Temporal Reviews: Little Children

Tom Perrotta's Little Children is surely one of the best books of last year. The author of Election and Joe College turns his sights on suburban America...specifically the dream of the perfect American family (pre-dating the Desperate Housewives).

The novel concerns the lives of suburbanites: "Prom King" Todd, who spends the novel rebelling against the expectations thrust upon him by his wife to be a responsible adult man; Sarah, the erstwhile bisexual documentary filmmaker who is terrified of her daughter and the traditional turn her life has taken; Richard, her husband consumed by an internet porn fueled fantasy life; and Ronald, the convicted child molester whose release into the community seems to hover over the characters in the novel.

Since I'm doing a dump of books I've read in the past nine months, I won't go into details. But this novel is a must-read. Excellent work.