Hometown

Tracy Kidder’s nonfiction account of Northampton, Mass., reads like a novel, speaking in the voices of a good Irish cop, an obsessive-compulsive businessman, a grant-supported single-mother Smith student on welfare, an incorrigible Hispanic drug-dealer and informant, a sometimes lenient judge, a budget-cutting socially responsible woman mayor and many minor characters.
He teaches us to look below the surface of life in a small town and to consider its history as part of its present.
We are let into the secrets, unorthodox behavior, temptations, shortcomings and struggles most familiar figures conceal.
He pictures many factions: blue collar, academics, old money, petty criminals, teenagers, wives, girlfriends, exotic dancers, professionals, abnormals, senior citizens, et al. as they cope with the shifting present scene emerging from the pervading history of their small town.
Most surprisingly, all of what reads like fiction is in fact a portrayal of real people.