Perhaps more so than journalists who cover art or music, book reviewers love to turn a clever, literary-referential phrase when describing a novel or its author.
Thus, fiction writer Tom Perrotta has been lauded by Time magazine as “the Steinbeck of Suburbia” and the Chicago Sun-Times as “our Balzac of the burbs.” This is because in his nine novels and dozens of short stories to date, most have indeed been set in those homesteading areas outside of the city where working and middle class families have settled since their advent back in the 1950s.
And while Perrotta understands that phrases like that are maybe good for shorthand reference, they are also not wholly representative of his subject matter. And a possible yield sign for potential new readers.
“It’s a handy label and not wrong exactly because I do write about the suburbs. But it might also be a turn-off to people,” Perrotta says via Zoom, adding accurately that the themes of his books have focused on subjects like women of a particular generation, sexual transgression, academia, class, or religion. And even fantastical dystopia. His new book adds a touch of the supernatural.
Set in 1973, Ghost Town (288 pp., $28, S&S/Scribner) centers on 13-year-old Jimmy Perrini, living in the New Jersey suburb of Creamwood with his parents and older sister. A family tragedy that happens in the waning days of his eighth-grade year hangs over the summer break that follows. And he tries to both cope with and navigate his altered relationships and changed emotions and inner feelings. While also involved in the concerns of an average 13-year-old boy.
As the weeks progress, Jimmy encounters a series of older characters who may or may not be role models: The local stoner with good weed; an eccentric and beguiling older girl with a Ouija Board; a bitter, conservative teacher; a young, well-meaning priest; and a cousin whose choice of wife and friends is shaking up the previously all-white neighborhood.
The book’s short chapters are presented alternately in third person as events happen, and first person in Jimmy’s voice more than four decades later when he’s become a successful writer. A man with mixed feelings about returning to his hometown to accept a family honor. There is warmth and nostalgia, but also regret and bitterness.
In real life, Perrotta says he had an “unbroken connection” to his hometown and visited often as his parents resided in the same house for decades.
“It was the exact opposite of the scenario in the book where [Jimmy] was exiled and wants to close off that portion of his life. Like what people do in therapy where they want to cut things off completely” he says. “I never felt that way. It was my touchstone, and it helped me understand the passage of time and aging.”
Like most of his novels, Ghost Town is shaded with more than a touch of his own autobiography. Whether it’s in the Perrotta/Perrini name and Jimmy’s eventual occupation, down to the fact that the author’s own father was a firefighter like his character.
Perrotta told Publisher’s Weekly that the book’s genesis began during the early part of COVID when he returned to his childhood neighborhood to help his widowed mother with her health issues. He was also inspired by the work of Philip Roth, who it turns outgrew up not far from Perrotta’s primary hometown of Garwood, New Jersey.
Its time setting is dated in one particular area: the teens of Ghost Town—as was common in the ‘70s and ‘80s—basically have free rein of the neighborhood. There were no phone trackers for parents to monitor their each and every move. And mom and dad were not nearly as involved in conflict resolution or life involvement.
“You can’t fathom that level of freedom [then] and possible danger today. And I don’t mean like some stranger will kidnap you. That’s been overhyped and there’s a cultural paranoia in that. But more of the danger of a daughter’s sexual assault. And back then, in the case of young guys there was a lot of drinking and driving and bullying,” Perrotta says.
“There was a much higher threshold for what required adult intervention. Now, there’s a level of diplomacy on the playground. Parents get involved with ‘That’s not the right word to use’ or ‘You can’t get to use your hands like that.’ I grew up in a world where if two guys wanted to start a fight, there’d be some adults saying, ‘Let’s put boxing gloves on them!’”
In Ghost Town, Perrotta uses more of what he calls “genre elements” in telling his story, in this case a supernatural or slight horror sheen.
The book is rife with the feeling of what Perrotta dubs “ambient dread” because the older Jimmy explicitly says something terrible happened to him that summer. And the reader is attuned to that, thinking something bad is going to happen at many given times.
Perrotta is clearly a music buff and often namechecks bands and songs of the era in his work. Ghost Town is no exception. One character even expresses a great distaste in particular for Jethro Tull.
So, is he a mouthpiece for Perrotta’s own feelings on the venerable and still-active prog rockers?
“Jethro Tull was pretty divisive among my friends. A couple were really into them!” Perrotta laughs. “I mean, hear ‘Aqualung’ now and I kind of marvel at it. But at the time Ian Anderson’s flute and buckskin jacket and Stonehenge [vibe] made it feel a bit like Spinal Tap,” Perrotta says.
“I went toward Yes and Genesis and sort of highbrow rock, and others went to Judas Priest. And those Judas Priest people would look askance at Jethro Tull!”
In terms of quality, Perrotta has had great success with adaptations of his work in other media. That includes on the big screen with 1999’s Election (with Reese Witherspoon and Matthew Broderick), and 2006’s Little Children (with Kate Winslet and Patrick Wilson). On TV, HBO got three seasons out of The Leftovers and a limited series from Mrs. Fletcher.
Perrotta wrote Tracy Flick Can’t Win, a sequel to Election that continues the story of the super achieving and ultra organized title character. And while it’s currently under option to be made into a movie with original director Alexander Payne and Witherspoon attached to reprise their roles, there’s been no solid movement, and the studio involved (Paramount) is having its own troubles lately.
He says the book’s option is due to be renewed soon, though at this point Witherspoon is considerably older than the Tracy Flick of the novel. Maybe it’s time to make it a trilogy?
“People are startled today at how dark [the movie] Election actually is because at the time maybe they had fond memories of it as a comedy,” he says.
Adding that at the time of its release, moviegoer sentiment was that Witherspoon’s Tracy was the movie’s “villain.” Though time has shifted that away to cast a more dubious glance Broderick’s not-so-noble and beleaguered social studies teacher, Mr. McAllister.
“It’s a strange litmus test because the world has changed so much. The movie was received one way when it came out, but a lot of people watch it today differently. The book has moments of humor, but it’s not a funny book!” Perrotta says.
Of all the adaptations, though, Perrotta perhaps feels closest to the adultery-in-the-suburbs-themed Little Children. Partially because he was more involved with the production, co-writing the screenplay with director Todd Field. Perrotta also has a cameo, listed as only “Small Man” in the credits.
“I feel a sense of part ownership there that is really satisfying. And it was a wonderful movie. Well received at the time, but doesn’t get its due,” he says. “I think it’s one of Kate Winslet’s greatest performances. And Todd also had a dark sensibility for it, especially in the second half.”
He spent the longest time working on The Leftovers, though, both in writing the source novel and being involved with the series’ production. When it came out, the book itself garnered a rave review from novelist Stephen King, which Perrotta says definitely helped both his and its profile.
That’s come full circle because Perrotta says Ghost Town was definitely inspired in part by King’s short story “The Body.” Which later served as the basis of the movie Stand By Me.
“I wanted to write a coming-of-age story with a horror element,” Perrotta sums up. “But the horror is really the dark and sad parts of life. Loss and prejudice. And mortality.”
For more on Tom Perrotta, visit TomPerrotta.net
