Book Review: Mrs. Fletcher by Tom Perrotta

My rating: 3 of 5 stars 

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

This book is the literary version of a Woody Allen movie.

The people: a porn addicted MILF, a partying college freshman and his roommate, a transgender community college instructor, a tattooed senior center worker, an adult skateboarder, a cheerleader, an ex husband, an autistic boy, a girl in a wheelchair, a gifted Indian college student, and a feminist. This is the colorful cast of characters in Mrs. Fletcher, the latest novel by Tom Perrotta.

The places and things: Sex videos, pizza, parties, college dorms, profanity and crude language, erotic thoughts, beer, shots, weed, porn, sexting, lust, Bikram yoga, Crossfit, overflowing toilets, social media, vomiting, a Gender & Society community college class, duct-tape and a Port-A-Potty.

You have to read this book to figure out how this all fits together. This book tackles many contemporary issues and taboo topics, but the major theme that covers it all is identity. All characters are struggling with their identity and trying to find their place in the world and the society that they live in.

What I liked:

1. The diverse cast of characters is entertaining.
2. The book tackles a lot of forbidden topics and brings them to the forefront.
3. Tom Perotta’s writing style is engaging and humorous.
4. Despite the controversial topics addressed, this book is an easy, fast, and light read.
5. The book was written in first person and third person perspectives. I have not read a book that mixed the two perspectives up until now.

What I didn’t like:

1. The book teaser didn’t really relate to the plot! They could have written the teaser in a different way. I wanted more plot development on the teaser, which is the text that Eve receives that enticed me to read this story. We circle back to this situation with 82% of the book complete.
2. The plot covers so many contemporary topics but it didn’t have time to put any depth into it.
3. There are so many interesting characters in this book but not enough character development. I wanted more pages and backstory dedicated to them.

Tom Perrotta pushes the envelope on humor, sexual identity, diversity, and social issues. This is my first book of his, but now I’m curious about the others. This contemporary fiction novel is entertaining, fun, raunchy, and a good diversion to the daily grind of life. It’s not for everyone, but if you’re looking to kill time with a Woody Allen-esque book, this is the one.