Mrs Fletcher by Tom Perrotta is a novel about sex and relationships from the different perspectives of a mother and her student son.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to read and review this book.

After losing and replacing my broken Kindle and getting a new phone I was unable to download the title again for review as it was no longer available on Netgalley.

I’m really sorry about this and hope that it won’t affect you allowing me to read and review your titles in the future.

Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity.
Natalie.

A story of a mother and son, the mother Eve rediscovering her sexuality following divorce and her misogynistic son Brendan, who is just starting college. I found the characters unlikable and plot device where the story is told from the first person perspective for Brendan but third person for the other characters is odd and grates.

I wanted to like Mrs Fletcher more than I did. The book is an exploration of gender politics.
Mrs Eve Fletcher is a 42 year old woman whose husband has left her for a younger woman. Her son Brendan is a misogynistic boor who is off to what he calls a ‘party college.’ Before he leaves, Eve overhears him using disgusting language to his girlfriend.
The split narrative shows her disappointment at how disconnected she is from her son, and how arrogant and uncaring Brendan is. Brendan only cares about his ‘bro's', who reinforce his selfish world view. Although it is interesting to hear Brendan's point of view, it is so ugly that you tire of it quite quickly.
Eve is much more sympathetic. Brendan leaving has freed her to think about herself. She enrols at a community college, takes a course on gender, and makes new friends. She starts to explore her sexuality. Meanwhile, Brendan isn't finding life so easy. He is failing academically. His hard-drinking roommate gets a girlfriend, and starts behaving like a human being. A woman falls for him, only for him to demean her. This time, he doesn't get away with it.
What this book does well is show how prevalent conservative attitudes are in the United States, and how much women still defer to men. It was disappointing but realistic to see Eve give up her college course, and her new support system, when Brendan slunk home with his tale between his legs.
The last part of the book is a bit of a cop out . Brendan hasn't really learnt from his mistakes. Eve makes a conventional romantic choice.

Well written, my favourite book subject, modern suburban American families. Book was gritty, very current and full of horrible characters that you wanted to read about. Reading Mrs Fletcher made me go and buy some of Tom Perrotta’s older novels.
Well worth a read.