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Tom Perrotta

Election Kindle Edition

by Tom Perrotta (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.2 706 ratings

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From the New York Times bestselling author of The Leftovers and Tracy Flick Can't Win comes a darkly hilarious novel about a high school election that brings out the worst in everyone—the basis for the film starring Reese Witherspoon!

Tracy Flick wants to be President of Winwood High. She’s one of those ambitious girls who finds time to do it all: edit the yearbook, star in the musical, sleep with her English teacher. But another teacher, staunch idealist Jim McAllister, aka “Mr. M.,” thinks the students deserve better. So he persuades Paul Warren—a well-liked, good-hearted jock—to throw in his hat. But that puts Paul’s sister Tammy in a snit. So she runs too, on an apathy platform, before starting a real campaign...to get herself kicked out of school.

The idea was to educate the students at this suburban New Jersey school in the democratic process and the American way. But with all the sex scandals, smear campaigns, and behind-the-scenes power brokers at Winwood High, it doesn’t look as if they need any lessons....

Print length

220 pages
Language

English
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Publisher

Berkley
Publication date

October 1, 1998
File size

1466 KB
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Tom Perrotta is a remarkably astute observer and writer of the adolescent experience. His Bad Haircut: Stories of the Seventies is a delightful collection of coming-of-age stories, which give insight into the joys and agonies of adolescence. In Perrotta's first full-length novel The Wishbones, a 31-year-old musician can't quite cope with the responsibilities of adulthood and instead lives an extended adolescence. Perrotta's much-anticipated second novel Election again successfully ventures into the adolescent psyche.

The book is set in a New Jersey high school amidst a hotbed of political activity: students are voting for their school president. Perrotta's cast of characters are exaggerated but convincing. They convey adolescence as it often is--sometimes painful and frequently awkward. Tracy is the popular girl, smart and pretty, but she isn't quite as perfect as her classmates assume. A sordid affair with a teacher lurks in the shadows. Paul is the jovial football jock, but his parent's divorce has left him hurt and vulnerable. Then there is Paul's younger and geekier sister Tammy, the tormented underdog struggling with her sexuality. Plot develops through a series of mini-chapters, narrated by the main protagonists. There are also frequent interjections from Mr. M, the all-around good teacher every kid loves--the kind of teacher Hollywood loves to enshrine in sentimental flicks. A genuine crescendo of excitement and anticipation consumes the reader, as we eagerly await who has won the election. This is a novel of teenagers on the brink of adulthood, and is probably best appreciated by grownups with enough perspective on their own adolescent experiences to be able to take the bitter with the sweet.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

Perrotta's delightful first novel, The Wishbones (1997), and a preceding story collection, Bad Haircut (1994), observed with wry and hilarious wit the agonies of growing up (and also of refusing to) in suburban New Jersey in the 1970s. Here, the author surveys an essentially similar territory and theme, but this time the formula is somewhat less successfully mixed. The year is 1992, the town is Winwood, and the plot revolves around the upcoming election for its high school's president (apparently a single one for all four classes). In a curiously unabsorbing narrative (though it's readable enough), half a dozen characters narrate in mini-chapters their versions of the intrigue that dominates the election campaign, the kids' own screwed-up self-images and sexual confusions, and their elders' parallel truancies. Popular Tracy Flick, for instance, buoyed by her superabundant energy and ``amazing body,'' knows she's the odds-on favorite to be her classmates' choice. But when history teacher and faculty advisor Jim McAllister (``Mr. M.'') persuades football hero and all-round good kid Paul Warren to run against Tracy (and that isn't all Mr. M. does), the plot thickens--and grows thicker still when Paul's kid sister Tammy, an unusually introspective misfit with a double-barreled identity crisis, also enters the contest. It's hard to pinpoint where the generally entertaining story goes wrong. But it feels simultaneously footloose and overplotted; the characters' voices aren't skillfully differentiated; and Perrotta doesn't sense the inconsistency of resolving some of his characters' fates (the final sequence is a beauty), while leaving others awkwardly hanging. No matter. It's a done deal that Matthew Broderick will play Mr. M. in the forthcoming film, and that Perrotta's well-deserved success will undoubtedly enable him to write better novels than this one--perhaps even another as good as The Wishbones. (Film rights to MTV Films/Paramount) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Tom Perrotta teaches writing at Harvard. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Typically plotted but atypically dark, this comedy about a high-school election is a quick-reading novel told in revolving first-person narration. Tracy Flick, an ambitious flirt, will do anything to get elected. Paul Warren is the ideal countercandidate: a football hero who can think and feel. Paul's precocious little sister Tammy, who is wrestling with her sexual identity, also decides to run. Lisa Flanagan, her girlfriend, becomes Paul's girlfriend and campaign manager, and she ends up working harder and wanting victory more than Paul. Mr. M (Jim McAllister) is the faculty advisor overseeing the election and having a crisis in his marriage. Each gives her or his view on the election, which serves as a microcosm of all that is wrong with high school and the U.S. When Mr. M acts impulsively on his dissatisfaction with his marriage and the election, his actions lead to the story's climax and his downfall. Perrotta's novel is already being made into a movie, which may increase demand for it. Kevin Grandfield --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

A far cry from Sweet Valley High, this wry, engaging story of a 1992 high-school election in a New Jersey town "a couple of exits" away from Glen Ridge is observant and sly, if less amusing than the battles over pop-musical taste in Perrotta's quirkily humorous first novel, The Wishbones. The candidates for school presidency of Winwood High are an uninspiring bunch campaigning for what almost everybody knows is an empty office. Ambitious Tracy Flick is a hot bundle of raw political ambition and a bad reputation, who campaigns with cupcakes against Paul Warren, a jock with a pretty face and high PSAT scores who is urged to run by his history teacher (and sometime narrator) Jim McAllister. Paul's nihilistic sister Tammy (who enters the race in a despairing rage because she's in love with Paul's girlfriend) is the single fresh and original character here?and she gets herself suspended before Election Day. The results are blessedly far from feel-good, and Perrotta casts a wonderfully cool eye on his ostensible protagonist, "Mr. M.," even if the hints of true political satire remain just that, tantalizing hints. Despite six alternating narrators, this is a simple, spare story?designed, perhaps, with moviegoers in mind as well as readers. (Mar.) FYI: A movie version already is in production with MTV Films/Paramount, featuring Matthew Broderick as McAllister.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

...Election provides those gratifyingly exact and telling portraits of the kids themselves. Solid plotting guarantees that the reader really does want to learn who wins when the ballots are finally counted... -- The New York Times Book Review, Peter LaSalle --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Perrotta's second novel (following The Wishbones, LJ 4/15/97) is built around the election of the student body president at Winwood High School in suburban New Jersey. Ambitious, sexy, and successful Tracy Flick wants the job. Faculty advisor Jim McAllister doesn't approve. He encourages Paul Warren, football star and All-American Boy, to run against Tracy. When Paul agrees, his younger sister Tammy throws her hat into the ring as well. After competition among the candidates escalates and gets ugly, McAllister attempts to hand the election to Paul by pocketing two crucial ballots. When his election-rigging attempt is exposed, McAllister loses his job. The story is picked up by the national media, who make McAllister a pariah in his home town. Peopled with characters we have all met in real life, this soap opera/comedy is funny, sad, realistic, irreverent, and very readable.?Joanna M. Burkhardt, Univ. of Rhode Island Coll. of Continuing Education Lib., Watch Hill
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B09ZNRFB4X
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Berkley (October 1, 1998)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 1, 1998
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 1466 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 220 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #118,372 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #123 in Humorous Literary Fiction
- #359 in Political Fiction (Books)
- #867 in Contemporary Literary Fiction

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4.2 706 ratings

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Tom Perrotta

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Thomas R. Perrotta (born August 13, 1961) is an American novelist and screenwriter best known for his novels Election (1998) and Little Children (2004), both of which were made into critically acclaimed, Academy Award-nominated films. Perrotta co-wrote the screenplay for the 2006 film version of Little Children with Todd Field, for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. He is also known for his novel The Leftovers (2011), which has been adapted into a TV series on HBO.

Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5

706 global ratings

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3 star		16%
2 star		3%
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Sherry Sharpnack

Teacher Too Involved in School Election

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 31, 2022

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All I knew about "Election" before reading was that the movie made from the book was filmed in Omaha in 1999 (woo hoo, Nebraska!). I only knew that it was about an election in a high school.
One word comes to mind about this book: tawdry. I needed a shower after finishing it. I couldn't believe how so many of the male teachers/administrators in this high school thought about or actually HAD sex w/ students. EWWWWW.
As to the plot: a student at the heart of the student/teacher sex scandal, Tracy, decides to run for school president. Jim McAllister, the Social Studies teacher in charge of running the school election and the friend of the teacher involved in the scandal, does NOT want Tracy to be "rewarded" for her behavior by becoming school president. So, he talks the football team popular fullback, Paul, into running in the election. Paul's little sister, Tammy, then decides to run as well, on an "anti school election" platform, positing that most students don't even CARE about this exercise in democracy. But as for Mr. McAllister? He cannot STAND the thought of Tracy winning, so... what will he do if she does?
McAllister not only makes the wrong choice regarding the election outcome, he also screws up (I mean that, literally) his home life in a stunning act of betrayal IMHO. I lost all sympathy for the man, and honestly had trouble finishing the book. It was so sad to read about a man who actually liked teaching just throw it all away in a series of stunningly-bad choices.
Ewww. Icky. I'm gonna go take my shower now.
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pindrop notes

A TERSE LITTLE GEM

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 20, 2014

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When I was in high school there was a scandal. It was never clear exactly what the scandal was but for one reason or another, whether the president was into drugs or if he didn't come from enough money or what the truth was, our student body president was relieved of his duties and the vice president of the student body was given the job. The following year on Columbus Day weekend when the vice president who had become our student body president was trying to come home from college to see his girlfriend who had been the homecoming queen of our senior class he and two other boys got into a car accident, hit an embankment and they all died. The original student body president went on to sell cars at a local dealership. So who cares about that stupid election?

If Tom Perrotta were Shakespeare his book very well may have been entitled "Much Ado About Nothing: Who Doth Care About Thine Stupid Election?" And a very good question it is. The only people who profit winning student body elections are the students who win them. And what difference does it really make in their lives if they do? Sure, it's a nice thing to put on paper when you're trying to get into college, maybe it will even allow you to commiserate with some interesting people. But for some reason, students and their parents and even teachers occasionally seem to put abnormal importance on it and on who wins. But rationally speaking is it really worth an outstanding teacher losing their career over throwing a high school election? Isn't it all just a popularity contest after all?

The style of "Election" is written in short musings told by the different characters in the book much like the darker tale "The Sweet Hereafter" and the choice to do so works. We get to see each of the character's perspective on what happened and maybe even more importantly we find amongst them there really is no true hero here. Paul Warren seems sweet but we later we see his insincerity in the way he signs one of the other character's yearbooks. Tracy Flick sleeps with her teacher, lies and destroys her opponent's posters. Tammy Warren's motivation is primarily revenge on those who don't understand her. And the lead character, Mr. M. who commits the main crime in the book performs a few other selfish acts as well. Normally this would not be a good recipe for a story as we must ask ourselves who we should root for here. But in this case it works brilliantly because as much as each character is a villain the author shows us there is something redeeming in them all, even some unexpected similarities leading us to an examination into ourselves, others and our own values.

The film of the same name originally used a different ending. I was fortunate enough a few years back to attend a Q and A with the screenwriter and the audience was shown the original ending of the film which stays true to the book and is excellent. There is only one thing I would change about it but that is more or less my opinion. Unfortunately as far as I know the DVD does not contain that alternate ending in its extras and it should. Also something that was prominent in the film that was not originally in the book was the premise "What is the difference between morals and ethics?" which runs as an undercurrent in the novel and is stated definitively and verbally in the film, the point being of course that there is no difference and it is the tip off to what sends Mr. M. on his spiraling downfall.

Election is a very well written masterfully paced book. It is not a story that makes you comfortable when you read it but it is not one to easily put down either.

12 people found this helpful

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Rebecca Mugridge

Recommended

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 19, 2022

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This was my book club's August pick; one of our members wanted to read it in anticipation of the sequel. It was a quick and very amusing take on a high school election, made into a movie decades ago with Reese Whitherspoon in the lead role. Based on my memory of the film, it followed the book very closely.

2 people found this helpful

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jsdunada

not great

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 5, 2023

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I liked the first person style. I’m not sure why I wouldn’t recommend it. Maybe because the whole plot was improbable.

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Blake Maddux

One of the freshest breaths of air I have ever breathed

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 14, 2002

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Who would ever think that such a modest novel, and such a quick read, could be such a truly great piece of literature? I read the entire novel [in one day] and the last time I had a smile on my face for so long, I was watching the movie based on this novel. ...
Granted, the movie is a case study of how a novel can change when put into the hands of a different writer and director. The amazing thing is that both the movie and the novel are great on their own merits. It is impossible to say that you do not like the movie simply because it takes such liberties with the book. ...
... one of the movies funniest lines does not appear in the novel (when a colleague and friend of Mr. M. descibes something only he knows about Tracy Flick), and another of the movie's funniest lines comes from Mr. M. (Matthew Broderick), while in the novel it comes from the school's principal. Trust me, it is funnier coming from Matthew Broderick than it would have been coming from the actor who portrayed the principal ... Plus, Mr. M. never gets stung by a bee in the novel. These are among the many gems that the movie has that the novel does not. I will not bother to mention the advantages the novel has over the movie, but there are several.
What needs to be stressed is the novel's bravery. It deals in no uncertain terms with adultery, soft-core pedophilia, lesbianism, corruption, blind ambition, alienation, loneliness, and, perhaps most importantly, forgiveness. And it deals with these issues through characters who seem so utterly real.
"Election" is truly a great achievement.
Do yourself a favor: read the novel and see the movie. Do so in any order, for both are equally great on their own merits. It is a shame, nay, a travesty, that only a few very fortunate people are aware of this book and movie. But as Tracy Flick (Reese Witherspoon) says in the movie, "If you're going to be great, you have to be lonely." This is a lonely book and movie, but it is a great as it is lonely.

5 people found this helpful

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finalguy

makes for a better movie...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on June 21, 2012

Verified Purchase

If you wished to read this book after seeing the movie, I can honestly say that there is no need. The movie captures everything in the book and actually improves on it somewhat, the only difference to them is a slight change to the ending (of which I preferred the movie's more).
All of the characters each get their individual chapters and passages throughout the novel and it quickly becomes clear who are the more 'favourite' POV's are and who's chapters you just want to get through. Also, despite being possibly the standout character in the book, Tracy Flick seems to get decidedly less of a page count in comparison to some of the others, which left me disappointed.

Overall, an enjoyable book that you can power through in around two hours...but you could probably just watch the movie in that time and have about as much fun.

2 people found this helpful

Sean Davis

Funny and Political!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 7, 2021

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Before I read Election, I saw the film first and in my opinion it was quite funny. The book is funny too don't get me wrong I do like both the film and the book overall.

andalucia

Three Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on May 28, 2015

Verified Purchase

A good short novel,picking ups number of Perrotta's themes.

tiggrie AKA Sarah

Makes some good points and some biting comments, but overall lacking in depth.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on April 3, 2012

Verified Purchase

As with one or two other disappointed reviewers, I was annoyed and disappointed in the lack of character depth. The book makes some really interesting points, but being so short and relying so much on a reader simply buying in to what he's told, not what's shown (as another reviewer points out, there's no realy evidence why Tracy would be an obvious choice for President, or what makes Mr M. a popular teacher) the whole thing ended up feeling extremely superficial. For a very short book, it was quite a slog; I didn't really empathise with any of the characters; overall, I just felt like it was a let down when it could (should?) have been a fascinating book. It was OK, but just OK. I couldn't see myself re-reading it or recommending it to others, and based on this and The Abstinence Teacher , I won't be jumping at the chance to read any more Perrotta.

Kath Page

Not as good as the film

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on June 24, 2013

Verified Purchase

Maybe my expectations were too high but I was expecting great things from this book. I found the switching between narrators irritating and none of them really seemed like individuals. The idea of mirroring the corruption of American politics in a high school election is a good one but by the time it came to the actual election, I no longer cared.

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