About this item
Highlights
- "Her characters are smart, funny, bold and wonderfully flawed.
- Author(s): Sara Hosey
- 290 Pages
- Fiction + Literature Genres, Short Stories (single author)
Description
About the Book
The stories in Sara Hosey's stunning collection, Dirty Suburbia, trace the lives of girls and women struggling to live with dignity in a world that often hates them.
Book Synopsis
"Her characters are smart, funny, bold and wonderfully flawed." Joel Mowdy, author of Floyd Harbor
The stories in Sara Hosey's stunning collection, Dirty Suburbia, trace the lives of girls and women struggling to live with dignity in a world that often hates them.
Dirty suburbias are working-class neighborhoods in which girls who are left to fend for themselves sometimes become predators, as well as affluent communities in which women discover that money is no protection against sexism, both their own and others'.
One young woman sets up her abusive, cheating boyfriend, hoping he'll get arrested so that she can rescue him and win him back. A teenager arranges to meet up with an older man she's met online playing video games; she brings a knife with her, just in case. A middle-aged divorcee attempts to rekindle a romantic relationship with her high school English teacher, who happens to be a former nun. A struggling academic falls in love with a Henry David Thoreau impersonator, and a well-adjusted grad student goes home for Christmas only to be repulsed by her family's casual cruelty.
Despite the ugliness and injustice, they face, as well as the failures of their families and communities, these characters often find relief in friendship and connection, and sometimes, even discover meaning and cause for hope.
Review Quotes
"Sara Hosey's wit and wisdom bring to mind Ali Smith and Lucia Berlin. Her stories resonate with love and sympathy for the women and girls of the poor, working, and middle-class navigating life under an oppressive, simpering patriarchy. Her characters are smart, funny, bold and wonderfully flawed. Preteens play at being mothers to a wayward child. A teenager meets up with a creep she met online. A young woman gets embroiled in a robbery scheme. A seasoned real-estate agent blows up at her clients. A dog walker sabotages her best friend's marriage. Sara takes us all over the dirty underside of the suburbs of Wisconsin and New York, but really - spiritually - of every small town and outskirt in America. This is a book I will keep coming back to." Joel Mowdy, author of Floyd Harbor
"Absolutely stunning! Sara Hosey's Dirty Suburbia contains some of the most poignant, insightful, and entertaining stories I have read in ages. I couldn't put this book down. Perceptive, empathetic, and always on point, Hosey's characters will stay with you. From the two pre-teen kidnappers trying to figure out how to return their "prey," to a young woman's encounter with a Thoreau-reenactor, to a stunning story about navigating misogyny at Christmas dinner, and a heartbreaking tale of living with the aftermath of sexual assault, I was awestruck by the range of tales and will be thinking about the world of Dirty Suburbia for a long time. These stories are absolute gems. Not to be missed." Kelly Fordon, author of I Have the Answer
"Gritty and darkly funny and ultimately humane." Jess Walter
