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    Little Children
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    Little Children
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    Little Children
    Ebook374 pages4 hours

    Little Children

    By Tom Perrotta

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    A group of parents, trapped in middle-class stability, deal with marriage, kids and their suburban life in very different ways.
    Todd, the handsome stay-at-home-dad - the one all the playground Moms admire in a silent look-but-do-not-touch fashion. He's trying (for his wife's sake) to pass his bar exam although he blatantly doesn't want to be a lawyer, and in a desperate attempt to reclaim his youth joins a midnight touch-football team.and starts a passionate affair with Sarah. Sarah is a lapsed feminist who isn't quite sure how she ended up being a traditional wife. She's the kind of mother who (shock horror) is capable of forgetting her daughter's snack, and in a moment's rebellion dares to kiss Todd in front of the mother's group.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAllison & Busby
    Release dateJul 18, 2013
    ISBN9780749014810
    Author

    Tom Perrotta

    Tom Perrotta is the bestselling author of ten works of fiction, including Election and Little Children, both of which were made into critically acclaimed movies, and The Leftovers and Mrs. Fletcher, which were both adapted into HBO series. He lives outside Boston.

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    Reviews for Little Children

    3.5/5

    1,120 ratings68 reviews

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    • 2/5
      It was okay. It's definitely well written, but it also just wasn't my kind of story. Unhappy straight white suburbanites having affairs, whoop-de-doo.
    • 3/5
      I really don't think I have anything particularly insightful to say about Perotta's Little Children. Essentially, I found it to be a readable, likeable book about some mostly unlikeable people,and some of those were remarkably unlikable. Several times as I read I thought, "are there really adult men who are as big a goober as Larry Moon?" Course there are, but I suppose I have steered clear of them. Todd, "the prom king", is a sweet enough guy, but thoroghly confused. In fact, all the central characters are confused, confused about how they have washed up on the shore of adulthood so completely ill-equipped and so desperately off the mark from what their earlier lives seemed to promise. However, other authors have treated the same theme with greater power. One would be Ford with his brilliant Revolutionary Road, a book which, I believe, was published the same year as Tom Perotta and I were born. Revolutionary Road was perfectly nuanced, hitting a deeper chord of truth and emotion. Often described as a writer of darkly comic books, Perotta may allow this stance to water down the possible poignancy and intensity of his story.

    • 5/5
      I love Tom Perrotta the way 13-year-old girls love Justin Bieber. This is my second time reading this book and I loved it even more the second time. I rarely read books with a "perfect ending." There is usually something lacking. Not here. The conclusion is just right. And the pace of the last 50 pages is so perfectly frantic. I love it. There's a perfect balance of humor and sadness. The characters all seem real. We all know these people in our lives. Great, great, great.
    • 4/5
      It's probably not the book's fault. I just finished up another existentially depressing treatise on modern life, so this wasn't a great chaser (not that i knew that at the time, of course).

      But man, what bleakness.

      Little Children is the story of how nobody is really happy or in control, and trying to change it only makes things worse. There are brief, fleeting moments of happiness that collapse into ever-lengthening echoes of despair the minute you start to time them. Also, the story of a registered sex offender (and accused-but-not-actually-convicted child murderer!) plays a big role.
      So I feel somewhat justified.

      I can appreciate the argument that the novel is only trying to represent "reality," and I will concede the plotting is at least probable, if not super likely. But this is where my "two books where the predominant theme is people are terrible in a row" thing kicks in. I understand (and subscribe to!) the idea that people, in general, are kind of terrible. Individual persons, though, tend to be less so.

      Every character in Little Children feels like a consolidation of the worst traits of humanity distilled into an individual, which (in my experience) is precisely opposite of how it works. People as a whole are scumbags; Your neighbor probably isn't too bad. Though we like to joke that hipsters and suburbanites are terrible people, for the most part they're just mildly annoying when they congregate and generally tolerable on their own, short of fashion sense. Perhaps there's some sort of assholic magnet that drew those people together, or maybe it was something in the water. Regardless, you don't see that kind of bitterness and poison among a group of people outside of that ABC show The Slap, which I don't think anyone is confusing for reality anytime soon.

      Which is not to say this was a bad book! Merely depressing. Just make sure you're ready going into it.
    • 3/5
      This book was suggested as discussion material for the upcoming Yale Reunion. I read it quickly; I usually do not favor novels of the current time. The first chapter had amusing comments on the background noise of child rearing and suburbia in the recent past, then the author concentrated on his characters, all of whom are sexually obsessed. The handsome stay at home dad, Todd, "the Prom King" enthralls the ladies at the playground, and starts an affair with one of them, Sarah. He almost elopes with her but is injured at the end of the novel. His wife Kathy is a film maker, and makes him regret losing her sexuality. The prison released sexual pervert is harrassed by an ex-cop, and at the end, there are resolutions, hugs, and relief. Characterization is deft, and the motives, thoughts and feelings are true to life. Often, in these novels, one thinks the main character is too stupid or blind not to notice what is happening in the plot, but that is not the case here
    • 3/5
      This book is really about a bunch of middle aged suburbanites who should have never gotten married and had kids in the first place. I should also mention one of the main characters is a child molester, which is just really a difficult subject for me.
    • 3/5
      This was a quick, enjoyable read. As always, I wish I'd read it before seeing the movie. I really enjoyed the film, and didn't know it was a book until I read the DVD case. The book includes, of course, a lot more detail about the lives of the characters, especially those who aren't Sarah or Todd. I won't spoil the ending of either the book or the movie, but I will just say that I did not like the ending of the book. It just seemed very unlikely to me. Overall, though, I had a very fun time reading this and look forward to discussing it with my moms club!
    • 5/5
      Tom Perrotta's 'Little Children' tells stories of young couples who are unhappy and dissatisfied with their lives. The dreams and hopes of all of these people have been shattered by the harsh ground realities of their suburban lives. Most of them do not have any financial troubles, and yet, there is something in their lives which keeps troubling them. For some of them, it is a missed career; for others, it is a spouse who seems to be on a different planet most of the time; some of them find it very difficult to outgrow their youth and adjust to the demanding lives of adulthood entailing tedious obligations and responsibilities of familyhood. Whatever maybe the case, all these people find themselves at a place where they never expected to be just a few years ago.Perrotta's novel is all about opportunities missed and opportunities taken; it deals with the choices we all make in our lives, sometimes willingly, sometimes not so willingly. Nevertheless, we have to live with those choices. And it is the realization that we have dug ourselves in a rut which makes us bitter with ourselves and with people who surround us. And some of us decide to do whatever it takes to break the monotony of their lives and to have one last try at that elusive happiness, at that elusive contentment which all cherish but only the chosen few obtain.All the major characters in the book are well-rounded and completely fleshed out. There were no cliched personalities with stereotypical qualities. And one aspect of the book where Perrotta really succeeded was the fact that it is very hard for anyone to dub any of his characters just plain good or bad. The characters are just.....human....like all of us, with their very own flaws and strengths.Todd, one of the main characters, has a problem in coming to terms with the fact that his life as a carefree youth has come to an end. He still sees himself as that jock in college with not a care in the world. His immaturity manifests itself in many ways throughout the book: through his football games, through his fascination with young skateboarders, his secret fantasies of running away from it all and starting his life afresh; all these attributes of his personality depict his yearning for the life he had before he got married; the life which he would never have again.Even the supporting characters in the book were heart-breakingly human and oddly intriguing. Larry, the guilt-ridden ex-cop who feels morally superior by harassing Ronnie, the sex offender; Mary Anne, the control freak who is sucking life out of her four-year-old son with constant brainwashing about him going to Harvard when he grows up; Richard, Sarah's husband, whose Internet sex fantasy seems to have taken over his actual marital life.One of the peripheral characters in the book which I personally found emotionally devastating was May: the sexual pervert's mother. This poor woman spent her youth suffering at the hands of her alcoholic, abusive husband; and she spent the rest of her life trying to defend a son who could not be defended. She spent decades standing up for her son, trying to tell the rest of the world that her son, too, could become a nice person; that he, too, could be rehabilitated despite his heinous crimes. She died on the street in front of her house defending his son against a neighbourhood that was foaming at the mouth to find a pervert in the midst of their seemingly flawless paradise.Perrotta casts an unflinching yet compassionate look at the heart of modern day life in suburbia where everybody seems to be desperately trying to fit in the society; where the expectations of families and societies sometimes prove chokingly claustrophobic for its members. Perrotta's novel is about people who elected not to listen to their hearts while making choices in life; rather they heeded what their brains told them and took the rational, logical decisions which turned out financially rewarding but also came with a price tag of their own: the price being the loss of freedom; the freedom to live the life they wanted.I loved Perrotta's compassion for his characters without taking sides with any of them; I loved his clear prose and deep insights into the souls of people; and I loved the way he sustained the narrative in the book without giving in to a thoughtless fast-paced plot, but rather deciding to let the book move forward on the strength of its characters. All in all, I found it a great character-driven novel which is right up there with my all-time favourite novels. I rate it five stars out of five. This is a modern masterpiece."
    • 5/5
      I loved this book. I thought it was really well written and paced. I grew attached to the characters and found in each one flaws that were sympathic. I was satisfied with the ending, even. I saw the movie and really enjoyed it as well.
    • 4/5
      I thought the book was very good. It does show you into the world of stay at home moms a little bit. The panty scene was alittle off beat for me. The whole Richard thing was alittle weird but it made for good reading. I didnt care for the football and how much detail it went in to. I was very disappointed with the ending. It just kind of leaves you hanging and you dont know what happens to anyone. I would still recommend it. Its a good book for the most part.
    • 3/5
      Easy, light, fun read, but not original with regard to characters, dialogue or plot. The characters were quite shallow, self absorbed and cynical. They didn't really interest me, but I think this was the point. However, the book was a welcome rest from more thought-provoking, complex and skillfully written books. Basically it is a quick, fun read that demands very little from the reader.
    • 4/5
      Trashy in a Desperate Housewives kind of way; good mindless fun
    • 5/5
      This is one of my "all-time favorites". I picked this up on a whim because I needed one more book to get a deal at a well known book chain. And my goodness....the writing surprised me...everything did. I recommend this to anyone.
    • 2/5
      Some reviewers seem to think this book is a satire, but I'm not sure. I think it's more of a portrayal of comtemporay society. The story centres around a small community and the parents who are raising children there. Various parents have affairs, sneak cigarettes, fail to study for exams and play sports without proper safety equipment -- making the title a better description of them than of the children they are raising. A convicted child molester moves into the neighbourhood and the book shows his difficulties in integrating into society. A good read all in all.
    • 4/5
      BOOK #16This is one of those books where the cover (a bag with two goldfish inside) caught my eye awhile back and so, when it was on sale, I figured why not? I really enjoyed the story- even though it was predictable at times and the beginning reminded me of other suburban-based novels. I liked Perrotta's tone and his ability to weave a bunch of different stories together. And I really liked the ending- I won't give it away, but it didn't end the way I thought I was going to, which made me happy. If the book had ended the way I thought it would, the characters would've been flat and like every other character in a book like this, however, this ending made the characters more human and allowed them to really change and learn. The book was recently made into a movie, so I'm going to have to add it to my Netflix queue! FAVORITE QUOTES: It wasn't that easy to tell one weekday from the next anymore; they all just melted together like a bag of crayons left out in the sun. // After all, what was adult life but one moment of weakness piled on top of another? Most people just fell in line like obedient little children, doing exactly what society expected of them at any given moment, all the while pretending that they'd actually made some sort of choice. // "I've been searching for you for months, and when I finally give up, there you are, standing on the corner like some crack whore in the ghetto." // If it hadn't been for the worshiping G-D part, he would have happily attended church on a regular basis.
    • 5/5
      I loved this book and could not put it down. I still have not seen the movie but will be very interested to see it on film. I found it interesting that I didn't like the main character. She was very unlikable but was meant to be. This is a very dark look at life it suburbea. Loved it!!!
    • 4/5
      An enjoyable read. The novel follows a variety of characters, who act like small children in their selfish behaviour. It follows the thoughts and actions of a small group of parents and a sex offender living nearby who is living with his mother. Supposedly the novel is a cross between "Madame Bovary" and "Desperate Housewives", but as I've only read half of "Madame Bovary" and have never seen "Desperate Housewives", I wouldn't know! The characters are mainly in their thirties, and have discovered that life isn't quite all they thought it was going to be - there are frustrations with their work, their love lives, that they haven't quite got all that they thought they would - even the "perfect Mum" is revealed at the end to have enormous cracks in her relationship. All of the characters make bad decisions, the danger appears to come from the sex offender, but in reality comes from each one of them. I found some parts hard to understand - some of the characters play American Football and there are great long descriptions of matches (games?) which I couldn't make any sense of at all!
    • 5/5
      Tom Perotta's "Little Children" depicts Suburbia, U.S.A as a dangerous place, where wayward cops, child molesters, and cheating spouses threaten to disrupt the peaceful ebb and flow of family life. Yet this novel dispenses its satire in a way that isn't mean-spirited or lacking in believability. That's because Mr. Perrotta has taken care to craft real, multi-dimensional characters who are flawed in ways that make them as child-like as the little children they are trying to raise, evoking understanding and surprising degrees of sympathy. And rather than forcing his characters into an artificial plot structure, he seems simply to wind them up and set them on a natural collision course, letting them fall prey to their tragic flaws This is a disturbing tale, much as the movie "American Beauty" was disturbing. Yet this caustic brew is impossible to turn away from, as Perotta chases down its bitterness with a soothing writing style that's elegant in its simplicity. So for me, Sarah succeeds as a contemporary Emma Bovary, and this modern twist on Flaubert's tragedy qualifies as an instant classic. -Kevin Joseph, author of "The Champion Maker"
    • 2/5
      I think I had great expectations for Tom Perrotta's Little Children--maybe too great. Perrotta seems to be known for writing about what lies beneath the sunny facade of suburbia, and this book is no exception, tackling Internet porn addiction, adultery, and one community's reaction to a sexual predator in their midst. But Perrotta's reasons for why each character is the way he or she is seemed a little too pat--Sarah's and Todd's respective dissatisfaction with their marriages, Richard's obsession with porn, Larry's anger management issues--everything is explained immediately, as if Perrotta is worried his reader might not be able to handle a little obliqueness. His multiple-viewpoint narrative kept me from caring very deeply about anyone, and the ending felt rushed rather than climactic.
    • 1/5
      Not my usual kind of read, but I noticed it on a remainder table at a local indie bookstore with a note attached saying that it was 'better than the movie.' I can't vouch for that, but I can say it didn't leave me keen to see the movie. Two dimensional characters, wooden dialog, predictable plot, cliched ending.
    • 4/5
      I thoroughly enjoyed this satirical look at suburban marriage and what people will do to feel like they are living their lives.
    • 3/5
      This is a bit too much like reading a television drama screenplay. Nothing clever and the characters are flat.
    • 5/5
      This has got to be one of my favorite books. Tom Perrotta is a great writer -so satirical and hilarious that if you have not read his books, you are really missing out on a treat. He is sarcastic and witty, but truly seems to love his characters and craft them with care. Set during a long hot summer, the novel focuses on several middle aged suburbanites and their relationships with each other. There are affairs, fights, romantic encounters and break-ups enough to make this seem like a soap opera, but the characters are so fine and believable it is far better than any sordid soap opera you will find on t.v. I enjoyed reading this novel and look forward to more!
    • 3/5
      Here's hoping the movie version is better. Perrotta's book just didn't hold my attention. While some of the characters are intriguing and there are a number extremely humorous moments, "Little Children" was an overall disappointment.
    • 4/5
      Little Children, in short, is an absolutely amazing book. I know that the subject matter is polarizing, and in some cases could be considered to be vulgar. I mean, what could better offend human sensibilities than to pose that suburban life is not all that it is cracked up to be. Little Children chronicles the unhappiness and downfall of several suburban families. For those of you, like myself, who live in Suburbia, you might recognize many of these people as shadows of people you deal with every day. Perhaps even recognizing these characters in yourself. This book is dark and sensual, and in many cases, very real. Real enough that I have seen variations of many of these stories played out in my life and the lives of the people I know. I recommend this book to all of those who, like myself, live in the seemingly idyllic middle class neighborhoods, yet see that there is a disconnect from the facade that is shown to the world, and what really occurs.
    • 4/5
      I couldn't put this book down. Page after page I was totally gripped by the stories in the novel. I loved the pacing of the novel and the characters were really interesting and full of surprises but still felt real.My heart was seriously pounding in the last few pages of the book. I think it was one of the most gripping reads I have had in ages.
    • 4/5
      Interesting and well-written, but nothing particularly new.
    • 3/5
      This was quite an easy quick read. Set in modern American suburbia, two bored parents begin an extra marital affair. This is very much a character study. Thought provoking rather than earth shattering.
    • 3/5
      This book was fun and entertaining until the last 20 pages. There is no resolution to any of the "dramas" of any of the characters. This I found to be annoying.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed this book, for the most part; though, I can't say I was all that thrilled with its WTF ending. I thought the conclusion of the movie version was more fitting.