Although he's not yet a household name, Tom Perrotta has written two popular novels about the younger generation — "Joe College" and "Election." The latter was made into a 1999 movie starring Reese Witherspoon and Matthew Broderick, and Perrotta is currently negotiating a film contract for the former.
Whether or not his new novel, "Little Children," translates to film, some have called it his "breakout novel." In spite of the title, "Little Children" is his first novel about adults — although most of his characters make decisions that smack of adolescence.
Perrotta says he didn't "flounder" about his future. During a telephone interview from his home in Belmont, Mass., he said that unlike most writers, he knew as early as his 18th birthday that it's what he wanted to do. That, or be an English professor.
He's written five books now, and although he didn't become an English professor, he has taught creative writing at both Harvard and Yale.
Shortly after "Election" became a film, Perrotta got into screenwriting, most recently adapting "Joe College" with Rob Greenberg, a comedy writer for TV's "Frasier." In fact, Perrotta has made his living for the past four years from screenwriting. "It's hard to make a living writing novels," he said. "The novel is still the greatest form for the writer, but writing a novel is all-consuming — a marathon. Whereas screenwriting is more of a sprint.
"I can write 125 pages of text for a screenplay in about a month of hard writing, but it is more of a short-hand format. You can always see the destination on the horizon."
Novel-writing makes Perrotta feel isolated, he said, so he enjoys the social aspect of screenwriting as a change of pace.
Perrotta realizes that many of his characters in "Little Children" are not "sympathetic" in the sense that readers easily identify with them. "I think a sympathetic character should be someone you understand. The challenge is to make you understand a character that may not seem sympathetic. We all have close friends who behave in ways we don't approve of, yet they remain our friends. There's a mystery to that. You care about people even when you don't admire them."
He also writes about some "complex gender roles," including the athletic Todd, a stay-at-home dad who is "treated as a sex object, yet he is satisfied in what is traditionally a female role and doesn't want any public work." Todd has finished law school but fails the bar exam twice, and the third time he doesn't even show up.
In Perrotta's view, Sarah, a young mother with whom Todd has a fling, "is in the funny condition of being a rather plain woman in a relationship with a male sex object. I thought there was a certain comedy in that. She would actually like public life. Todd fantasizes a relationship with another woman, and Sarah is willing to live the fantasy with him.
"His beautiful wife is very busy as a documentary filmmaker. He compartmentalizes his life. He sees the affair as a supplement to his marriage, and then the fantasy goes further than he wants it to."
Perrotta said he starts every book with an open-minded approach. "I'm always trying to find subject matter in ordinary experience. I started thinking about a love story about two parents who meet on a playground. I understood there is some comedy in that. Their lives are run by toddlers. They rarely finish a conversation. They're not looking their best when they meet."
Todd also develops a friendship with an odd character named Larry, an ex-cop who accidentally shot a young man and lost his career. Now he tries to fulfil that need by acting as a vigilante to protect the community from a suspected child molester. He also talks Todd into playing on his football team, symbolizing once more a return to adolescence.
Perrotta sees this love story in the modern milieu of being young (his characters are 30ish). "They want sexual satisfaction and parenthood, but they have trouble with the self-sacrifice part. There is a tension between who we are in our teens and 20s, and who we need to become as adults. Some people have a hard time leaving the childish things behind. It's part of the American culture."
The author thinks the story works if the reader "gets swept up with what's happening between Sarah and Todd. This passion is powerful and makes them feel more alive."
"Little Children" represents a departure for Perrotta from his other books, all of which center on younger characters in New Jersey, where he grew up, "characters who are consumed with romance and pop culture." The author drew a great deal from his own youth for these books, but he "used it up" and became ready for a new approach. "I wanted to write about characters I had never explored before."
E-mail: dennis@desnews.com