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More copies of this ISBNThis title in other editionsAt Least in the City Someone Would Hear Me Scream: Misadventures in Search of the Simple Lifeby Wade Rouse
Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:We all dream it. Wade Rouse actually did it. Finally fed up with the frenzy of city life and a job he hates, Wade Rouse decided to make either the bravest decision of his life or the worst mistake since his botched Ogilvie home perm: to uproot his life and try, as Thoreau did some 160 years earlier, to "live a plain, simple life in radically reduced conditions." In this rollicking and hilarious memoir, Wade and his partner, Gary, leave culture, cable, and consumerism behind and strike out for rural Michigan–a place with fewer people than in their former spinning class. There, Wade discovers the simple life isnt so simple. Battling blizzards, bloodthirsty critters, and nosy neighbors equipped with night-vision goggles, Wade and his spirit, sanity, relationship, and Kenneth Cole pointy-toed boots are sorely tested with humorous and humiliating frequency. And though he never does learn where his well water actually comes from or how to survive without Kashi cereal, he does discover some things in the woods outside his knotty-pine cottage in Saugatuck, Michigan, that he always dreamed of but never imagined hed find–happiness and a home. At Least in the City Someone Would Hear Me Scream is a sidesplitting and heartwarming look at taking a risk, fulfilling a dream, and finding a home–with very thick and very dark curtains. Review:"Having escaped the idiocy of rural life in his growing-up-gay-in-the-Ozarks memoir America's Boy, the author returns to it in this flamboyant fish-out-of-water saga. Inspired by Thoreau, Rouse and his partner moved to a cottage near the Michigan resort town of Saugatuck in order to simplify; wean himself from his addictions to shopping, tanning and cable; and resolve childhood traumas by being brashly gay in a nonurban setting. Saugatuck is actually quite gay-friendly, but trials abound: the eerie quiet of the countryside, the apocalyptic snows, a marauding raccoon fended off with lip balm and breath spray, the scarcity of gourmet yuppie-chow, the humiliation of wearing waders instead of Kenneth Cole boots, the slow, unfashionable locals who ask, rather perceptively, ''Don't you ever take anything seriously... things that don't affect only you?'' Rouse's battle with his own narcissism is a losing one; indeed, it feels like the real point of offering his pink-outfitted self to the suspicious gazes of hunters and other yokels is simply to accentuate what a fascinating spectacle he is. Alas, Rouse's comically campy, but rarely truly funny, writing is so trite that few readers will share his self-involvement. (June)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.) Synopsis:Finally fed up with the frenzy of city life, Rouse decides to make either the bravest decision or the worst mistake since a botched Ogilvy home perm: uproot his life and try to live a rustic existence. Writing in the vein of David Sedaris . . . [Rouse is] laugh-out-loud funny."--"St. Louis Magazine."
Synopsis:Finally fed up with the frenzy of city life, Wade Rouse decided to make either the bravest decision of his life or the worst mistake since a botched Ogilvy home perm: uproot his life and try, as Thoreau did some 160 years earlier, to survive...living a plain, simple life in radically reduced conditions. At Least in the City Someone Would Hear Me Scream is what happens when a self-obsessed gay man with a penchant for bronzer and he-capri's leaves the lattes behind and wanders into the wild to dwell in a knotty-pine cottage and live up to the tenets set forth in Walden. Battling bloodthirsty critters, enduring nosy neighbors with night-vision goggles, and inhaling the distinct whiff of boredom no firewood-scented Henri Bendel candle can hide, Rouse's spirit, sanity, relationships, and Kenneth Cole pointy-toe boots are sorely tested. But he ultimately discovers something in the woods outside Saugatuck, Michigan, that he always dreamed of but never thought he'd find--happiness and a home. Praise for Wade Rouse An impressive new voice...an original writer. --Washington Post Writing in the vein of David Sedaris and Augusten Burroughs.... Rouse is] laugh-out-loud funny. --St. Louis Magazine Keenly observant and hilariously scathing. --Josh Kilmer-Purcell, author of I Am Not Myself These Days About the AuthorWADE ROUSE is a writer living on the coast of Michigan. A graduate of Drury and Northwestern universities, he is the critically acclaimed author of the memoirs Americas Boy and Confessions of a Prep School Mommy Handler and a contributor to The Customer Is Always Wrong: The Retail Chronicles. His essays have been published in numerous national magazines and collections. What Our Readers Are SayingBe the first to add a comment for a chance to win!Product Details
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