Tom Perrotta creates a background buzz of sexuality in his 1998 novel Election . It’s appropriate to the story’s setting - an election for Winwood High’s student body president. What’s remarkable is how deftly he achieves this - mostly by gesturing and leaving a great deal unstated. We don’t know exactly what Lisa and Tammy are doing when they’re alone, and Perrotta’s hints make for a far more charged-up atmosphere than something more explicit.