Election

I like the idea of getting the perspectives of each character, but as we talked about in class - this felt like pre-teen fiction and the voices weren't very different for each character. I guess that the fact that all the character voices blurred together might make it an easier read- youll never have to refer back to who is talking, because it doesn't really matter - the narrative lines up perfectly as one whole story.
A lot of people (in class) talked about the way that the movie had more well-rounded characters, but I'm not really sure I agree. In the movie Tracy had only one side to her personality and the affair didn't really make sense with that preppy picture, but in the book she was smart and nerdy, but also sexual in the way that she dressed/acted, much like the stereotypical good girl behaving badly fantasy. Paul also seemed a little deeper at times in the book. In the book, Paul was still a jock, but surprisingly bright, in the movie he was just trying not to drool on himself.
I think my other disagreement with the book/movie convo was about the end. In the book - everyone comes to the realization that it was only high school and it doesn't really matter once its over (which I certainly think is a realistic view of it!) In the movie, it basically determined the rest of each character's life: M was still angry and had to escape his "old life", Tracy was still the same person who had no personal growth and was still the overacheiver with no friends clawing her way to the top. It just seemed like the characters were all still looking back at high school as the most significant part of their lives and usually people who do that never leave the town their in or go on to do anything bigger/better.
This was definitely not my favorite book of all we read, but 8 years ago I probably would have enjoyed it more.