The Musings of an Insane Midwestern Suburbanite
A Novel
by
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Normally an upbeat and positive person, of late I was increasingly pessimistic and suffering from extremely sadistic thinking about people, places, and things. On the outside I was still acting as if everything was okay. But, it was becoming a daily chore to repress my swirling sadistic thoughts. A middle class suburbanite is not supposed to think like this. I despised people with bigger and better things than mine. A neighbor down the street just had a stainless steel grill built into their patio. I was angry and jealous because my grill was smaller. I went as far as to yell fuck you out the window at the neighbor as he was standing near his grill. I contemplated taking a hammer and denting the stainless grill. It’s a cycle, I thought. A cycle of ‘haves and have nots’, of earning money and spending money. Of smoking and running and drinking and cleaning. For what? I thought. For a six bedroom, five bathroom house? Kent, you must make…more…money. I once felt comfortable in my neighborhood, but not anymore. My beautiful, upper middle-class neighborhood scared me. I began to expect the worst from my affluence.
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About the Book
Kent Roivas is a normal, upper-middle-class-suburbanite living in the Midwest. He has all the trappings of the American Dream: massive custom home, exotic cars, gorgeous wife, and nearly the largest stainless steel grill in his entire neighborhood. Following an accident at work, Kent decides to embark on a self-imposed midlife crisis. It begins with a strange mushroom trip, followed by a slight addiction to prescription painkillers. Like trying to run down a mountain, things go downhill fast. With so much free time to think, Kent’s thoughts turn sadistic, especially toward the people around him. He believes his evil neighbors are hiding something beneath the guise of raising a family. Reality is skewed as Kent’s imagination escalates to the point of actually being afraid of his neighbors but also afraid of his own consumerist lifestyle—and afraid even of himself. All hell breaks loose in this posh, quiet neighborhood, but is Kent to blame or has the community just been waiting for a reason to implode?
About the Author
Latem Summerville lives in an upper-middle-class neighborhood in the Midwest. When not writing, he plays the drums and listens to music.