College Article 10: Little Children
The Children of a Seedy Suburbia:
Little Children by Tom Perrotta
**** out of 5
(B)
Fiction
336 pgs.
The title of this book is not the only thing that is deceiving; even the most disgusting, vile character is not completely what he first appears to be. The mark of a good book is one that makes you not only feel for the characters but continue to think about them even after you put the book down.
The cast of characters presented by author Tom Perrotta is varied to say the least: there is “the jock” turned father, “feminist” turned mother, a conservative, schedule-obsessed tight-a**, a mother craving a relationship with her son that borders on the Oedipus-complex, a self-righteous atheist obsessed with a child molester, and (that’s right) a convicted child molester. All that occurs in the book is a bit too complicated to explain here and this writer runs the risk of giving too much away…
But this will be said about the book: there is never a time when it doesn’t seem interesting. It may slow at some parts (as most books tend to be) but there is something in the way Perrotta writes that pushes the reader forward. The way the characters are written, not just presented and go through a sequence of events. They are fleshed out in almost everyway (quite literally in a certain part of the book…). The reader is given their pasts, their view on certain events in their lives while not breaking entirely into first-person-narrative. These are characters that are like people in the way the reader will like them one moment then be irritated by them or frustrated or sorry for them or even angry at them the next.
In many ways, the actual children in this book are more adult than the adults themselves - the “adults” behave like children in not just their behavior but in their actions. They hurt each other when they don’t need to, they hurt others when they needn’t be so cruel, and some are lost in what they really want and just need someone who cares about them to show them the way “home”. We are all human - we make mistakes (some less forgivable than others), we have faults (some that are more criticized than others) but what seems to mend all of that is the acknowledgment of that side of ourselves. There are times when it is pointed out to us (not always eloquently) and then there are times when we have to experience that part of ourselves to realize what it is.
Little Children is a book that says all of this through it’s characters and then some.
Recently (in 2006), this book was adapted into a critically-successful film earning praise and awards for the portrayals of ‘Sarah’(the adulteress mother) and ‘Ronnie’(the convicted child molester) by Kate Winslet and Jackie Earl Haley, respectively, in particular showing the depth of their book-counterparts.
Bottom line: While the children may play at the playground it’s the other “children” watching them that show just how seedy and cruel suburbia really is.
*originally written in April 07*