Election: A Novel - Softcover

Perrotta, Tom

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0425167283 ISBN 13: 9780425167281

Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group, 1998

Synopsis

Who really cares who gets elected president of Winwood High School? Nobody -- except Tracy Flick. Tracy's one of those students of boundless energy and ambition who somehow find the time to do everything -- edit the school paper and yearbook, star in the musical, sleep with her favorite teacher. Tracy's heart is set on becoming president of Winwood, and what Tracy wants, Tracy gets. What's more, her classmates seem to agree. With weeks to go before election day, her victory is nearly a foregone conclusion. And that's just the problem, according to Mr. M. a.k.a. Jim McAllistar, faculty advisor to the Student Government Association and a popular Winwood history teacher. In the name of democracy -- not to mention a simmering grudge against Tracy Flick -- Mr. M recruits the perfect opposition candidate. Paul Warren is a golden boy, a football hero, with a brain and a heart, eager to bulk up his meager resume. But the clear-cut two-way race is muddled when Paul's younger sister unexpectedly enters the competition. Running on a platform of apathy, Tammy Warren is an anonymous sophomore, struggling with her sexuality and mourning the defection of her best friend, Lisa, who has abandoned their friendship to become Paul's campaign manager and girlfriend. Part satire, part soap opera, "Election" is an uncommon look at an ordinary American high school, and the extraordinary people who inhabit it.

About this title

Review:

"[A] darkly comic and winning novel."--San Francisco Chronicle

"Funny, sad, realistic, irreverent, and very readable."--Library Journal

"Captures the texture of high-school life in a refreshing manner."--Time Out New York

"Exceedingly funny...sharp observation...a delight."--The Clevland Plain Dealer

"A neatly written, nimble-witted novel...a good-natured, John Irvingesque portrait of the contemporary world...seamless storytelling."--The Washington Post

"Perotta is that rare writer equally gifted at drawing people's emotional maps...and creating sidesplitting scenes."--People

"An American Chekhov."--The New York Times Book Review

About the Author:

Tom Perrotta is the author of The Leftovers, The Abstinence Teacher, Little Children, Election, and Nine Inches, among other works of fiction. Election was made into the acclaimed 1999 movie directed by Alexander Payne and starring Matthew Broderick and Reese Witherspoon. Little Children was released as a movie directed by Todd Field and starring Kate Winslet and Jennifer Connelly in 2006, and for which Perrotta received Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations for best screenplay. He also serves as an executive producer for the HBO(R) series The Leftovers, based on his novel.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0425167283
• ISBN 13: 9780425167281
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224