This is Just Exactly Like You: A Novel - Hardcover

Perry, Drew

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0670021547 ISBN 13: 9780670021543

Publisher: Viking, 2010

Synopsis

A darkly humorous debut novel of suburban survival and life's occasional miracles

When Jack Lang impulsively buys a second house directly across the street from his own, his wife Beth leaves him-and their six-year-old autistic son, Hendrick-to move in with Jack's best friend, Terry Canavan. Jack tells everyone in his life he's okay, but no one believes him. Not his employees at Patriot Mulch & Tree in suburban North Carolina, not Beth herself, and not Canavan's estranged girlfriend Rena, who arrives on Jack's doorstep to see how, and whether, he's bearing up. When Jack starts letting Rena further into his life, and when Hendrick suddenly starts speaking fluent Spanish-stunning everyone-it becomes apparent to Jack that the world is far more complicated than he believed.

As Drew Perry's characters change houses, partners, and perceptions, Hendrick emerges from his shell in unexpected and delightful ways and becomes, at times, this witty and winning debut novel's center of gravity-he's parenting the confused grown-ups as often as they are him. Perry's fresh and funny insights into marriage, autism, parenthood, and sub­urban ennui (not to mention mulch) create a landscape that will charm and captivate fans of Tom Perrotta and Jennifer Haigh.

About this title

About the Author

Drew Perry holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of North Carolina–Greensboro, and now teaches writing at Elon University in North Carolina. His short fiction has been published in Black Warrior Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, and New Stories from the South. He lives with his wife in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Reviews

In his turgid debut, author Perry delves into the life of bland suburbanite Jack Lang after his wife, Beth, leaves him and their autistic six-year-old son, Hendrick, for Jack's best friend, Terry, who has recently separated from girlfriend Rena (who happens to be Beth's friend). When Rena discovers Beth is living with Terry, she immediately throws herself at Jack, who, having earlier impulsively purchased the house across the street, moves there with Rena and Hendrick, though Rena, bossy and needling from day one, is probably the least plausible therapeutic lay in history. Meanwhile, Hendrick begins to come out of his shell. Every 30 or so pages, Jack and Beth stalwartly refuse to discuss what is wrong between them: throughout their numerous confrontations, the exact reasons and circumstances for their separation are only vaguely sketched, and the reader feels cheated. By never knowing what went wrong, indifference can be the only reaction to their stabs at reconciliation, and if they did clear the air, the novel would have no dramatic necessity. (Apr.)
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First-time novelist Perry tells a story that, in summary, seems like a rehash of a Lifetime movie-of-the-week. Beth and Jack Lang’s marriage hits the rocks, and when she moves in with his best friend, Jack is left alone to care for their son, Hendrick, who has autism. Alone, that is, until his best-friend’s girlfriend, Rena, shows up on his doorstep. But what Perry does with this seemingly paint-by-numbers story is anything but predictable and melodramatic. The reasons behind Beth leaving Jack are at once believable and at the same time poignant; You can’t just let everything happen to you, she says, and Jack’s attempts to make sense of this are at the center of the novel. Hendrick is the best part of both their lives and the book—as Jack’s world unravels around him, Hendrick proves to be both an anchor and a source of many surprises. Perry doesn’t shy away from looking closely at the how and why of the crumbling marriage, but lightens the mood with witty writing reminiscent of Tom Perrotta’s. --Matthew Tiffany

Edition details

• Publisher: Viking
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0670021547
• ISBN 13: 9780670021543
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 336