A review by offbalance80
Nine Inches by Tom Perrotta

4.0

Some day, I'd like Tom Perrotta to write something (a novel, a short story, a novella) and call it "Look at your life, look at your choices." Because that is the true thread that ties all of his characters together. Nine Inches collects most (if not all) of the short stories that Perrotta has released into the wild (be it via internet or other publication) over the recent years into one bonanza of moderately affluent white people making genuinely stupid decisions and paying the price for them. (One of the reasons we can tell this is fiction, after all). In many of the stories, you feel no sympathy for these characters whatsoever, and the author never indicates that he wants you to, which is part of the reason I adore his writing. The sheer pileup of arrogant humanity does wear on the reader for the majority of the book, so I was grateful that Perrotta (or his editors) chose to leave the two more hopeful stories for the end. This is great if you enjoy short stories or particularly enjoy Tom Perrotta, but if you would like an introduction to the author, please make sure you pick up a copy of his marvelous novel Little Children as soon as you can (and avoid the movie that completely missed the point of the book).