American Homes
American Homes
by Ryan Ridge
University of Michigan Press, 2014
ISBNs
Cloth: 978-0-472-07258-3
Paper: 978-0-472-05258-5
eISBN: 978-0-472-90017-6 (OA)
eISBN: 978-0-472-12099-4 (standard)
About the Book
American Homes by Ryan Ridge is a satirical exploration of the modern American home and its symbolic role in culture, identity, and society. Blending humor, wit, and sharp social commentary, the book dissects domestic spaces—attics, basements, kitchens, windows, doors, and more—while reflecting on the American dream, materialism, and suburban life. Through Ridge's playful and often absurd prose, everyday household elements become metaphors for larger societal issues, revealing the quirks, contradictions, and anxieties of contemporary life.
From the nostalgia of front porches to the hidden mysteries of basements, Ridge turns ordinary spaces into insightful meditations on homeownership, personal identity, and cultural expectations. American Homes is as much an architectural guidebook as it is a critique of consumerism, presenting a vivid portrait of how we live and the structures that define us. The result is a thought-provoking, humorous, and occasionally surreal commentary on what it means to call a place "home" in America.
From the nostalgia of front porches to the hidden mysteries of basements, Ridge turns ordinary spaces into insightful meditations on homeownership, personal identity, and cultural expectations. American Homes is as much an architectural guidebook as it is a critique of consumerism, presenting a vivid portrait of how we live and the structures that define us. The result is a thought-provoking, humorous, and occasionally surreal commentary on what it means to call a place "home" in America.
About the Author
Ryan Ridge is the author of the story collection Hunters & Gamblers, the poetry collection Ox, as well as the chapbooks 22nd Century Man and Hey, it's America. His work can be found in places like PANK, Salt Hill, Tin House, McSweeney's Small Chair, FLAUNT Magazine, The Santa Monica Review, Sleepingfish, and elsewhere. A former editor for Faultline Journal of Arts & Letters, he currently serves as a managing editor for Juked. He writes and teaches in Louisville, Kentucky.
Reviews
Ridge's book explores the contradictions inherent in ideals of affluence and ownership, and does so admirably, without edging into sourness or satirical revenge killing. The humor is affable, and odd. Somewhere between Demetri Martin and Steven Wright, Jacques Tati and Wes Anderson, Ramon Gomez de la Serna and Georges Perec.
— Kyle Coma-Thompson, Electric LitRyan Ridge has toppled everything. An insane and brilliant book that travels the American Home while moving ever further into the mind. What is possible in writing feels different now.
— Amina Cain, author of Creature
Tags
21St Century Prose, Literary Collections, Fiction, American
Open Access Information
License: All Rights Reserved
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