1 of 1 members found this review helpful.
“I've read Little Children, and of course seen the movie (which I did like by the way) and was looking forward to this one. Happily, I got it from the library last week and read most of it while my poor mother had oral surgery. I try not to read too many reviews for books I am looking forward to reading myself. I'll admit, I did cheat a little and looked (on Amazon), but honestly, I think I liked the book better than most. People on Amazon were complaining they didn't like the ending, it was unsatisfying, blah blah blah. But how can the issues the author is trying to tackle in this book wrap it up neatly and put a little bow on it?
Perrotta uses the setting of middle of the road suburbia (as usual) to attack the issues--sex education, fundamental Christianity, prayer in public (separation of church and state, even), divorce and custody matters, single parenting, gambling, smoking, drinking! Ruth, the "abstinence teacher" does not want to be that teacher--she wants to openly and honestly educate her high school students about sex and what they need to know to be happy and healthy--but when she inadvertently endorses oral sex, and is berated by the school board and members of a local evangelical Christian church, well, things take off from there.
Interesting character studies of the main players, although many of the minor characters are very one dimensional and stereotypical--but I feel that is the way Perrotta wants them to be, so the more fleshed out characters can interact and bounce off of them. I really enjoyed the ending of the book--I was satisfied with Perrotta's take on the whole ball of wax--no easy answers for hard questions regarding our children and our lives in this country (the US) nowadays. I would recommend this one. Funny and a little frightening at the same time!”
Kiki68 wrote this review Thursday, November 29 2007.
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