The Suburban You
Reports from the Home Front
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
You are about to discover that living in the suburbs is a whole lot funnier than you ever thought possible. For this country’s 145,892,494 (give or take) suburbanites, Mark Falanga is an utterly deadpan (and thoroughly entertaining) spokesman.
Mark Falanga is a slick urban dweller, at the top of his game professionally, with a gorgeous corporate executive wife and a hip coterie in the coolest neighborhood in the city. But when baby makes three, Mark and his family enter the twilight zone called the suburbs, where public schools are good, many wives stay home, and children ride their tricycles in the driveway.
Nothing is the same ever again.
With the dry wit of David Sedaris, and Dave Barry’s love of the absurd, Falanga details his new, suburban landscape from the point of view of a bewildered but gung-ho everyman. From the complex political pecking order in the neighborhood, with its ultracompetitive block parties and its consuming holiday-card rivalry, to the surprises lurking on every corner—such as the twelve-year-old pyromaniac next door and the suspiciously broad-shouldered “lady” on the commuter train—The Suburban You describes in slyly understated prose the vicissitudes of life in the ’burbs.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Falanga is a familiar character: the transplanted urbanite who must make major adjustments when confronted with eccentric neighbors, block parties, Little League and lawn sales. Falanga writes a column, "Male Call," for the Chicago Tribune and launches his career as an author with this comedic portrait of suburban living. Several anecdotes are affectionate, authentic and gently amusing, although the writing lacks energy and sparkle. Falanga describes many events straightforwardly, mostly forgoing witty, illuminating details. What gives the book a surprising and possibly unintended darkness and tension are the vignettes depicting Falanga's wife. He says she's his best friend, yet their squabbles are so consistent, and so subtly hostile, that they emerge as unsettling rather than funny. She deprives him of the grape juice he loves, forces him to eat Chinese food he despises, insists he surrender towels he favors and denies him sex when he chooses a video she doesn't want to see. Other stories come as a relief from this ongoing warfare. Standout characters include a Superdad who brags about his kids and a friend throwing himself a 40th birthday party who talks about his self-help groups and imposes a touchy-feely mode on guests. Falanga covers typical suburban conflicts, but his stories tend to skim over issues and aren't substantial enough for a book.
