TV thing years ago with Jackie Earle Haley as the perv. Gotta look it up ... and I did, and it was the film version of this book. JEH was nominated for an Oscar for best supporting actor! I must have seen it on TV. Maybe before I got rid of my TV??? Somewhere ... The movie was from 2006. The perv in the book was a fat guy, which Jackie is not, of course.
Things just get curiouser and curiouser in this book. I can identify with Todd more and more as he seems to want to postpone adulthood. Or, to put it another way, he has met with adulthood and found it wanting. Who doesn't! BTW, I was mistaken in saying that this takes place nowhere in particular. It's set in Bellington(fictitious), Massachusetts. North Shore suburbs of Boston. Notes:
- WHY!?!? would Todd continue to hang around with crazy Larry?!?!
- Sarah's book club "empowerment" take on Madame Bovary is faintly ridiculous.
Finished last night with this sneaky-good book. I loved the little smoke-out at the end. The author's prose style is pretty light, but the picture he paints is kind of grim. Not COMPLETELY grim, mind you, but daunting. As in ... how can middle-class Americans hope to find truly fulfilling and happy lives being held captive to the foolish conventions and expectations of a materialistic, competitive middle-class American lifestyle????? How do two people stay in love for even a few years inside an American marriage??? Good luck to 'em!
- I don't understand why Ronnie gets no professional help. Can't we do anything sensibly and right in this culture?
- Why isn't there more police involvement in Larry's harassment of Ronnie and his mother. Making Larry an ex-cop covers this particular base, I suppose.
- We had a Slutty-Kay in southern Maine a few years ago. The Zumba-Lady ... Dance/fitness instructor by day, oral technician during her "off time."
- Richard's beach party in SoCal was pretty funny. Heaven for him - the only happy one at the end of the book!
- Final rating - 4.5* rounds down to 4* - very good, but not Updike great.
- And one more little thingee ... the title might be(among other things) a reference to a pop song of the same title: 1964 - sung by Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas.
Got well into this last night and by the time I'd put it down(reluctantly) I had reached a pretty favorable opinion of the proceedings. Mr. Perotta's approach seems like a bit lighter-in-tone straightforward accounting of the tribulations of young family-hood in middle-class white, suburban America. No location is given. Doesn't matter! I'm reminded of Curtis Sittenfield's "Prep"(a bit heavier in its angsty tone) and the folks here might be her kids about 10-15 years down the road. The book is funny, but more in a rueful, squirm-inducing, chuckling kind of way rather than laugh-out-loud. Mr. P. uses his kid characters VERY well.
- Todd didn't "get" calculus either. I can sympathize
- Slutty Kay = sex addict.
- TP is no Updike, but then, who is?
- Oh NO! A head whips around.
- The perv at the pool thing reminds me of some movie or TV thing years ago with Jackie Earle Haley as the perv. Gotta look it up ... and I did, and it was the film version of this book. JEH was nominated for an Oscar for best supporting actor! I must have seen it on TV. Maybe before I got rid of my TV??? Somewhere ... The movie was from 2006. The perv in the book was a fat guy, which Jackie is not, of course.
Things just get curiouser and curiouser in this book. I can identify with Todd more and more as he seems to want to postpone adulthood. Or, to put it another way, he has met with adulthood and found it wanting. Who doesn't! BTW, I was mistaken in saying that this takes place nowhere in particular. It's set in Bellington(fictitious), Massachusetts. North Shore suburbs of Boston. Notes:
- WHY!?!? would Todd continue to hang around with crazy Larry?!?!
- Sarah's book club "empowerment" take on Madame Bovary is faintly ridiculous.
Finished last night with this sneaky-good book. I loved the little smoke-out at the end. The author's prose style is pretty light, but the picture he paints is kind of grim. Not COMPLETELY grim, mind you, but daunting. As in ... how can middle-class Americans hope to find truly fulfilling and happy lives being held captive to the foolish conventions and expectations of a materialistic, competitive middle-class American lifestyle????? How do two people stay in love for even a few years inside an American marriage??? Good luck to 'em!
- I don't understand why Ronnie gets no professional help. Can't we do anything sensibly and right in this culture?
- Why isn't there more police involvement in Larry's harassment of Ronnie and his mother. Making Larry an ex-cop covers this particular base, I suppose.
- We had a Slutty-Kay in southern Maine a few years ago. The Zumba-Lady ... Dance/fitness instructor by day, oral technician during her "off time."
- Richard's beach party in SoCal was pretty funny. Heaven for him - the only happy one at the end of the book!
- Final rating - 4.5* rounds down to 4* - very good, but not Updike great.
- And one more little thingee ... the title might be(among other things) a reference to a pop song of the same title: 1964 - sung by Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas.
June 2, 2019
This biting satire of suburban domestic malaise delivers a cast of characters for whom you can’t help but sympathize despite how generally unlikeable they are.
Sarah and Todd develop a connection at the town pool where they each day their toddlers every day. Bored and unfulfilled by their own marriages, they quickly escalate into a secret affair, each seeking in the other something to fill that void.
Meanwhile, Sarah’s husband nurtures a perverted new fetish and Todd’s wife dutifully goes to work every day, wishing she wasn’t stuck being the breadwinner.
And to add another layer of tension to this hot and volatile summer, a known child molester has just been released from prison—and lives among all of them.
Written in the early 2000s, there are already aspects of this novel that feel surprisingly dated or even problematic. But Perrotta cares about these characters, and infuses even the worst of them with reasons for us to feel sympathy for them. It’s an often uncomfortable experience, and despite the dark humor throughout, there’s that sense of desperate melancholy in discovering, inevitably, that our deepest of voids may only ever be filled temporarily—and with lasting consequences.
Sarah and Todd develop a connection at the town pool where they each day their toddlers every day. Bored and unfulfilled by their own marriages, they quickly escalate into a secret affair, each seeking in the other something to fill that void.
Meanwhile, Sarah’s husband nurtures a perverted new fetish and Todd’s wife dutifully goes to work every day, wishing she wasn’t stuck being the breadwinner.
And to add another layer of tension to this hot and volatile summer, a known child molester has just been released from prison—and lives among all of them.
Written in the early 2000s, there are already aspects of this novel that feel surprisingly dated or even problematic. But Perrotta cares about these characters, and infuses even the worst of them with reasons for us to feel sympathy for them. It’s an often uncomfortable experience, and despite the dark humor throughout, there’s that sense of desperate melancholy in discovering, inevitably, that our deepest of voids may only ever be filled temporarily—and with lasting consequences.
November 7, 2015
I enjoyed the movie adaptation more, but the book is still a solid read.
December 6, 2013
Tom Perrotta is catching up with us, and what used to be funny is starting to draw blood. His witty satire of high school politics in "Election" (1997) was tucked safely in nostalgia for most readers. Even when he graduated to "Joe College" in 2000, his skewering humor was still pointed back at the dorm days of the early '80s. But now with "Little Children," Perrotta has moved into the suburbs with a wrecking ball.
Of course, the tranquility of middle-class bliss has been rudely interrupted by American authors since Sherwood Anderson tore the covers off "Winesburg, Ohio." You would think there were only so many ways to portray the shiny suburbs as dens of boredom, banality, and sexual frustration, but Perrotta has cooked up recipes of depravity that would curl Betty Crocker's hair.
In the late '90s, "women's lib" sounds quaint to the sophisticated women in Perrotta's pleasant East Coast neighborhood. They've all graduated from college prepared for impressive jobs, while taking on the old duties of homemaker and motherhood. They're equally familiar with Tom Peters and Dr. Seuss, their lives effectively tabulated by Franklin Covey to coordinate staff meetings, play dates, and sexual intimacy.
Sarah, Perrotta's antihero and the mother of a 3-year-old, doesn't fit comfortably into this scene of parental one-upmanship. A women's studies major now trapped in domesticity, she feels both superior and inadequate next to the tight, tanned supermoms who rule the sand box.
Perrotta's satire of this have-it-all set strikes tones that will delight any parent who's less than perfect. Mary Anne, for instance, lectures about the benefits of her strictly enforced 7 p.m. bedtime; her diaper bag is a well-stocked pantry and pharmacy; and her 100-percent-juice juiceboxes are always served chilled.
Meanwhile, Sarah's life is a boring, disorganized trial. "It wasn't easy to tell one weekday from the next anymore," she thinks. "They all just melted together like a bag of crayons left out in the sun." When she can't find an old rice cake for her whiny daughter, Mary Anne comes to the rescue with a bag of Goldfish crackers. "It's nothing," she reassures Sarah. "I just hate to see her suffer like that."
This story of suburban unhappiness revolves around an unlikely affair between Sarah and a hunky stay-at-home dad she meets at the playground. Todd cares for his son and procrastinates studying for the bar exam (third try). His gorgeous wife would like to have more children, but somebody's got to bring home a salary.
"Little Children" is a test of Tolstoy's claim that "All happy families resemble one another, but each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." There are no happy families in this satire, and all the unhappy families are unhappy in almost exactly the same way. Again and again, we see well- educated 30-somethings with all the advantages bickering about who gets stuck taking care of the kids. The adorable little pests constantly interrupt the workout or the business trip or the illicit affair.
These well-kept homes are settings of regretted compromises, gnawing aggravations, and smoldering resentments. They've all come to regard marriage as the loss of "omnipresent possibility." Everyone everywhere, it seems, has fallen almost accidentally into the same trough of quiet desperation, saddled with annoying children, unsatisfying mates, and burdensome homes. It's all wickedly funny, until it's just wicked.
Fliers around the neighborhood suddenly announce, "There is a pervert among us!" Ronnie James McGorvey is a convicted sex offender who's moved into his mother's house after serving three years for exposing himself to a child. Naturally, the neighbors are alarmed about his presence. "There seemed to be a general sentiment among the crowd that you weren't doing your duty as a citizen and a parent if you didn't stand up to express your strenuous disapproval of sex offenders." A town meeting convenes, a retired policeman wraps his whole life around the goal of tormenting McGorvey, and the playground mothers fret about the arrival of this element of depravity amid their domestic innocence.
Perrotta demonstrates no sympathy for McGorvey, but he's willing to examine him beyond the tabloid clichés and to look at the painful position of a sex offender's mother. (She keeps encouraging him to start dating again.)
What's more troubling, though, is the acidic implication that McGorvey simply suffers from a more extreme case of the monstrous selfishness that infects everyone in this town. They're all driven by perverse desires they finally conclude they can't control. McGorvey is just unlucky to have been dealt illegal urges. Sarah cheats on her spouse; Mary Anne is an organizational Nazi who strangles her family's joy; another father is addicted to Internet porn (elaborately described). "We want what we want," one of the parents sighs, "and there's not much we can do about it." Consummating her affair with Todd while reading "Madame Bovary," Sarah thinks, "They didn't really have a choice."
This thread of moral fatalism may be more disturbing than any of the other really disturbing things in this novel. The precision of Perrotta's assault on domestic hypocrisy is frightening, to be sure. And if good satire can generate a corrective jolt, this may be a deadly shock. There's a kind of authorial brutality at work here as these people are atomized into their native urges, turning on each other and forgetting, in the end, the little children.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0302/p1...
Of course, the tranquility of middle-class bliss has been rudely interrupted by American authors since Sherwood Anderson tore the covers off "Winesburg, Ohio." You would think there were only so many ways to portray the shiny suburbs as dens of boredom, banality, and sexual frustration, but Perrotta has cooked up recipes of depravity that would curl Betty Crocker's hair.
In the late '90s, "women's lib" sounds quaint to the sophisticated women in Perrotta's pleasant East Coast neighborhood. They've all graduated from college prepared for impressive jobs, while taking on the old duties of homemaker and motherhood. They're equally familiar with Tom Peters and Dr. Seuss, their lives effectively tabulated by Franklin Covey to coordinate staff meetings, play dates, and sexual intimacy.
Sarah, Perrotta's antihero and the mother of a 3-year-old, doesn't fit comfortably into this scene of parental one-upmanship. A women's studies major now trapped in domesticity, she feels both superior and inadequate next to the tight, tanned supermoms who rule the sand box.
Perrotta's satire of this have-it-all set strikes tones that will delight any parent who's less than perfect. Mary Anne, for instance, lectures about the benefits of her strictly enforced 7 p.m. bedtime; her diaper bag is a well-stocked pantry and pharmacy; and her 100-percent-juice juiceboxes are always served chilled.
Meanwhile, Sarah's life is a boring, disorganized trial. "It wasn't easy to tell one weekday from the next anymore," she thinks. "They all just melted together like a bag of crayons left out in the sun." When she can't find an old rice cake for her whiny daughter, Mary Anne comes to the rescue with a bag of Goldfish crackers. "It's nothing," she reassures Sarah. "I just hate to see her suffer like that."
This story of suburban unhappiness revolves around an unlikely affair between Sarah and a hunky stay-at-home dad she meets at the playground. Todd cares for his son and procrastinates studying for the bar exam (third try). His gorgeous wife would like to have more children, but somebody's got to bring home a salary.
"Little Children" is a test of Tolstoy's claim that "All happy families resemble one another, but each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." There are no happy families in this satire, and all the unhappy families are unhappy in almost exactly the same way. Again and again, we see well- educated 30-somethings with all the advantages bickering about who gets stuck taking care of the kids. The adorable little pests constantly interrupt the workout or the business trip or the illicit affair.
These well-kept homes are settings of regretted compromises, gnawing aggravations, and smoldering resentments. They've all come to regard marriage as the loss of "omnipresent possibility." Everyone everywhere, it seems, has fallen almost accidentally into the same trough of quiet desperation, saddled with annoying children, unsatisfying mates, and burdensome homes. It's all wickedly funny, until it's just wicked.
Fliers around the neighborhood suddenly announce, "There is a pervert among us!" Ronnie James McGorvey is a convicted sex offender who's moved into his mother's house after serving three years for exposing himself to a child. Naturally, the neighbors are alarmed about his presence. "There seemed to be a general sentiment among the crowd that you weren't doing your duty as a citizen and a parent if you didn't stand up to express your strenuous disapproval of sex offenders." A town meeting convenes, a retired policeman wraps his whole life around the goal of tormenting McGorvey, and the playground mothers fret about the arrival of this element of depravity amid their domestic innocence.
Perrotta demonstrates no sympathy for McGorvey, but he's willing to examine him beyond the tabloid clichés and to look at the painful position of a sex offender's mother. (She keeps encouraging him to start dating again.)
What's more troubling, though, is the acidic implication that McGorvey simply suffers from a more extreme case of the monstrous selfishness that infects everyone in this town. They're all driven by perverse desires they finally conclude they can't control. McGorvey is just unlucky to have been dealt illegal urges. Sarah cheats on her spouse; Mary Anne is an organizational Nazi who strangles her family's joy; another father is addicted to Internet porn (elaborately described). "We want what we want," one of the parents sighs, "and there's not much we can do about it." Consummating her affair with Todd while reading "Madame Bovary," Sarah thinks, "They didn't really have a choice."
This thread of moral fatalism may be more disturbing than any of the other really disturbing things in this novel. The precision of Perrotta's assault on domestic hypocrisy is frightening, to be sure. And if good satire can generate a corrective jolt, this may be a deadly shock. There's a kind of authorial brutality at work here as these people are atomized into their native urges, turning on each other and forgetting, in the end, the little children.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0302/p1...
August 1, 2014
If you have seen the movie adaptation of this book starring Kate Winslet, which is very good, it follows the book pretty closely until the very end.
"Is That All There Is?" – Peggy Lee
This is a satire about traditional suburban life in mainstream America. Almost everyone seems to be living the idyllic American dream. Two of the characters, Todd (married to Kathy) and Sarah (married to Richard) feel shackled, disillusioned and unfulfilled by the constraints and trappings of their conventional suburban life. There’s got to be something better than this, right?
In high school Todd was a popular football star. He’s in his mid-thirties now but still incredibly handsome and fit. Todd feels emasculated, powerless and insignificant in his matronly role as a stay-at-home dad. Todd has never held a job and has become complacent in his role as a mother figure. His wife Kathy resents his lack of ambition, is tired of being the family breadwinner and would prefer to be a traditional stay at home mom.
Sara dropped out of graduate school to enter a marriage with a financially secure but unattractive older man to escape a life in a monotonous office job. Her husband has developed an unhealthy obsession with an Internet porn star. Sara feels trapped in her loveless marriage and in her role as a stay-at-home mom to their 3-yr-old daughter. To get through her mind-numbing days, Sara constantly tells herself: "think like an anthropologist. I'm a researcher studying the behavior of boring suburban women. I am not a boring suburban woman myself."
Todd’s wife, Kathy, and his lover, Sara, are interesting contrast. Kathy is drop dead gorgeous with the flawless appearance of a professional model. She has a fascinating career as a successful filmmaker of documentaries but she really wants to stay home and raise children. In contrast, Sarah is frumpy, squat and plain with frizzy hair. She is a stay-at home mom married to a man she loathes. Sara longs for the seemingly glamorous career, physical beauty and husband that Kathy has. Each woman covets the life that the other woman is living.
There is a section in this book called “Madam Bovary”. Sara joins a neighborhood book club and they read Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert (1857). Madam Bovary and Little Children have some parallel themes: infidelity, unrealistic expectations of life and love, how traditional feminine roles in society are undervalued and belittled and how we are all ultimately responsible for the choices we make in life. During the book club discussion Sara’s adversary, Mary Ann, an extremely conservative woman, slams Madam Bovary for being a “slut”. Sarah defends the character, calling her a feminist and praising her efforts to struggle against the constraints society as heroic. She says:
“Madame Bovary’s problem wasn’t that she committed adultery,” Sarah declared, in a voice full of calm certainty. “It was she committed adultery with losers. She never found a partner worthy of her heroic passion.”
Hummmmmmm. lol!
There is also a seedy subplot about a convicted pedophile who moves into the neighborhood. His appearance sets the already nervous parents into hyper-overprotection overdrive. I think the presence of this sordid character might be a device to highlight the point that there is behavior far more heinous than infidelity. Some reviewers have expressed sympathy for this character, personally I found him repellant and creepy.
"Is That All There Is?" – Peggy Lee
This is a satire about traditional suburban life in mainstream America. Almost everyone seems to be living the idyllic American dream. Two of the characters, Todd (married to Kathy) and Sarah (married to Richard) feel shackled, disillusioned and unfulfilled by the constraints and trappings of their conventional suburban life. There’s got to be something better than this, right?
In high school Todd was a popular football star. He’s in his mid-thirties now but still incredibly handsome and fit. Todd feels emasculated, powerless and insignificant in his matronly role as a stay-at-home dad. Todd has never held a job and has become complacent in his role as a mother figure. His wife Kathy resents his lack of ambition, is tired of being the family breadwinner and would prefer to be a traditional stay at home mom.
Sara dropped out of graduate school to enter a marriage with a financially secure but unattractive older man to escape a life in a monotonous office job. Her husband has developed an unhealthy obsession with an Internet porn star. Sara feels trapped in her loveless marriage and in her role as a stay-at-home mom to their 3-yr-old daughter. To get through her mind-numbing days, Sara constantly tells herself: "think like an anthropologist. I'm a researcher studying the behavior of boring suburban women. I am not a boring suburban woman myself."
Todd’s wife, Kathy, and his lover, Sara, are interesting contrast. Kathy is drop dead gorgeous with the flawless appearance of a professional model. She has a fascinating career as a successful filmmaker of documentaries but she really wants to stay home and raise children. In contrast, Sarah is frumpy, squat and plain with frizzy hair. She is a stay-at home mom married to a man she loathes. Sara longs for the seemingly glamorous career, physical beauty and husband that Kathy has. Each woman covets the life that the other woman is living.
There is a section in this book called “Madam Bovary”. Sara joins a neighborhood book club and they read Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert (1857). Madam Bovary and Little Children have some parallel themes: infidelity, unrealistic expectations of life and love, how traditional feminine roles in society are undervalued and belittled and how we are all ultimately responsible for the choices we make in life. During the book club discussion Sara’s adversary, Mary Ann, an extremely conservative woman, slams Madam Bovary for being a “slut”. Sarah defends the character, calling her a feminist and praising her efforts to struggle against the constraints society as heroic. She says:
“Madame Bovary’s problem wasn’t that she committed adultery,” Sarah declared, in a voice full of calm certainty. “It was she committed adultery with losers. She never found a partner worthy of her heroic passion.”
Hummmmmmm. lol!
There is also a seedy subplot about a convicted pedophile who moves into the neighborhood. His appearance sets the already nervous parents into hyper-overprotection overdrive. I think the presence of this sordid character might be a device to highlight the point that there is behavior far more heinous than infidelity. Some reviewers have expressed sympathy for this character, personally I found him repellant and creepy.
January 14, 2020
I should be working right now.
But I just finished this novel during my lunch and I can't get it out of my mind. The ending, really.
At first, I thought there was something wrong with the Kindle edition. I was approaching the end and when I hit the next page (which turned out to be the last page), my Kindle gave an error that it could not open the page. I went back and forth, and then the page opened, but the sentence I was
on was misaligned to another on the new page. So I decreased the font so I could see the sentence all in one page, and all was well. Until I finished that page and the novel was abruptly over.
I spent the next half-hour or so scouring the Internet for mentions of the last line to see if it indeed was the last line of the novel, or if I had a corrupted version.
It turns out my version is fine and it is as it should be. Then I spent the next hour or so trying to reconcile myself with this ending.
(insert 20 minutes of work while still thinking...)
The more I think about it, the more I like it. Obviously I can't get into it here because I'd spoil things. But the reason I'm harping on it is that it's this aspect that is making me waver between a 4 and 5-star rating.
But enough about the ending. Let's talk about the trip there.
Some of my favourite movies/novels are those that centre around the drabness of middleclass suburbia and the interesting characters that wallow in it or seek an escape from the day to day regiment of work, home, and kids. Consider American Beauty, Short Cuts, Big Little Lies, or Happiness. Little Children brought to mind all the things I loved about stories like those. The beauty of stories like these are characters that are fully realized. We either know these people or we see ourselves in them.
Perrotta is brilliant at creating characters and following them through their midlife crises. Like Mrs. Fletcher, his novel reads like gangbusters.
There may have been a few passages where his prose rambled on, but these were rare instances, and were relieved by dialogue exchanges that made the pages rip by.
This is a story of small town suburbia. It focuses on a few parents linked by their kids, and story just happens by throwing these characters together.
This harmonizes into excellent storytelling even in the most mundane moments.
Perrotta is becoming one of my favourite authors. Of course I have to give this five stars because I can't get it out of my mind and, dammit, I have work to do.
But I just finished this novel during my lunch and I can't get it out of my mind. The ending, really.
At first, I thought there was something wrong with the Kindle edition. I was approaching the end and when I hit the next page (which turned out to be the last page), my Kindle gave an error that it could not open the page. I went back and forth, and then the page opened, but the sentence I was
on was misaligned to another on the new page. So I decreased the font so I could see the sentence all in one page, and all was well. Until I finished that page and the novel was abruptly over.
I spent the next half-hour or so scouring the Internet for mentions of the last line to see if it indeed was the last line of the novel, or if I had a corrupted version.
It turns out my version is fine and it is as it should be. Then I spent the next hour or so trying to reconcile myself with this ending.
(insert 20 minutes of work while still thinking...)
The more I think about it, the more I like it. Obviously I can't get into it here because I'd spoil things. But the reason I'm harping on it is that it's this aspect that is making me waver between a 4 and 5-star rating.
But enough about the ending. Let's talk about the trip there.
Some of my favourite movies/novels are those that centre around the drabness of middleclass suburbia and the interesting characters that wallow in it or seek an escape from the day to day regiment of work, home, and kids. Consider American Beauty, Short Cuts, Big Little Lies, or Happiness. Little Children brought to mind all the things I loved about stories like those. The beauty of stories like these are characters that are fully realized. We either know these people or we see ourselves in them.
Perrotta is brilliant at creating characters and following them through their midlife crises. Like Mrs. Fletcher, his novel reads like gangbusters.
There may have been a few passages where his prose rambled on, but these were rare instances, and were relieved by dialogue exchanges that made the pages rip by.
This is a story of small town suburbia. It focuses on a few parents linked by their kids, and story just happens by throwing these characters together.
This harmonizes into excellent storytelling even in the most mundane moments.
Perrotta is becoming one of my favourite authors. Of course I have to give this five stars because I can't get it out of my mind and, dammit, I have work to do.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,564 reviews