Ghost town: A Novel-Tom Perrotta, author; Robert Petkoff, narrator
When the book opens, author Jay Perry (alias Jimmy Perrini), is invited to his old hometown, the working-class community of Creamwood, New Jersey, to participate in the dedication of a building in his father’s name and to give a talk at the library on his latest book, Ghost Town. He had not been home in half a century, and times had really changed. It begins in the Vietnam era and ends in the post-Covid era.
When Jimmy was thirteen, he came home from his championship Little League Game to tragedy. His mother, who had been ill, had just died. His life, once normal and happy, suddenly changed dramatically. His father, grieving, paid little attention to him. His sister, at seventeen, was busy most of the time. She was about to graduate from High School, and he was graduating from the 8th grade. At this same time, his supposed girlfriend, Janie Randowski, and his best friend, Greg Cellucci, had betrayed him. The two of them were becoming an item, shutting him out.
Jimmy was adrift when Eddie Fitzpatrick, three years ahead of him in school, with a car and a driver’s license, offered Jimmy a ride in his Vega. Jimmy knew Eddie was wild and did not have a great reputation, but he was lost and lonely without his mom who had been his rudder. The day he got into Eddie’s car, however, his life changed. Eddie encouraged him to disobey rules and introduced him to Marijuana. Then he introduced him to Leonard, a penny-ante drug dealer who worked at McDonalds. He was even rougher around the edges. Leonard’s boss, Shirley, supplied him with weed to sell. He simply dumped it into the bag with the French Fries. What, if any, consequences would Jimmy face because of this "friendship"? At this same troubled time, he also met a classmate of his sister's. Olivia Riley was the valedictorian of Denise's graduating class. She understood his grief because she had also suffered a loss. She used a Ouija Board to try and make contact with her own dead father. She offered to help Jimmy try to reach Bette Perrini, his mother. She also began to subtly seduce him. Jimmy seemed very naïve. He had no one he trusted to turn to, to ask questions, now that his mother was gone. When he confided in Eddie, situations tended to escalate and get out of hand.
His next-door neighbor, Nilda, liked to sun herself in the yard. Jimmy discovered this and the workings of his body at pretty much the same time as he spied on her. Her husband, his cousin Wayne Perrini, was a bad influence. He, like Leonard was a pothead, although he didn't deal in drugs, he was happy to share his weed. When Hector Lopez, Nilda’s cousin came to live with Wayne and Nilda, Jimmy learns about racism. Hector is black. Mr. Kazmierski, Jimmy’s homeroom teacher had offered him a shoulder to lean on, but Jimmy discovered that he, like other people in the town, were unfamiliar with black people and were not very welcoming. 
Jimmy seems very innocent and unaware of many things. Fifty years ago, there was no internet, WIFI, or social media. The times were very different without cell phones as well. No one was busy being an amateur investigator, photographer, gossip, or busybody, filming others and minding other people’s business whenever they witnessed any event they thought was newsworthy. Many conflicts remained unknown and/or unpunished because there was no proof. In general, people did not interfere in other people’s business, unless it was an exceptional circumstance. Sometimes, behavior was ignored, or even covered up, because it was easy to do so. When Ghost Town began, the times were far more innocent, and communities were far more isolated. Local life was simpler, generally based around the home, work, school, and places of worship. Creamwood was a community that lacked diversity and had many inhabitants that did not welcome the stranger. When Jay (Jimmy) returned, was the town very different? Did he meet old friends? Did he fit in? Were there any surprises?
The book takes the reader through Eddie’s thirteenth year of life and then, without too much in between, pretty much skips to his life as a happily married man with two grown children. The 1970’s seemed to be a more innocent time. Often, poor behavior had no consequences. There were no witnesses. There was no way to record events like today. I found that the colorful characters seemed to get away with a lot more than they would today because, today, everyone is watching. There were few conspiracy theories, then. Facts were accepted at face value. Did you agree with the conclusion about the fatal fire? Would it have been as easily explained today?
I would have liked to have some of the events and characters explored more fully. It often felt like I was reading anecdotal stories that unexpectedly continued without filling in the blanks. It was a coming-of-age story about Jimmy. We explored his grief and his growth as he matured, but too briefly dealing with any consequences. I felt that there was a hole of several decades that left me wanting more from this story.