Even if you haven’t read novelist Tom Perrotta, you likely know his brand of spiky satire in Northeastern suburbs from its high-profile jaunts into other forms, such as Alexander Payne’s film adaptation of Election or HBO’s series based on The Leftovers. Perrotta is up to his usual sociocultural hijinks in his new best-seller, Mrs. Fletcher, which he brings to Flyleaf Books this week. A party-ready freshman bro named Brendan finds campus life much different than he’d imagined, and he winds up branded a “HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT” in someone’s art project titled “My Call-Out Wall.” But as Brendan’s expectation of collegiate hedonism fades into alienation and lunging attempts at activism, his lonely, empty-nested mom receives an anonymous text (“U r my milf! Send me a naked pic!!”) that sets her on a pretty literal orgy of self-discovery. Perrotta is playing at how technology and changing cultural norms are transposing certain values traditionally associated with youth and maturity.
