It's rare to find a book about something as banal as "just another week in suburbia" but once you're done with Les Zig's tale, you'll come to think about whether there is such a thing as a normal week. Just another week in suburbia follows Caspar Gray, a high school teacher who is about to celebrate his 7th wedding anniversary with his wife. Through the course of the week Caspar has to face little challenges and surprises that all build up to a huge crescendo on Friday, and his life comes crashing down around him. Caspar has to spend the weekend battling through a haze of confusion and decide what is really important to him to be happy. A beautiful and honest look at marriage, adult friendships, and how our inner monologues can affect our outer lives, Just Another Week in Suburbia had me hooked right until the very end.

I received this book free from Netgalley. I was very intrigued reading the blurb about the book and wanted to read it. It was a little slow to start, but I was enjoying it--wanted to see what would happen. That being said, the main character is just so "weak" appearing to me that I stopped reading it about 60 through. He was always getting "hard ons" for women, but then is obsessed with the thought that his wife may be cheating on him. I really wanted to like the book and really liked the premise, and the writing was good, but the main character was just too unlikable for me. Perhaps this was intentional and I just didn't stick around long enough.

Can you trust someone unconditionally?

Casper Gray was a very interesting character to read about. He is married to Jane for almost 7 years. They have the type of life people would expect you to have - a house in suburbs, mortgages, savings, jobs, a dog. But was it a happy life to lead? Was it the right life to build?

The night Casper finds a condom in Jane’s purse changes everything. He starts to question his entire life. After being with someone for nearly a decade, you build a life for each other. There are common friends and family and Christmases together. What would you do when the life you once knew ends? And does it have to end?

We all have these moments (more often than not) when life gets crazy, when everything is happening at the same time, making it difficult to cope. Casper was going through a very hard week and it was an intense journey through 300 pages!

Another thing that was important for me is that the various intimate scenes did not feel disgusting to read about. Yes, it is an adult book. Yes, you can see that it was written by a man. But the choice of words and settings didn’t make me wrinkle my nose in disgust, unlike some books did. I appreciate that.

Just Another Week In Suburbia, is a provocative highly amusing debut by Les Zig. The story is set in an unnamed Australian city, where Casper Gray taught English at a local high school, he was an ordinary yet very insecure and timid married man that had no choice—he had to “Man Up”! For Casper, this would not be an easy task, as he confronted outside situations and uncontrollable forces that shaped his life.

Casper was distressed and shocked after a neon colored condom fell out of his wife’s handbag— he and Jane had been trying to have a baby, he agonized several days over how he would confront her. He and Jane had a happy solid marriage, it was unlikely she would have an affair—or would she? Casper needed an outside perspective, yet who would he talk too that wouldn’t tell Jane? He finally opted to meet his womanizer buddy Luke in a pub for his opinion.

Beth, a friend and art teacher from school, confided in Casper that she was contemplating leaving her dead end relationship with her boyfriend Roger. When she called in sick the next day for work, Casper reluctantly filled in for her class. As a hobbyist, Casper drew and sketched. In class, he quickly drew Bianca, a beautiful student, and discovered he enjoyed the creative connection with fellow student artists. Later, the school administrators grilled Casper on his whereabouts during a specific time frame, producing Casper’s sketch of Bianca and another suggestive drawing as proof of his inappropriate interest and conduct involving a student. In the extremely stressful situation it didn’t help when Jane didn’t return his calls or texts as he tried to reach her about the incident. Casper couldn’t help but wonder where she was, as he went to check on her whereabouts.

Casper’s next door neighbor Vic was an obnoxious bully. When Vic threatened the safety of Casper’s little dog Wallace, Casper was pushed to the limit! By this time readers just want Casper to say or do anything to defend Wallace and/or his sense of masculine pride! Yet the backstory involving Wallace is only a tip of this well written and realistic storyline of manhood and marriage.
**With thanks and appreciation to Pantera Press via NetGalley for the direct e-copy for the purpose of review.

This is a well researched and well thought out book, delving into normal lives, such as ours. I felt at times a ittle lost in the story but ovverall rnjoyed reading the novel.

I picked up Just Another Week in Suburbia looking for a light and entertaining read to distract from the heavier concerns in the real world. This may have lead me directly into a Catch-22, because I found the "first world problems" of Casper, the protagonist, to be overly worried. There were a few moments where the plot drove the writing through, but overall, I found the short, brusk sentences to be abrupt and couldn't find a flow to the reading or a hook to latch on to the characters.

Starts off very well, and makes you want to read on to find out what happened. The main character unfortunately weakens about two thirds in and becomes less believable.

The book picks up in the last third. Overall an enjoyable read.

Casper Gray lives with his wife, Jane, in the suburbs of Australia. He’s a teacher and she does, well, Casper’s not quite sure what she does at work. They’ve been married for six years, can’t get pregnant, and have a dog instead of a baby. They’re a little bit boring but they’re happy. One sleepless night Casper stumbles over his wife’s purse, causing the discovery of something that takes the young couple to a turning point in their relationship. In the week that follows Casper will learn a lot about his wife, his neighbors, his best friends, his co-workers, and himself. This engaging book allows readers to follow Casper’s first person narrative of his eventful week.

Casper and his wife will have other twenty and thirty-somethings saying, “Same.” From the struggles of saving from IVF to the neighbors that aren’t quite ideal, this book is honest and relatable. It was difficult to put down because the story was so compelling. I just had to know what happened next. At one point my heart was pounding, and I couldn’t read fast enough. It’s not a suspenseful story, but it is certainly captivating.

At times Casper isn’t the most exciting narrator. Despite his life suddenly falling down around him he must still go through the motions of his somewhat mundane life. This enhanced the truth of this book, however. Because the book covers a full week of Casper’s life the time of day is given frequently, almost obsessively, in this book. There are some graphic sex scenes that young or sensitive readers may want to avoid. For the rest of us these scenes, like everything else in this book, lend themselves to the authenticity of life in suburbia.

I received a copy of Suburbia from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review


As I sit here trying to figure out my review, all I can say is this is a must read. It's anything but a typical week anywhere, and to think this all started over a condom that fell out a woman's purse. It's the catalyst for everything that suddenly goes wrong in Casper's life. This a meek man who slowly sees his entire life slipping away from him, and there's no way to stop the slide. It's more than just obsession that fuels Zig's novel. It's also how we see things, or even don't see them. Throughout the novel we see bits and pieces of just how much of a failure Casper is. The wall in the backyard, his dog who always seems to slip under the fence to irritate the neighbor, and even his own marriage.

It's a powerful novel that bristles with intelligence, and black humor. Once you read it, there's no way to simply stop. Casper is an interesting character, but he's also not very strong emotionally. It's these failures that keep piling up, but this is who he is, and who knows, maybe deep down he knows this as well. This is a week no one would should ever endure, but it's the realism that makes this so readable. Any one of us could end up like Casper, and some one reading this can identify with Casper because they see themselves as this character. It's the reality of it all that makes it so good. Zig is a talented writer that not only places us inside the story, but things derail so quickly there's no time to prepare for it. It's not a feel good story, but this is what makes it so good.

Each character feels real, each situation has a feeling of uncertainty to it. We expect things to work out, and we expect the author to give us a nice warm ending. Just Another Week In Suburbia isn't like most novels. It's a dark, gritty read that explores the dark side of human nature. For some it may come across as bleak, or even hopeless, but that's exactly what I loved about it. Sometimes it's the books you don't expect to make an impact that do. Zig is a writer who seems to be pouring his soul into each chapter, the story is well written and goes places you don't expect. As Casper begins to fall apart there's no way to stop it. It's an engrossing novel, and one that leaves a lasting impression.

Casper is an Australian high school English teacher, his wife of seven years or so, Jane, makes more money than he does but that's not an issue. At issue is the fact that Casper's doubting his wife's fidelity, rendering him unable to focus at work or create beautiful, meaningful artwork; also his beautiful best friend and co-worker Beth is going through a violent breakup, and muscle-headed Vic who lives next door is threatening harm to Casper's beloved little dog Wallace. Although Casper's background is generously outlined, it's never explained what he possesses that makes him so very attractive to the opposite sex (his lovely wife Jane, the prettiest teacher at his school, the sexy nurse living next door) and likewise such an object of attention for the men around him (micromanaged by supervisor Stuart, constant harassment from neighbor Vic, suspicion and a punch in the nose from Beth's ex, surveillance from the unidentified Jean Jacket, etc.).

There are other mysteries as well: why is an English teacher so hard on himself about not creating substantive works of art? how did best friend Luke manage to see Casper's father shaking uncontrollably on a toilet in the cubicle at his wedding? how do Casper and Jane maintain such an upscale lifestyle while saving for IVF, for example rather than return a pricey gift of jewelry instead opting to flush it down a toilet? I loved the high-brow, Mad Men-esque cover art of this novel, but found it didn't really apply to the subject matter within, which might be encapsulated by the phrase "sexually explicit improbable plot".

Against a backdrop of a mundane and dull suburban life, the perfect marriage unravels.

It's a quick, light, fun read. I enjoyed the perspective being from the husband rather than the wife which made for a more interesting take than the usual chick-lit setting.

That said, I did get frustrated by the drippy naivety of the husband, and his unprofessionalism in the school where he taught was frankly unthinkable.

It never quite reaches a state of tension, but does pace along nicely.