The Wishbones - Tom Perotta

Softcover from Amazon.com - $4.99
Fiction

Buy it if: You want a solid story with a movie’s pace

Don’t buy it if: You think Clear and Present Danger is the pinnacle of fiction

At first glance The Wishbones feels like a loosely-based treatment for The Wedding Singer. Dave is a never-made-it guitarist making ends in meet in a wedding band and constantly questioning the one good and stable thing in his life: a stagnating relationship with his pseudo-fiance, Julie. Among his growing list of concerns: a romantic interest in a young bridesmaid, nagging parents and his band, The Wishbones, suffering from a growing delusion that they’re still going to make it big… Dave’s got little problems that feel huge and the book feels primed for 90 minutes of Hollywood-style Rom-Com.

To be fair, Tom Perotta’s style (and length) of novel does lend itself neatly to the screenplay construct. One need only look as far as Election and Little Children, both of which were born from Perotta books, for proof. But despite its familiar premise, The Wishbones’ veers off in a new direction early on. The plot stands on its own and the cadence of the storytelling moves things along at a brisk pace. Characters like outgoing bridesmaid Gretchen and rival bandleader ‘Rockin’ Randy’ gain depth without overt minutia that, quite frankly, would just hinder the flow.

After reading this novel and his others, it’s tempting to pigeonhole Perotta. He always seems to be writing about conflicted men (and occasionally women) residing in dark and anonymous suburbs. But he does it with an upbeat style streaked with huge doses of humor. It’s practically ‘jaunty.’ Citing a common theme between books, however, misses the point: We are a world of conflicted people. It’s because of this that Perotta’s characters feel so familiar. Like us, they get stressed out over both life’s mundane choices and ‘big decisions.’ You gotta respect the common perspective: Whether it’s a marriage or simply getting to work on time…we’re worried about fucking up.

And the characters make the story work. They’re not larger than life and it’s hard to discern heroes from villains, right from wrong. They’re believable because they’re so us. I’ve always disliked Tom Clancy-style protagonists, those white-knight ubermen. Jack Ryan is the paragon of perfection. And while it makes for a fun read, it’s also utterly unrealistic.

But Dave makes mistakes, he does dumb stuff that he usually regrets. He’s unsure of himself, a bit down on his life and generally…well, normal. I know, it doesn’t sound like it would make for compelling reading, but I think you’ll soon find that this normalcy is exactly what draws you in. Can I relate? Not to the specific situations. But to the feelings, uncertainties, and annoyances of life? It’s a challenge to NOT see a part of yourself in erstwhile axe-slinger Dave or frustrated beau Julie. They’re like novel-dwelling horoscopes, always with a characteristic directly applicable to your own life, positive or negative. Probably both, but rarely neither.

Even better, Perotta - for an author who populates his books with such wonderful and accessible characters – is writing really great stories. There is a flow to the books. Things are happening. People are going places. There are going to be actions and conclusions. I’m so happy for Dave, Julie and all the others (including us!) that they’re not just standing around considering everything. They’re talking, they’re doing, they’re sleeping with each other and lying… They’re living. Consider a lot of fiction for a while and you’ll realize there’s often a lot less going on than you originally thought… Fortunately, The Wishbones has some action, it’s moving through time just like the rest of us.

This book's author, as he does in the equally recommended Election, Joe College, and Little Children, reminds me of my father, a carpenter. Dad turns ordinary planks of wood into functional objects, things we need and use everyday. But there’s always a delicate ornamentation, a little bit of elegance that takes an extra moment to appreciate and sets his work apart from the more common tables and chairs of this world. Perotta adds these little details in small, deft character traits that an author like Clancy, with reams of paper bound into his titles, simply can’t apply with brute force methods. He’s a craftsman with words that – while they may appear simple at first – age into a very satisfying elegance.