Slicker - Hardcover

Jackson, Lucy

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312565003 ISBN 13: 9780312565008

Publisher: St. Martin's Press, 2010

Synopsis

Even life in the greatest city in the world can sometimes feel like a little too much. For this New Yorker, running away to the Heartland may be just the antidote.

When New York City native Desirée Christian-Cohen flees her sometime-boyfriend, unhappy mother, Nina (who’s recently learned her soon-to-be ex-husband Patrick is gay), and failing grandfather, she picks the flight plan by randomly dropping her finger on a map and hitting: Honey Creek, Kansas, population 1,623.  And if being a “tourist” in Honey Creek weren’t noticeable enough, try hanging out in the Sweet Tooth luncheonette, where you’re referred to as “half a Jew.”  Wary of , but wanting to, fit in with the local populace, Desirée is forced to defend herself and define herself in a world that feels vastly different from her own.  Her Yale boyfriends were never like Bobby McVicar, the son of two ageing hippies, who finds all he needs in his pinprick of a hometown.  And never—even as an only child of typically doting Manhattan parents—has anyone paid so much attention to Desirée.

Over one surprising, transformative and sometimes very funny summer, Desirée Christian-Cohen, member-in-good-standing of the Self Esteem Generation, discovers how an impulsive escape from home and family turns out to be much more than that.

About this title

About the Author

Lucy Jackson is the pseudonym for an acclaimed short story writer and novelist whose fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, Best American Short Stories, and many other magazines and anthologies. She lives in New York City.

 

Reviews

Pampered Manhattan girl DesireÌüe runs away from her privileged life to Kansas, only to find it meaner and more mixed up than the urban jungle she abandoned in the pseudonymous Jackson's light romp through the land of corn, cows, and "small-minded, Bible-thumping, selfrighteous, Jew-hating John Birchers." Or so DesireÌüe sees it when confronted by a gun-toting thief, the hilarious highlight of this oddball tale of young and middleaged love. "Mostly everyone here's good people," the outraged thief replies. "Or good enough, anyway." Jackson (Posh) puts a sunny spin on DesireÌüe's foray into waves of grain, where she discovers love worth leaving New York City for, and forgiveness for a dad who clumsily burst out of the closet. The companion story of mom Nina, ailing granddad Marvin, and caretaker Porsha tells the quieter but more compelling tale of trust and acceptance back in New York. A crew of country bumpkins and cagey city slickers reinforce all the clicheÌüs, but they're still charming enough to merit spending a few hours with.
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Born and bred on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, Desiree Christian-Cohen’s idyllic, privileged lifestyle is thrown into flux. First her father abruptly leaves her mother for his lover; then the deterioration of Desiree’s relationship with her on-off boyfriend, coupled with the decline of her beloved grandfather, casts a tense strain over the household. On impulse, Desiree opens a map and decides to flee to the first place her finger lands: Honey Creek, Kansas. Here, far away from the diversity and vibrancy of New York City, Desiree is forced to confront and define her feelings toward her family’s complex situation as well as her own journey in life. In addition to the colorful, often ignorant characters of Honey Creek, an added complication to Desiree’s summerlong diversion is her burgeoning romance with the sensitive Bobby McVicar. While Desiree begins to find her footing in the Midwest, her mother still struggles to move past her husband’s betrayal and Desiree’s abandonment. Jackson’s diverting, fast-moving tale balances Desiree’s unique journey to adulthood with the intricacies and frustrations of family and romance. --Leah Strauss

Edition details

• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0312565003
• ISBN 13: 9780312565008
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 272