Bad Haircut: Stories of the Seventies

Rating:
Summary: one of my favorites
Review: This book really succeeds in capturing the feel of the 1970s in the way I remember them rather the way the era is usually evoked through clothes, hair, music, etc. The stories go beyond describing an era, though. Rather, they recover from the very ordinary, bordering on bleak, surroundings a rich and comical, educational place to grow up.

Rating:
Summary: Great
Review: This book was great! - the characters are real, the stories are funny and touching. I can't wait for more!

Rating:
Summary: A Light Touch
Review: This collection of stories is impressive by virtue of its light touch. Perrotta's style is nuanced and his observations are acute. The pieces are not interconnected or overlapping--as Robert Altman does so well in film. Rather, we see the main character, who appears in each of the stories, at a series of distinct points in his young life. There are no segues between episodes; instead, each story stands on its own as if unconnected to the others. A wonderful collection of stories by an author of subtle, impressive craft. Although the subject matter is quite different, the tone and narrative posture recall Jhumpa Lahiri--another master of the short game.

Rating:
Summary: Just some garwood tales
Review: This is the best book I have ever read. I know exactly what this writer went through because right now I am going up in this town. If I was a good writer, I could write volumes and volumes of garwood stories. Right now I am 15 years old and have had a full garwood experience. There is so much to do and garwood and your childhood in garwood is the best that anyone can ever hope for. If he grew up in garwood you would know what I am talking about.

Rating:
Summary: Bad Haircut, Stange Decade, GREAT book
Review: Tom Perotta has the gift of a great writer. Honesty and the ability to convey not his wishes of the world he/we grew up in but rather the stark reality of it all. We can laugh at it, we can cry about it, but "it" is all there. Comparisons are likely to both haunt and glorify Mr. Perotta - ie Roth, Salinger, Fitzgerald and even Springsteen but he writes in his own straight foward manner. He literally drives home a point in its wonderful and innocent simplicity and allows the reader to take it where he/she will. Tom Perotta is a wonderful writer and story teller we are lucky to have. READ his work. You will be happy you did.

Rating:
Summary: Bad Haircut, Stange Decade, GREAT book
Review: Tom Perotta has the gift of a great writer. Honesty and the ability to convey not his wishes of the world he/we grew up in but rather the stark reality of it all. We can laugh at it, we can cry about it, but "it" is all there. Comparisons are likely to both haunt and glorify Mr. Perotta - ie Roth, Salinger, Fitzgerald and even Springsteen but he writes in his own straight foward manner. He literally drives home a point in its wonderful and innocent simplicity and allows the reader to take it where he/she will. Tom Perotta is a wonderful writer and story teller we are lucky to have. READ his work. You will be happy you did.