Garden State (novel)
Encyclopedia
Garden State is a 1992 novel by Rick Moody
about a group of teenagers in suburban New Jersey
struggling towards adulthood. It was awarded a Pushcart Press Editors' Book Award.
The novel is about three young people in their early 20s living in Haledon, New Jersey
. Although the exact year in which the novel is set is unclear, it appears to be the early 1980s. The book's protagonist is Alice, a young woman who struggles to maintain a dating relationship with a young man named Dennis. Dennis' half-brother, Lane, recently attempted to commit suicide
, and has just been released from a state mental institution following this attempt to end his life. Alice, Dennis and Lane struggle to make the passage to adulthood even as their families and the economy crumble around them, and new social mores, music and politics tempt them in different directions. As in many of author Rick Moody's novels, the events chronicled in the book culminate in a cathartic event (in this case, a rave
in a warehouse) which leads to several epiphanies among the major characters.
Much of the novel focuses on the many ways in which Alice's and Dennis' parents fail to successfully nurture and raise their children or adapt to the changing economic and social circumstances of the time. "Change" is also an important theme in the novel, including the ways new genres of music, economic restructuring, and post-adolescence cause rapid and sometimes debilitating changes in people. The security (even if it is stifling) of family and familiar surroundings (even the mental institution) are contrasted with the unknown quantity that is New York City, a frightening but alluring place to Alice, Dennis and Lane.
Rick Moody
Rick Moody is an American novelist and short story writer best known for the 1994 novel The Ice Storm, a chronicle of the dissolution of two suburban Connecticut families over Thanksgiving weekend in 1973, which brought widespread acclaim, became a bestseller, and was made into a feature film of...
about a group of teenagers in suburban New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
struggling towards adulthood. It was awarded a Pushcart Press Editors' Book Award.
The novel is about three young people in their early 20s living in Haledon, New Jersey
Haledon, New Jersey
Haledon is a borough in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 8,318.Haledon was incorporated as a borough by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on April 8, 1908, replacing the now-defunct Manchester Township, based on the...
. Although the exact year in which the novel is set is unclear, it appears to be the early 1980s. The book's protagonist is Alice, a young woman who struggles to maintain a dating relationship with a young man named Dennis. Dennis' half-brother, Lane, recently attempted to commit suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
, and has just been released from a state mental institution following this attempt to end his life. Alice, Dennis and Lane struggle to make the passage to adulthood even as their families and the economy crumble around them, and new social mores, music and politics tempt them in different directions. As in many of author Rick Moody's novels, the events chronicled in the book culminate in a cathartic event (in this case, a rave
Rave
Rave, rave dance, and rave party are parties that originated mostly from acid house parties, which featured fast-paced electronic music and light shows. At these parties people dance and socialize to dance music played by disc jockeys and occasionally live performers...
in a warehouse) which leads to several epiphanies among the major characters.
Much of the novel focuses on the many ways in which Alice's and Dennis' parents fail to successfully nurture and raise their children or adapt to the changing economic and social circumstances of the time. "Change" is also an important theme in the novel, including the ways new genres of music, economic restructuring, and post-adolescence cause rapid and sometimes debilitating changes in people. The security (even if it is stifling) of family and familiar surroundings (even the mental institution) are contrasted with the unknown quantity that is New York City, a frightening but alluring place to Alice, Dennis and Lane.