Rattled

By Debra Galant

Book Overview

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 hadn't had plasma TV, and they'd 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.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312366582
• ISBN13: 9780312366582
• Release Date: April 2007
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Gives snakes a good name!

I really enjoyed Rattled...very funny, very "now" and very much suburbia at it's worst. Heather is a character you love to hate. I enjoyed getting to know her (not so much) and seeing her evolve (okay, that was a stretch). Rattled made me thankful to live in my small, not quite suburban dwelling. Thank you Debbie Galant for giving me insight into how "the other half lives" and realizing that the grass is not always greener on the other side!

Best suburbanite humor available at any price

The person who wrote that book is clearly a student of the suburban female condition! You'd have to listen in at every women's locker room in every racket and swim club from Montauk to Montclair and to get the private glimpse of privileged suburbia that Ms. Galant provides in Rattled. Save your money and your time and just buy her book. An easy read. Can't wait for her next book.

Dark and Delightful

This is a fun, darkly drawn novel of dislikeable characters that are hard to not become enagaged in. You will laugh but at the same time think to yourself, "I know some of these people." The mother is self-centered and materialistic, Dad is confused, Agnes is animal crackers, Harlan is a slow-witted moron who thinks he's smart, Dana is pretty and dangerous, the real estate developer Barstad looks like Trump and the kid is hell on wheels. Throw them all in a mix with some dangerous snakes in New Jersey and you have one fun story. Great summer reading. Just watch out for the rattle snakes.

In the Big House Now

When we first bought our modest little townhouse, there was an enchanted wood behind us. And in that wood were chipmunks and raccoons, white-tailed deer and woodchucks and the songs of bluebirds. Then a great evil came out of the North. Dozens of giant 4500 square-foot McMansions began popping up in the wood like malignant mushrooms. The songs of the bluebirds are gone, and so are the cute animals. My wife and I often wonder what manner of evil creatures dwell in those houses. (We like to imagine that they are pale and only come out at night to feed.) Rattled is the hilarious story of a woman who moves into a McMansion home development like the one in my backyard. She is a self-centered, materialistic, upwardly mobile, overly-assertive, hyper-energenic yuppie housewife who ends up battling just about everyone and everything in the community (including neighbors, rattlesnakes, rattlesnake lovers, corrupt developers, other 3rd grade class moms, and a lot of rats) in order to achieve the life she feels entitled to.(Imagine the Eva Longoria character from Desperate Housewives on steroids.) And while Rattled may sound like a "woman's book", it is not. Everyone (adults only, please) will enjoy it. It is the kind of book Carl Hiaasen would have written if Carl Hiaasen were a woman and lived in New Jersey and . . . you know. . . had hundreds of rats in his basement. Also, I have to admit, reading this book made me feel much better about my new neighbors: maybe they'll be invaded by rats and rattlesnakes too. Highly recommended.

Laughs galore! Uproariously funny slice of yuppie life!

I haven't read anything this funny in YEARS! I identified with so many characters and situations that I am almost embarrassed that Debbie seems to knows me so well...at least the nice side:) Once I started reading, I couldn't put it down...in fact I stayed up until 3:00AM...it was that good! I can't wait for her next book!