Tramps Like Us: A Suburban ConfessionFrom the screenwriter of How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days comes an irreverent memoir of growing up in the Garden State. A choppy, whirlwind tour of her dysfunctional childhood in the New Jersey suburbs, from the divorce of her parents when she was six to her victorious exeunt at age 17, bound for the Manhattan School of Music. Without any semblance of structure, Buckley flits from memory to memory, capturing a haphazard array of family arguments, personal embarrassments and lopsided adventures. Using excessive profanity, she describes her adopted Korean sister's bout with smallpox, her childhood home's rat infestation and septic tank problem (earning her family the unending disdain of the entire neighborhood) and the late arrival of her adopted sibling's long-lost brother, Nak. She waxes nostalgic about her crush on Sting, her obsession with the mafia and her early experiments with underage drinking, driving and dating. With a caustic, ironic tone, she picks out New Jersey's least appealing qualities (mall rats, big hair and bad jeans) and unapologetically exploits them for laughs. Though the average reader may find this flippant, often ribald narrative hard to get through, similarly-affected Jerseyites will find much to like in Buckley's slice-of-life pileup. |
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Page 251
... Hank and I could jam all day and by the time I went to MSM in the fall , I'd be so good that I could drop out , go on the road with a small venue band , say Rickie Lee Jones or someone like that and from there , I'd be right on track to ...
... Hank and I could jam all day and by the time I went to MSM in the fall , I'd be so good that I could drop out , go on the road with a small venue band , say Rickie Lee Jones or someone like that and from there , I'd be right on track to ...
Page 255
... Hank was all over her like white on rice . " Bridget set you up because she was in fact screwing Hank the Sub , " Jenny explained , feeling no doubt like Encyclo- pedia Brown's gal pal , Sally Kimball . Talk about calculating ! Talk ...
... Hank was all over her like white on rice . " Bridget set you up because she was in fact screwing Hank the Sub , " Jenny explained , feeling no doubt like Encyclo- pedia Brown's gal pal , Sally Kimball . Talk about calculating ! Talk ...
Page 257
... Hank's car with eggs . I just went inside , tired of the whole sordid affair , and took a shower . I had just finished drying my hair when the doorbell rang . I immediately thought it was Hank coming to scream about the egg job that my ...
... Hank's car with eggs . I just went inside , tired of the whole sordid affair , and took a shower . I had just finished drying my hair when the doorbell rang . I immediately thought it was Hank coming to scream about the egg job that my ...
Contents
The Five and a Half Stages of Grief | 9 |
Fort Apache29 | 29 |
Taking the Bath | 43 |
Copyright | |
13 other sections not shown
Common terms and phrases
asked bathroom became Becky began Bronx brother Lee Bruce Willis BUCKY PIZZARELLI called Camille Claudel Color of Night course crazy decided dinner DoJang door dream eating Eddie Gomez Essential reading explained eyes fact father felt front fucking Fyzle girl going grandmother Gremlin hair Hank head hear Heenahan Hideki inside Jackson Browne Jackson Whites Jay and Rich Jenny's Jersey Jewish Jews Ken Wahl kids knew Korean lawn Lester lived looked mafia Master Bai Match Game Melungeons Midge Mike Ming the Merciless Minoans mom's mother move movie Nak's needed never night play Quadrophenia rats Ruth Sabumnim screaming seemed sfogliatelle shit sister Jenny sleep sort Stacie STAGES OF GRIEF staring stepdad Sting story suddenly Tae Kwon tank tell thing thought told took TRAMPS turned Vinnie wanted window would've yelled