In this fascinating book, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Tracy Kidder takes us inside the everyday workings of Northampton, Massachusetts -- a place that seems to personify the typical American hometown. Kidder unveils the complex drama behind the seemingly ordinary lives of Northampton's residents. And out of these stories he creates a splendid, startling portrait of a town, in a narrative that gracefully travels among past and present, public and private, joy and sorrow.
A host of real people are alive in these pages: a tycoon with a crippling ailment; a criminal whom the place has beguiled, a genial and merciful judge, a single mother struggling to start a new life at Smith College; and, at the center, a policeman who patrols the streets of his beloved hometown with a stern yet endearing brand of morality -- and who is about to discover the peril of spending a whole life in one small place. Their stories take us behind the town's facades and reveal how individuals shape the social conscience of a community. Home Town is an unflinching yet lovingly rendered account of how a traditional American town endures and evolves at the turn of the millenniums.
Amazon.com Review Northampton, Massachusetts, boasts a rich history that dates back to the 17th century. It is home to Mount Holyoke, which has been climbed by Charles Dickens and Henry James (among others), and to Sylvia Plath's alma mater, Smith College. It has always been the quintessential New England town, while becoming in recent years a politically progressive small city, whose population of 30,000 has WASPs rubbing elbows with lesbians, immigrants, students, and the homeless. Driven by a narrative force comparable to that of the best fiction, Home Town is a remarkable evocation of small-town life at the end of the 20th century.
Probing beneath Northampton's friendly exterior, Pulitzer-winning author Tracy Kidder uncovers the town's many layers, from the lowest to the highest rungs of society, and renders a portrait of Northampton by introducing those who know it best. Kidder relies most heavily on native Tommy O'Connor, a 33-year-old police sergeant who has never left his beloved hometown. Tommy's optimism and gentle humor make him an appealing guide, as he shows both the darkest and most charming streets of his town and wrestles with a future that may forever alter his relationship to Northampton. Kidder also introduces readers to Laura Baumeister, a young working mother and Ada Comstock scholar at Smith College who is struggling to care for her son and keep up with the rigorous school curriculum; Alan Scheinman, a real estate lawyer who made a fortune in the 1980s, now plagued by a crippling case of obsessive-compulsive disorder; and Samson Rodriguez, a former loom operator who may have been one of the first people to bring crack cocaine to Northampton. --Kera Bolonik
wonderful portrait of a corner of America October 16, 2008 Kidder does here what he does best: put the reader in the mind and world of the people you pass on the street every day. Nuanced characters exist in real-life situations and work through the same tough decisions that we all face each day. There's real artistry in this simplicity.
I don't imagine that the book is a perfectly accurate depiction of the town or the people in it. Nonetheless, it is an engaging one that perhaps can teach us about the people we pass every day on the sidewalk and in the grocery aisle.
Certainly, this isn't Kidder's top work. It does have its place, though, among Kidder's efforts to help us understand the communities we live in.
New England Style November 18, 2007 This book follows the style of many of Tracy Kidder's works, and uses a specific person to help form the supporting structure of the book, which allows the reader to become involved in the text as they would in a novel. Home Town follows the career of a police officer in the small Massachusetts town of Northampton. O'Connor grew up in the town, and now serves the community by helping reduce drug trafficking and other crimes. Each of the people that intersect Tommy O'Connor's life is explored in some detail during the book: Alan, who becomes trapped by his obsessive need to stay clean; Laura, an Ada Comstock Scholar at Smith College who managed to make it even though many would prefer she be kept down; Rick, an old childhood friend & police officer who goes through divorce and jail time for child molestation, and the various drug informants. Mr. Kidder's writing allows you to join each of the characters as they follow a path through life in Northampton. It is highly recommended, as are other works by this author.
Pretty Dull February 24, 2006 1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I kept waiting for something to happen. The book contains a few good descriptions but overall is quite tedious. May be interesting if one knows Northampton and can relate to the vignettes. Dull.
Center of Paradise October 4, 2005 Northampton has been transformed within my lifetime. As a high schooler, looking for a college, the town was so sleepy it appeared to me as a "has-been" sort of place. I went to Boston instead. That was 30 years ago! Now I am lucky enough to live within a half hour of N'hampton and I love to visit there on a weekly basis. It is the center of culture and art for this area. Yes, it has problems, like all cities do. Thank you to Tracy Kidder for describing this special place so well and with such care. I only wish that I had read it sooner. He gives us a sense of the rich local history without dwelling on the past. He is truly acomplished in his non-fiction style, and I am inspired by this work! I recommend this to all locals and anyone who wants to be filled with hope.
Tedious and Boring March 30, 2005 1 out of 4 found this review helpful
I had high expectations for this book. However, I found myself skipping pages and feeling very disappointed. Kidder did not engage me at all, his writing was prosaic in the worse sense, and the pace of the book was plodding. Read "The Shipping News", "The Kite Runner", "Three Junes", "The Complete Short Stories of Flannery O'Connor". While I realize that these books are fiction and Kidder's book is non-fiction, I still felt that I was reading a bad "Dragnet" script.
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