Kids These DaysDrew Perry
Algonquin
January 14, 2014
In the spirit of Jonathan Tropper and Kevin Wilson, Drew Perry takes aim at the two sides of a man’s impending fatherhood—abject terror and unconditional love. Walter and Alice are expecting their first baby, but their timing is a bit off: Alice has quit her job, and Walter, once a successful loan officer, has been unexpectedly downsized. They’ve had to relocate to Florida to live rent-free in Alice’s deceased aunt’s condo, and when Alice’s brother-in-law Mid offers Walter a job, he can’t refuse. But the things he doesn’t know—about Mid’s murky dealings and the secret arrangements of his shady small-business empire—are beginning to unnerve him. Tensions escalate until the day Mid’s mysteriously procured bright yellow Camaro becomes the object of a police chase—with Walter riding shotgun.
Drew Perry paints a landscape of weird, strange, beautiful Florida and its inhabitants—all wholly original, hilarious, and utterly believable. And at the center is a wonderfully sensitive portrait of a father-to-be who is filled with trepidation, paralyzed by the thought of taking responsibility for another human life when he won’t even take responsibility for his own. Kids These Days is a novel about a man who finally grows up—and just in time.
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Idgie Says:
A mildly wacky story about two adults being forced to grow up when real life arrives in full force. Newly pregnant and newly unemployed, Walter and Alice find themselves having to move into an old woman's fully decorated condo on the beach and Walter taking odd jobs from Alice's Brother-in-Law. There's a lot of what I call "mild" sarcasm in the story - gentle, not biting. Theres humor in the confusion Walter feels trying to adjust to the current state of affairs and an amiable likability with the couple.
A story of two people gently floating toward their newly emerging goals, trying to dodge what life throws in the path.
Amusing and keeps you interested until the end.