Get Lit' Preview: Tom Perrotta's New Novel 'Ghost Town'

Summary

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Podcast Summary: All Of It with Alison Stewart

Episode: Get Lit' Preview – Tom Perrotta's New Novel 'Ghost Town'

Date: May 1, 2026
Host: Alison Stewart (C)
Guest: Tom Perrotta (E)

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Episode Overview

In this preview segment for the May “Get Lit with All of It” book club, host Alison Stewart sits down with bestselling author Tom Perrotta to discuss his new novel, Ghost Town. The conversation explores the book’s inspirations during the pandemic, its setting in 1970s suburban New Jersey, and the complex grief of a young protagonist. Perrotta reflects on his own childhood, the changing experience of growing up, and the interplay between memory, trauma, and community. The episode offers both a look behind the scenes of Ghost Town and personal anecdotes from Perrotta, setting the tone for listeners to read along and join the upcoming live event.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Origins and Inspirations for Ghost Town

Timestamps 03:23 – 04:00

• Perrotta reveals the novel was outlined during the pandemic, inspired by returning to his childhood home to care for his elderly mother.
  • “I was going back to the house I grew up in... so I just spent that whole period in the house that I grew up in, sleeping in my old bedroom and kind of remembering. It just seemed like a world full of ghosts to me.” (E, 03:27)
• This sense of being "haunted" led Perrotta to literalize ghosts in the fiction.

2. Setting: Childhood in 1970s New Jersey

Timestamps 04:00 – 04:53

• Perrotta contrasts childhood then–unsupervised, “free range”–with the more surveilled childhoods of today.
  • “There was that strange free-range quality... it probably forced kids to grow up and be independent. But this book... also explores the dark side of that, like what happens when you're being guided by misguided people.” (E, 04:13)
• The fictional Creamwood, NJ, is inspired by Perrotta’s own hometown—blue-collar, all white, and embroiled in its time's racial politics.
  • “Creamwood is a blue collar, mostly Italian American suburb, but it is notably all white... There's a public drama that's happening around the racial politics of that particular time and place.” (E, 04:59)

3. Fictionalization and Autobiography

Timestamps 05:24 – 05:53

• Perrotta explains that while Creamwood and the protagonist have autobiographical elements, fiction allows for greater emotional and narrative truth.
  • “J. Perry isn't me, Creamwood isn't exactly Garwood... that's why we write fiction, so that we're not limited by the literal truth of the past.” (E, 05:28)

4. Plot and Character: The Grieving Eighth Grader

Timestamps 06:10 – 08:06

• Jimmy Perini, an eighth grader, loses his mother—setting the novel’s emotional journey.
  • Alison Stewart invites Perrotta to read a passage about Jimmy’s last normal night (baseball, family rituals, the unspoken weight of illness).
• Notable Quote/Excerpt:
  “He left without saying goodbye and missed his chance forever.” (E, 08:06)

5. The Experience of Grief

Timestamps 08:21 – 09:28

• Jimmy’s grief is isolating; there’s no therapy, no guidance. He drifts from his old friends and gravitates towards other grieving outcasts—Eddie and Olivia.
  • “I think they're doing their best. I think they're just people who recognize each other's pain.” (E, 09:21)

6. The Ouija Board and The Supernatural

Timestamps 09:28 – 10:53

• The Ouija board is emblematic of adolescent curiosity and the sense of things beyond.
  • “When I walked home that night, I was as scared as I've ever been.” (E, 10:26)
  • “Something like the Ouija board just opens you up to those possibilities in a way that normal life doesn't.” (E, 10:31)

7. Jimmy as Adult – Jay Perry

Timestamps 10:53 – 13:11

• As an adult, Jimmy becomes Jay Perry, a successful but emotionally fragmented writer. Returning home forces him to confront his past.
  • “How do we get from this boy with the Ouija board to this man who is a successful writer... The whole book is meant to tell you how Jimmy became Jay and how by telling Jimmy's story, Jay can see himself as a whole person..." (E, 11:17)
  • “Can I even remember the person that I was?” (E, 12:19)
• Stewart and Perrotta discuss the healing aspect of reconnecting with younger selves and past trauma through narrative.

8. Easter Eggs and Meta-References

Timestamps 13:11 – 14:06

• Perrotta sprinkles the novel with inside jokes and allusions to his own body of work—in the descriptions of Jay’s fiction-writing career.
  • “Jay’s literary works... have strange echoes of Tom Perotta’s work. So... if you know Little Children and... The Leftovers and Bad Haircut, you will have maybe a slightly deeper appreciation for some of the Jay's literary works that are described.” (E, 13:25)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Childhood Then and Now:
  “You can't actually ever get lost... There was that strange free-range quality... But this book kind of also explores the dark side of that.” (E, 04:13)
• On Grief and Isolation:
  “Nobody tells him how to grieve... And that's why he ends up... with an older burnout named Eddie... and this girl Olivia whose dad has died... almost like this secret community of people stuck in their loneliness.” (E, 08:21)
• On the Supernatural:
  “I just wanted to make sure that I was describing it properly. But I remember that sense of the pointer, you know, sliding around with nobody seeming to be willing it... when I walked home that night, I was as scared as I've ever been.” (E, 09:57; 10:26)
• On Memory and Healing:
  “There's just a mystery of, like, how did I become who I am and can I even remember the person that I was?... there's a kind of a healing for Jay.” (E, 12:19)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Episode Theme and Book Intro: 01:37–03:22
• Perrotta on Writing During the Pandemic: 03:23–04:00
• Discussion of 1970s Childhood: 04:00–04:53
• The Fictional Creamwood: 04:53–05:28
• Autofiction vs. Memoir: 05:28–05:53
• Plot Introduction—Jimmy's Loss: 06:10–08:06
• Reading from 'Ghost Town': 06:30–08:06
• Grief and Friendship in Adolescence: 08:21–09:28
• On the Ouija Board and Supernatural: 09:28–10:53
• How Jimmy Became Jay: 10:53–13:11
• Easter Eggs and Meta-Literary Fun: 13:11–14:06

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Summary Flow

This engaging conversation pulls listeners straight into the emotional and cultural core of Ghost Town, with Perrotta offering candid stories about his own childhood and creative process. Literary fans will appreciate the insight into creating a novel that is not quite memoir, but inseparable from its author’s lived experience. The discussion’s warmth, autumnal nostalgia, and glimmers of humor make for an enticing preview—fitting for a book club selection meant to foster deeper connection and reflection.

For more information on joining the book club or attending the live event with Tom Perrotta on May 27th, visit wnyc.org/getlit.

Transcript

[A]

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[B]

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[C]

This is all of it. I'm Alison Stewart live from the WNYC studios in soho. Thank you for spending part of your day with us. I'm really grateful that you're here. On today's show, two ways to explore New York history, a preview of the annual Jane's Walk Festival and an exhibit on New York under British Occupation. Plus, we'll have highlights from our April Get Lit Book Club event with Cynthia Dupri Sweeney. But first, here's a preview of our May pick. If you haven't already heard, we've announced our May Get Lit with all of it book Club selection. We are reading the brand new novel from best selling author Tom Parotta. It's called Ghost Town. It just came out this week. Hot off the presses. The story is set in 1970s suburban New Jersey. An 8th grader named Jimmy is grappling with a terrible loss. In the midst of his grief, he finds himself with two new friends, a stoner named Eddie and an older teenager named Olivia who also has experienced a death in the family Olivia has a Ouija board and wants Jimmy to use it. The novel also follows Jimmy as an adult. Now, Jay Perry, He's a successful writer who has been invited back to his hometown by the mayor. And that visit brings up all kinds of memories. And thanks to our partners at the New York Public Library, library card holders can check out an e copy of Ghost Town right now with no wait times. You can also grab tickets to our live event with Tom parotta on Wednesday, May 27. Head to wnyc.org getlit for more information. But first, now here in studio to give us a little preview is Tom Parotta. Tom, welcome to the studio.

[E]

Oh, thank you. It's great to be here.

[C]

I read that you started plotting for this novel in 2020.

[E]

It was definitely a pandemic novel. I was going back to the house I grew up in because my elderly mom was having some trouble and of course was kind of isolated there. And so I just spent that whole period in the house that I grew up in sleeping in my old bedroom and kind of remembering. It just seemed like a world full of ghosts to me. And that somehow led me to, to this book and to, you know, making the ghost kind of a literal part of a novel.

[C]

Yeah, it's kind of interesting. You aren't necessarily known for writing auto fiction, but a story sort of draws from your own background, as you said. What did you want to capture about being a kid in New Jersey in the 70s?

[E]

Well, you know, we talk about childhood now and how, you know, intensely surveilled kids are and how the parents are always looking over their shoulder. And you can't actually ever get lost. Right. Your parents can track you on a phone and, you know, every day you're taking pictures. But I think that, you know, there was that strange free range quality which, you know, I think we can romanticize and there's some good things about it. It probably forced kids to grow up and be independent. But this book kind of also explores the dark side of that, like what happens when you're being guided by misguided people.

[C]

The book is set in a fictional Jersey town, Creamwood, New Jersey. What's Creamwood like?

[E]

Creamwood is a blue collar, mostly Italian American suburb, but it is notably all white. And basically Jimmy's going through a fog of grief in this summer and, you know, he's just living his private life. But there's a public drama that's happening around the racial politics of that particular time and place.

[C]

Is Creamwood is there a town you base it on.

[E]

Well, I grew up in a town called Garwood, and you know, in the same way that J. Perry isn't me, Creamwood isn't exactly Garwood. It's like, you know, I think that's why we write fiction, so that we're not kind of limited by the literal truth of the past.

[C]

I sort of I grew up in northern New Jersey. I was like, I bet this might be Fill in the blank.

[E]

There were a bunch of towns like that.

[C]

My guest is Tom Parotta, author of the new novel Ghost Town. It's our May get lit with all of it book club selection. To borrow your E copy and get tickets to the May 27 event, head to wnyc.org getlit what is going on with young Jimmy Perini when we first meet him in the novel?

[E]

Well, Jimmy begins by saying, you know, we used to be a normal family, and then something happened and we got weird. And that one thing is or the thing that begins this weird journey is the death of his mother.

[C]

Let's read a little bit from the book. That would be great for people to

[E]

hear that this is Jimmy on the last night, that his life is still normal. He was playing baseball on the night she died. No one had suggested that he might want to stay home that evening, keep her company, say what needed to be said. On the contrary, both his parents had encouraged him to go to the game, to be a normal kid, to keep on living his life. So that was what he did. He put on his uniform, wolfed down a pork roll and cheese sandwich, and told his father he was heading to the ballpark. I'm sorry I can't be there, his father said. It's okay, jimmy told him. His father grunted like it wasn't okay, but there was nothing anyone could do about it. He made a quick adjustment to the brim of Jimmy's cap and patted him twice on the shoulder. That was about as physical as they ever got with each other. Good luck, he said. I'll expect a full report. Jimmy hesitated at the door. Or at least that was how he preferred to remember it. Maybe he had a premonition. Or maybe he just felt guilty heading out to play a game while the rest of his family had to stay behind in a house that smelled like glade air freshener and something else, the thing that the glade couldn't quite manage to hide. How's she doing? Jimmy asked. Okay, his father said. It's been a long day. That must have been good enough for Jimmy, because he left without saying goodbye and Missed his chance forever.

[C]

That was Tom Parotti reading from his new book, Ghost Town. Jimmy's grieving. The family is grieving. I'm interested in what you wanted to explore about the way an eighth grader would grieve.

[E]

Yeah, well, I think. I think nobody tells him how to grieve. And he's not like he's going to therapy. Basically. He's just left to his own devices. And I think the first way that the grief manifests itself is that he can't quite connect with his old friends. Right. They're still living their normal life. They're untouched by grief. And that's why he ends up, I think, finding his way to an older burnout named Eddie who drives around at night, and they just listen to music and get high. And then this girl Olivia, whose dad has died, and. And she's very smart. She's the high school valedictorian. But I think she sees in him a kindred spirit. So there's almost like this secret community of people who are kind of stuck in their loneliness and their. Their own grief, and they become, you know, Jimmy's companions through the. This summer. And. And, you know, I. I think they're doing their best. I think they're just people who recognize each other's pain.

[C]

A Ouija board comes into the equation. First of all, have you ever used one?

[E]

Yes, I did. I did.

[C]

I think everybody who grew up in the 70s used one.

[E]

Oh, man, I got so spooked.

[C]

Someone else I know said that they would never touch one again after using it.

[E]

I have never touched one again. I ordered one from that era just to have while I was writing this book so I could look at it. And somebody was like, let's do it. And I'm like, you go right ahead.

[B]

You.

[C]

So you just had it to look at, to kind of get the vibe.

[E]

I just wanted to make sure that I was describing it properly. But I remember that sense of the. The pointer, you know, sliding around with nobody seeming to be willing it. And. And there. And, you know, then you've got the suspense of the message being spelled out from the great beyond. There it was. Look, I was just a. I was probably 12, and when I walked home that night, I was as scared as I've ever been.

[C]

Are you someone who believes in the supernatural?

[E]

I think there are things beyond our rational awareness, and I think some of it we imagine, some of it we dream. Some of it we probably walk through without even noticing. And I think something like the Ouija board just opens you up to Those possibilities in a way that normal life doesn't.

[C]

We're talking to Tom Parotta, author of the new novel Ghost Town. It's our May get lit with all of it book club selection. To borrow your e Copy and get tickets to our May 27th event, head to wnyc.org getlit we also meet Jimmy as an adult. He's going by Jay Perry. He's become successful as a writer. How did you want Jay to be different from Jimmy?

[E]

So I think that is partly what the book explains. How do we get from this boy with the Ouija board to this man who is a successful writer both as a literary novelist and then much later as a commercial novelist and a creator of an animated kids TV series. And I think that, you know, for Jay, his life has gone off on a very different trajectory. And this summer is what that he's telling about when he was 13 is the summer that explains that trajectory. And so I think the whole book is meant to tell you how Jimmy became Jay and how by telling Jimmy's story, Jay can see himself as a whole person rather than a fragmented person.

[C]

It's interesting because it goes back between Jimmy and Jay. What was interesting for you as a writer to write about the same person at different points in their lives?

[E]

You know, I think if you live long enough, like, you know, Jay is remembering back 50 years, and when you have that much past, I think there's just a mystery of, like, how did I become who I am and can I even remember the person that I was? And this is an extreme case because what happened to Jimmy was so traumatic that Jay has sort of cordoned it off and said, I don't go there. I don't think about that. But as a result of this invitation to return home, he has to do that. And that leads to the telling of the story and I think to some sense of discovery and compassion for the boy that he was and everything that he went through. So there's a kind of a healing for Jay.

[C]

I think we always ask our get lit authors if there are any Easter eggs in the book or a section of the book you want our readers to pay attention to, or maybe a section of the book that was difficult for you to write and you soldiered through.

[E]

Well, the Easter eggs, I think, are in the descriptions of Jay's work. You mentioned that there was some autofictional element, but it's autofiction in a. In a kind of comic funhouse mirror. So, you know, Jay's. Jay is not Jay Perry is not Tom Parrada, but some of his work has strange echoes of Tom Perotta's work. So if you I think the if you know my work, if you know Little Children and some of the other the Leftovers and Bad Haircut, you will have maybe a slightly deeper appreciation for some of the Jay's literary works that are described.

[C]

My guest has been Tom Parotta. He's the author of the brand new novel Ghost Town. It's our May get lit with all of it book club selection. It is excellent by the way. To borrow your E copy and get tickets to the May 27th event, head to wnyc.org getlit we'll see you on May 7th 27th.

[E]

I'm really looking forward to it. Thank you so much.

[B]

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[C]

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[B]

Oh no. We help people customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual together. We're married. Me to a human, him to a bird.

[C]

Yeah, the bird looks out of your league.

[B]

Anyways, Get a [e-mail] or with your local agent.

[D]

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