Suburbanistas [Paperback]

Pamela Redmond Satran (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 7, 2006

From the acclaimed author of Younger and Babes in Captivity, a funny and moving novel about friendship, fame, and the fight for one suburb's future!

Greetings from New Jersey

Stella Powers is an A-list movie star who has just landed an Oscar-worthy role and a hot new rock-star husband when her mother's death brings her world tumbling down. Floundering as her life becomes one tabloid horror after another, Stella finds herself stuck in the New Jersey suburb she fled twenty years ago. But Homewood is no longer the sleepy town she remembers: housing prices are skyrocketing and glitzy new stores -- and people -- are moving in. To Stella and her young daughter, this is good news.

Wish you weren't here.

The bad news: Stella's childhood best friend, Mary Jean, who married Stella's old boyfriend and raised four kids in Homewood, can no longer afford to live there. Mary Jean is determined to wrest back the town but needs Stella on her side. The stakes for both women are high, but how can these old friends reconnect after so much time has passed? Or more importantly, how can they not?

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

In her latest smart and witty novel of women's lives, following Younger (2005), Satran presents Stella and Mary Jean, who were inseparable childhood friends. But during high school, Stella ran off to Hollywood, while Mary Jean stayed put, marrying Pete, Stella's old boyfriend. Now 20 years have gone by. Stella, a bona fide star complete with multiple marriages, magazine covers, and weight trainers, has returned to Homewood, New Jersey, for a visit. When her mother abruptly dies, Stella is left adrift with a small daughter. Mary Jean, now a zaftig, harried mother of four, always imagined seeing Stella again, and the funeral of her mother provides the impetus. Stella and Mary Jean renew their friendship, but the intervening years have changed them. In their struggle to remain friends, each discovers hidden depths within themselves and a shared purpose that not only rekindles their friendship but also takes it to a new level. Engagingly told, funny, and real, Suburbanistas will capture the hearts of readers. Maria Hatton
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"Satran tells realistic and intriguing stories that will enthrall and, ultimately, surprise readers."

-- Booklist

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Pocket Books; Original edition (March 7, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416505598
• ISBN-13: 978-1416505594
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,249,588 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I've been making my living as a writer since I was 19, when I sold my first story to the Janesville (Wisconsin) Gazette. I've been a waitress, a fashion editor at Glamour, a magazine journalist, a name book writer, and a novelist. My husband, Richard Satran, is an editor at Reuters, and we have three children, our daughter Rory and sons Joe and Owen.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Predictably Fun Chick-Lit..., November 1, 2006

By 

Mercedes L. Johnmeyer "The Most Happy" (Summerville, SC) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Suburbanistas (Paperback)

This is a hard book to rate. Part of me says 4 stars, but the other part says 3 stars. In the end I'm going with 4 because, while it may not be the greatest book out there, it sure was hard to put down. Now, I've always made it clear that I'm not a fan of chick-lit, most of it's just shallow women in the big city going from one superficial crises to the next...but 'Suburbanistas' actually has some meat to it.

I liked the dynamic between the two friends...they both grow up in a small Jersey town, and one (Mary Jean) becomes a cop's wife and raises four kids, while the other (Stella) runs off to Hollywood and becomes a super famous actress. The two have lost touch ever since Stella left abruptly for California, but when she returns home to visit her mother, who dies shortly after, they get back together and slowly regain the close bond they once shared.

Now...as for the political end of the story, this is why I was wanting to give it 3 stars. It was just silly, and predictable. I could see from a mile away who was going to end up becoming the mayor of Homewood...and are we really supposed to believe that Pete (Mary Jeans husband) would campaign against her and continue to help Henry Sladowsky just for the sake of becoming Chief of Police? Isn't it obvious that if Mary Jean were to win that she would appoint her husband to that position? Because of this I really didn't care too much for Pete, or Mary Jean's daughter Fanny, who was just a little to over-the-top in my opinion.

But, those few things aside, and as mad as I would get during some parts of the book, I just couldn't put the darn thing down. And something should be said for that. Ms. Satran may not have a classic here, but she certainly knows who to keep the readers attention, and that's big. Upon reading the interview section at the end, I learned that her other two novels take place in Homewood, New Jersey as well, and I'm thinking I just might pick them up. So...if your a fan of chick-lit, I absolutely think you'll enjoy this, and even if your not, it's still not a bad way to pass a couple of rainy afternoons.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The best bad sex you'll ever read!, February 24, 2006

By 

Debra Galant (New Jersey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Suburbanistas (Paperback)

Pam Satran plays with a lot of themes in her latest Homewood novel -- the renewal of old-friendships, small-town politics, the downside of suburban development -- but you'll want to buy her novel for the funniest sex scene in all literature. I think book groups will love discussing this one.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable!, March 27, 2007

By 

H. Coleman "Book Worm" (WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Suburbanistas (Paperback)

Very enjoyable book about two childhood friends. I liked how each chapter was laid out by a different character. Can't wait to read more by this author!!