Tracy Flick Can't Win by Tom Perrota

Tracy Flick Can't Win by Tom Perrota

272 pages

Published June 2022 by Scribner

Publisher's Summary:

Tracy Flick is a hardworking assistant principal at a public high school in suburban New Jersey. Still ambitious but feeling a little stuck and underappreciated in midlife, Tracy gets a jolt of good news when the longtime principal, Jack Weede, abruptly announces his retirement, creating a rare opportunity for Tracy to ascend to the top job.

Energized by the prospect of her long-overdue promotion, Tracy throws herself into her work with renewed zeal, determined to prove her worth to the students, faculty, and School Board, while also managing her personal life—a ten-year-old daughter, a needy doctor boyfriend, and a burgeoning meditation practice. But nothing ever comes easily to Tracy Flick, no matter how diligent or qualified she happens to be.

Among her many other responsibilities, Tracy is enlisted to serve on the Selection Committee for the brand-new Green Meadow High School Hall of Fame. Her male colleagues’ determination to honor Vito Falcone—a star quarterback of dubious character who had a brief, undistinguished career in the NFL—triggers bad memories for Tracy, and leads her to troubling reflections about the trajectory of her own life and the forces that have left her feeling thwarted and disappointed, unable to fulfill her true potential.

As she broods on the past, Tracy becomes aware of storm clouds brewing in the present. Is she really a shoo-in for the Principal job? Is the Superintendent plotting against her? Why is the School Board President’s wife trying so hard to be her friend? And why can’t she ever get what she deserves?

In classic Perrotta style, Tracy Flick Can’t Win is a sharp, darkly comic, and pitch-perfect reflection on our current moment. Flick fans and newcomers alike will love this compelling novel chronicling the second act of one of the most memorable characters of our time.

My Thoughts:

Confession: I never read the prequel to this book, Election. But I did see the movie adaptation. Which, now that I read it sort of sounds like saying "I'm not a doctor but I play one on tv." Anyway, I was a huge fan of that movie (in no small part due to the fact that it was filmed in the greater Omaha area by native son Alexander Payne. Also, if you haven't seen that movie but like dark humor, I highly recommend it). And again, anyway, I can't speak to how good of an adaptation it was but I knew when I saw this one that I wanted to give it a shot.

It does not disappoint. Tracy Flick is every bit the same person she was in Election but also she isn't. Life has worn her down. Whereas once upon a time, she was convinced that if she wanted something enough, it could be hers if she worked hard. Time has shown her otherwise. She did not become the lawyer (and eventual President of the United States) she expected to be. She's not even at the top of her school's hierarchy. She's never recovered from the loss of her mother and she's been disappointed to learn that she's not the mother her mother was. 

Now it appears that her luck has changed at last. The principal of the school has announced his resignation at the end of the school year and Tracy has already proved her mettle when she stood in for him following a heart attack. The president of the school board also seems to be on her side...provided she play along with his plan to create a Hall of Fame in the school and to declare the school's former star quarterback the first inductee. The Hall of Fame seems like a vanity project Tracy is sure won't survive the full school board's scrutiny and Tracy would prefer to see more academic standouts inducted if it does, but she goes along because she wants to make sure she finally rises to the top. 

But, as the title says, Tracy Flick can't win. 

Perrota moves us through the story through a chapters narrated by several characters as he explores the new world Tracy finds herself in - a world where she at long last has come to recognize that she can say "me too" because of events that happened to her when she was in high school,  a world where female ambition is still derided. It is, as one reviewer rightly pointed out, a tragicomedy which moves into more tragedy. And then, as we so often see following tragedies, everyone moves on with their lives as if nothing has happened. Count me know as a huge fan of Perrota and his ability to subtly point out our failures even has he makes us laugh.