Whine & Cheese: Election (#5)

On yet another Super Tuesday, it seems only appropriate that I get around to my book blog post for...

... Tom Perrotta's Election. One of my last, and enjoyable, reads of last year's was Perrotta's Little Children which I figured would be hitting HBO (it briefly did last month!), but while looking for I also saw that the movie version of Election was on regular rotation on Showtime. Since I had never seen that 1999 movie either, I recorded it and made it one of my first new book purchases of this year.

I am sure many of you are familiar with the novel thanks to the film. The story centers around the election of high school president... with the ambitious Tracy's inevitable victory thwarted by a teacher ("Mr. M") who anonymously enlists well-liked jock Paul to enter the race. (There's a bit more going on, but I'll leave it at that.) The movie provided Reese Witherspoon her break-out role as the over-achieving Tracy... with Matthew Broderick as teacher Jim McAllister and Chris Klein (who had his own break-out with American Pie that same year) as Paul.

As with Little Children, Perrotta excels at exploring the underbelly of surburbia and with a good does of humor... again the easiest way / Hollywood pitch to describe Perrotta's work is Desperate Housewives-ish... keeping in mind that Perrotta pre-dates Wisteria Lane. I blew through this one in absolutely no time. It's really more of a novella... if I had really wanted to, I likely could have read it in one sitting (ok, probably two).

Published back in 1998, Perrotta likely never would have imagined the parallels between this book and the Democratic race for the presidency a decade later. Now it's not totally the same, but it was pretty hard not to have a sly smile on my face when while reading this:

Tracy (internal thought): Until Paul entered the race, I was running unopposed. People understood that I deserved to win. They didn't necessarily like me, but they respected my qualifications.

Tracy: I asked you a simple question, Paul. Or do you expect me to believe that you just woke up this morning and decided to run for President?

Paul: I've been thinking about it for a long time

Tracy: You're not a good liar, Paul... I've been working toward this for three years and if you think you can just jump in at the last minute and take it away from me, you're sorely mistaken.

Paul (internal thought): It's funny. She was trying to show me she wasn't scared, but the message I got was exactly the opposite. For the first time, I actually believed I might be able to win. (Aloud to Tracy) Well, I guess we'll just have to let the voters decide.

Pretty funny, huh? Overall, an easy, enjoyable and entertaining read.

2008 1-2-3-4-5 Reading Challenge: + 200 Pages (Total: 1,992 pages - Finished: 2/10/2008)
470 pages ahead of pace (+65 change in pace since last book).