“A critical examination of American culture infused with understated, often dark humor that calls out the absurdities of social norms… A nuanced balance between critique and compassion, this collection offers readers an insightful, poignant look at American life.”
—Booklife Reviews /// Editor’s Pick
“The writing is evocative and has a lulling, poetic rhythm to it… Skidmore’s characters feel very human, and they all share a yearning for something greater, something more, that readers will connect with.”
—IndieReader
In seven penetrating and vivid stories, Life and Death in Suburbia takes you back to places and times that promised much. Beneath the conformity and optimism of the American suburbs of the 1970s through the 1990s simmered a clash of generations, of economic classes, of childhood and adulthood. These emotionally resonant and keenly crafted stories will powerfully pull you into the dreams and desperation of the souls who inhabit these places: a nine-year-old struggles with a severe speech impediment, an unbalanced mom and dad in Vietnam; a teen takes a job as a stereo speaker con artist to buy cancer drugs for his father; a lonely artist endeavors to find success and fend off eviction; a spiritual nonconformist tries to find enlightenment in unconventional ways.
With lyrical and insightful prose, Robb Skidmore delivers a vision which will linger in your heart and mind. Life and Death in Suburbia plunges into and exposes the social and cultural constraints within these subdivisions and apartments and reveals their devastating truth.
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If you are a fan of the short fiction of J.D. Salinger, Thom Jones, Raymond Carver, Jhumpa Lahiri, or Denis Johnson, then Life and Death in Suburbia is a must read.
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