Customer Reviews

Election

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(29)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I have to admit, I saw the movie first. At the suggestion of this page I also read "Bad Haircut" before reading "Election". "Bad Haircut" was good, but I think I would have enjoyed it more if I was a guy.

Anyway, the book fills in a blank spots that abound in the movie. It incorporates current events that occurred around the time the book was written. The reactions of the characters to this and each other makes them three-dimensional. You feel like they could've gone to your school. While the film focused mostly on the character of Mr. M, the lovable civics teacher, the book offers more monologues from more characters. Tracy Flick is given more of a chance to explain herself and is viewed less as a villain, and more as a normal person.

If I haven't sold you yet, read the book for this one reason: IT HAS A BETTER ENDING!!!!!

(Theres a reason why Tom Perotta teaches writing at Harvard!!!!!)

This is an entertaining light book that could have been better. The problem? The book does not adequately explain the motives of the high school teacher who tries to steal an election from overachiever Tracy Flick. (The book is set in Tom Perrotta's favored region of New Jersey.) The movie adaptation (with Matthew Broderick and Reese Witherspoon) portrays more fully developed characters, allowing one to feel and believe their emotions. However, the book is better than the movie in some respects. Paul Warren, Tracy's main electoral rival, is much more perceptive, and--well--smarter, than the one-dimensional nick jock in the movie. His first-person narration is closest to the author's point of view, and it's a very effective portrayal. Tracy Flick comes off as more sympathetic, although a little more self-aware too.

Paul and Tracy represent high school archetypes; Paul's sister, outsider Tammy (so vividly portrayed in the film) is not as bouyant here and her relationships not highlighted as well. Still, the rapid switches between different first person accounts of chronologically overlapping scenes make this a Rashomen-lite narrative that is fast, light, and often funny.

The main problem is "Mr. M.," the high school teacher who attempts to rig the election against Tracy. We don't see the burn out, the conflicts between idealism and cynicism, and, especially, the self-loathing that Broderick (and the screenplay) brought to the film. Because of this somewhat superficial treatment, his behavior is never provided the context or motivation to fully realize the tragi-comical themes underlying the humor and irony so effectively portrayed in the film. Still, a quick fun read.

The back cover of this edition of "Election" makes the following claims: Tracy Flick, prospective President of Winwood High, is the kind of girl who "edits the yearbook [and] star[s] in the musical"; Paul Warren, likable jock, is so dim he's described as "not sure what's going on"; and the election at the high school is fraught with "sex scandals, smear campaigns, and behind-the-scene power brokers". I mention this, because, curiously, none of these things are found in the book. Oh sure, they could be. Maybe in the in-between scenes, the one that author Tom Perrotta doesn't actually write, but that's reading a little too much into the book's subtext. Either that, or an overworked copywriter never read the book, but rented the movie instead.

This is one of those rare occasions where the movie is more fleshed-out than the book. At a scant 200 pages (it can't be more than 40,000 words long; the slowest of readers could polish it off in a couple of hours), I found myself waiting for favourite scenes from the movie to pop up in prose form. Can you believe that Mr. McAllister doesn't even get stung by a bee in the book? For shame! I know, I know, you can't blame Perrotta for any of this; he wrote the book he wrote and he can't change it now for an audience familiar with the story in another medium. They might be disappointed by the omissions, but I wasn't.

While the book rarely gives more than a preliminary expository sketch of its characters, Perrotta is smart enough to allow self-definition through their actions and their speech. Which any good book should be doing anyway. Listen to the way these kids talk. Paul describes his girlfriend Lisa as: "sarcastic-looking." It's a phrase that means nothing, but somehow I can picture her. A better example is this bit from Tracy, describing a torrid affair with a teacher: "We fooled around in the darkroom, the handicapped elevator (this was after school, when the wheelchair kids had gone home), and backstage, behind the curtain." This is the essence of Tracy's character: she's blunt, politically incorrect (ironic for someone running for class president), and unabashedly cold. Perrotta, in a style that stays away from overly purple prose, nails the language of the age perfectly. I suspect that Perrotta knew this was his greatest strength, for the book is told in a series of vignettes, each from a different character's point of view. The effect is "Rashomon"-like, as we get alternating viewpoints on situations and character that allows us to question just who is telling the whole truth.

In a pivotal scene, an overzealous campaign manager defines the 'base' voters of each candidate. Paul's support will come from the "jocks, cheerleaders, and wannabes." Tracy can count on "the AP crowd, [and] maybe the band." Tammy Warren, Paul's younger sister and bona fide alternative candidate, will garner most of her votes from "the burnouts and the benchwarmers and the kids who feel left out." Not only does this scene neatly define the election subplot, but also it quickly categorizes what it means to be a high school student: you're athletic and popular, smart and respected, or apathetic and unsympathetic. It's a pretty bleak school view that Perrotta lays out. For those of us who remember high school vividly, though, it can't be more accurate.

Perrotta's accurate eye is not only trained on the students, but it gets a good look at the teachers too. Jim McAllister, a.k.a. Mr. M., is our conduit into this little-seen world. He's a perfect example of the adage, "those who can, do; those who can't, teach." Although that's unfair, for Mr. M is too satisfied to see if he can 'do'. One moment of anguish has him detailing a dream of his perfect career, only to admit that he'd "done nothing to implement [those dreams]." In many ways, Mr. M reads like a typically content but not happy character. But in other ways, he's rather odd. Over his decade at the school he's built himself a prudent reputation, while simultaneously building a solid marriage. But he dallies from his wife and career in one destructive week, and it changes him from being a respected teacher to a man who would reflexively muse that "it's awful to admit, but I felt a powerful sense of relief every time I turned on the TV and saw buildings going up in flames, and that poor man being dragged out of his truck."

This last bit, an oblique reference to Los Angeles in the wake of the Rodney King verdict, also highlights the book's insistence on being anchored in a specific time period. The L.A. Riots, the Thomas/Hill hearings, and the impending election of Governor Clinton into the White House all form an early nineties backdrop that seems to be commenting directly on the events occurring at Winwood High. "The only difference was that Bill and Clarence lied and I told the truth," laments Mr. M., in one of the book's most poignant lines. The time and place are captured neatly, and relevantly.

"Election" is not a perfect slice-of-life. It's too short to be considered great, and there are some clunky plot-devices that I didn't buy. But it's still more than just a trifle. If you'd told me some prodigy teenager had handed this work in for a creative writing assignment, I'd believe you. For the accuracy and flavour of the dialogue, the complex yet simply believable characters, and the credible picture of high school it draws.

I finished this book last night and, for close to ten minutes, sat with it in my hands, utterly stunned and delighted by Tom Perrotta's narrative.

On the surface, "Election" seems just another tribute to Generation-X, broken families, and the classically icky tale of the over-achiever you knew in high school. However, what unfolds in this slim volume is a seamless story about a classless anti-heroine. Amidst some very sharp diction, biting humour, and poetic observations, Tracy at once emerges as a pathetic uber-student and silly femme fatale, a victim of the loneliness ambition brings.

Though, it is not until halfway through the novel that the reader learns how and why we feel sorry for Tracy. Some very painful glimpses behind Tracy's awards and achievements occur, but rest assured that they do not happen in a soap operatic way - but rather, they are implied with a single statment, one word, unwitting admissions by Tracy herself. The fact is, we find out how devastated she is by her loneliness at the same rate she does - that's what makes this book so great - we don't know anymore about Tracy than Tracy does at any given point.

The ultimate impact of "Election" is an exacting political satire and complex human portrait that is not without its jabs at the American Dream and the inherently doomed and damnable American Dreamer.

I look forward to reading Mr. Perrotta's other efforts. Ten stars, if possible!

Election was as good, if not a little better, than the movie. There are some things the movie does better than the book, but the book is a little more detailed and offers a little more sympathy towards Tracy Flick. I really enjoy Perotta's style. I thought the various points of view made the book more interesting and compelling. I found it quick and easy to read. The best aspect of the book was how Perrotta captures the attitude and atmosphere of high school. His portrayal of high school life offers realsim, humor and satire that make the book more enjoyable. Some of the characters could have been a little better developed, such as Mr. M and Lisa, but overall this book was very done, especially considering the structure that Perotta uses.

A funny but ultimately depressing read, Perotta asks what happens when you realize your dreams, and then realize they're not all that great. The book looks at a high school election and the adults and teens participating in it. In spite of all the effort put into the election, it seems a futile exercise: most of the kids don't care, and the ones that do care too much. By the end, everyone walks away unsatisfied - if not diminished - by their electoral experience. And yet, even if Perotta's characters can't give meaning to their lives, at least he gives the whole thing humor and humanity.

Tom Perrota is a fun author to read. I must admit, I did not know who he was before I saw the movie Election, but I am very glad to have discovered him. Bad Haircut: Tales from the Seventies and Election are very good books. Perrotta has a very straightforward style that is very easy to read. He creates characters and situations that are easy to relate to. Election is set up in way that each character tells his or her side of the story as it progresses. The book centers around a high school election with candidates that are very real. On the surface they may seam like stereotypical teenage characters, but they are in fact much deeper. Tracy Flick is driven and a bit ruthless in her pursuit of office. She feels it will lonely help advance her career and look good on college applications. Paul Warren is an easy- going jock who is talked into running by Mr. M. Paul has good intentions and an innocent perspective on life. Tammy Warren is perhaps the most interesting character of all. She is funny, wise and confused. She runs for office only to spite her brother and particularly his campaign manager, Lisa, her former love interest. Her dream of attending the all girl Immaculate Mary is priceless. Mr. M has been criticized as shallow by some reviews, and he may be a little underdeveloped, but he has many real aspects as well. His reasons for teaching seem genuine, but his actions are not always consistent. Election is a fast paced read, and at only 200 pages, it goes too quick. I have read only good things about Wishbones, so I will make that my next read. I hope Perrotta continues to write because his books are a joy to read.

Tom Perrotta's works speak poignantly about adolescents' discovery of adult realities. "Election" is very much in this genre, and seems to accent the fallability of our heroes and how, while essentially good, they often have unattractive and self destructive tendancies.

This novel shows how time and distance can heal wounds, that through growth we can come to forgive those who hurt us, and how maturity broadens our perspective so we can understand the motives which precipitate callow behavior. It also speaks to how witnessing, and participating in the downfall of adults can lead teenagers to quickly develop adult perspectives.

A good book, which employs adolescent situations to provide thought provoking observations on life and behavior.

It's always exciting to have a new favorite author. With his third book, "Election," Tom Perrotta is firmly established as an expressive and creative writer of the highest order. One of the remarkable things about "Election," is that the narrative shifts among the main characters. It's not that the characters' versions of events conflict - the telling of the story moves from one to another effortlessly, as if the characters were trading riffs at a jam session. It's not surprising that "Election," is soon to be a film; the cuts are built-in as the perspective changes from narrator to narrator. I found it disturbing that most of the men in the story have frighteningly sexist beliefs - I kept wanting to scream at them. Eventually I admitted to myself that there are plenty of men that are really like this. A school election is at the center of this novel, and the events take place against the backdrop of the 1992 presidential campaign. Perrotta knows that we know all about the sexual shenanigans and duplicity that are taking place in the 'other' election. Sex seems to be on the minds of most of the characters, most of the time. This is a great book, and a quick read. You'll find yourself wanting to read or reread his previous books, "The Wishbones," and "Bad Haircut.

Like a cross between Ridgemont High and John Hughes's Shermer High, Tom Perrotta's fictional Winwood High might serve as metaphor--a microcosm of American society: the clash of egos, the petty conflicts, the cynical view of civics. But I think that a (perhaps unintended) theme--a preoccupation, really--of "Election" is that adults, when immersed long enough in the world of teenagers, become indistinguishable from their wards. Certainly history teacher Jim McAllister allows the wall that separates him from his students to crumble. Like his disgraced colleague Jack Dexter, who has had an affair with student Tracy Flick, McAllister loses his way when he behaves like the adolescent he isn't.

The blurring of lines between adulthood and adolescence is only further muddied, unfortunately, by the similarity of the various first-person voices that populate Perrotta's story. If it weren't for the subheads helpfully telling us who's speaking at any given moment, it would be difficult to tell Mr. McAllister and his students apart; many of their accounts read like droll depositions given in a juvenile court proceeding.

When the individuality of the characters does become discernible, however, the portraits often flirt precariously with stereotype--the ambitious overachiever Tracy, the dumb jock Paul Warren, his sister the cynical slacker Tammy Warren--and the depictions of the adults who infiltrate the playground often read like unintentional farce. Even a cameo appearance by the school janitor is written through the same prism of monotone minimalism, while the school principal Walt Hendricks is little more than a watered-down re-creation of Ed Rooney, the petty tyrant of "Ferris Bueller."

Not quite realism, not quite parody, the novel does manage to capture successfully the comic parochialism of a suburban high school and the exaggerated misfortunes of youth. The plot twists keep these students and their hapless teacher somewhat interesting, and it's a fun read (and certainly not as profound as it pretends to be). Yet there's a "written for the screen" aspect to the novel that underscores the undeniable slightness of the prose and that invites comparisons to the many motion pictures from the past three decades that have handled this material with far more nuance and wit.