Land of Steady Habits (Thompson) - Book Reviews

Book Reviews
Ted Thompson's elegiac yet bighearted take on adult disillusionment earns its comparisons to suburbans bards such as Updike and Cheever
Wall Street Journal


[M]asterful...The opening paragraph in a novel is like the first shot in a movie: a good one tells you everything. And Ted Thompson's stunning debut cranes right into the thick of it.
Town & Country


Late-life divorce is the subject of Thompson’s acutely written first novel.... [T]he author proves to be as keen an observer of this social scene as his literary forebears, Cheever and Updike. Anders, Helene, their children, lovers and friends, might not be the most likable group of characters you’ll come across, but the author humanizes them in a way that makes their problems relatable.
Publishers Weekly


As a rebellious teen, Anders Hill rejects his father's plans for his future and succeeds on his own. In doing so, he finds himself in the land of steady habits, commuting to a finance job in Manhattan from a bedroom community in Connecticut.... [A] story replete with characters searching for something other than what they have.... [A] book by a young, upcoming writer. —Joanna Burkhardt, Univ. of Rhode Island Libs., Providence
Library Journal


(Starred review.) Filled with heartache and humor, this assured, compassionate first novel channels the suburban angst of Updike and Cheever, updating the narrative of midlife dissatisfaction with a scathing dissection of America's imploding economy...with pitch-perfect prose and endearingly melancholy characters, Thompson offers up a heartbreaking vision of an ailing family and country.
Booklist


[T]he soul-crushing consequences of suburban prosperity is modernized here as a successful financier looks around his life and sees a wasteland. Southerner Anders Hill went to great lengths to avoid the upstanding conformity his father had planned for him, but at age 60, he's not sure what difference it's made.... [A] searing portrait of American wealth unraveling that is both dazzling and immeasurably sad.
Kirkus Reviews