Who's Your Daddy?
Should I have children, or travel? Pursue my dreams or get a job with benefits? Go to the denim sale or pay my electric bill? Such pressing life questions seem simple compared to the quandary of middle-aged everyman Marcus Ripps, protagonist of Seth Greenland’s hilarious new satirical novel “Shining City.” After losing his factory job to China, Marcus faces defaulting on his L.A. home and a sexless marriage, until his estranged brother bequeaths him a dry cleaning business. But this solution is quickly soiled when he learns the only thing being laundered there is money earned by a suite of prostitutes.
So, what to do but rationally consider the irrational – becoming a pimp. After all, then Marcus could pay off his mortgage, afford his son’s over-the-top bar mitzvah, rescue his wife’s business, and buy his medical marijuana-smoking mother-in-law health insurance. And if he’s a good provider and boss, offering 401Ks and healthcare to his ladies, is he really a criminal?Greenland’s exacting characterization and pithy descriptions cleverly position this ludicrous plot somewhere between a laugh-out-loud farce and an illuminating portrait of modern society’s moral ironies and unbelievable dilemmas.
The perfect novel for a time when To pimp or not to pimp? is everybody’s real-life question.
Available online at amazon.com or your local bookseller.
Posted on Wednesday, July 9, 2008 in Permalink
Lei Chic associate editor Terri Inefuku graduated from Northwestern University with degrees in Journalism and International Studies, and worked in New York, Chicago, Austin and Honolulu as a broadcast journalist before joining HONOLULU Magazine. When she's not rooting out new fashion discoveries for Lei Chic, you'll find her in the kitchen baking up treats for family and friends.
