Mar 2008. 272 p. St. Martin's, hardcover, $23.95. (0312367252).
Those who might think that life in the New Jersey suburbs is mundane and humdrum have never visited the ones that exist in Galant's imagination, where chaos reigns and all reasoned thought goes out the window. Yoga instructor Nina is trying very hard to maintain her psychic center as meditation fountains overflow and customers slip and fall. Her downstairs neighbor, the feng shui consultant, feels that the problem is the aura left behind by the previous tenant. Nina's husband Michael's job is outsourced to the Philippines, leaving him disconnected and confused. Son Adam, though raised as a fallen-away Unitarian, is willing to sacrifice all for a bar mitzvah. Nina's parents, sensing that things are amiss, fly in from Florida, but because of an impending hurricane, one flies to Chicago, the other to Boston, to make their way eventually to Newark. Unlike some satires, including Galant's own Rattled (2006), there is no real resolution here, with heartfelt tears and order restored. Instead the zaniness continues in this funny, twisted tale.
— Danise Hoover
