Tom Perrota wrote Election, the book that was adapted to the screen starring Reese Witherspoon and Matthew Broderick, and now gives us another gem to stack at the top of our bookshelves. I've never been so absorbed in any novel like I was while reading Tom Perrotta's brilliant Little Children, a drama of sorts that delves into the intimate lives of parents in a small suburban area. What makes this story so amazing is it works on every level to drag you into the characters' lives and make you understand and relate to them. Each player brings something different to the table and keeps your interest straight through to the end. This is much more than just a novel about raising children and having affairs but it's about living your life and finding happiness, if in all the wrong places.
First we have Sarah, a young, plain-looking feminist who feels almost trapped in a life she would have never imagined she'd live. She had much larger dreams for herself than to be the wife of a middle-aged porn addict and the mother of a somewhat anti-social but very demanding daughter Lucy. She's not only living the life she would have never picked but she's surrounded by other mothers who are content, happy, and almost threatened by the presence of an outsider of the likes of Sarah.
One such mother is Mary Ann, a very conservative woman who has a scheduled time for everything, going as far as to schedule weekly sex with her husband every Tuesday night. But it's her constant control of her surroundings that masks her unhappiness and insecurity. She's constantly butting heads with Sarah, not because she loathes her, but because she envies her. She has something Mary Ann could never attain. That is Todd, the Prom King, a stay-at-home father of young Aaron who has quickly become the fantasy man in all the married mothers’ lives. He's fit and good-looking, like the prom kings at school these mothers could never be with.
Article comments