Tom Perrotta's Bad Haircut

Tom Perrotta is mainly known for his quick to read, funny, and entertaining novels. Best known for his novels Little Children and Election, Perrotta focuses in on a different way of life in his debut novel Bad Haircut. Bad Haircut focuses down on the coming of age of Buddy- a boy in the 70’s. The novel is a series of short stories from Buddy’s life in chronological order. Starting at age nine and meeting one of his idols to age 19 and experiencing heartbreak, Buddy lives through rejection, despair, laughing so hard his eyes start tearing and death. Each chapter is comprised of one short memory of Buddys life, allowing the book to have a fast pace. Bad Haircut is one of those books that can be picked up at anytime because each chapter is its …show more content…
It is a calming read that doesn’t keep you on the edge of your seat allowing itself to always have a satisfying resolvement at the end each chapter. This novel is written first person omniscient, really putting the reader inside the head of Buddy. This makes each chapter so relatable to the reader’s own life. Although Each chapter is so specific that it gives the effect that you are inside the head of Buddy. Although, each event in Buddy’s life doesn’t seem that memorable, each story together strings together to show a remarkable different way of looking at life. Tom Perrotta adds in different stories like Thirteen, Jane Pasco Fan Club, and The Wiener Man. Thirteen is about Buddy learning how to support and protect a close friend in an uncomfortable and awkward time. Then Jane Pasco Fan Club is when Buddy teaches us how to cope with humiliation and embarrassment, and finally The Wiener Man is when Buddy gets to meet icon he has always looked up to. “I made a mental list of the possibilities: How did you get your job? Who do you like better — Joe Frazier or Muhammad Ali? Do you own a motorcycle? What’s your favorite TV show? Were you ever in the service, and if so, what was your rank? Have you traveled to