NOTE: This book has been updated for 2024.
“Help!
I'm a prisoner. That's right. I've been trapped in this hellhole for
more than 40 years. Like other famous prisoners – The Prisoner of Zenda,
Nelson Mandela, and Sidney Charton, I remain vigilant in my quest for
freedom from my bondage.
However, the prospects are pretty good that
I'll spend the rest of my life in this prison.” These words are the
first paragraph of my 70,000-word book, “A Suburban Prison.” The book is
a serious history of the suburbs and sociological study into the trends
that created and have sustained the suburbs. Simultaneously, the book
is a descent into absurdist humor and personal exploration of my “hard
time served” in the suburbs. It is both serious and silly, researched
and ridiculous.
The book exposes homeowners green with envy over
the neighbor's lawn, traffic jams on country roads, racism disguised as
"zoning regulations," parking lot violence over spaces close to the mall
entrance, dollar stores visited by affluent, incognito suburbanites,
storage units overflowing with chachkies, and fitness centers full of
people on their phone while leisurely strolling on the treadmill.
Yes,
there are books available about the suburbs. The books range from
scholarly tomes to observational rants about the social and cultural
vacuum endemic in the suburbs. What is different about this book – A
Suburban Prison – is its “short attention span.” The book focuses not
only on the well-worn history of the suburbs, but also on the
absurdities tethered to suburban life. It leaps from houseplants to junk
around the house to house rules set down by the dreaded architectural
control committee. In the book's metaphor, the author and millions like
me are also trapped in the suburbs for a multitude of reasons.
Whether
it’s the allure of seclusion that is exclusively suburban or the
granite countertops or marble-encrusted bathrooms, suburbanites are
trapped in a hamster wheel of status-seeking, rage mismanagement, and
spending addictions.
Publication Date: March 31, 2021
Pages: 257
Amazon Review: 5.0
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