Little Children

I'm so behind on posting! In this first installment of playing catch-up, I'm going back to something I read a couple weeks ago. The lapse in writing about Tom Perrotta's Little Children was because I knew I wouldn't forget it, but also because I had the movie on hold at the library. So for the first time ever, I'm writing about a book after seeing the movie shortly after finishing the novel. (It's usually months, if not years, after I read the book that I get around to the movie, by which time my memory of the book is fuzzy.)

I've read a couple of Perrotta's books and like the humor and simplicity of them. I kept seeing "author of Little Children" by his name recently so I decided I should check it out. When I saw there was a movie adaptation that received several Academy Award nominations, I put the film on hold to watch when I completed the book.

The novel looks at several characters, but the main ones are Todd and Sarah (in the movie Todd's name was changed to Brad--not sure why?) both of whom are stay-at-home parents. The two strike up an unlikely affair and through the alternating perspectives, the reader can see the affair, their marriages, and the community from multiple angles. Because it's not just Sarah and Todd's worlds that are explored (or Sarah's husband, who is caught up in the cyber-fantasy world of "Slutty Kay") but others, most notably Larry, a young, but retired cop and Ronnie, who has been released from prison for exposing himself to a young girl. Larry is disturbed by Ronnie's presence in the neighborhood and makes it his mission to make Ronnie's life hell.

I enjoyed both versions of Little Children, though the book was much better. It was humorous and a little touching. The book and movie have different endings, which wasn't too surprising considering how the book ended. Let's just say you can't really end a movie like that. Ah, the virtue of the book format--because I did like the book's ending better.