Mrs. Fletcher

June 19, 2017
Divorced since her husband decamped years ago, 46-year-old Eve Fletcher is bereft when her son, Brendan, whom she has helicopter-parented, goes off to college. Receiving a shocking anonymous email—“U r my MILF! Send me a naked pic!!”—reawakens her sexual fantasies. Watching porn satisfies her for a while, but soon she’s tempted to kiss her assistant at her job as director of a senior center. Then 17-year-old Julian, who was in Brendan’s high school class, confesses that he has the hots for her. Eventually there is a session of three-way sex that leaves Eve (her given name can’t be accidental) free to discover the sexual partner who will make her happy. Meanwhile, Brendan, who has considered college a chance to party and get wasted every night, while “trash-talking and playing video games’’ receives some jolts to his self-satisfied ego and comes home to finish growing up. Perrotta (The Leftovers) covers the gamut of sexual issues in this made-for-TV comedy of errors: Brendan’s former girlfriend rebels against being a sexual doormat; Brendan’s roommate vows to stop sexually demeaning girls. Every character here exists in a state of sexual arousal, and the happy ending finds each of them in a satisfying relationship.

Starred review from October 2, 2017
The enticing audio edition of Perrotta’s latest novel features a large cast tackling the perspectives of multiple characters. Top-billed actors Coon and Whitrock shine in giving voice to the two main characters, 40-something divorcée Eve Fletcher and her college-freshman son, Brandon. Actor Coon—who played Nora Durst in the HBO adaptation of Perrotta’s novel The Leftovers—splendidly captures the essence of both empty-nest loneliness and nascent erotic liberation in her portrayal of Eve. Whitrock oozes self-absorbed arrogance and angst as high-school hot shot turned clueless college kid Brandon. The pair’s most memorable moments center on their coming to terms with embarrassing matters of sexuality. Together with the other actors, Coon and Whitrock use subtle vocal mannerisms and pacing to convey the palpable sense of tension surrounding the convoluted romantic triangle at the heart of the story. The group effort hooks listeners from the start. A Scribner hardcover.

This audio production of Tom Perrotta's comic novel exemplifies the strengths and weaknesses of full-cast audiobooks. The more accomplished narrators provide the satirical characterizations necessary for Perrotta's biting treatment of everyday anxieties, with Carrie Coon giving an exceptional performance as a frustrated housewife. That said, some classic pitfalls of amateur narrators, such as monotonous delivery of descriptive passages, allow sections of the audiobook to devolve into the very mediocrity on which Perrotta is commenting. Luckily, the cast prove diverse enough to carry the stragglers, helped along by Perrotta's natural wit. The result is a personable, albeit inconsistent, commentary on contemporary sexuality that is well served by its narrators. Z.S. � AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine