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Home Town
In this fascinating book, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Tracy Kidder takes us inside the everyday workings of Northampton, Massachusetts -- a place that seems to personify the typical American hometown. Kidder unveils the complex drama behind the seemingly ordinary lives of Northampton's residents. And out of these stories he creates a splendid, startling portrait of a town, in a narrative that gracefully travels among past and present, public and private, joy and sorrow.
A host of real people are alive in these pages: a tycoon with a crippling ailment; a criminal whom the place has beguiled, a genial and merciful judge, a single mother struggling to start a new life at Smith College; and, at the center, a policeman who patrols the streets of his beloved hometown with a stern yet endearing brand of morality -- and who is about to discover the peril of spending a whole life in one small place. Their stories take us behind the town's facades and reveal how individuals shape the social conscience of a community. Home Town is an unflinching yet lovingly rendered account of how a traditional American town endures and evolves at the turn of the millenniums.
A host of real people are alive in these pages: a tycoon with a crippling ailment; a criminal whom the place has beguiled, a genial and merciful judge, a single mother struggling to start a new life at Smith College; and, at the center, a policeman who patrols the streets of his beloved hometown with a stern yet endearing brand of morality -- and who is about to discover the peril of spending a whole life in one small place. Their stories take us behind the town's facades and reveal how individuals shape the social conscience of a community. Home Town is an unflinching yet lovingly rendered account of how a traditional American town endures and evolves at the turn of the millenniums.
464 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
60 people are currently reading
1379 people want to read
About the author
Tracy Kidder
27 books1,529 followersJohn Tracy Kidder is an acclaimed American nonfiction writer best known for combining literary narrative with journalistic precision. He gained national prominence with The Soul of a New Machine (1981), a Pulitzer Prize-winning account of computer engineers at Data General, noted for its insight into the emerging tech industry and the human stories behind innovation. He later earned widespread praise for Mountains Beyond Mountains (2003), a biography of physician and humanitarian Paul Farmer, which further solidified his reputation for blending compelling storytelling with social relevance.
Kidder studied English at Harvard and earned his MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Though his first book, The Road to Yuba City, was a critical failure, he rebounded with a series of successful works exploring diverse topics: home construction (House), elementary education (Among Schoolchildren), and aging (Old Friends). He also served in Vietnam, though he says the war did not significantly shape his writing, despite authoring several well-regarded essays on the topic.
In 2010, Kidder became the first A. M. Rosenthal Writer-in-Residence at Harvard’s Shorenstein Center. There, he co-wrote Good Prose, a book on nonfiction writing. His work continues to be recognized for its empathy, narrative strength, and commitment to truth.
Kidder studied English at Harvard and earned his MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Though his first book, The Road to Yuba City, was a critical failure, he rebounded with a series of successful works exploring diverse topics: home construction (House), elementary education (Among Schoolchildren), and aging (Old Friends). He also served in Vietnam, though he says the war did not significantly shape his writing, despite authoring several well-regarded essays on the topic.
In 2010, Kidder became the first A. M. Rosenthal Writer-in-Residence at Harvard’s Shorenstein Center. There, he co-wrote Good Prose, a book on nonfiction writing. His work continues to be recognized for its empathy, narrative strength, and commitment to truth.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 212 reviews
July 13, 2011
Home Town is a profile/biography of an old Massachusetts town as seen (mostly) through the thoughts of a local cop who grew up there. The cop (Tommy O'Connor) suffers as all cops do from an excess of dealing with the lower strata of society. He makes up for it, though, with a generous spirit that somehow maintains its belief in the possibility of redemption. He also retains a sense of humor that has recognizable and appealing Irish Catholic and blue-collar roots.
When Kidder isn't writing about Tommy O'Connor, he's profiling Northampton through the eyes of a number of other characters: Frankie, the informant who's always in trouble with the law ("a walking case of probable cause"); Laura, a transplanted Californian and single mom who somehow finds herself accepted into Smith College; Judge Michael Ryan, whose family seems to have been in the area since the town's founding; and several other strugglers and dreamers from the town's past and present.
A few years ago, we called Kidder's reality/narrative style of writing "New Journalism." I don't know if it's still called that, but all I know is I still love it, and Kidder is one of its best practitioners.
The first book I read by Tracy Kidder, almost thirty years ago, was The Soul of a New Machine, for which he won a Pulitzer. Kidder has been perfecting his craft ever since. I measure the quality of books like this by the number of times I am moved to laughter or tears, the number of times I put the book down to ponder what I've just read, and the number of times I say to myself "I wish I had written that sentence!" I did all of those with this book. (Maybe it helped that I'm an expatriate New Englander.) Home Town, in my opinion, is Tracy Kidder's best effort. Highly recommended.
When Kidder isn't writing about Tommy O'Connor, he's profiling Northampton through the eyes of a number of other characters: Frankie, the informant who's always in trouble with the law ("a walking case of probable cause"); Laura, a transplanted Californian and single mom who somehow finds herself accepted into Smith College; Judge Michael Ryan, whose family seems to have been in the area since the town's founding; and several other strugglers and dreamers from the town's past and present.
A few years ago, we called Kidder's reality/narrative style of writing "New Journalism." I don't know if it's still called that, but all I know is I still love it, and Kidder is one of its best practitioners.
The first book I read by Tracy Kidder, almost thirty years ago, was The Soul of a New Machine, for which he won a Pulitzer. Kidder has been perfecting his craft ever since. I measure the quality of books like this by the number of times I am moved to laughter or tears, the number of times I put the book down to ponder what I've just read, and the number of times I say to myself "I wish I had written that sentence!" I did all of those with this book. (Maybe it helped that I'm an expatriate New Englander.) Home Town, in my opinion, is Tracy Kidder's best effort. Highly recommended.
August 18, 2019
This one has a bit of a personal connection for me because as a native Masshole, Northampton used to be the cool place we went to as kids. It was only an hour drive (an eternity from those of us who did not have access to a car) from our isolated and economically depressed city of Pittsfield, Massachusetts.
At the time I read this (back in 2000-2001= retro reviews), this book made me homesick. I loved NoHa, with its unique main street quirky charm, the character of all the crazy punks and artists and college kids which created a complete contrast from the town where I’d grown up, only 60 minutes to the west.
Told almost entirely in narratives from people’s lives, the author follows individual residents and gets into their lives. The individual stories give the reader a mosaic of the quirky and wonderful town at the heart of the stories. They are people you wouldn’t mind having as your neighbors.
At the time I read this (back in 2000-2001= retro reviews), this book made me homesick. I loved NoHa, with its unique main street quirky charm, the character of all the crazy punks and artists and college kids which created a complete contrast from the town where I’d grown up, only 60 minutes to the west.
Told almost entirely in narratives from people’s lives, the author follows individual residents and gets into their lives. The individual stories give the reader a mosaic of the quirky and wonderful town at the heart of the stories. They are people you wouldn’t mind having as your neighbors.
June 19, 2016
I found this book at one of my local thrift stores that I frequent. When i saw it was about Northampton, I bought it because my ancestors were founding fathers of Northampton and my grandfather owned The Bryant Printing Company in the Florence section of Northampton around 1890.
This is a non-fiction book, but reads like a novel. The characters are real and their names, for the most part. are real. The main "character" is a Northampton cop, Thomas O'Connor. The book follows him from childhood growing up as one of seven children to becoming a police officer for the town, which was has dream.
We get into the head of a "Home Town" cop and how he interacts with some of the locals. Sometimes, the book gets into the lives of the people in the town and deals with many tough issues, including child sexual abuse, OCD, drugs, welfare and much more. I forgot that these people are real and not fictitious. Tracy Kidder is a master at this.
Tracy Kidder introduces us to Alan Scheinman, a successful attorney, who begins to suffer from severe OCD. He helps us get into Alan's mindset as he slips deeper and deeper into the disorder. He also show how Alan climbed out of that abyss. Google him now and you can see that he is real and he is no longer the man who wore plastic bags on his hands and didn't want to leave his house for fear of contamination. Tracy Kidder does that is such a remarkable way that you are cheering for Alan to get out from under his OCD.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and will remember Thomas O'Connor, Judge Ryan, Alan Scheinman, and "Frankie" because they are real people.
This is a non-fiction book, but reads like a novel. The characters are real and their names, for the most part. are real. The main "character" is a Northampton cop, Thomas O'Connor. The book follows him from childhood growing up as one of seven children to becoming a police officer for the town, which was has dream.
We get into the head of a "Home Town" cop and how he interacts with some of the locals. Sometimes, the book gets into the lives of the people in the town and deals with many tough issues, including child sexual abuse, OCD, drugs, welfare and much more. I forgot that these people are real and not fictitious. Tracy Kidder is a master at this.
Tracy Kidder introduces us to Alan Scheinman, a successful attorney, who begins to suffer from severe OCD. He helps us get into Alan's mindset as he slips deeper and deeper into the disorder. He also show how Alan climbed out of that abyss. Google him now and you can see that he is real and he is no longer the man who wore plastic bags on his hands and didn't want to leave his house for fear of contamination. Tracy Kidder does that is such a remarkable way that you are cheering for Alan to get out from under his OCD.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and will remember Thomas O'Connor, Judge Ryan, Alan Scheinman, and "Frankie" because they are real people.
June 10, 2012
Tracy Kidder lives near the town of Northampton, Mass. I too lived there, after growing up in California. My husband and I transferred there, and fell in love with the place. We spent a year living in Northampton, and it will probably go down as the best year of our lives in a lot of ways. We were young, and just starting out, with only one child in our family. Northampton is the kind of place where you can walk around, and visit the shops, and enjoy the aspects of Smith College that infuse the town. The place abounds with characters of all kinds, and it's those "characters" that Tracy Kidder concentrates on.
His book is an accurate portrayal of a very unusual town -- and the townie characters who stay there. The highly educated types who teach at Smith, UMass, or Amherst universities, the hippie types who may have come to the area to study and just decided to stay, those who fight mental illnesses and find comfort and inclusion with the kindness of the people who live in the area, those who enjoy the artistic freedom this type of place promotes.
My only reason for giving the book four stars is that I felt like the book concentrated on the seedier aspects of Northampton. This admittedly makes for a more interesting story, but it doesn't portray the other, more appealing side of the town I grew to love. Having said that, the book is still a good read.
His book is an accurate portrayal of a very unusual town -- and the townie characters who stay there. The highly educated types who teach at Smith, UMass, or Amherst universities, the hippie types who may have come to the area to study and just decided to stay, those who fight mental illnesses and find comfort and inclusion with the kindness of the people who live in the area, those who enjoy the artistic freedom this type of place promotes.
My only reason for giving the book four stars is that I felt like the book concentrated on the seedier aspects of Northampton. This admittedly makes for a more interesting story, but it doesn't portray the other, more appealing side of the town I grew to love. Having said that, the book is still a good read.
January 2, 2014
At the outset, I should say I am a big fan of Tracy Kidder. I have read several of his books and so therefore I am biased in this review. However, given that I only read books I have an interest in or that the author is someone I admire, what I have to say here can be helpful to those:
(1) interested in how a local community works and relates to the larger society; (2) how the trained senses of Tracy Kidder as a seasoned writer can create such a tour de force rendition of seemingly ordinary lives in a small town; and (3) those wanting to learn the divergent pathways of Americana. In Kidder's experienced hand, he weaves normal daily life activities into a spell binding and sometimes nostalgic narrative which results into a more nuanced and perhaps closer-to-reality narrative of town life in the northeast. As with all great writers, he writes sentences that delights in their simplicity but profound in social or moral implications. Consider this: "A friend two years older is a prized possession when accomplishment is still marked by years acquired and inches grown." This, when he was narrating Tommy's friendship with Rick. Or how about this: "Distance is the crucial thing. It allows you to look back with horror, and to forget that if you had actually been there, you might have climbed a pine tree, too, to watch with eager eyes. At the right distance, injustice looks thrilling.
For someone writing nonfiction, Tracy Kidder has such an easy facility with all the literary tools of novelists so that his writing reads like fiction. Home Town is an enjoyable read, an easy read, a book you would like to curl up with on a cold winter afternoon, especially like the ones that the people of Northampton get at winter's deep, and learn about how the sense of community in a town like that resides in each and every character that the author has patiently profiled, emphatized with and shadowed around and in the process learned a thing or two about a town in America.
(1) interested in how a local community works and relates to the larger society; (2) how the trained senses of Tracy Kidder as a seasoned writer can create such a tour de force rendition of seemingly ordinary lives in a small town; and (3) those wanting to learn the divergent pathways of Americana. In Kidder's experienced hand, he weaves normal daily life activities into a spell binding and sometimes nostalgic narrative which results into a more nuanced and perhaps closer-to-reality narrative of town life in the northeast. As with all great writers, he writes sentences that delights in their simplicity but profound in social or moral implications. Consider this: "A friend two years older is a prized possession when accomplishment is still marked by years acquired and inches grown." This, when he was narrating Tommy's friendship with Rick. Or how about this: "Distance is the crucial thing. It allows you to look back with horror, and to forget that if you had actually been there, you might have climbed a pine tree, too, to watch with eager eyes. At the right distance, injustice looks thrilling.
For someone writing nonfiction, Tracy Kidder has such an easy facility with all the literary tools of novelists so that his writing reads like fiction. Home Town is an enjoyable read, an easy read, a book you would like to curl up with on a cold winter afternoon, especially like the ones that the people of Northampton get at winter's deep, and learn about how the sense of community in a town like that resides in each and every character that the author has patiently profiled, emphatized with and shadowed around and in the process learned a thing or two about a town in America.
February 12, 2022
I found this book interesting at the onset, then really tediously boring. My family often teases me about my penchant for literary drama, and yet I could not get through this book. Just way too many depressingly dramatic stories and I felt not very connected to most of the people in the town in any way that made me care about their fates. The unintended, yet vivid racial profiling was also disturbing. After having read a good solid few hundred pages, I skimmed through the rest and felt no regrets. Meh.
September 2, 2019
I kept thinking I was going to start enjoying this book,but never got there. The writing is good, and the characters are mostly interesting, but there was nothing but the town to weave them together, and that was just not enough. And the last chapter was almost like a credits reel, with no music or graphics under it.
July 4, 2024
I found this book particularly interesting since I went to Smith College, and my daughter is studying at Smith right now. I learned so many interesting things about Northampton from this book. Every time the author described a building, I would look on Google maps to refresh my memory as to what the building looked like.
December 25, 2022
Perfect book, except for all the COPS!
February 5, 2024
Excellent book easy bread true story reads like fiction with some of the characters, really enjoyed!
April 11, 2025
Beautiful account of the everyday lives of people who make up the tapestry of community in Northampton, MA.
April 24, 2023
Slow moving and I strong disliked the main character. They didn’t go into any of his actual feelings or inner turmoil or do much to make him interesting. Everything that could have been an emotional interesting plot point gets brushed off or just “he was upset”. Give me some ducking emotional complexity
Lots of telling not showing in regards to him being a good cop.
Seems so pleased he lives in a diverse-ish vibrant town while also clearly racially profiling and being condescending about the weird people who make the town interesting.
The other POVs were Interesting Alan’s description of OCD was interesting and touching.
I did feel like I learned a lot about this town I’m already so familiar with as I live nearby. Also beat to hear a place I know fairly well described. A weird sense of comfort / familiarity of knowing *exactly* the building or pond or whatever he’s referring to.
Summary / Memory Job for future me.
Hometown
Tommy O’Conner - Main POV cop grew in in Northampton. Loves the town and people though seems like kind of a douche bag. Story about a white woman watching him search a black kid who he knew was dealing drugs but she didn’t and describing her outrage and his perceived racism and that she wouldn’t like it if her kids got drugs. Which like a lady was quietly watching you do something. What’s the problem?
Only seems to describe persons race if their not white.
Talks about how he wishes he could beat prisoners like in the old days.
Snarky about people dying hair and wearing weird clothes.
Pats himself on the back about what a good cop he is.
His childhood friend Rick is also a cop and gets accused of mole sting his young daughter. He says the only way it could’ve happened is if he did it while blacked out drunk. Tom understandably weirded out Tom visits Rick a bit is worried he’s gonna commit suicide, also wants to keep his distance cause he’s beginning to suspect more and more he’s guilty. He ends up going to court and doing a plea deal “Alford Doctrine” gets six months in prison.
Tom and his wife are unsuccessfully doing invitro throughout the book, she has some miscarriages.
Tom helps FBI with a case in Northampton, one of them who he knows says he should apply, he does/ does test and gets in. Book ends with him and his wife leaving
Alan- former lawyer invested in the revitalization of Northampton’s downtown. Developed OCD as an adult.
Really interesting description of his OCD compulsions and him logically knowing they are irrational. Some sweet stuff about various people in town helping him in small ways- opening doors for him etc
He ends up beginning therapy and taking meds and feeling better
Starts going to strip clubs and paying women to be photographed by him as a way of getting used to women again. Becomes friends with strippers and helps them Ends up meeting woman he dates on and off for years, Suzanne as she’s stripping at one of the clubs. Messy relationship
Laura- adult (25ish) student at smith single mom of teenage kid from California. Talks about her struggle feeling like she’s not good enough for smith, feels everyone in the classes is smarter than her and she’s embarrassed to ask for help and paranoid they’ll realize she’s not good enough and revoke scholarship. Almost flunks out because she simply doesn’t write any papers. Ends up getting another chance and does better.
Is on welfare and food stamps. Lots of embarrassment of everyone judging what your buying with food stamps, and struggle with the system. She worked a summer job and didn’t tell the office and they threatened to arrest her if she didn’t pay it back even though she had already offered to do so.
Goes to a meeting at court house about welfare with state legislators with friend who persuades her to speak. After she tells her story the senator asked if she was a resident before she moved to North Hampton she answers honestly that she was in California and move to go to Smith’s and it was recommended that she go on welfare‘s by the college. The senator makes notes.
This blows up the commissioner ends up calling the head of the scholarship program that Laura is in, the state commissioner is angry that Smith is bringing women into the state and telling them to go on welfare. The commissioner ends up issuing a new edit that anyone who comes to mass to go to college would never be eligible for welfare.
Laura’s welfare stops, the local office decided college vendor payments should count as income but they are waiting for Boston to rule on the matter which may take six weeks.
She ends up going to food banks, at one of them her English teacher is volunteering and she feels embarrassed.
Her son meanwhile is thriving, he has a group of friends that run around town. Mirrors Tommy’s childhood in Northampton but of course they think they’re the first to do all the stuff.
Fun facts-
Mount Holyoke famous due to painting by Thomas Cole “Veiw from Mount Holyoke, Northampton Massachusetts, after a thunderstorm” was in the met- mountain had hotel and cable car Dickinson and Henry James visited
Sylvia Plath visited and wrote of veiw “all’s peace and discipline down there”
-Calvin Coolidge was mayor of Northampton
-Sojourner Truth lived in Northampton for a little bit
-Smith college botanical garden designed by same firm that did Central Park
-Alford doctrine , guilty plea where a defendant in a criminal case does not admit to the crime, pleads innocence but admits that the evidence presented by the prosecution would be likely to persuade a judge or jury to find the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt
-Hanging in 1805 two Irish immigrants Dominic Daley and James Halligan wrongly convicted of killing a traveler, pure racism l, one day trial the whole town came out to watch the hanging. A Catholic priest came the morning of and preached and basically asked everyone what the fuck was wrong with them
-Smith College created by Sophia Smith and her Pastor John M Greene. He was idea man and she bequeathed the money in her will. She lived alone never married no know lovers. Greene thought college would make for better wives. Smith bequest said “…education suited to mental and physical wants of a woman. It is not my design to render my sex any less
Feminine but develop fully as may be the powers of womanhood…” and now we are all angry lesbian feminists!
-Forbes Library created by judge Edward Forbes to fight religion the immigrant were bringing in, felt the knowledge would be best defense against Catholicism
“There is something somber and exciting about the sigh of fresh snow around old buildings made of brick and stone. It summons up sensations that feel like pathways between the old and new, time past
and time reborn.”
“ here a little conscientiousness was good for more than entertainment. The local cops were clearly better cops for feeling that some suspicious eyes observed them…l
^ YEA TOMMY
Lots of telling not showing in regards to him being a good cop.
Seems so pleased he lives in a diverse-ish vibrant town while also clearly racially profiling and being condescending about the weird people who make the town interesting.
The other POVs were Interesting Alan’s description of OCD was interesting and touching.
I did feel like I learned a lot about this town I’m already so familiar with as I live nearby. Also beat to hear a place I know fairly well described. A weird sense of comfort / familiarity of knowing *exactly* the building or pond or whatever he’s referring to.
Summary / Memory Job for future me.
Hometown
Tommy O’Conner - Main POV cop grew in in Northampton. Loves the town and people though seems like kind of a douche bag. Story about a white woman watching him search a black kid who he knew was dealing drugs but she didn’t and describing her outrage and his perceived racism and that she wouldn’t like it if her kids got drugs. Which like a lady was quietly watching you do something. What’s the problem?
Only seems to describe persons race if their not white.
Talks about how he wishes he could beat prisoners like in the old days.
Snarky about people dying hair and wearing weird clothes.
Pats himself on the back about what a good cop he is.
His childhood friend Rick is also a cop and gets accused of mole sting his young daughter. He says the only way it could’ve happened is if he did it while blacked out drunk. Tom understandably weirded out Tom visits Rick a bit is worried he’s gonna commit suicide, also wants to keep his distance cause he’s beginning to suspect more and more he’s guilty. He ends up going to court and doing a plea deal “Alford Doctrine” gets six months in prison.
Tom and his wife are unsuccessfully doing invitro throughout the book, she has some miscarriages.
Tom helps FBI with a case in Northampton, one of them who he knows says he should apply, he does/ does test and gets in. Book ends with him and his wife leaving
Alan- former lawyer invested in the revitalization of Northampton’s downtown. Developed OCD as an adult.
Really interesting description of his OCD compulsions and him logically knowing they are irrational. Some sweet stuff about various people in town helping him in small ways- opening doors for him etc
He ends up beginning therapy and taking meds and feeling better
Starts going to strip clubs and paying women to be photographed by him as a way of getting used to women again. Becomes friends with strippers and helps them Ends up meeting woman he dates on and off for years, Suzanne as she’s stripping at one of the clubs. Messy relationship
Laura- adult (25ish) student at smith single mom of teenage kid from California. Talks about her struggle feeling like she’s not good enough for smith, feels everyone in the classes is smarter than her and she’s embarrassed to ask for help and paranoid they’ll realize she’s not good enough and revoke scholarship. Almost flunks out because she simply doesn’t write any papers. Ends up getting another chance and does better.
Is on welfare and food stamps. Lots of embarrassment of everyone judging what your buying with food stamps, and struggle with the system. She worked a summer job and didn’t tell the office and they threatened to arrest her if she didn’t pay it back even though she had already offered to do so.
Goes to a meeting at court house about welfare with state legislators with friend who persuades her to speak. After she tells her story the senator asked if she was a resident before she moved to North Hampton she answers honestly that she was in California and move to go to Smith’s and it was recommended that she go on welfare‘s by the college. The senator makes notes.
This blows up the commissioner ends up calling the head of the scholarship program that Laura is in, the state commissioner is angry that Smith is bringing women into the state and telling them to go on welfare. The commissioner ends up issuing a new edit that anyone who comes to mass to go to college would never be eligible for welfare.
Laura’s welfare stops, the local office decided college vendor payments should count as income but they are waiting for Boston to rule on the matter which may take six weeks.
She ends up going to food banks, at one of them her English teacher is volunteering and she feels embarrassed.
Her son meanwhile is thriving, he has a group of friends that run around town. Mirrors Tommy’s childhood in Northampton but of course they think they’re the first to do all the stuff.
Fun facts-
Mount Holyoke famous due to painting by Thomas Cole “Veiw from Mount Holyoke, Northampton Massachusetts, after a thunderstorm” was in the met- mountain had hotel and cable car Dickinson and Henry James visited
Sylvia Plath visited and wrote of veiw “all’s peace and discipline down there”
-Calvin Coolidge was mayor of Northampton
-Sojourner Truth lived in Northampton for a little bit
-Smith college botanical garden designed by same firm that did Central Park
-Alford doctrine , guilty plea where a defendant in a criminal case does not admit to the crime, pleads innocence but admits that the evidence presented by the prosecution would be likely to persuade a judge or jury to find the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt
-Hanging in 1805 two Irish immigrants Dominic Daley and James Halligan wrongly convicted of killing a traveler, pure racism l, one day trial the whole town came out to watch the hanging. A Catholic priest came the morning of and preached and basically asked everyone what the fuck was wrong with them
-Smith College created by Sophia Smith and her Pastor John M Greene. He was idea man and she bequeathed the money in her will. She lived alone never married no know lovers. Greene thought college would make for better wives. Smith bequest said “…education suited to mental and physical wants of a woman. It is not my design to render my sex any less
Feminine but develop fully as may be the powers of womanhood…” and now we are all angry lesbian feminists!
-Forbes Library created by judge Edward Forbes to fight religion the immigrant were bringing in, felt the knowledge would be best defense against Catholicism
“There is something somber and exciting about the sigh of fresh snow around old buildings made of brick and stone. It summons up sensations that feel like pathways between the old and new, time past
and time reborn.”
“ here a little conscientiousness was good for more than entertainment. The local cops were clearly better cops for feeling that some suspicious eyes observed them…l
^ YEA TOMMY
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 4, 2009
Having spent a number of years in "The Happy Valley" i.e., the Connecticut River Valley and silted bottom of a glacial lake (Lake Hancock) which is now the fertile farm land with Northampton on one side and Amherst on the other, I picked up this book with eager anticipation. I also love Tracy Kidder as an author. At first, it didn't grab me, but once I got into it, I didn't want to put it down. One of Tracy Kidder's strengths is that he is always generous toward the people he writes about. He traces the lives of a number of Northampton residents, with the main character "Tom" a local "cop" born and raised in Northampton, who almost never leaves, until the end. I found it fascinating. Mountains Beyond Mountains is still my favorite Kidder book, and that has a scope and impact that is as outsized as its protagonist. But this is a more humble, local, down home story. It revealed parts of Northampton I didn't know, and was captivating in its humanity.
The spoiler part-- Tommy, or Tom is a great, honest cop, without a lot of self confidence, who has been held up in many ways by his hometown, the familiar people, his parents until his mother dies, his father whom he still eats dinner with when he's on his shift, and his wife. A crisis occurs in an old friendship, and in his thirties, he dares to get curious and see if he can make it in the larger world. He succeeds in getting into the FBI and we leave him as he leaves Northampton with his wife. It doesn't sound huge here, but for him, in his life, it is. What Kidder never mentions, is the impact of Kidder's attention, interviews, interest, and being the center of Kidder's book, and the impact that must has had on him. Kidder is invisible, even as he gets to know these people intimately.
The spoiler part-- Tommy, or Tom is a great, honest cop, without a lot of self confidence, who has been held up in many ways by his hometown, the familiar people, his parents until his mother dies, his father whom he still eats dinner with when he's on his shift, and his wife. A crisis occurs in an old friendship, and in his thirties, he dares to get curious and see if he can make it in the larger world. He succeeds in getting into the FBI and we leave him as he leaves Northampton with his wife. It doesn't sound huge here, but for him, in his life, it is. What Kidder never mentions, is the impact of Kidder's attention, interviews, interest, and being the center of Kidder's book, and the impact that must has had on him. Kidder is invisible, even as he gets to know these people intimately.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 29, 2021
I chose this because I have liked Tracy Kidder's writing. I did not know what this would be like but expected a different kind of nonfiction book, which is what he does well.
It is that. It is about a town, Northampton, Mass, a small city that is home to Smith College. My mother went to Smith for just a year (I don't know why she left; probably to join my father at Taliesin) and I never asked her anything about the place. Thus everything in here about the college and its founding is new to me. But the book is about way more than that.
We meet several town people, but most of all Tommy O'Connor, youngest of seven. We follow him as he grows up, becomes a policeman, is involved in court case presided over by Judge Ryan. The judge we also get to know.
The book reads a lot like fiction because of the detail Kidder provides (accurately, he states), which makes the characters feel solid and real. There are many small stories within, but no big story that I could see. I looked to see if this was Kidder's own home town but it wasn't. I don't know why he chose it. Overall, the book provides a solid portrait of a town with everything a town needs, a typical American town, or perhaps typical Eastern American town. I became attached to Tommy and Judge Ryan in particular but others had their places.
It is that. It is about a town, Northampton, Mass, a small city that is home to Smith College. My mother went to Smith for just a year (I don't know why she left; probably to join my father at Taliesin) and I never asked her anything about the place. Thus everything in here about the college and its founding is new to me. But the book is about way more than that.
We meet several town people, but most of all Tommy O'Connor, youngest of seven. We follow him as he grows up, becomes a policeman, is involved in court case presided over by Judge Ryan. The judge we also get to know.
The book reads a lot like fiction because of the detail Kidder provides (accurately, he states), which makes the characters feel solid and real. There are many small stories within, but no big story that I could see. I looked to see if this was Kidder's own home town but it wasn't. I don't know why he chose it. Overall, the book provides a solid portrait of a town with everything a town needs, a typical American town, or perhaps typical Eastern American town. I became attached to Tommy and Judge Ryan in particular but others had their places.
July 17, 2009
I have enjoyed many of Tracy Kidder's books - my two favorites were Mountains beyond Mountains and Old Friends. Home Town has some good parts but I never really connected with it. I think it was my problem because I had expectations of what the book was going to be about and then it wasn't.
This is the story of a smallish town (12,000 people) of Northampton, MA as seen by one of its policemen. The main character is likable and we get to see him as a full person, not just as a cop. The first chapter on the person with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is masterful and could be used as a stand alone piece for medical and nursing students (later chapters on this person are weaker). I generally liked the writing. I simply got tired of Frankie and Carmen and Laura and Alan. There is more to Northampton (or Wenatchee or Bonners Ferry) than this.
This is the story of a smallish town (12,000 people) of Northampton, MA as seen by one of its policemen. The main character is likable and we get to see him as a full person, not just as a cop. The first chapter on the person with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is masterful and could be used as a stand alone piece for medical and nursing students (later chapters on this person are weaker). I generally liked the writing. I simply got tired of Frankie and Carmen and Laura and Alan. There is more to Northampton (or Wenatchee or Bonners Ferry) than this.
August 22, 2009
A vivid, detailed and thoughtful social history of Northampton, Massachusetts, Home Town is vintage Tracy Kidder. He traces the ordinary lives of several residents, deftly interlacing history and subtle social commentary. Police officer Tom O'Connor emerges as the symbolic core of the book, and his personal and professional experiences draw the reader in. Laura Burmeister, a nontraditional student at Smith College, is another major character, and her story bridges the socioeconomic classes in a poignant and relatable way. Not quite as memorable as Kidder's earlier work, House, but well-written and involving nonetheless.
January 13, 2011
This book was so interesting to read. I loved the characters, and they were actually real people. I am very interested in local politics wherever I am. This city and the issues they have dealt with was so interesting to read about. Northampton has such a cool history and atmosphere. I felt as though I lived there myself while reading the book. It made me want to visit the places described. To me it typifies America today--a conflict between the liberal, highly educated groups and the day to day local people who want Applebee's and Home Depot nearby. Sometimes the groups interact and coexist but other times there is prejudice and resentment. So it is in America today.
April 9, 2016
I got to page 90 and gave up because tbh I can't get past the underlying "Northampton is full of lesbians now!" vibe that I keep getting from this book. I picked it up from a free box and wanted to read it while I'm still here at Smith/Northampton. Unfortunately, times have changed, and all of America has changed with it, and this book doesn't feel accurate anymore. Furthermore, I am not the target audience of this book - quite the opposite, in fact. I don't care to read a book where the protagonist thinks that homosexual civil unions ruin the sanctity of marriage. I have one life to live, and I'd rather spend it reading books with queer protagonists.
June 8, 2020
The author has a way of telling a story without inserting himself into the narrative. The title did not stir up excitement. Within a few pages the foundation of the story began to build, new characters were added, pieces of history noted, geography was slowly added, then a social fabric and on and on as the town was filled out. Midway through the book I wanted to walk along the streets in town and check out the country roads and trails, meet some of the people and find out how they have progressed. Tracy Kidder has the special talent/skill/art that opens you to a subject that previously you had not really considered. It's a very special talent.
November 13, 2014
I don't know if I will finish this book...not a very entertaining or engrossing read. Am reading because I have family in the area and know and love Northampton
May 11, 2017
Meh. Just didn't grab me.
December 20, 2018
Kidder is a transporting writer, but I do not know if I would have found this book compelling without preexisting nostalgia for late 90s western Massachusetts.
November 7, 2020
I didn't finish this it's just too fucking white colonizer energy
August 11, 2024
This sat at the bottom of my reserve pile for a long time, but once I started reading I was intrigued--and frustrated. Kidder describes a year and a half in Northampton, Massachusetts, a small town of 30,000 or so in the Pioneer Valley that's called "The Paradise City" and known as the home of Smith College and a haven for the LGBTQ community. It is, according to Wikipedia, the most politically liberal medium-sized city in the U.S. I've thought long and hard about Kidder's treatment since finishing the book. He's an excellent writer and lyrically paints the natural setting; he highlights the mayor (and her never-ending attempt to balance the budget), a judge, a former high-flying realtor struggling with crippling OCD, and a nontraditional Smith student. But the focus of "Home Town" is a policeman, Tommy O'Connor, an honest and intelligent man in his 30's who spends a huge amount of time with drug dealers and informants. O'Connor is also caught up in a child abuse case involving his best friend (a former cop). The book is extremely male-centric and not particularly flattering to Northampton; at times Kidder seems to go out of his way to ignore the positive and emphasize the problems. The "crime and punishment" theme is definitely gripping, even if it sometimes sounds more like a TV script. However, there's virtually nothing on education, medical care, the arts, the library, employment in general, or Smith College (I'd have liked to know how "ordinary" students view and interact with the town, for instance). And why are all the women (including O'Connor's wife) so summarily dismissed?
In an odd juxtaposition I've been rereading children's and teen ballet novels from the 1950s and 60s, and I was surprised at how much those heroines reminded me of Laura, the "Smithie"--feelings of confidence and hope easily dashed, self-doubt, reluctance to ask for help, then finally succeeding despite all odds. It's a stereotype as old as time, and I can't help wondering if that's why Kidder chose to focus on her (out of 2000-plus students!).
In an odd juxtaposition I've been rereading children's and teen ballet novels from the 1950s and 60s, and I was surprised at how much those heroines reminded me of Laura, the "Smithie"--feelings of confidence and hope easily dashed, self-doubt, reluctance to ask for help, then finally succeeding despite all odds. It's a stereotype as old as time, and I can't help wondering if that's why Kidder chose to focus on her (out of 2000-plus students!).
May 19, 2025
This didn’t quite hit the mark for me. ⅗ stars. Kidder’s depictions of Northampton’s natural beauty are gentle and touching. As a native Northamptonite, it’s moving to see a skilled writer capture the charm of my hometown. With that being said, Kidder filters Northampton through the lens of a run-of-the-mill, straight-laced cop. While there’s nothing inherently wrong with the character—and his modest, rule-bound-lifestyle may reflect a certain version of rural American life–his perspective feels overly narrow. It overlooks the richness, and eccentric spirit that truly defines Northampton. Kidder gestures toward this idea occasionally, but the narrative largely centers on the cop’s routine, day-to-day life. I understand that Kidder is trying to appeal to those quaint qualities that small-town Americans can relate to, but Northampton is too unique to be molded to fit that archetype. Northampton is also not the town it was in the 1990s. Its conservative and christian roots have largely been supplanted by a growing progressivism. It is now the lesbian-capital of the country as well as a hub for mass protests. This book is very much of its time and out-of-touch with the town’s contemporary liberal spirit.
June 24, 2020
Interesting true story to read during times of protest over excessive police action. I thought it about the myriad layers of a small town - and it is, but it’s told primarily through the story of a hometown cop.
The book jacket asks “Does the kind of small town that many Americans came from, and long for, still exist?”
Despite an intro that brings to mind 1960s with the Cleaver family, this town has alcoholics, homeless, addicts & dealers, gangs and all the social problems you don’t want but seemingly can’t avoid in any town large or small. But it also has an incorruptible mayor, cops and judges who know those people in town, and are trying to show compassion and do the right thing.
One judge didn’t like sending people to jail “because he thought they disimproved most people.” He also had a theory that every society that had occupied (their historic) town “created boundaries in law that invariably excluded about 10% of its members...and from an early age, he had been mindful of the excluded.” Thus he didn’t see everyone in his courtroom as dangerous. The chapter concludes “A place can’t function or improve through compassion alone, but it can’t become a good place without it.”
First chapter was so “white bread” that I almost bailed out, but Tracy Kidder was so masterful as the writer of Mountains Beyond Mountains that I persisted. Now I’m appreciating the thought provoking topic and the timing.
3.5 stars
The book jacket asks “Does the kind of small town that many Americans came from, and long for, still exist?”
Despite an intro that brings to mind 1960s with the Cleaver family, this town has alcoholics, homeless, addicts & dealers, gangs and all the social problems you don’t want but seemingly can’t avoid in any town large or small. But it also has an incorruptible mayor, cops and judges who know those people in town, and are trying to show compassion and do the right thing.
One judge didn’t like sending people to jail “because he thought they disimproved most people.” He also had a theory that every society that had occupied (their historic) town “created boundaries in law that invariably excluded about 10% of its members...and from an early age, he had been mindful of the excluded.” Thus he didn’t see everyone in his courtroom as dangerous. The chapter concludes “A place can’t function or improve through compassion alone, but it can’t become a good place without it.”
First chapter was so “white bread” that I almost bailed out, but Tracy Kidder was so masterful as the writer of Mountains Beyond Mountains that I persisted. Now I’m appreciating the thought provoking topic and the timing.
3.5 stars
January 11, 2022
Now this is a participant-observer sociological study of a small town if there ever was one, except that Kidder is not an official bonafide university sociologist. Town is Northampton, Mass. (a “seven sisters” college town of around 30,000 with a history dating back to 1654). Author gains intimate connections with a police sergeant and the town's scrutiny (late 1990s) essentially revolves around him, his police activities and associated “characters” and felons. Indeed a great deal lies hidden “on the surface” in this bucolic community. Kidder reveals in his acknowledgment section an amazing list of people who aided him to gather information for this book. His reporting reveals that he certainly has a knack for getting people to open up to him. Also, his narrative style is admirable; I was often engrossed.
September 25, 2023
This is a really great book for anyone who knows, or has lived in, Northampton, Massachusetts. The main character is an Irish cop, born and raised in town, and it often views the town from his vantage. So in one sense it’s got a vanilla quality. But the general experience of the book is that of learning the history and vibe of a town through the actual stories about the people living there. I wish every town where I have lived had a similar historical ode to itself. A really enjoyable read. I love Northampton. My older daughter went to Smith, and between the college and the town it is just one of those magic, forward thinking (often college) towns scattered across this weird, not so forward thinking country of ours. Made me like Northampton even more.
December 6, 2023
Tracy Kidder is a great author and I have read a couple of his other books and loved them. And I have one more here to read. While the writing is always wonderful, this story didn't grab me the way his other books have. It's charming in a way, about people and events in a medium town in Massachusetts. There are many good things about the story, but even with the stellar word smithing, it didn't seem a five star to me. It is in some respects but not so much the story itself. So I found it hard to review this book.
This is the town where the author grew up, so for people who live there, and for the author, the book has a whole different meaning than for the majority of readers. I did wonder what the town is like now, as it had so much variety back in the day.
This is the town where the author grew up, so for people who live there, and for the author, the book has a whole different meaning than for the majority of readers. I did wonder what the town is like now, as it had so much variety back in the day.
June 9, 2022
It’s an okay read about the old town of Northampton in Massachusetts and about the people living in the town. The story was narrated in the eyes of Tommy, the local cop.
Some people's stories were impressive and others felt bored. I felt sad and angry at the same time about Rick’s story, the childhood friend of Tommy. Laura and the Smith college stories dragged on a lot, so I felt bored at some point. Frankie/ Samson story was funny, sometimes good, sometimes bad. Judge Ryan was impressive.
Overall, it’s a well-written tour of the town, and the ordinary lives of the people living there, but not an interesting one.
Some people's stories were impressive and others felt bored. I felt sad and angry at the same time about Rick’s story, the childhood friend of Tommy. Laura and the Smith college stories dragged on a lot, so I felt bored at some point. Frankie/ Samson story was funny, sometimes good, sometimes bad. Judge Ryan was impressive.
Overall, it’s a well-written tour of the town, and the ordinary lives of the people living there, but not an interesting one.
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