Why they call it raisin?

I finished reading two books on this trip (so far). The first one was My Sister's Keeper, by Jodi Picoult. I recommend this one -- Emily is the one who originally told me about the book, but I didn't get around to it until I picked up The Tenth Circle at the airport on my trip to Lancaster. Because I loved it so much, I figured I'd give another Jodi Picoult book a shot and I was not disappointed.

I have to rant a little bit about Little Children, though.

Little Children was written by Tom Perrotta, who wrote Election, which I haven't read -- but I've seen the Reese Whitherspoon/Matthew Broderick movie based on that book, and loved it. I heard that Kate Winslet was going to be in this movie (Little Children) and so I implicitly wanted to see it, and by association, read the book. Never having seen a real preview, I couldn't imagine that it wasn't anything but fabulous -- and maybe it is. The book, however, is the worst piece of trash I have ever picked up, and I have picked up some pretty bad books in my life.

Aside from the story line, which was a little bit unbelievable, I had two major peeves with this book. Firstly, the toddlers in this book speak like little retarded children. I know I shouldn't say that, because it's fairly non-PC, but I swear to God. Children only speak as poorly as you teach them to speak. I suppose since on more than one occasion I caught adults in this book using improper grammar ("do good on a test" for instance), I shouldn't be surprised that the toddlers say things like "what you favorite color?" and "why they call it raisin?" Apparently, in Massachusetts suburbs they're raising some little ignoramuses -- Perrotta himself included. (and in no way to suggest anything about any friends I have who grew up in MA suburbs ;)

The second peeve I had was that the sex scenes were just appalling. They were clearly written by a man -- and they were degrading. Sarah was described in excruciating detail, and Todd would fade into the background. I mean come on. It was frustrating at best, and insulting at worst.

I already listed this book on half.com -- and I really hope some sucker buys it from me. Only because I lost the receipt. Because this book is so bad, I'd throw shame to the wind and return it. It sucked that hard.