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The Suburban You: Reports from the Home Front
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.
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.
- GenresHumor
256 pages, Paperback
First published June 4, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 16, 2008
This was sitting next to Judith Matloff's awesome "Home Girl" at the library, so I picked it up, recognizing Falanga's name from his old Chicago Tribune column. The book was funny and parts made me giggle as I recognized my own city-to-suburb transition. However, I think my lack of kids hampered some of my enjoyment, as many of the anecdotes related to soccer practice or Cub Scouts. Still, this book of short (2-4 page) essays was a quick read and worth my time.
One odd thing - almost everything is written in the present tense, which feels a bit of a stretch at times. I don't usually notice a book's tense, but this was very obvious for some reason.
One odd thing - almost everything is written in the present tense, which feels a bit of a stretch at times. I don't usually notice a book's tense, but this was very obvious for some reason.
December 22, 2008
Fairly funny!
February 5, 2016
Not bad...not bad. Some very funny parts, but mostly very predictable.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews