Suburbanistas

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.

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?

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All Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review:
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

Enjoyable!, 2007-03-27
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!!


4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

Predictably Fun Chick-Lit..., 2006-11-02
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.


2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

Sassy Suburbanistas, 2006-06-28
I devoured this book--it's a fun, fast-paced read with clever characters drawn closely from life. In fact, I think I know some of these people! If you live in the suburbs, you will enjoy Satran's take on the whole thing. Her books are smart and sassy. Don't miss this one!


0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Political Morals and Chick-Lit Don't Mix, 2006-06-14
Since so many popular chick-literature focuses on the privileged, glamorous lives of beautiful Manhattanites, I was curious to read this book which focuses instead on the lifestyle of women in Hollywood and suburban New Jersey (especially since I am former New Yorker, who lives in the New York suburbs and works in the New Jersey suburbs).

However, I was left disappointed and annoyed.

Compared to other popular chick-lit, the author's characters are fully-dimensional and likeable (compared to say Plum Sykes' inanely vapid and selfish characters in Bergdorf Blondes). It was for this reason that I finished the book, and other readers will want to as well, since the author excels at making the reader care about the characters.

However, advertised as a book about "friendship", this book is no different than any of the NYC-center chic-lit narratives which center on a have v. have not lifestyle. The problem being that in works such as "The Devil Wears Prada" or "The Ivy Chronicles" which are a humorous look at the lives of the haves, they make no particular moral statement about the class differentials of the have-nots.

Suburbanistas, on the other hand is infused with a subtle brand of class issues, and populist, democratic socialism and anti-corporate message which in my opinion has no place in chic-lit. What makes this subtle moralistic message annoying, is that in the end the glamorous, thin, beautiful woman from Hollywood continues to be fabulous and continue her acting on Broadway, while there is no Cinderella ending for her childhood friend from New Jersey. Since the author took it upon herself to promote a socially democratic message throughout the book, suggesting that at the end, both characters will achieve equality, to end the book with this obvious contraction is frustrating and annoying.



0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

fine contemporary tale , 2006-03-01
Recently married to rock star Eddie Skinner, movie superstar Stella Powers returns home to Homewood, New Jersey with her six years old daughter Idaho to spend time with her mom before starting her next film. Eddie failed to accompany her as he was to busy with a gig. However, Stella is stunned when her mom suddenly dies. The funeral is a farce with reporters and fans trampling on everything and her husband stays in Hollywood grooving with Idaho's nanny while Stella grieves. Her best friend in high school Mary Jean Wright helps her escape the mob, whose despicable actions at the funeral were a disgrace.

As Stella feels guilt and loneliness, she begins seeing developer Henry Sladowski who wants to convert the small sleepy down into an expensive burb for the rich and famous. This will price Mary Jean, her spouse a cop, and their four children out of the town. However, as Stella begins to understand local politics she becomes involved as any place in which her beloved mom could not call home is not for her.

Stella will learn that you can go home though it takes the death of her beloved mom and a lesson in civics to do so. She is a fine protagonist who nicely keeps the story line in focus. The cast makes for a fine tale as the war between "progress" and. "heritage" though perhaps too simplified, is nicely fought in New Jersey.

Harriet Klausner

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