Little Children

I just finished reading Tom Perrotta's Little Children, which I gobbled up in a couple of days. I had seen the movie already, a few years ago I guess, and normally don't like to read books when I've seen the movie (although I love seeing movies when I've read the book). I guess because it relates to my research I felt like it would be good for me to check out the book.

The book is very, very much like the movie. The director and screenwriter clearly stuck very closely to the original. I had liked the movie a lot, and enjoyed the novel just as much. I felt very absorbed in the lives of these unhappy, immature suburban parents, and appreciated Perrotta's insights and observations. In spite of how riveted I was, though, now that I've finished reading it it feels vaguely nothingish, like the overall effect wasn't quite as good as the parts.

Perrotta apparently wrote Election, which was a movie I absolutely loved. There's something mean-spirited and cold in both Election and Little Children, each populated with not-quite likable self-absorbed and immature characters...