I think @Reggie made an important point about why I like Tom Perrotta books and other people feel lukewarm: his characters are morally ambiguous.
I don‘t love books with these characters, but I will reread them like crazy! I find I‘m more likely to get a different take on these books than ones with a more consistent good/evil axis.
Strangely enough, I feel disappointed if a short story collection doesn‘t have ambiguous characters. 🤷🏻♀️
Megabooks Thank you for your insight @Reggie ! 💜 4y
Reggie You‘re welcome. I remember being in my 20‘s and reading Little Children thinking-what the hell is going on in the suburbs. But he was probably closer to the truth than I gave him credit for. They didn‘t create a show called Desperate Housewives because everyone was behaving. Lol anyways, I also liked his Mrs. Fletcher. (edited) 4y
Megabooks @Reggie I think Election is my favorite, but I really like Mrs. Fletcher too. Little Children is my next of his to reread! 4y
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Hooked_on_books I like morally ambiguous characters. They‘re more real. Especially in our “everything has to be black or white, right or wrong, us or them” world, they are a refreshingly nuanced, real middle ground. 4y
TheLudicReader Morally ambiguous characters are all of us. Who‘s perfect? Sure as hell not me. 4y
Chelsea.Poole That makes total sense! I prefer to read about characters who are more lifelike and to me that's not a perfect person or a totally evil one. 4y
Reviewsbylola I love Perrotta too. Morally ambiguous feels genuine to me. Maybe that‘s why I like his books so much. 4y
reluctantangeleno Flawed and complex characters are a must for me, because that is real life. We're all good sometimes and pieces of shit at other times, and if a book doesn't capture that reality of being a human being, it doesn't speak to me at all! 4y
Megabooks @Hooked_on_books yes, I think your point about the binary of the world right now, especially on social media (other than Litsy), it‘s nice to read about a neighborhood or a school where everyone is a bit screwed up and a lot real. 4y
Megabooks @TheLudicReader exactly. If it gets too binary, right/wrong, I might as well pop in a Marvel movie. Not that there‘s anything wrong with that, but most of the time I like more true-to-life characters. 4y
Megabooks @Chelsea.Poole yes! It‘s refreshing for a character to behave unexpectedly or be imperfect. 4y
Megabooks @Reviewsbylola yes!! Perrotta‘s great. I think Reggie definitely nabbed why I like him. 4y
Megabooks @reluctantangeleno preach!! That is so true. I find this type of book so much more interesting. I think I also like it when authors push reality a bit...make someone 2% worse than they‘d behave in real life. Emma Cline did that so well in Northeast Regional in her new short story collection![[tagged book]](https://image.librarything.com/pics/litsy_webpics/icon_taggedBook@3x.png)
Daddy 4y
DaddyChelsea.Poole @Megabooks oh no, now you've made me want to tryDaddy 4y
Daddyreluctantangeleno @Megabooks I looooved The Girls, but haven't picked up Daddy yet! Worth the investment, sounds like! Thanks for the recommendation 👍🏻 4y
Megabooks @reluctantangeleno @Chelsea.Poole I hope y‘all do try it! I really enjoyed it. 4y
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