Wow, a Tom Perrotta book I just really didn't care for, I didn't think such a thing was even possible! Getting it out of the way now, Mrs. Fletcher is no Mrs. Robinson--and maybe that's where I was expecting this to go, an empty nest single mother rediscovering her sexuality and out on the prowl. Instead, this is a social satire on gender norms, early and later generation sexuality, the role of the Internet in both, with a little male/white privilege and what is it to be a modern man thrown in for good measure.
I really could have done without the chapters living inside the heads of some of the teenage male characters; the life and "struggle" of a frat boy hardly makes for sympathetic reading. My greatest disappointment though was that this was a book that seemed to promise female sexuality and reclaiming it in some way or at the very least discovering you don't need to feel repressed or ashamed. In the execution, I didn't find that to be the case. The porn "habits" are mainly told to the reader rather than lived through alongside these characters; in fact we only know it's a "habit" because suddenly the character reveals it to be one. However, the grosser thing to me was that every female character's expression of sexuality seemed to be for the clear benefit, happiness, and pleasure of the male they were with. I'm not sure if it was an intentional decision or simply a "coincidence" but this along made for an angry read for me.
I didn't relate to or particularly care for any character in this book, and found myself constantly asking in my head "you're doing, what!?" during each poor decision they make--and there are many. Relationships made over the course of the book didn't feel lasting nor believable or organic. In one part of the book Eve, the titular "Mrs. Flectcher", goes back to school and enrolls in a single course about gender which is taught by a transexual woman and every interaction or mention of that character just feels fake and tacked on. She never feels like a real human being or someone you begin to identify with, which is a shame because she delivers pieces of a lecture about her old self and becoming the person she currently is but for me it fell flat. And that's really my take on this whole book in summary--it wants to do so much and say so many things but at the end of the day it falls flat and will ultimately become forgettable.

First Line - It was a long drive and Eve cried most of the way home, because the big day hadn't gone the way she'd hoped, not that big days ever did.

Summary - Eve Fletcher is trying to figure out what comes next. A forty-six-year-old divorcee whose beloved only child has just left for college, Eve is struggling to adjust to her empty nest when one night her phone lights up with a text message. Sent from an anonymous number, the mysterious sender tells Eve, “U R my MILF!” Over the months that follow, that message comes to obsess Eve. While leading her all-too-placid life—serving as Executive Director of the local senior center by day and taking a community college course on Gender and Society at night—Eve can’t curtail her own interest in a porn website called MILFateria.com, which features the erotic exploits of ordinary, middle-aged women like herself. Before long, Eve’s online fixations begin to spill over into real life, revealing new romantic possibilities that threaten to upend her quiet suburban existence. Meanwhile, miles away at the state college, Eve’s son Brendan—a jock and aspiring frat boy—discovers that his new campus isn’t nearly as welcoming to his hard-partying lifestyle as he had imagined. Only a few weeks into his freshman year, Brendan is floundering in a college environment that challenges his white-dude privilege and shames him for his outmoded, chauvinistic ideas of sex. As the New England autumn turns cold, both mother and son find themselves enmeshed in morally fraught situations that come to a head on one fateful November night.

Highlights - So many emotions, but in the best way possible!

Lowlights - Some characters felt a little stereotyped, but I think that's what the author was going for.

FYI - Very P.C. with strong sexual content.

If the title reminds you of Mrs. Robinson from The Graduate, it's with good reason.  This satire explores love, loss, hookups and cross-generational relationships.

After divorcee Eve Fletcher's son goes to college she is left trying to reinvent herself and give meaning to her life as an empty nester. She sets her hopes on a community college course on gender and society, but an unexpected text message sends her down a rabbit hole of online porn and thoughts of illicit relationships.

Meanwhile, college is not turning out to be the nonstop party and hookup adventure her son was expecting and he soon discovers other students have agendas different than his own.

Tom Perrotta's Mrs. Fletcher (Scribner, digital galley) is a funny and observant look at society and how relationships are evolving in a constantly connected world. Reading this book was like hearing juicy gossip, it was hard to step away from until you got to the end and learned how everything turned out.

In his new novel Mrs. Fletcher, Tom Perrotta makes not only a timely return to his complex narratives about family dynamics seen in Little Children, but does so in a way we might describe as provocative and pleasingly eye-brow raising.

Perrotta’s main character Eve Fletcher is a divorceé-soon-to-become-empty nester. Her son Brendan is off to college, leaving Eve with the sudden realization that her life truly has no other fulfillment with the exception of her job as the head administrator of a senior’s center. The fact that Brendan’s father cheated on her, and has made a rather happy life with the woman he met on Craigslist and his new special needs son, does nothing to mollify the sense of utter hollowness she now feels has become her new unsatisfactory existence.

One of the most extraordinary scenes in Mrs. Fletcher actually happens in the first chapter when Eve, upset that his son’s girlfriend Becca is taking too long to say goodbye, goes to Brendan’s room only to be shocked not only at the lewd noises coming from the other side of the door, but also at his blatant command to Becca: “Suck it, bitch.” This horrifies Eve on a grander scale, not only because of what she’s witnessing, which no mother wants to, but also at her son’s appalling treatment and disrespect towards women.

Perrotta, as is customary in his novels, tells the story from different points of view, which under the charge of another writer, could have threatened to become tedious. While Eve’s narrative is seen with the bird’s eye view of a third-person narrative, her son Brendan is told from first-person perspective, and as the novel moves forward it becomes clear why Perrotta does this.

Eve in her loneliness and despondency doesn’t take to reading books on how to manage empty nest syndrome. Instead, she turns to porn. However, to say Eve develops a porn fetish may be a bit over the top, because it’s a better fit to describe it as borderline compulsion. As it happens, one site is becomes particularly intriguing to her: Milfateria.com. For readers unfamiliar with porn terminology, MILF is a colorful acronym for ‘mother I’d like to fuck.’

No one has ever said the world of porn is Shakespearean.

Why Eve spends her nights combating her loneliness with what may seem to some as clichéd fantasies, is less important than what she discovers on the way. Seeing the categories of MILF porn that include Lesbo MILFs and Blowjob MILFs just to name two, Eve finds her inhibitions slowly flexing like muscles suffering from long-time atrophy.

She muses over the advantages of her newly found “porn habit,” which translates into “having a lot more orgasms than she used to, which was helping her sleep better, and improving her complexion.” It’s more or less at this point that Eve starts getting text messages from an unknown number with an odd request: ‘Would you be my MILF?’

Aside from the slightly creepy texts, is there anyone who truthfully doesn’t want a better night’s sleep, glowing skin, and an increase in orgasms in middle age?

Eve’s son Brendan is another story. He arrives at college highly disappointed that there isn’t as much partying as he hoped, even though he drinks himself into oblivion on more than one occasion. At first glance one becomes highly annoyed with Brendan’s simpatico ‘bro’ persona, seemingly focused between dumping and not dumping Becca, trying to get laid, bench-pressing, and sending placating texts to his mother. But it soon becomes evident that what Brendan is truly hiding relates to his being the residual casualty of his parents’ divorce. He compensates his unhappiness by being a cretin to almost everyone.

Perrotta bestows on his secondary characters the same complexity as he does to his main ones. There’s Amanda, Eve’s co-worker and employee at the senior’s center who even though younger than the latter, is equally lonely and in crisis. Her evenings are often filled with a finger swipe on Tinder which deals with the boredom Amanda feels her life has become.

She unexpectedly becomes the center of Eve’s sexual fantasies, which are first gently rejected but later encouraged. Then there’s the people from Eve’s Gender Studies class at the community center, which include her transgender professor Margo with whom Eve finds herself bonding with, and Julian, a nineteen year old boy who becomes fascinated by Eve. Unbeknownst to her, he was once object of a cruel prank orchestrated by some of Brendan and some of his friends.

Tom Perrotta’s Mrs. Fletcher certainly breaks ground in giving his female character permission to indulge in the same fantasies that men have forever delved in without a hint of judgment or condescension. The highly disappointing and sadly predictable ending where an inviting story ends up in a tropey and weak finale, doesn’t take away what Perrotta’s narrative moxie has done here.

The fact that Eve is middle-aged, and becomes increasingly miffed when she’s consistently told “she looks great for her age,” will likely connect with any woman over forty who has at one time, been told the same. Mrs. Fletcher sends out a message to older women that it’s okay for them not only to fantasize as men are always given leeway to do, but also explore their own sexuality without any residual guilt or shame.

I feel stingy rating this with only 3 stars because it was an enjoyable book to read, just nothing I will remember in 2 months time. I would say Perrotta has written a good novel of so many current issues in our society. I suppose some straight laced folks might find this book a little x rated, nothing offended me but I can see how some of the subject matter could make some people uncomfortable. I actually think this would be a more interesting book to read in 50 years as a bit of historical fiction since it's full of modern day commentary.
I don't recommend this one unless you are like me and a fan of Tom Perrotta

I didn't like the characters but I liked the book. That doesn't happen often. It is undeniable that Perrotta is a talented storyteller.

When I saw the title of Tom Perrotta’s novel, Mrs Fletcher, I thought immediately of The Graduate’s Mrs Robinson, and as it turns out, the connection wasn’t that far off. The titular Mrs Fletcher, or Eve, turns out to be a middle-aged woman who’s lusted after by a man young enough to be her son. This is a novel about growing up, growing older, and moving on in a brand new world where sexual confusion meets PC expectations. Perrotta’s light humour makes this story of human flaws and human failings a delight to read.


The novel opens with 46-year-old Eve packing up the U-haul and getting ready to send her only son, high school jock, Brandon, off to college. Brandon, who should be helping his mother is busy getting a farewell blow-job from his h.s. girlfriend, lithe cheerleader, Becca. Brandon actually broke up with Becca, via text, a few weeks earlier but nonetheless she arrives and breezily pushes her way into Brandon’s bedroom.

Eve, annoyed that Becca has spoiled her last day with Brandon, goes to his bedroom door and is shocked when she overhears a detail of her son’s sex life.

Mrs Fletcher follows two trajectories: Eve, divorced, suffering from empty-nest syndrome, and whose entire social life revolves around Facebook, vows to get out and ‘mingle.’ By day she’s the executive director of a senior center, but she enrolls in a night class: Gender and Society taught by a transgendered professor at the local community college. The small class is made up of a wide range of students, but a classmate, bar owner Barry, a “what-you-see-is-what-you-get sort of guy” latches onto Eve.

“I’ve never met a transgendered person before,” she said. “At least I don’t think so.”

“Not that I’m attracted to her,” Barry added in case she’d misunderstood his earlier comment. “I mean, to each his own, right? But that’s a bridge too far for me. I wonder is she tells the guys she dates beforehand.”

“How do you know she dates guys?”

“Just the general vibe I’m getting. You think she got the surgery? I’m not really sure how that works.”

That conversation which is vividly real, is indicative of the book’s tone and main focus. The world has changed. Yes we have male and female but we also have “LGBTQIA voices,” and terms such as “cisgender” and “heteronormative” (I had to look up the definitions). Perrotta’s characters must negotiate this new world with its new terms, new rules. Eve for example, defends the professor’s right to be transgendered, and yet in her secret moments, questions the choice:

In a minivan outside a sports bar, however, the professor’s gender identity seemed a little more precarious, as much wish as reality. It was partly the timbre of her voice in the darkness, and partly just the size of her body in the passenger seat, the way she filled the available space.

I can see who you were, Eve thought, One self on top of the other.

As soon as this uncharitable image occurred to her, she did her best to erase it from her mind. She wasn’t the gender police.

Eve’s life begins to expand into new territory, yet still there’s an emptiness. One night she receives an anonymous text: “U r my MILF,” bored and lonely, she surfs the internet and discovers milfateria.com, a site devoted to “Amateur MILF Porn.” Before long she’s addicted and “infected.”

The second story line follows Brandon who is out-of-his-depths at college, a place he chose specifically for its reputation of being “a party school and he liked to party.” A popular jack in high school, here, he’s an anachronism. He can hang out with other jocks, or he can pursue a girl he’s very attracted to: Amber whose politically active college life includes Autism Awareness.

Perrotta paints a lively picture of college life, and how the sensitivity of gender and gender issues create a minefield in modern society. On the two college campuses seen here, patriarchy is under attack, rape culture is vilified, and yet beyond the campus grounds we see the other side of sex–the stuff minus the philosophical discourse: casual hookups through tinder.com and the sex on porn sites–sex that seems to have escaped the rules of society.

In the porn world, no one seemed to have heard of sexual harassment. Doctors went down on their patients. Personal trainers fondled their clients. Underperforming employees found creative ways to save their jobs.

Given the subject matter, it would have been easy to dip into smutty territory, but this is not Perrotta’s aim. There’s a feeling of melancholy throughout the novel as we follow our troubled, confused characters. He shows us two people, mother and son, at important crossroads in their lives. Both Eve and Brandon face ‘the next stage’ and they both blunder through it. In this ever-shifting world, with the temptations of Craigslist, Tinder, and the internet, it’s hardly surprising that people may make mistakes about sex.

Mrs Fletcher has been optioned by HBO

Review copy

Published by Scribner on August 1, 2017

The point of Mrs. Fletcher, I think, is that life is always changing, no matter what stage our lives have reached; that we are always called upon to make choices as our circumstances change; that a fair percentage of those choices will turn out to be bad; and that we do the best we can with the choices we make. Of course, unfortunate choices can be really funny when they’re made by other people, and the only point of Mrs. Fletcher might be the laughter it inspires as the characters blunder forward with their lives.

Eve Fletcher works in a community center for the elderly, a fertile source for Tom Perrotta’s brand of comedy. Eve’s self-absorbed son Brendan is off to college, leaving behind his self-absorbed girlfriend after breaking up with her by text. For a few years, Eve has been divorced from her selfish husband Ted, who left her after meeting a Casual Encounter on Craigslist. Eve is now preparing for an empty nest by posting positive messages on her Facebook status and waiting for encouraging “likes” from her 221 friends. But Eve is needy and immediately feels abandoned, particularly when (after day 3) she stops receiving her promised daily text messages from Brendan. All of this motivates Eve's desire to leave her old self behind, a desire that manifests in sexual interests beyond her limited experience, as she considers sex with a young college student, sex with a woman, and sex in a threesome.

In the first part of the story, Perrotta alternates his focus between Eve and Brendan, telling Brendan’s story in the first person. Brendan’s introduction to college life gives Perrotta a chance to show off his ear for youthful dialog. Brendan’s college goals are to party as much as possible, study as little as possible, and get a degree (maybe in Econ) that will allow him to earn six figures as soon as possible. As his college advisor tells him, “Good luck with that.”

Where Eve’s life has changed by becoming an empty nester and Brendan’s has changed by losing the security of living at home, a third changed life is represented in Amanda Olney, the activities director in the senior center where Eve works. Unlike Eve, who has learned to fulfill her needs by surfing porn, Amanda hooks up for one night stands that make her feel good at the time but sad the next day. The novel eventually turns into a romp as the characters pair up in expected ways to engage in unconventional acts.

Perrotta’s socially observant humor shines in his depiction of Eve’s gender studies class (an evening class that gets her out of her house) and her emerging interest in MILF pornography; the casual racism and homophobia of seniors who are stuck in the 1950s; the tribulations of middle-age dating (and the dilemma faced by women of a certain age whose standards for men exceed their ability to attract those men); and Brendan’s politically incorrect cluelessness about women.

The story’s mildly serious elements include Brendan’s autistic half-brother; Brendan’s jealousy at the relationship his father has forged with his new family; the social construction of gender; the judgmental social convention of “age appropriate” relationships; high school bullying; the inability to let go of insignificant marital grievances; and the difficulty of moving forward after making a bad decision about life.

All of that comes together in a playful novel that is fun to read even if follows a formula that leads to predictable outcomes. Characters will do something foolish, learn a lesson from their foolish behavior, and perhaps find true romance in unexpected places. The novel flirts with unconventional thought while taking few chances, but it delivers the laughter and familiar insights that Perrotta fans expect.

RECOMMENDED

The cover of Mrs. Fletcher depicts a woman alone in bed holding a smartphone, her face illuminated by the screen’s glare. If a copy of this book somehow managed to make its way back to the mid-2000s, the pre-iPhone era, it would seem almost inscrutable; it takes place in a world where people’s lives are ruled by their smartphones, the devices serving as a source of entertainment as well as vehicles for miscommunication and misunderstandings. The only way Mrs. Fletcher could be more up-to-the-minute would be if Tom Perrotta had somehow worked in a reference to Donald Trump’s Tweets. (The novel, presumably written pre-November 2016, takes place in a blessedly Trump-free universe.)

Ambitiously, Perrotta is trying to capture The Way We Live Now, from college students up to retirees. Stuck in the middle is Eve Fletcher, a divorced empty nester whose son Brandon is struggling to adapt to college life. Eve works as the executive director of a senior center, “a place where low-income seniors could come to eat a federally subsidized meal and then get their blood pressure checked by a nurse and their problem toenails trimmed by a kindhearted podiatrist.” She enjoys her job and is proud of the work she does, but at the same time, she feels bored and lonely and in desperate need of a change.

The book features rapidly shifting points of view, switching from third-person sections focusing on Eve and her colleagues and friends to first-person chapters narrated by Brandon. He is kind of a stereotypical teenage lunkhead, far more interested in partying and hooking up than he is in actually learning things or planning for his future. His roommate Zack’s arc is actually more compelling than his own, even though Zack is only a tertiary character in the novel.

As for Eve Fletcher herself, she finds herself in a strange situation—addicted to Internet porn—after an anonymous text pops up on her phone: “U r my MILF! Send me a naked pic!” Despite being indifferent to porn in the past, she now finds herself checking out MILF porn on Milfateria.com on a regular basis: “She disapproved of the site—she would have been horrified if she’d ever found anything like it on her son’s computer—and sincerely wished it didn’t exist. But she couldn’t stop looking at it.” (In the real world, Milfateria.com only exists as a parked domain at GoDaddy; it appears to have been registered by Steven Brykman, who has interviewed Perrotta in the past, so I’m guessing he’s a friend or acquaintance of the writer. I kind of wish they had done something fun with the domain, even if they’d only posted an image of Stifler’s Mom.)

Eve also goes back to college to take a gender-studies class, which leads her to make some new friends, though things ultimately go a little sideways, as Perrotta fans might expect. Like most of his novels, Mrs. Fletcher is an easy, breezy read, if perhaps a bit overstuffed with characters (the fact that two of the primary females in the book are named Amanda and Amber caused me a few moments of confusion). Now that the HBO series based on his 2011 novel The Leftovers has come to an end, I’m glad Perrotta has returned to chronicling the highs and lows of middle-class, middle-aged American life.

Thank you to Scribner for providing me with an advance copy of Tom Perrotta's novel, Mrs. Fletcher, in exchange for an honest review.

PLOT- With her only child off to college, divorced mom Eve Fletcher is finding herself at a transition. She is in her mid-forties and works as a director for a senior center, but she yearns for something more. To broaden her horizons, Eve signs up for a gender studies class at the local community college and befriends the professor, who happens to be transgendered. Eve begins to reevaluate her own sexuality, including exploring pornography and flirting with both her female employee and a young man who went to high school with Eve's son. Eve isn't quite sure what she wants, but she is opening herself up to possibilities.

On the flip side, we have Eve's cocky, jock son, Brendan, who is feeling the uncertainty of college. He quickly learns that what made him popular in high school isn't working in college. Eve is embracing her change, but Brendan is fighting against the inevitable. 

LIKE- Tom Perrotta is one of my favorite contemporary authors. I've read all of his previous books and I was absolutely thrilled to be granted an advance copy of Mrs. Fletcher. It's not an exaggeration to say that this was the 2017 release that I was most anticipating.

I love Perrotta's complex characters, unexpected plots, and wicked sense of humor. He has a way of making unlikable characters very relatable. Mrs. Fletcher is told primarily in close-third person as it shifts focus between different characters, with the one exception being Brendan. Brendan's POV is told in first person.

I considered why Perrotta chose this and I think it's because Brendan is the character that under-goes the biggest transformation. Although Eve arguably experiences great changes, she is a willing participant and none of her changes are out of character. Brendan doesn't even appear to realize that he needs to change. Early in the story, Eve overhears Brendan having sex with his girlfriend and although she is not shocked by the actions, she is appalled to hear Brendan making crude and misogynistic statements. Even though Eve is upset, she does not confront her son. Brendan is used to living a life where both his male and white privileged allow him to get away with terrible behavior. Until he heads to college, he has never been held accountable, and when finally confronted, Brendan's world comes crashing down. I think Perrotta allows the reader directly into Brendan's brain to make him less of a caricature and slightly more sympathetic when he begins to realize that he is in the wrong. Let's face it, it's hard to have sympathy for an obnoxious kid skating by on his privilege, but I found Eve's lack of confronting her son to be just a big of a transgression. She allows Brendan's behavior because confrontation would have made her uncomfortable. But if you were Eve, would you have said something? It's this type of complexity that draws me to Perrotta's stories. Perrotta allows the readers to climb into the character's shoes and there are never easy solutions.

DISLIKE- Not a single thing. I'm a Perrotta fan-girl!

RECOMMEND- Yes!!! Admittedly, Mrs. Fletcher is not my favorite Perrotta novel, but it was still fabulous. If you've not read Perrotta, I'd direct your attention towards Election, if you prefer comedy, and Little Children if you want a drama. I've enjoyed all of his novels and short stories. Truly with Perrotta, you can't go wrong!

I'm not sure what it was about Mrs. Fletcher, but I found it completely satisfying. It felt smart, with a touch of humour, dealing with real emotions and contemporary issues, without being pretentious or condescending. Mrs. Fletcher -- Eve -- is 47, divorced and the mother 19 year old Brendan. The story is told from a few points of view, but mostly through Eve and Brendan's eyes. Eve is a great character -- nice, good looking on the outside but with an inner psychic and sexual restlessness that get her into complex situations. Brendan is not so nice on the outside -- a bit nicer on the inside than he lets on -- and he too is having trouble finding his footing. The end is a bit predictable but I found myself happily entertained by this one -- awed at how well Perrotta gets into all of his characters' heads. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read an advance copy.

This one was just ok for me. It definitely had some funny moments but I don't really feel like anything happened in it.

Perrotta has his finger on the pulse of middle America so I wasn't that surprised that he was able to effectively write a female character like Eve as well her son Brendan. These two experience and experiment a lot in the course of this relatively short and tightly written novel- internet porn, changing attitudes toward race and sex, growing up and away, autism, divorce, remarriage, and so on. This is real life where nothing fits smoothly into a box. I'm curious to see whether this, like his other novels, will be adapted to a film. Please read it before that happens because of the interior monologues of these characters. Thanks to net galley for the ARC.

Mrs. Fletcher, a divorcée in her mid-forties, is experiencing empty nest syndrome. Her son Brendan is off to college expecting to have the time of his life. Parties, sex, drinks, drugs, as long as there's no actual work involved. In the meantime, Mrs. Fletcher needs to rediscover who she really is as an individual, as a single woman. Somebody who sends her a text one night thinks she's a MILF. As you would do, Mrs. Fletcher immediately does some internet research on this phenomenon, and in the process becomes obsessed with internet porn. This opens up completely new avenues to be explored. Enrolling in an evening course on gender and society at her local college, she meets an eclectic cast of fellow students led by a transgender professor. Meanwhile, Brendan finds college life isn't quite what he had hoped for.
Brendan's perspective is written in the first-person while the rest is in the third. For the majority of the book, he is a completely obnoxious douchebag, but there were brief moments when I felt a tiny bit of sympathy even for him.
This was my first experience of reading anything by Tom Perrotta. Up to now, I had only been familiar with his work through watching the books that had been adapted into films.
I really enjoyed this. The writing was simply brilliant and I really need to read the author's previous works. It held my interest throughout. In fact, the first 75%, I didn't want to put it down. It was witty, engaging, brave and provided a plethora of topics worthy of discussion and contemplation. However, due to its frankness of tackling some of the themes involved I'm afraid it might only appeal to a limited audience.
Towards the end, I felt it ran out of steam and I would have been happier had the ending not been quite so neat and proper but a bit more courageous like the rest of the novel.

As a divorcee in her mid-40s, Eve Fletcher is struggling with the fact that her only son, Brendan, is heading off to college. Suddenly, Eve is truly alone for the first time. Shortly after she takes Brendan to college, Eve receives a strange text message reading, "U r my MILF!" Baffled, the message takes Eve down a strange path that includes an obsession with MILF-related porn. Suddenly, her regular life--work as the Executive Director at the local senior center, taking classes at the community college, and her various friendships--seems somewhat tinged by her porn habit. Meanwhile, Brendan isn't finding college all he thought it would be. His fellow chauvinistic/jock roommate is suddenly shunning him and his partying habits are catching up with him. Before they know it, Eve and Brendan are on a collision course for some crazy and interesting situations.

First of all, don't bother with this novel if you can't handle sexual or porn references in your reading: let's just get that out there. There are all sorts of said references in Perrotta's latest and while you could argue that they are plot driven, it certainly gets to be a bit much at times.

For me, this one was a tad odd. Parts of it I really enjoyed; others, I just found bizarre and strange (and I've read other Perrotta works, so I know somewhat what to expect with him). The early parts of the novel were almost tender and hit a bit close to home, as I'm the only child of a single (also divorced) mother. The relationship between Eve and Brendan is interesting and well-explored, and you certainly have sympathy for Eve. In fact, many of the adults in this novel are so incredibly sad and lonely--and they have some extremely realistic moments and situations.

Alas, Brendan is really just insufferable, and you can't help but like Eve a little less as the result. I rarely enjoyed any of the sections told from his point of view. As the novel progresses, it increases its perspectives--bringing in the secondary characters--and you really do get drawn into their lives. Perrotta is an engaging writer and while not all his characters in this one are likeable, nor do they always act rationally, they are dynamic. Indeed, this is often just a plain old weird and bizarre novel. Some places I found myself thinking Is this really happening?? (Oh it was.)

So, in the end this is an amusing tale--with a surprising depth--that offers a fairly accurate portrayal about society and sexuality/gender. The characters are certainly interesting, even if pieces can be ridiculous and preposterous. The ending left me feeling a little let down, which was a tad disappointing, and kept it from being higher than a 3-star review for me.

Mrs. Fletcher, let's call her Eve, is dealing with a newly emptied nest. Her son, Brendan, is dealing with a freshman year in college with all the freedoms and pitfalls that come with it. While the story is told through many narrators, these are the two central characters. Eve has a porn "habit" that begins to infiltrate her every day interactions with others. I was surprised at some of the incidents and how others reacted to her. Likewise, Brendan is confused by reactions to his behavior. In all honesty, I didn't like Brendan and had hoped for a bit more personal growth from him by the end of the book. If you are looking for a slightly smutty, quick read about modern life in all its complexities, this is the book for you!

This is another terrific book by Tom Perrotta. The characters here could easily be treated as societal cliches - newly-divorced middle-aged mom and bro-ish son entering college (as well as other supporting characters), but in Perrotta's hands they become highly specific and often surprising in their choices.

Perrotta's writing is clean, smart and thoughtful. The plotting was unorthodox as well - I can honestly say I had no idea what was in store for these characters, and wrong whenever I guessed. That's the bi-product of creating fully-realized people.

I enjoy all of Perrotta's writing, but found this to be one of his best books.

A book that goes down easy. Perotta makes the prurient seem somehow normal. Overall theme a bit loose.

I simply adore Tom Perrotta, and I don't say that about many male authors. (I haven't counted it up lately, but I probably read 75%+ female authors). Few can write characters as well as he does, and believe me when I say that he nailed the middle-aged female protagonist, Eve (just like he did in The Abstinence Teacher.) And he even managed to make the douchy Brendan occasionally sympathetic. The story wasn't huge -- the plot wasn't overly ambitious, but it kept me engaged throughout, and rooting for everyone involved to learn their important life lessons (which they did, but not obnoxiously -- it's still nice for the liberals to prevail occasionally, given our current political climate.)

A fair amount of Perrotta's work has been optioned for the screen (most famously Election and most recently The Leftovers), and I see this working well (mostly, anyway, some of the material might have to be implied, but maybe it will work on HBO). Read this book -- you might not love it like I did, but I doubt you'll regret it -- Perrotta is just too good for that.

I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher Scribner in exchange for an honest review.