Ghost Town by Tom Perrotta
Overall, I think there wasn’t much to the story, it was pretty character-driven, but we also weren’t allowed to get too close to the character, so I feel like this was kind of a jumping-off point for my imagination to do the rest and make it more interesting.
With all that said, I do still love Perrotta's writing style, so there's that. But I wish there was something more here. When I first read the synopsis, I even texted a fellow Perrotta-fan friend and said I was worried it was just the same story told again. It brought to mind some of his earlier books, like Bad Haircut and The Wishbones. She replied that isn't that what we do as writers? Which... yes. And Kevin Wilson himself even said that in a workshop I took with him last December - he said he's just telling the same story until it's out, until it feels right. But I feel like he does push the limits to make things even stranger than you'd think they'd be.
I think Perrotta was dabbling in magical realism but maybe didn't trust himself to explore it more... or maybe wasn't sure his readers would accept it? Or maybe he didn't even want to take it there - I shouldn't assume anything about the process. However, I do think it would have benefited a lot if he just pushed it to its max instead of leaving it so lacking, it didn't make enough of an impact to really resonate with me.
Have you read this book? What do you think about it?