Once sober and while working for Farrar , Straus and Giroux , he wrote his first novel , '' Garden State '' , about young people growing up in the industrial wasteland of northern New Jersey , where he was living at the time .
Once sober and while working for Farrar , Straus and Giroux , he wrote his first novel , '' Garden State '' . 
 It was about young people growing up in the industrial wasteland of northern New Jersey ( not indicative of all of New Jersey ) , where he was living at the time .