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Summary: Home Town is non-fiction that reads like fiction.
Review: "Home Town" is quite like the town of Northampton itself: It is non-fiction that reads like fiction. Or, maybe I should say the book FEELS like fiction.Kidder holds no punches when it comes to revealing the town's many characters. He has done a wonderful job of explaining to us that this is essentially the town's appeal, not its yuppie-induced reputation of "small-town utopia." Kidder's honesty and attention to the human details is what makes reading this book a kind of mythic experience... almost like BEING in Northampton. I know not because I grew up in Northampton: I lived in another nearby town very briefly, and had frequently visited Northampton, the town-as-spectacle. Kidder's account is simply authentic.
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Summary: OCONNOR IS A DIRTY COP IN REAL LIFE
Review: Maybe if people realized what OCONNOR is like in real life they would not believe the mumbo jumbo this book spews.
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Summary: I really enjoyed this book.
Review: I struggled through the first 40 pages and had thoughts of putting it down. But then it started to click for me and I found it to be a great read. A book for everyone. I would like to see what some of the people look like!
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Summary: A captivating read
Review: I loved this book from the outset. The cast of characters is outstanding and superbly portrayed. In each character, you will probably see a similar character from your own Home Town -- I know I did. Some of the characters are pitiful, hilarious and just plain ordinary. This is another winner for Kidder. Once introduced to the book's key players in the beginning, I could not put the book down. You'll love it too. Met Kidder recently at a book signing in Worcester, MA, not far from Northampton. Interesting man and a great writer.
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Summary: the true nuts and bolts underlying small town platitudes
Review: church picnics, parades, apple pie and mom come to mind when we think of home town life...but there's so much more that isn't seen or shared with the community...struggles that are important only on a personal level, that aren't the concern of others, that won't effect the world at large except in the most miniscule ways...home towns are usually mundane, but then again, so aren't most of our lives...Tracy Kidder's genius is to recognize this,to make us recognize this, make us feel we aren't alone in this, that there are millions of others out there who we don't know but can relate to in a significant way...and it's interesting to compare how these people reacted to and dealt with the things that are also on own minds...seeing that can be re-enforcing, supportive, instructive and sometimes just plain amusing...I could not put it down, because I saw so much of myself and my friends in it...and you will too.
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Summary: essentially typical
Review: Towns are towns. All of them have richer people and poorer people. All of them have newcomers and founding families. Northampton is no exception. Yes, Northampton may be atypical because of the presence of Smith College, but this atypicality is superficial. Northampton residents choose to get really bent out of shape about global stuff, while it could be argued that residents in most towns pay attention only to what is going on around them (and only part of that). The common principle here is that people tend to get distracted from what is really important and so, in that essential sense, Northampton is typical. I lived in Northampton briefly and for a longer time across the river in Amherst. During my summer in Northampton I worked at a deli in Florence. This place was frequently by residents of "the Hamp" as opposed to residents of "Noho" and I got a very clear idea of the friction that exists between these two camps. I would argue that this too is increasingly typical in American towns. In my own Hudson Valley home town, New Yorkers moved in and radically changed a very depressed part of Main Street into a swanky district full of boutiques, bakeries, antique shops. Did the old timers appreciate it? No. I have read all of Tracy Kidder's books except _Old Friends_. _Home Town_ has more anastamosing narrative threads than his previous books have and I believe that he has been very successful in this attempt to broaden the typical scope of his vision. Some of the characters in the book have nothing to do with each other or meet only glancingly, which is just like what it is like to live in a town of 30,000 people. No one is objectively extraneous, although they may be extraneous to your own life. The reader can not approach this book as if it were a Dickens or Eliot novel, wherein everyone's lives are densely interwoven. Kidder is describing actual life, not some contrived closed universe. Kidder as narrator is not present at all in this book. He is omniscient, but he is never distant. In this regard he reminds me of John McPhee. I love "New Journalism" (Tom Wolfe, P.J. O'Rourke etc.), but it is refreshing to read this more traditional kind of reporting when it is so well done. Toward the end of the book I was surprised to realize that I probably would not like the main character, Tommy O'Connor, if I met him in person, but Kidder presented him so completely and so sympathetically that I ended up respecting O'Connor, even if I, like the mayor and the judge, would feel a bit nervous having him as a town cop. If you have a home town, then I would be surprised if you didn't find it in this book.
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Summary: Great book!! I couldn't put it down!!
Review: I started reading Home Town about a week ago, and since then could not put it down. I just finished it, and was actually sad to see it end. While Northampton, Massachusetts (which I am a long-time resident of) is definitely not a typical small town, it has that small-town feel, which works for many reasons. There is a great deal of "new thinking," cultural diversity, and old-fashioned New England conservatism, and it all just comes together. Mr. Kidder does an excellent job on both the historical and modern-day influences here. If you have ever lived or visited here, you know exactly what I mean. While I read the book on a different level than a lot of other people because I live here and know some of the people in the book, I believe a lot of the incidents depicted in the book are happening in every city and town in America. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves where they live, wherever it may be.
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Summary: Amazing insight, patience and humanity
Review: "Home Town" is a gem of a book that will probably not get the recognition it deserves because it touches on so many fields, ranging from religion to law enforcement to urban planning to romance. Tracy Kidder's portrait of Northampton, Mass. is nicely balanced between affectionate and warts-and-all, and it proves its point that there is an awful lot of life even in a (relatively) small city such as "Hamp." Kidder focuses on several interesting people, but the main vehicle is policeman Tommy O'Connor. This book has a light touch, but some ultimately deep insights on the nature of a community and what makes it the way it is.
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Summary: Northampton may be a small town, but it is hardly typical.
Review: Northampton a typical small town in America? I don't think so. If you have ever been there you know that the mix of cultures and lifestyles do not make for your average, run of the mill, small town. Nevertheless, it was a good read. It is amazing that the author can take such mundane subjects, and from them create an entertaining story. I would have loved an epilogue...Tommy,Alan, Laura, what happened?
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Summary: Mr. Kidder you have written better!!
Review: I loved Mr. Kidder's book entitled Among SchoolChildren and Old Friends. He captures the classroom perfectly and two friends in a nursing home with great depth of emotion. However, I would not even believe that Hometown was written by the same man!!! He has too many characters in this book and his plot jumps from one thing to another in order to give us a bird's eye view of small town life. I grew up in a small town and thought I would really enjoy his latest effort. Instead, I found it a real effort to get to the conclusion of the book. I was so glad when it was done!!! I would not even give this book to my worst enemy. I wish I could get my money back!!
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