Synopses & Reviews
Heather Peters is a blond dynamo and the most acquisitive and materialistic woman you may ever meet. Along with her husband, Kevin, and eight-year-old son, Connor, she moves to Galapagos Estates, a new housing development situated just where the New Jersey suburbs meet the countryside. All Heather wants is a nice house. Well, a nice house and a nice piece of land. And, of course, a basement gym, a master bath with radiant heat, Jacuzzi, and his-and-her toilets. She could make do without a media room if she had to. After all, the pioneers didn't have plasma TV, and they survived.
The action begins when Heather and Harlan, a local egg farmer who works as a sometimes handyman, are setting up her patio for a tea party. Harlan's lived in town all of his life, and while he is contemptuous of the new McMansions and their inhabitants, he's found he can make money from them. When a timber rattlesnake comes out of the grass, Heather shrieks at him to kill it. Harlan knows that these snakes are endangered, but she is kicking up such a fuss (screaming bloody murder while standing on top of her new garden furniture) that he goes ahead and does it.
What neither realizes is that these snakes are being tracked by a local animal rights group and that it's a crime to kill them in the state of New Jersey. They also don't know that Galapagos Estates was illegally built on a rattlesnake habitat by a shady developer who fudged the environmental report. The dead snake is traced to Heather, who is hauled out of back-to-school night and into a jail cell. When an ambitious local reporter tells her story, Heather basks in the resulting media circus. but things get ugly when the animal rights group "liberates" fifteen hundred lab rats at Heather's house and the residents of Galapagos Estates band together to force the Peterses to move. But don't count her out yet Heather doesn't get mad, she gets even.
Review
"Galant crafts a clever plot that builds to a screamingly funny climax. It is so well-constructed that P.G. Wodehouse, the master of madcap humor, might approve." USA Today
Review
"It's a lot of plot, and Galant keeps the balls in the air with humor and efficiency, creating an intricate Tom Wolfe-lite portrait of suburbia that seems right in many ways." New York Times
Review
"Like Tom Perrotta in his marvelous novel of repressed suburban child-rearing, Little Children, Galant captures the particular tyrannies of modern parenting." Washington Post
Review
"Galant is a gifted storyteller, and she succeeds in making Rattled a lighthearted jab at the modern well-to-do, in a Desperate Housewives sort of way." Rocky Mountian News
Review
"The cartoon-like characters and the mostly happy ending are the stuff of a Hollywood-ready screenplay. Entertaining comedic debut with a mild sting." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"Galant, whose witty and topical social commentary has graced the pages of the New York Times, nails it with her first novel." Library Journal
Synopsis
Set in the fictional subdivision of Galapagoes Estates,”
Rattled is a very funny look at what happens when soccer moms, animal rights activists, dishonest real estate developers and, of course, rattlesnakes get together and fight for ascendancy in the rapidly developing New Jersey exurbs. Heather Peters is anxious to move to the newly minted development.
All she wants there is a nice house. Well, a nice house and a nice piece of land. And of course a basement gym, a master bath with radiant heat, Jacuzzi and his-and-her toilets. She could make do without a media room if she had to. After all, the pioneers hadnt had plasma TV, and theyd survived. Heather is not your average suburban housewife—or maybe she is. Her fortuitous meeting with a endangered species of rattlesnake sets this first novel in motion. You may find yourself feeling sorry for the snake.
About the Author
Debra Galant is the author of Fear and Yoga in New Jersey. She is also the creator of the popular blog Baristanet.com. She lives in Glen Ridge, New Jersey.
Reading Group Guide
1. Most people describe Heather as vain and domineering, but she sees herself as just looking out for her familys interests. What was your reaction to Heather? Do you recognize her qualities in people you know, or in yourself? How do you feel about a main character whose qualities are so unattractive?
2. In Rattled, newcomers to the countryside threaten the rural lifestyle of characters like Harlan White, the chicken farmer and handyman. Do similar tensions exist where you live? Do you find yourself rooting for Harlan?
3. Heather is described by some characters as living in a McMansion. McMansions have become a flashpoint in culture wars about home, community, and aesthetics. How does Rattled contribute to this debate?
4. One of themes of the book is the contrast between the two basic creation motifs——Darwinism and the Garden of Eden. Heather lives in Galapagos Estates, but as in Eden, its the sudden appearance of a snake that gets her ejected. How do you think these themes contribute to the novel?
5. Pine Hills Elementary School is a stewpot of anxieties, especially for Connor. Discuss Connors difficulties finding his place in the cafeteria and on the playground. What do you think about his “worry doctor”? How might his parents contribute to his maladjustment? Why is Halloween such a trial for him?
6. The mothers at the school have their own pecking order, and Heather disregards this invisible hierarchy at her peril. Her attempt to pick Connors teacher similarly backfires. Do you
see similar dramas playing out in schoolyards today?
7. The Friends of the Fauna are frustrated by the fact that timber rattlesnakes are not a “cute” enough species to garner public sympathy. How do you feel about the rights of reptiles?
8. Harlan and Agnes are both old-timers in the New Jersey countryside, and although they both have contempt for Heather, that doesnt make them friends. Discuss what these characters represent and how their relationship changes over the course of the novel.
9. Do you think that Heather becomes a better mother at the end
of the book? Is her change believable? Why do you think Heather is shown on a camping trip in the last chapter?