WHAT BETTER WAY TO START THE new Times Books group than with a
fast-paced, funny and sexy book that has as a key moment a scene in a book
club? The novel under discussion in Little Children’s book club is Madame
Bovary (one of our previous titles) and you could argue that Tom
Perrotta’s novel, recently filmed with Kate Winslet in the lead role, is an
updating of Flaubert’s.
Sarah is a bored housewife, but please, don’t turn up your nose. I agree that
the notion of a bored housewife as the central character is utterly
unappealing but Perrotta turns her boredom into something fascinating. Sarah
floats through her humdrum world knowing how she is supposed to behave but
failing to become the super mummy who bakes her own cakes and whose children
go to bed on time.
Nothing is likely to change for this dreamer who thinks herself too clever for
playground gossip — except that one day she dares to be different. She
insists that the gorgeous stay-at-home dad, whom all the other mothers
squeal over but never talk to, kiss her as they stand next to the swings.
And, just as in Madame Bovary, the leading lady feels a thrill that
she thinks is meaningful.
Overshadowing this potential romance is the presence of a child molester.
Ronald McGorvey has just been released from jail and lives with his mother.
The townspeople hound him and paint insults on his driveway. Everyone
believes him guilty of a crime that he was questioned about but never
charged with— the murder of a young girl.
Sarah is not supposed to be particularly attractive but Todd, the hunk she
kisses, needs a diversion. He has a beautiful and intelligent wife who earns
their living while he studies law. Todd starts skipping school, knowing he
does not want to be a city hotshot, and is drawn into the world of Larry
Moon, a former policeman obsessed with McGorvey.
Perrotta manages to be both scathing and fond of small-town America and the
upshot is a laugh at every character’s expense.
THE KEY QUESTIONS
What are the parallels with Madame Bovary?
Are we meant to feel sympathy for McGorvey?
Does Perrotta try too hard to give Todd a reason to commit adultery?
Why is American football so important?
Allison & Busby, £6.99; 288pp
Buy the book
Free books
Thanks to those nice people at Allison & Busby, we have six copies of Little
Children to give to each of the first four book clubs to contact us.
Simply E-mail books@thetimes.co.uk with club details
The problem with seeing the film adaptation of a book before you have actually
read the book, is that it necessarily provides you with someone else's
perception of the characters. The film of this book made me feel slightly
queasy; the book itself, however, is a multi-layered piece, adding up to a
subtle black comedy of manners on the aspirational middle classes of
suburban America, with their obsession with appearance and achievement and
holding up their flaws to an unforgiving light. There are times when the
satire becomes a little heavy-handed and overwritten; the way in which Mary
Ann's background is shaded in towards the end of the book, for example, is a
little awkward. As someone who has only been to the US once, some of the
cultural references also passed me by. Ultimately, however, this is a witty
and original take on life, love, desire and forgiveness, showing the
unpleasantness, lies deception and malice which often lurk just beneath the
surface of respectability.
Glyn Haggett, Milton Keynes, UK
Very much like Flaubert Tom Perrotta turns an unappealing, bored housewife
into a fascinating character. This feat is probably rooted in a keen,
ruthless observation of daily life and the capturing of aspects of lit most
of us prefer not to see. A visit at the Flaubert museum is well worth while.
The guided tour includes a presentation of Flaubert's father, a tough
surgeon beloved by all his patients.A psychiatrist friend of mine says that
he often catches himself saying to his patients :"so, you are Madame
Bovary", and the answer :"yes I am comes invariably.
Tod's reason to commit adultery? American football? Some sympathy for for Mc
Corvey? Flaubert said I am madame Bovary. Madame Bovary has grace. God's
grace goes where it listeth. McCorvey?
The cobweb of daily life fritters away virtues and talents shatters illusions,
and finally engulfs men and women in cowrdice and stupidity. God's grace
goes where it listeth. Madame Bovary has it. McCorvey?
DECOTTERD, Grenoble, France
At first Little Children reminded me of Lucy Sweeney’s page in The Times
Magazine, with Sarah, the Bad Mommy, as Slummy Mummy, Todd, the Prom King,
as Sexy Domesticated Dad and Mary Ann, ‘one of those depressing supermoms’,
as Alpha Mum. However, as Tom Perrotta says, this novel is comic but not a
comedy. For Sarah and Todd life has proved disappointing; they are
dissatisfied with their marriages and the routine of childcare. I felt the
attraction between these two characters was inevitable. Later we discover
that Mary Ann is not happy with life either. She watches the ‘ridiculously
handsome’ Todd playing with his beautiful child and feels taunted with an
image of what might have been hers. When ‘that awful Sarah’ becomes his
girlfriend her angry disapproval is fuelled by jealousy. At times the novel
is tragic but it is not a tragedy. Emma Bovary belongs to a different era
and is trapped in a life of misery. Sarah says Emma’s struggle to escape is
heroic and her problem is the failure to find a partner worthy of her
passion. Little Children is not about heroic passion. Todd admits the affair
distracted him from his imperfect marriage and the tedious obligations of
child care - ‘a sweet illicit thrill supercharging the dull summer days’. I
think Sarah would have agreed.
Jean Marshall, Bushey, Hertfordshire
It is hard to find a single redeeming feature displayed by any character in
this book. From the merely inadequate to the homicidally deviant every
imaginable flaw and personality disorder is in evidence here. Sarah is a
shallow, bitter, selfish and unfulfilled intellectual snob, although
marriage to Richard justifies much of her unhappiness. Todd suffers from
arrested development and has been going through the motions since the
untimely death of his mother. In a sense there is most hope for himself and
Kathy as he starts to confront his shortcomings and she realises that she
could easily lose him. Larry and Ronnie are thoroughly nasty and the rest,
bar some of the peripheral characters, are all in some way frustrated by
their unsatisfactory lives. I found that any humour was overshadowed by the
depressing tawdriness of the characters’ stifling suburban lives and
although undoubtedly well written this was not a book I particularly enjoyed.
Eleanor Fitzsimons, Dublin, Ireland
