Little Children by Tom Perrota

I decided to read Little Children because I let Netflix "pick" the movie version for me a few years ago. Man, computers are smart things because I really liked the movie; reading the book was the natural thing to do.

In an exciting turn of events, I actually liked the movie version better than the book!

The movie, while dark and satirical like the book, had a heart warming ending. I thought that the two main characters, Sarah and Todd, both found what they were ultimately looking for. In the book, the characters kind of make some realizations about what each of them meant to each other and it didn't seem like they really discovered anything about themselves or made and real profound break-throughs. I guess the book is more realistic...but the idealist in me really liked seeing the more "happy" ending of the movie. The book ending is rather dark and a bit disturbing in its emotional disconnectedness.

Here are my English Class Answers about this book:

Synopsis: Todd is a stay-at-home Dad married to Kathy, a documentary film maker. Sarah is a stay-at-home Mom who takes her daughter, Lucy, to the same playground as Todd and his son, Aaron. They start an affair as they both have troubled marriages. Meanwhile, a convicted child molester has recently been released from jail and is living in the neighborhood. While Todd and Sarah are cheating on their respective spouses, the witch hunt begins for the child molester. Hilarity ensues (not really). Perrota draws many parallels between the behaviour of the children in this story and their caretakers - there is not much difference between the the selfish demands of the children and adults!

• Deep-Thought Provoking-ness: Medium
• Entertainment Value: Medium 
• Fun Factor: Medium
• Emotional Impact: Medium
• Writing Quality: Medium

Pretty much "Medium" all the way around. I would say that the movie version was more "Medium to High" on all categories.

Three one-word descriptors of the book:

1. Satire
2. Childishness
3. Perversion

Did I like it?? (yes or no) I could tell that this book was written by a man: it lacked a certain amount of emotional empathy with the characters. There was definitely a judgemental tone to the author's voice.

IV. "Read it" or "Skip it" (for all prospective readers): Read the book FIRST, then see the movie (maybe you will enjoy the book more if you proceed in this order!)