A review by becquebooks
Home Town by Tracy Kidder

2.0

Eh, I decided to read this book because I'm heading back to the Pioneer Valley for a college reunion (I went to Mount Holyoke, not Smith) but I spent a lot of time in Northampton in my college years. Anyway, some of the history was interesting, but this felt way to much like not that interesting qualitative research. Northampton is a nice town, a pretty town, but it's not quite as interesting a tale as Kidder likes to believe he is telling. Everything is told with deadly seriousness. I would almost be more interested if this was a fictional account. I can't even explain why I disliked it, but it was boring, and it went on and on, the story was loosely threaded together by the story of a police officer, Tommy, who makes the characters in a Frank Capra movie seem like hooligans. Blah.