Tracy Flick Can't Win

De: Tom Perrotta

Narrado por: Lucy Liu, Dennis Boutsikaris, Jeremy Bobb, Ramona Young, Ali Andre Ali, Pete Simonelli, full cast

Soon to be a major motion picture starring Reese Witherspoon

“Tom Perrotta is…one of the great writers that we have today. I love this book.” —Harlan Coben

An “engrossing and mordantly funny” (People) novel about ambition, coming-of-age in adulthood, and never really leaving high school politics behind—featuring New York Times bestselling author Tom Perrotta’s most iconic character of all time.

Tracy Flick is a hardworking assistant principal at a public high school in suburban New Jersey. Still ambitious but feeling a little stuck and underappreciated in midlife, Tracy gets a jolt of good news when the longtime principal, Jack Weede, abruptly announces his retirement, creating a rare opportunity for Tracy to ascend to the top job.

Energized by the prospect of her long-overdue promotion, Tracy throws herself into her work with renewed zeal, determined to prove her worth to the students, faculty, and School Board, while also managing her personal life—a ten-year-old daughter, a needy doctor boyfriend, and a burgeoning meditation practice.

But nothing ever comes easily to Tracy Flick, no matter how diligent or qualified she happens to be. Her male colleagues’ determination to honor Vito Falcone—a star quarterback of dubious character who had a brief, undistinguished career in the NFL—triggers memories for Tracy and leads her to reflect on the trajectory of her own life. As she considers the past, Tracy becomes aware of storm clouds brewing in the present. Is she really a shoo-in for the principal job? Is the Superintendent plotting against her? Why is the School Board President’s wife trying so hard to be her friend? And why can’t she ever get what she deserves?

A sharp, darkly comic, and pitch-perfect chronicle of the second act of one of the most memorable characters of our time, Tracy Flick Can’t Win “delivers acerbic insight about frustrated ambition” (Esquire).

©2022 Tom Perrotta. All rights reserved. (P)2022 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

Reseñas de la Crítica

"Lucy Liu, Dennis Boutsikaris, and other talented performers rivet listeners with this sequel to Election.... Liu as Flick sounds no-nonsense yet girlish as she voices Traci's midlife frustration and hope for a promotion. Boutsikaris, as retiring Principal Weede, has a world-weary, wistful tone.... This lively ensemble captivates right up to the audiobook's unexpected, timely conclusion." (AudioFile)

Outstanding!

The performances in this book are fantastic! You don't want it to end! In fact, it deserves repeated listening. Even if Tracy can't win, we listeners do!

Lacked focus

Unlike his singleminded heroine Tracy Flick, Tom Perrotta seemed all over the place on this one. So many characters and subplots …so many different points of view. Some of the subplots were interesting, and might have been developed into full fledged novels of their own, but others were so insubstantial I didn’t understand the point. Perrotta seemed intent on hitting all the hot button social issues — Me Too, LGBTQ, Black Lives Matter…the book felt almost like an apology for any unwoke transgressions the author might have committed in Election.

That said, even three star Tom Perrotta is a delight to listen to, and I was sorry when this story came to an end — an ending so abrupt (and to my mind contrived) I wondered if Perrotta had been under some sort of deadline pressure and needed to wrap things up in a hurry.

The connection to Election was a stretch for me. Election had a wonderful dark humor, which was not present in the sequel. And after Reese Witherspoon nailed Tracy’s character so brilliantly in the movie, it was jarring to find her reappearing in the voice of Lucy Liu, whose interpretation — though perfectly fine in its own right — was quite different. All in all, I’d give Tracy Flick Can’t Win a B-.

I’m Picking Flick

An exception to my usual “meh” response to sequels. I really liked it. Tracy has grown up and keeps growing up, along with the rest of the failed yet hopeful cast of characters. Satisfying and very human.

Amazing insight into character, so well written……

The narrators for this book were outstanding, absolutely perfect for each character. These people portrayed in this book were so real, so vulnerable, and so beautifully developed, I did not want to miss a single word. More from Tom Perrotta, please!!

Literary Excellence

Loved “Election”, but this one is better. While still nailing the misogyny and politics in the work place, Perotta presents a more optimistic tone in “Tracy…”. Perhaps the author, like me, has softened and mellowed a bit with age.

Hits in the gut

Election came out my senior year of high school - 1998, and the film was right behind it (the novel was only published because the film rights sold first - it had been toiling unpublished for a few years) - and as such the story & the characters ages are forever superimposed over my own.

This was the first contemporary novel I had read where I understood it to be not just a “good book” but a piece of art. That’s a heady mix of emotions for an 18 year old but the books status as art was only cemented for me when I saw the film in Ann Arbor Michigan, where I had moved to for my freshman year of college, all alone, late a night.

Tracey Flick on the page, and in Reese Witherspoon’s astonishing film performance became a touchstone for me - a character that I knew had a satirical bent but who I nonetheless identified with so much.

To be able to catch up with her when were both now 42 and have lived a version of our lives that was in no way what we thought it was going to be, but that we were happy with.

Dr. Flick feels more grounded in reality in this novel and I feel so lucky to be able to go through this very specific time of change with her (relationship, job, friendships, parenting etc.)

The ending floored me and was handled with care and honesty and most impressively without turning into a board commentary on our nations gun laws, gun violence, the role of police and that of the “good guy with a gun”.

The prose are spare & clear, without any needless embellishment in style or in exposition. Mr. Perrotta trusts his readers and that makes the read even more enjoyable.

This a short but impactful novel. If you enjoy Tom Perrotta’s fiction, then this book will kick you right in the ass (but in a good way)

Audio format not ideal

There are too many characters to follow, & having different narrators for each character doesn't solve that problem. If I hadn't had a library copy of the actual book, I'd have had trouble keeping it straight. The story was enjoyable but I'm going to avoid titles where there are multiple narrators.

Enjoyable! Thought provoking!

I loved knowing the thoughts, memories and motives of each character. We knew or WERE one of these characters in high school. Traumatic, painful or glorious, sadly high school might have been the peak of one’s life. For many it was an ordeal suffered before life Really began. This novel gives a thought provoking exploration of how teens can reinvent themselves as adults or be an older version of who they were in high school. The reader brings their own values to the story. Very satisfying listen!

Fast-read Follow-up

If you liked Election, you’ll like this one too. You don’t really need to have read (or seen) Election to enjoy this book, though.

Just read the book to me

The over-acting of the readers and the staccato delivery of the person reading Tracy's voice are distracting from the story itself. I cannot finish this. I would like to return to the days of someone simply reading the book, not emoting and using so many voices. This type of delivery colors the story and interferes with what I am imagining about the characters. I would think authors would be annoyed by this subjectivity as well as it has the potential to change what they intended. In the future, I will listen to samples before buying.