Mrs. Fletcher

Tom Perrotta, in this novel and in his outstanding "Little Children", writes amusingly and poignantly about everyday people obsessed by dirty sex. Eve Fletcher, divorced, a supervisor at a senior home, sends off her immature jock son Brendan (who avoids moving his college luggage into the car by receiving a well-timed blow job from his ex-girlfriend) and falls into a world of online MILF porn viewing. In his first semester (at a very accurately portrayed yet un- named U Mass Amherst), Brendan runs afoul of a feminist who doesn't react well to his porn-based verbal commands and is publicly humiliated, flunks out, and slinks off back home.

As usual in Perrotta-world, supporting characters take their strong, foible-filled turns in the show more narrative, including Eve's co-worker Amber; nineteen year old Julian, who was bullied in school by Brendan and is sexually haunted by Eve; Margo, a transvestite teacher who falls for one of her male students; and Brendan's father, who, having left Eve for a "second chance" at a new life, is the father of an autistic son with his new wife.

And the set pieces, frat parties and a three-way and a lecture by Margo at Eve's assisted living facility, are hilarious.

This is not his best effort, but every Perrotta book carries guaranteed pleasures: you will cringe, you will laugh aloud, you will empathize. show less

I found this novel to be very entertaining and had a very hard time putting it down while I was reading it.

While much has and will likely be made about some of the topics that come up in this book (i.e., sex), it's so much more than that. At its heart, this novel seems to me to be about the nature of loneliness in life and how different people try to overcome it. The book makes a not-so-subtle but heartfelt case for the value of community and real-life personal connections. And the story was also very funny and at times quite moving.

Perrota is, of course, a fantastic writer, and I enjoyed the shifting narratives and perspectives he uses in this book to highlight how different situations appear to different people or even in retrospect.

In Mrs. Fletcher, Eve and her college freshman son Brendan are both struggling with identity. Eve is a single mom, now all alone, and after she receives a sexually explicit text message from someone calling her a MILF, she Googles MILF and falls down a rabbit hole of pornography.

She starts a habit of searching out MILF pornography almost every night, and the night class that she takes at the community college on Gender and Society is taught by Margot, a transgender woman who used to be Mark, a college basketball standout, so sex and identity is explored in this intriguing novel.

What I found most interesting about Mrs. Fletcher is that Perrotta really seems to inhabit each of these characters- Eve, Amanda, Brendan, Amber, Margot, Julian. show more They are all distinct and feel like people you would meet in this town and college campus.

He also nails the pervasive feeling of loneliness: of a mom whose only child is now gone to college, the jock who goes to college to party and finds that it is not what he expected, the young woman starting a career and looking for friendship, a young man who falls apart after he is bullied in high school.

I have to say that the end of this book truly surprised me. I thought he may be going in one direction, and he went a different way (which I liked).

Mrs. Fletcher is a fascinating look at a moment in time when gender and identity are being explored by so many in our culture. Social media and the easy availablity of the internet allows people to be exposed to people and ideas that we may never have been before, in the privacy of our own home. Perrotta places his story in everyday suburbia to emphasize that fact.

I highly recommend Mrs. Fletcher; it's funny, poignant, thought-provoking and yes, even a little provocative, everything you want in a good novel. show less

Thanks to Goodreads and the publisher for a free copy of Mrs. Fletcher! This is my first book I've read by Tom Perrotta, although he's been on my radar for a couple of years... and it definitely won't be my last.

This book is a twisted, hilarious, and sometimes uncomfortable examination of sexuality, desire and being desired, power dynamics, and pornography. There is a wide cast of characters, and their lives are pried apart in hilarious and thought-provoking ways. I wasn't expecting this book to make me think so much about gender, but I appreciate that it did.

I had a harder time connecting to Brendan, the uber bro-y son of the titular Mrs. Fletcher. God, he made me angry. He's a great character, no doubt, and there's something to be show more said for an author who can incite such an emotional reaction. But man, he drove me up the wall.

Overall, what an interesting read! show less

Tom Perrotta's 'Mrs. Fletcher' is one of those books outside my usual sphere of interest that was so enjoyable I'm now interested in digging deeper into the author's catalog.

Mrs. Fletcher is a pretty, divorced middle-aged woman who's son has left the nest for his freshman year in college. The kid's a screw-up: partier, video game player, non-studier, and a guy who disrespects women. While he's away at school, one of his 'friends' sends his mom an anonymous text message telling her, in effect, she's hot for age. That jump-starts a whole chain of sexual-awakening events for her, one of which was that she becomes addicted to MILF porn on the internet (if you don't know what that is, just Google it....).

So, the remainder of the novel show more essentially involves Mrs. Fletcher's search for love, or at least some sex, from one or more members of the opposite, or the same, sex, her son's interactions with his college roommate and various female partners, and other characters involved in the chases. It's set in the present day, so there's a huge dose of gender issues, technology, irony, political correctness, and all the other stuff I'm glad I missed out on while on my way to old age.

The writing and dialogue in Mrs. Fletcher are so well-done and realistic that you almost feel like you're overhearing a conversation as you're reading. It's my first exposure to this author and he's terrific. Mrs. Fletcher is terribly funny, a little dirty, open, and thoroughly fun to read. show less

I adore Tom Perrotta. I have enjoyed many of his earlier books, and his plotlines are often completely warped (in the best possible way). Indeed, the more off-kilter the story, the better I tend to like them. Which leads me to the current book. I enjoyed the read, certainly. And the characters give the reader plenty to chew on and consider. However, the underlying story of a middle-aged, divorcee, empty nester trying to find her way, is a little banal. Not my favorite Perotta, but still a recommended summer read. Release date August 1, 2017.

I received an advanced copy of this novel from the publisher via netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks!

Mrs. Fletcher is Eve Fletcher, divorced mother of a college freshman. She's determined to get out there and become involved in life again, and she signs up for a class at the local community college on gender identity as a way of making friends. Along the way she discovers internet porn and becomes friends with a woman she works with. Meanwhile, her son has trouble adjusting to college, where he's no longer a big star and where he's stymied by both his college roommate and the challenge of starting a romantic relationship.

Tom Perrotta's novel explores the sexual mores of contemporary Americans in much the same way works by Updike and Cheever did a generation ago. Touching on everything from how porn affects how a person approaches show more relationships, the difficulty of starting over after divorce, transgenderism and how different generations react differently to similar situations, Mrs. Fletcher is written with Perrotta's characteristic sensitivity and humor, although it does seem less focused than his other novels. show less