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3.32 AVERAGE
3.32 AVERAGE
This is a solid 3.5 for me -- enjoyable to read, well-written characters, and... not that much else. A very, very, very even read for a book about coming to terms with significant life changes. It also felt like there was some, uh, "wokeness-flexing," which was fine when written into a character's perspective, but felt clunky when just sort of... listed. That said: much to enjoy, and I did.
As well-written, bitingly funny, and scandalous as I expected, but left me feeling unexpectedly sad. Something to do with life-stage, I suppose.
I loved this main character! I want to be friends with her. The writing is so good, I thought Brendan's voice was especially effective. I wasn't super interested in every character but I appreciated the relaxed approach to sexuality. Totally solid read.
medium-paced
While interesting and addressing real life issues, this book was not for me. There was much blushing and uncomfortable moments as I worked through this book. And worked is a correct word. It was only my constant need to finish a book that kept me reading it. Not a fan.
Interesting story that pulled me through but the detailed sexual situations took me out of the story too often. Don't want to give any spoilers here so I can't explain with much detail. I might have felt differently if the book were written by a woman. Maybe the tone would have been more inviting. But, nevertheless, I enjoyed the story and the characters.
I thought the male author did a terrible job writing from a woman's viewpoint. Very few characters were believable or realistic to me. Half of the characters just disappeared from the second half of the book.
I enjoy Tom Perrotta's novels, as a rule - they're usually pretty quick to read, somewhat relate-able, and offer a quirky slice of life for a couple hundred pages or so that you can escape into. His latest, Mrs. Fletcher, was certainly no deviance from that. It's a rather ironic "coming of age" story, except that its main heroine, Eve Fletcher, is a divorcee dealing with finding her way on her own after her son, Brendan, leaves the nest to go to college.
Eve works as an executive director at a nearby senior center, and while she occasionally finds the work fulfilling, she obviously seeks more adventure in her life than the day-to-day routine. One evening, when she receives a mysterious text which declares her a "sexy MILF", she becomes intrigued. A few quick searches on the internet lands her in MILF porn territory... and over time, she just can't stop being fascinated by it. It becomes habitual for her to close her nights logging on to these porn sites.
Meanwhile, every other chapter or so, the narrative flips into first person as Perrotta describes Brendan's awkward experiences at college. Brendan - as many other Good Reads reviewers of this book have noted - is not the most like-able character. He is completely clueless when it comes to his privilege and somewhat lazy. He doesn't really want to put in the work that needs to get done to be successful. He treats women poorly. He becomes surly and a bit selfish when his college roommate abandons him to date a girl in a wheelchair. I'm fairly certain Perrotta created Brendan this way for a reason; it's a sharp glimpse at the "self-entitlement" that so many young adults Brendan's age are accused of, frequently, by older generations. While it's subtle, by the end of this novel, Brendan does learn marginally the lesson that only he is responsible for the decisions he makes and the direction his life takes him. (He's still not the most pleasant character to follow.)
Perrotta frequently peoples his novels with other unique characters crucial to the arc of the main protagonist's story: in Mrs. Fletcher, these include a young co-worker of Eve's, Amanda...a transgender teacher at the local university who Eve befriends when she takes her gender studies class...a perky, go-getter college classmate, Amber, who takes an interest in Brendan... and a pivotal character in Eve's development toward the end: Julian, another somewhat surly college kid who was in Brendan's high school class and is now a fellow student in Eve's gender class.
Perrotta's works ultimately disclose overlying themes: this one has much to say about gender, aging, and sexuality. I always have to chuckle at how sexual many of his novels are, and this one may be one of his raunchiest yet - but, it works. This isn't my favorite of Perrotta's books - Little Children is, in my opinion, a brilliant work of fiction and one of my favorites - but fans of his books will find enough to enjoy, and perhaps learn from, here. In a time of television comedies like Grace and Frankie, where we see folks experiencing a "sexual re-awakening" of sorts at a later age, Mrs. Fletcher fits right in and provides a heroine in Eve Fletcher that we can root for.
Eve works as an executive director at a nearby senior center, and while she occasionally finds the work fulfilling, she obviously seeks more adventure in her life than the day-to-day routine. One evening, when she receives a mysterious text which declares her a "sexy MILF", she becomes intrigued. A few quick searches on the internet lands her in MILF porn territory... and over time, she just can't stop being fascinated by it. It becomes habitual for her to close her nights logging on to these porn sites.
Meanwhile, every other chapter or so, the narrative flips into first person as Perrotta describes Brendan's awkward experiences at college. Brendan - as many other Good Reads reviewers of this book have noted - is not the most like-able character. He is completely clueless when it comes to his privilege and somewhat lazy. He doesn't really want to put in the work that needs to get done to be successful. He treats women poorly. He becomes surly and a bit selfish when his college roommate abandons him to date a girl in a wheelchair. I'm fairly certain Perrotta created Brendan this way for a reason; it's a sharp glimpse at the "self-entitlement" that so many young adults Brendan's age are accused of, frequently, by older generations. While it's subtle, by the end of this novel, Brendan does learn marginally the lesson that only he is responsible for the decisions he makes and the direction his life takes him. (He's still not the most pleasant character to follow.)
Perrotta frequently peoples his novels with other unique characters crucial to the arc of the main protagonist's story: in Mrs. Fletcher, these include a young co-worker of Eve's, Amanda...a transgender teacher at the local university who Eve befriends when she takes her gender studies class...a perky, go-getter college classmate, Amber, who takes an interest in Brendan... and a pivotal character in Eve's development toward the end: Julian, another somewhat surly college kid who was in Brendan's high school class and is now a fellow student in Eve's gender class.
Perrotta's works ultimately disclose overlying themes: this one has much to say about gender, aging, and sexuality. I always have to chuckle at how sexual many of his novels are, and this one may be one of his raunchiest yet - but, it works. This isn't my favorite of Perrotta's books - Little Children is, in my opinion, a brilliant work of fiction and one of my favorites - but fans of his books will find enough to enjoy, and perhaps learn from, here. In a time of television comedies like Grace and Frankie, where we see folks experiencing a "sexual re-awakening" of sorts at a later age, Mrs. Fletcher fits right in and provides a heroine in Eve Fletcher that we can root for.
Another good bit of satire from Tom Perrotta, though not quite what I expected from the blurb (it's less about Mrs. Fletcher's exploits than it is about her son). I did enjoy it, though, and there were things I felt like I would have related to more if I were a parent but could still understand the humor in at least.
