Reviews
"Acerbic-and sometimes deliciously acidic. . . The Stager is great fun, and Coll proves herself as shrewd a social anthropologist as she is a buoyant writer." -Meghan Daum, The New York Times Book Review (Editor's Choice) "In The Stager , Susan Coll writes about her home town with an insider's hilarious, mocking affection… satirical [and] also touching…" -Julie Klam, The Washington Post "Already the viciously funny book… is being categorized alongside Maria Semple's 2012 bestseller, Where'd You Go, Bernadette? " -Ellen McCarthy, The Washington Post "Susan Coll is so slyly perceptive, so attentive to nuanced relationships between people that she gets at how we conform life to the stories we tell ourselves." - Chicago Tribune (Editor's Choice)"Wry metaphors of suburban rot abound…. [this is] the work of a very good comic novelist. . . .[C]huck your attachment to rationality and cheerfully follow Coll down the rabbit hole." - The Washingtonian "Overgrown houses, failed planned communities, and a consumerist culture contrast with the stager's efforts to declutter and sterilize in this offbeat social satire. Coll takes on marriage, friendship, and fidelity to dark-comic effect." - Booklist "Coll ( Beach Wee k, 2010, etc.) ratchets up the level of wit and mean edginess in her newest satire. . . Coll's vicious depiction of upper-upper-middle-class suburbia is often excruciatingly funny." - Kirkus Reviews "[Coll] mines a darker brand of humor." - Publishers Weekly "Funny and biting suburban farce" - Library Journal "Sometimes a book just takes you by the hand and swings you deliriously in a new dance-that is The Stager , Susan Coll's brilliant comic novel. Peopled by rabbits and woefully wise little girls, by adulterers and other unfortunate adults, this is a world sharp with secrets, grudges, mania, odors, and profound sweetness. I loved it." -Cathleen Schine, author of Fin & Lady and The Three Weissmanns of Westport "What a delight to follow Susan Coll on her tour of one family's surreal unraveling.　Sly and wise, Coll is a stager extraordinaire, allowing us to peer behind the curtain of suburban success and excess. I loved this novel's wild wit. Now I want to adopt the Jorgenson family's precocious kid-and their stoned rabbit." -Lisa Zeidner, author of Love Bomb "Dark, luminous, and hilarious, The Stager draws its radiant power from the great time-tested themes: love, betrayal, and the redemptive power of rabbits. At the height of her powers, Susan Coll reveals her mastery of the wry and delicious line, of the bizarre and tender moment-and of hope." -Dylan Landis, author of Normal People Don't Live Like This, Susan Coll is so slyly perceptive, so attentive to nuanced relationships between people that she gets at how we conform life to the stories we tell ourselves., "Coll ( Beach Wee k, 2010, etc.) ratchets up the level of wit and mean edginess in her newest satire. . . Coll's vicious depiction of upper-upper-middle-class suburbia is often excruciatingly funny." - Kirkus Reviews "[Coll] mines a darker brand of humor." - Publishers Weekly "Sometimes a book just takes you by the hand and swings you deliriously in a new dance-that is The Stager , Susan Coll's brilliant comic novel. Peopled by rabbits and woefully wise little girls, by adulterers and other unfortunate adults, this is a world sharp with secrets, grudges, mania, odors, and profound sweetness. I loved it." -Cathleen Schine, author of Fin & Lady and The Three Weissmanns of Westport "What a delight to follow Susan Coll on her tour of one family's surreal unraveling.　Sly and wise, Coll is a stager extraordinaire, allowing us to peer behind the curtain of suburban success and excess. I loved this novel's wild wit. Now I want to adopt the Jorgenson family's precocious kid-and their stoned rabbit." -Lisa Zeidner, author of Love Bomb "Dark, luminous, and hilarious, The Stager draws its radiant power from the great time-tested themes: love, betrayal, and the redemptive power of rabbits. At the height of her powers, Susan Coll reveals her mastery of the wry and delicious line, of the bizarre and tender moment-and of hope." -Dylan Landis, author of Normal People Don't Live Like This, Wry metaphors of suburban rot abound.... [this is] the work of a very good comic novelist. . . .[C]huck your attachment to rationality and cheerfully follow Coll down the rabbit hole., Sometimes a book just takes you by the hand and swings you deliriously in a new dance--that is The Stager , Susan Coll's brilliant comic novel. Peopled by rabbits and woefully wise little girls, by adulterers and other unfortunate adults, this is a world sharp with secrets, grudges, mania, odors, and profound sweetness. I loved it., Coll ( Beach Wee k, 2010, etc.) ratchets up the level of wit and mean edginess in her newest satire. . . Coll's vicious depiction of upper-upper-middle-class suburbia is often excruciatingly funny., Acerbic--and sometimes deliciously acidic. . . The Stager is great fun, and Coll proves herself as shrewd a social anthropologist as she is a buoyant writer., Already the viciously funny book... is being categorized alongside Maria Semple's 2012 bestseller, Where'd You Go, Bernadette?, In The Stager , Susan Coll writes about her home town with an insider's hilarious, mocking affection... satirical [and] also touching..., Dark, luminous, and hilarious, The Stager draws its radiant power from the great time-tested themes: love, betrayal, and the redemptive power of rabbits. At the height of her powers, Susan Coll reveals her mastery of the wry and delicious line, of the bizarre and tender moment--and of hope., "Acerbic--and sometimes deliciously acidic. . . The Stager is great fun, and Coll proves herself as shrewd a social anthropologist as she is a buoyant writer." -- Meghan Daum, The New York Times Book Review (Editor's Choice) "In The Stager , Susan Coll writes about her home town with an insider's hilarious, mocking affection... satirical [and] also touching..." -- Julie Klam, The Washington Post "Already the viciously funny book... is being categorized alongside Maria Semple's 2012 bestseller, Where'd You Go, Bernadette? " -- Ellen McCarthy, The Washington Post "Susan Coll is so slyly perceptive, so attentive to nuanced relationships between people that she gets at how we conform life to the stories we tell ourselves." -- Chicago Tribune (Editor's Choice) "Wry metaphors of suburban rot abound.... [this is] the work of a very good comic novelist. . . .[C]huck your attachment to rationality and cheerfully follow Coll down the rabbit hole." -- The Washingtonian "Overgrown houses, failed planned communities, and a consumerist culture contrast with the stager's efforts to declutter and sterilize in this offbeat social satire. Coll takes on marriage, friendship, and fidelity to dark-comic effect. " -- Booklist "Coll ( Beach Wee k, 2010, etc.) ratchets up the level of wit and mean edginess in her newest satire. . . Coll's vicious depiction of upper-upper-middle-class suburbia is often excruciatingly funny." -- Kirkus Reviews "[Coll] mines a darker brand of humor." -- Publishers Weekly "Funny and biting suburban farce" -- Library Journal "Sometimes a book just takes you by the hand and swings you deliriously in a new dance--that is The Stager , Susan Coll's brilliant comic novel. Peopled by rabbits and woefully wise little girls, by adulterers and other unfortunate adults, this is a world sharp with secrets, grudges, mania, odors, and profound sweetness. I loved it." -- Cathleen Schine, author of Fin & Lady and The Three Weissmanns of Westport "What a delight to follow Susan Coll on her tour of one family's surreal unraveling. Sly and wise, Coll is a stager extraordinaire, allowing us to peer behind the curtain of suburban success and excess. I loved this novel's wild wit. Now I want to adopt the Jorgenson family's precocious kid--and their stoned rabbit." -- Lisa Zeidner, author of Love Bomb "Dark, luminous, and hilarious, The Stager draws its radiant power from the great time-tested themes: love, betrayal, and the redemptive power of rabbits. At the height of her powers, Susan Coll reveals her mastery of the wry and delicious line, of the bizarre and tender moment--and of hope." -- Dylan Landis, author of Normal People Don't Live Like This, What a delight to follow Susan Coll on her tour of one family's surreal unraveling. Sly and wise, Coll is a stager extraordinaire, allowing us to peer behind the curtain of suburban success and excess. I loved this novel's wild wit. Now I want to adopt the Jorgenson family's precocious kid--and their stoned rabbit., "Coll tips her hand that we're reading not a plain parody of suburban dysfunction but the work of a very good comic novelist subverting conventional structure and perspective…chuck your attachment to reality and cheerfully follow Coll down the rabbit hole." - Washingtonian "Overgrown houses, failed planned communities, and a consumerist culture contrast with the stager's efforts to declutter and sterilize in this offbeat social satire. Coll takes on marriage, friendship, and fidelity to dark-comic effect." - Booklist "Coll ( Beach Wee k, 2010, etc.) ratchets up the level of wit and mean edginess in her newest satire. . . Coll's vicious depiction of upper-upper-middle-class suburbia is often excruciatingly funny." - Kirkus Reviews "[Coll] mines a darker brand of humor." - Publishers Weekly "Sometimes a book just takes you by the hand and swings you deliriously in a new dance-that is The Stager , Susan Coll's brilliant comic novel. Peopled by rabbits and woefully wise little girls, by adulterers and other unfortunate adults, this is a world sharp with secrets, grudges, mania, odors, and profound sweetness. I loved it." -Cathleen Schine, author of Fin & Lady and The Three Weissmanns of Westport "What a delight to follow Susan Coll on her tour of one family's surreal unraveling.　Sly and wise, Coll is a stager extraordinaire, allowing us to peer behind the curtain of suburban success and excess. I loved this novel's wild wit. Now I want to adopt the Jorgenson family's precocious kid-and their stoned rabbit." -Lisa Zeidner, author of Love Bomb "Dark, luminous, and hilarious, The Stager draws its radiant power from the great time-tested themes: love, betrayal, and the redemptive power of rabbits. At the height of her powers, Susan Coll reveals her mastery of the wry and delicious line, of the bizarre and tender moment-and of hope." -Dylan Landis, author of Normal People Don't Live Like This, "Coll ( Beach Wee k, 2010, etc.) ratchets up the level of wit and mean edginess in her newest satire. . . Coll's vicious depiction of upper-upper-middle-class suburbia is often excruciatingly funny." - Kirkus "[Coll] mines a darker brand of humor. . ." - Publishers Weekly "Sometimes a book just takes you by the hand and swings you deliriously in a new dance-that is The Stager , Susan Coll's brilliant comic novel. Peopled by rabbits and woefully wise little girls, by adulterers and other unfortunate adults, this is a world sharp with secrets, grudges, mania, odors, and profound sweetness. I loved it." -Cathleen Schine, author of Fin & Lady and The Three Weissmanns of Westport "What a delight to follow Susan Coll on her tour of one family's surreal unraveling.　Sly and wise, Coll is a stager extraordinaire, allowing us to peer behind the curtain of suburban success and excess. I loved this novel's wild wit. Now I want to adopt the Jorgenson family's precocious kid-and their stoned rabbit." -Lisa Zeidner, author of Love Bomb "Dark, luminous, and hilarious, The Stager draws its radiant power from the great time-tested themes: love, betrayal, and the redemptive power of rabbits. At the height of her powers, Susan Coll reveals her mastery of the wry and delicious line, of the bizarre and tender moment-and of hope." -Dylan Landis, author of Normal People Don't Live Like This, Overgrown houses, failed planned communities, and a consumerist culture contrast with the stager's efforts to declutter and sterilize in this offbeat social satire. Coll takes on marriage, friendship, and fidelity to dark-comic effect., "In The Stager , Susan Coll writes about her home town with an insider's hilarious, mocking affection… satirical [and] also touching…" -Julie Klam, The Washington Post "Already the viciously funny book… is being categorized alongside Maria Semple's 2012 bestseller, Where'd You Go, Bernadette? " -Ellen McCarthy, The Washington Post "Wry metaphors of suburban rot abound…. [this is] the work of a very good comic novelist. . . .[C]huck your attachment to rationality and cheerfully follow Coll down the rabbit hole." - The Washingtonian "Overgrown houses, failed planned communities, and a consumerist culture contrast with the stager's efforts to declutter and sterilize in this offbeat social satire. Coll takes on marriage, friendship, and fidelity to dark-comic effect." - Booklist "Coll ( Beach Wee k, 2010, etc.) ratchets up the level of wit and mean edginess in her newest satire. . . Coll's vicious depiction of upper-upper-middle-class suburbia is often excruciatingly funny." - Kirkus Reviews "[Coll] mines a darker brand of humor." - Publishers Weekly "Funny and biting suburban farce" - Library Journal "Sometimes a book just takes you by the hand and swings you deliriously in a new dance-that is The Stager , Susan Coll's brilliant comic novel. Peopled by rabbits and woefully wise little girls, by adulterers and other unfortunate adults, this is a world sharp with secrets, grudges, mania, odors, and profound sweetness. I loved it." -Cathleen Schine, author of Fin & Lady and The Three Weissmanns of Westport "What a delight to follow Susan Coll on her tour of one family's surreal unraveling.　Sly and wise, Coll is a stager extraordinaire, allowing us to peer behind the curtain of suburban success and excess. I loved this novel's wild wit. Now I want to adopt the Jorgenson family's precocious kid-and their stoned rabbit." -Lisa Zeidner, author of Love Bomb "Dark, luminous, and hilarious, The Stager draws its radiant power from the great time-tested themes: love, betrayal, and the redemptive power of rabbits. At the height of her powers, Susan Coll reveals her mastery of the wry and delicious line, of the bizarre and tender moment-and of hope." -Dylan Landis, author of Normal People Don't Live Like This, What a delight to follow Susan Coll on her tour of one family's surreal unraveling.'Sly and wise, Coll is a stager extraordinaire, allowing us to peer behind the curtain of suburban success and excess. I loved this novel's wild wit. Now I want to adopt the Jorgenson family's precocious kid--and their stoned rabbit., "In The Stager , Susan Coll writes about her home town with an insider's hilarious, mocking affection… satirical [and] also touching…" -Julie Klam, The Washington Post "Already the viciously funny book… is being categorized alongside Maria Semple's 2012 bestseller, Where'd You Go, Bernadette? " -Ellen McCarthy, The Washington Post "Susan Coll is so slyly perceptive, so attentive to nuanced relationships between people that she gets at how we conform life to the stories we tell ourselves." - Chicago Tribune (Editor's Choice)"Wry metaphors of suburban rot abound…. [this is] the work of a very good comic novelist. . . .[C]huck your attachment to rationality and cheerfully follow Coll down the rabbit hole." - The Washingtonian "Overgrown houses, failed planned communities, and a consumerist culture contrast with the stager's efforts to declutter and sterilize in this offbeat social satire. Coll takes on marriage, friendship, and fidelity to dark-comic effect." - Booklist "Coll ( Beach Wee k, 2010, etc.) ratchets up the level of wit and mean edginess in her newest satire. . . Coll's vicious depiction of upper-upper-middle-class suburbia is often excruciatingly funny." - Kirkus Reviews "[Coll] mines a darker brand of humor." - Publishers Weekly "Funny and biting suburban farce" - Library Journal "Sometimes a book just takes you by the hand and swings you deliriously in a new dance-that is The Stager , Susan Coll's brilliant comic novel. Peopled by rabbits and woefully wise little girls, by adulterers and other unfortunate adults, this is a world sharp with secrets, grudges, mania, odors, and profound sweetness. I loved it." -Cathleen Schine, author of Fin & Lady and The Three Weissmanns of Westport "What a delight to follow Susan Coll on her tour of one family's surreal unraveling.　Sly and wise, Coll is a stager extraordinaire, allowing us to peer behind the curtain of suburban success and excess. I loved this novel's wild wit. Now I want to adopt the Jorgenson family's precocious kid-and their stoned rabbit." -Lisa Zeidner, author of Love Bomb "Dark, luminous, and hilarious, The Stager draws its radiant power from the great time-tested themes: love, betrayal, and the redemptive power of rabbits. At the height of her powers, Susan Coll reveals her mastery of the wry and delicious line, of the bizarre and tender moment-and of hope." -Dylan Landis, author of Normal People Don't Live Like This
