Tracy Flick Can't Win

Tom Perrotta wrote "Election" because he was interested in George H.W. Bush and Ross Perot.

Perrotta didn't want to comment directly on Perot, but he did have thoughts about power, and about human emotion; Perrotta also knew that the meanest political stories are the "smallest" political stories. So Perrotta wrote about a high-school election; he turned Perot into a stoner girl, a D student, a student determined to spread chaos through various overly bright high-school hallways.

A similar idea forms the center of "Tracy Flick Can't Win." Again, the stakes are amazingly low. One character is a school vice-principal; she really wants to be the principal. Another character had an affair with her boss many years ago; now, she'd like very much to get a kind word from this guy, or maybe a "farewell" coffee mug.

Tom Perrotta makes me think of Richard Yates -- who was relentlessly bleak, and who poked holes in inflated egos, always. It's painful to read Perrotta because I see myself in each of his absurd characters. For example, Tracy Flick never really acknowledges that her particular campaign (a campaign she might lose) means nothing, or less than nothing, on a cosmic scale. I have a little Tracy Flick in me -- particularly when I do battle with the fine assessors at my local library.

I liked Perrota's "Election" sequel, and I'm grateful that this guy is still showing up at his desk each day, and keeping an eye on the world.

P.S. I'm away at Lake Tahoe for the next week! The books I'm packing: ROLL RED ROLL, THE CHILDREN, THE LATECOMER, IN LOVE, UNBELIEVABLE, SLEEP NO MORE, BOMB SHELTER. See you a bit further down the road!

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