The Crack in the Picture Window

This is an angry, brilliantly funny but deadly serious report about the housing developments that are blighting the landscape and souls of America’s suburbs. The misfortunes of John and Mary Drone, who “bought” a nothing-down, life-time-to-pay box on a slab in Rolling Knolls, are simply extensions of the problems that beset nearly everyone who exists on the fringes of a city. Even if the nearest development seems safely zoned from your front door, you will find the Drones and their neighbors disturbingly like your own.The new suburban slums, by concentrating young couples of similar background, income bracket, and outlook in rows of inadequate houses, have made a stultifying unnatural community. The frustrated residents, anchored to their tiny yards by their colossal mortgages, seek desperately for some form of self-expression.They try to amuse themselves with the wonderful gadgets of our civilization, but the easy credit is hard to pay and their debt becomes ever more burdensome. Surrounded by friendly neighbors, but no true friends, they attempt anything from handicrafts to neighborhood sex to relieve their boredom. But the only way out is to move out and that’s economically impossible.Who is responsible for this situation? The builders, whose most useful tool is the chisel? The banks, who are getting the frosting from this miracle-mix cake? The federal government, who by guaranteeing veterans’ mortgages has put a solid base under the whole shaky construction? The local communities, whose lack of zoning laws has permitted these excrescences? The suckers who have bought the houses?Keats discusses every aspect of life in a development. His account is supported by solid facts and figures but it is presented in personal terms to show you an existence that combines all of the worst aspects and none of the advantages of suburban living. If you ever wondered what goes on under those regimented roofs, this book will tell you. And if you already know, it will make you want to get up and break something. Fortunately the book also tells you how to put the pieces back together.An ex-reporter for the Washington Daily News, John Keats has managed to avoid the worst traps of the suburban home owner, but he writes with the authority of one who has himself looked on the hunted face of America’s new suburbs.