Off Ramp: Adventures and Heartache in the American Elsewhere
The American landscape is ripe with humor and pathos. And it's been Stuever's privilege for the past 14 years to chronicle the people who populate it. Part social commentary, part paean to ordinary life, this is Stuever's valentine to America's everyman. It's a compilation of newspaper articles he wrote for theAlbuquerque Tribune,Austin American-Statesmanand theWashington Post. These quiet observational pieces visit the author's muse, Elsewhere, which he defines as a place "that offers what I considered to be true mystery. If I was looking, I could find the Lord, death, porn, destruction, tanning booths and teriyaki chicken bowls." And that's just for openers. The real journey Stuever, a staff writer for theWashington Post, takes is both personal and profound. Whether documenting a wedding in New Mexico, two best friends in Plano, Tex., who swap decorating challenges onTrading Spacesor the challenge of getting a huge sofa into a Washington, D.C., apartment, Stuever looks deep into the American psyche. In his quiet, gentle way, he records our banalities and triumphs. He casts the net wide—and what he catches is a nation gripped by longing, loss, hope and social convention. Stuever does not overtly judge his subjects, but he neatly inserts subtle mocks and digs. Still, his empathy and his humanity are evident on every page. This tender, funny, compelling collection is an homage to the rhythms and cadences of modern life.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.