The Suburbs of Babylon

"The Suburbs of Babylon" is "Catcher in the Rye" for Generation X and Y. It is a character-driven story told in the first person through the eyes of a Holden-like central character who is trying to find his place in the world. An orphan in childhood, he latches onto his surroundings—the suburbs of Los Angeles—as a surrogate, afraid to leave home and lose his identity. Yet, finding nothing of substance around him, he forces himself to take small, safe journeys to places close by, such as Mexico, Las Vegas, and San Francisco, all the while searching for that part of him that he can’t find in his past, his friends, his lovers, or his neighborhood. Through a series of failures, self-examination, and a brief bout with insanity, he finally gathers the strength to clip the umbilical chord holding him to L.A. and begin the real journey of his life.