Tracy Flick has gone back to school. Back to the high school she went to. She had left, to go to law school and then Congress and then the White House. But she had to leave high school to go back home and take care of her mother, and she ended up back in her school. But this time, she is the Assistant Principal. And when Principal Jack Weede announces his retirement at the end of the year, she wants that job for herself.
Tech millionaire sold his Barky app and decided to take his money back to his hometown. He let his wife design their new house in the suburbs, and he joined the School Board. He meets with Tracy to tell her that she is a shoo-in for the job, but he has an ulterior motive. He has an idea he wants to move forward with, and he could use her support. He wants to set up a Hall of Fame at the school for important alumni. She agrees to back his idea and helps set up a selection committee to come up with ideas for who should be inducted into their new Hall of Fame.
The committee takes applications and starts vetting the nominees. And what Tracy is worried about is happening—most of the talk is for a former football player. Given things that have happened to her in the past, she is not excited about the idea of letting another football player get all the attention, get all the votes. She can’t let another athlete win just for playing sports. So when Principal Weede nominates Diane, Front Desk Diane, who has spent decades working the desk in the office, helping generations of high schoolers with whatever they need, Tracy is very happy to vote for her.
But as the months go by, and the job search for Principal turns up no other good candidates for the job, Tracy still can’t relax. Despite all the years she has spent at Green Meadow High School, despite her education and her dedication, even taking over for Principal Weede when he had his heart attack, Tracy feels uneasy. She senses that something is going on, that there is something the Board is keeping from her. That the job she’s worked so hard towards may not be hers after all.
But Tracy’s not a kid anymore. She’s an adult, and she can deal with this. She can find another job, or maybe she’ll go back to law school. But the night of the Hall of Fame induction read carpet ceremony, everything changes for them all, and Tracy sees who she really is, right before the world goes dark.
Tracy Flick Can’t Win is the follow-up to Election, where a teenaged Tracy Flick first learned how unfair the world can be. Now she’s an adult, a leader at the school that was such a big part of her early story, and she’s still fighting to be seen. Author Tom Perrotta has brought readers back to Green Meadow, New Jersey with a worthy story that mixes old friends and new faces to tell another chapter of Tracy’s story.
I will admit that I could see a certain (legally) blonde actress slipping back into this role as I read this book. I could hear her voice and see her moving around in Tracy’s life, and I am hoping that there are powerful people in California (like, said actress) who has a similar vision. But even if there isn’t a film like there was for Election, fans of Tracy can read this and see the impressive woman she has grown into. I love how insightful she’s become about her past and about her present, and I couldn’t help but root for her as she comes to terms with the decisions being made around her. Her story is given texture by the stories of the other characters, from the alcoholic former athlete to the current students finding their own voices to the retiring principal and his new RV.
I loved Tracy Flick Can’t Win, and I think fans of Election (the book and the movie) will be doing themselves a disservice if they don’t read this and catch up with Dr. Flick in the prime of her life.
Egalleys were provided by Scribner through NetGalley, with many thanks.
