March 17, 2006
Snake episode 'rattles' image of upper class
Wealthy developers, the privileged exurbanites who inhabit their colossal creations, and the environmentalists who try to thwart them both are all fair game for Debra Galant in her debut novel, Rattled.
Galant, a one-time New York Times columnist on suburban issues, launches an amusing, but clichéd, attack on upper-class moms and their spoiled offspring, while also skewering just about everyone else in this spoof.
Heather Peters is an excitable mother and wife determined to secure a solid place in Galapagos Estates, a new community of expensive "McMansions" built in the New Jersey countryside. This socially upward move is the beginning of many troubles caused by Heather's ambition, and captured humorously by Galant, who writes, "...she'd finally found an earthly heaven. It was true that there didn't seem to be many children playing outside, that it was a little buggy, that none of the neighbors had come over to introduce themselves, that Connor spent all his time hooked up to his new PlayStation, and that Kevin's commute was forty-five minutes longer each way than it had been before. Still, Heather had to count her blessings. Like the fact that she'd upgraded to Pella windows."
As Heather unwittingly witnesses her handyman kill a timber rattlesnake on her backyard patio, the story takes off, and reels in a colorful cast of stock characters. Confronted by animal control officials with concerns that an endangered species had been killed, Heather initially takes the blame for the demise of the snake, despite the fact that she was in hysterics on a chaise lounge as Harland White killed it with an expensive vase.
After a humiliating arrest at back-to-school night, Heather gains such notoriety as the snake killer that her local 15 minutes of fame turn into appearances on the Today show and an aborted visit with Oprah. She garners public sympathy for being treated too harshly for such a seemingly minor offense.
Among those most disturbed by Heather's addiction to the media spotlight is Agnes, the local environmental watchdog, who is appalled that Heather is earning public support.
Jack Barstad also wishes the issue would just disappear. Barstad is the shady developer of Galapagos Estates, a man who is trying to develop another large tract of land adjacent to his last creation. His environmental impact study ensuring there will be no encroachment on the habitat of wildlife is looking more tenuous with each Heather Peters appearance in the local newspapers.
Barstad is a pathetic character, depicted by Galant as a wealthy land-grabber, cheating on his wife while lying to authorities, all in the hopes of gaining more riches. His dalliances with a much younger colleague provide Galant an opportunity to poke fun at this aging lothario.
However, Galant's best work in the book may be the moments that are not necessarily designed to create laughs. Her rendering of Connor, Heather's third-grader son, doesn't fit the ongoing comedy, but is ultimately more real than all the other characters. A heartbreaking scene in the school cafeteria where Connor realizes, for the first time, where he fits in the social hierarchy, earns our sympathy.
We can't always muster up the same for Heather, whose silly escapades quickly lose their charm. In a revelatory moment at the end, when Heather finally understands the effect her self-interest has had on Connor, her attempts to soothe ring hollow, mostly because Galant has done such a superb job convincing us of Heather's shallowness.
The main male characters of Rattled - Heather's husband Kevin, Barstad, and White, the handyman - fare somewhat better. They all display a weariness throughout the book, making them more realistic than many of the female caricatures.
Galant is a gifted storyteller, and she succeeds in making Rattled a lighthearted jab at the modern well-to-do, in a Desperate Housewives sort of way. Yet I found the book more interesting during the few times she scratched the surface and provided a more sobering look at these lives.
GARY WILLIAMS
