Last Updated Monday March 24, 2008, EDT 8:31 AM
She drives a Prius. She buys her stationery from Third World countries. She hates her own Jewishness, bemoaning what she calls her "zaftig" figure.
[Photo by Record Staff Photographer Tariq Zehawi.]
This woman isn't Debra Galant, North Jersey author of the new novel "Fear and Yoga in New Jersey." But she could be you — or someone you know.
She's Nina Gettleman-Summer, the protagonist of the novel, a yoga instructor whose perfect double-income Jersey life is coming apart at the seams.
Say what you want, but Galant knows her subject matter. A former New York Times reporter and columnist, she co-owns a blog of hyper-local Jersey news called Baristanet, which reports on interesting slices of modern suburban life in and around our parts.
"I wasn't specifically blogging about anything specifically to do with yoga," said Galant. "But certainly when I talk about her drinking bottled water and recycling religiously, that very much is the demographic — or one of them — that is reading my Web site."
Garden State details
Though she grew up in northern Virginia, Galant is "an adopted Jerseyan, and proud of it." She packs her novel with details about living the middle-class suburban life in the Garden State. Most of the novel was actually written at an artists colony in Virginia — "You get a year of work done in three weeks," Galant claims — but based on almost clinical observations of the quotidian North Jersey scene.
Take Nina's religion: The Jewish-born character is married to a Protestant and joined a Unitarian church — partly to get away from her background.
"I know a lot of mixed marriage couples are Unitarian," said Galant. "... I actually have never attended a Unitarian service, although I've spent time at concerts and things at churches. But I know that it's very touchy-feely, and it's very liberal. That's what I wanted her to be."
Meanwhile, Nina's son, Adam, is on the cusp of reclaiming his Jewish heritage: He wants to cash in on the bar mitzvah money handouts. Galant remembers first conceiving this idea when her son, Noah, was 13, and a Jewish friend complained about her child not having enough Jewish classmates in school.
"I mentioned this to a woman across the street from me, who is Roman Catholic," said Galant. "She said, 'My goodness' — or something stronger — 'Rob wishes he was Jewish! All he gets is invitations to people's bar mitzvahs. Every kid in town who's not Jewish wants to be Jewish.' "
True to life
Galant's own family, Jewish on both sides, sent Noah to Hebrew school from a young age. He never had the crisis of identity that Adam does in the book, Galant said. But he was helpful in keeping his mom's words true to life.
"I would test different dialogue on him. He was helpful for both Adam and Philip — the pompous and know-it-all friend."
Galant tapped her journalist husband Warren Levinson's experiences for inspiration, too. At his poker circle, he remembers, one time when "they went around the room, and half the people were laid off," said Galant. Many had lost jobs to outsourcing.
Enter Michael Gettleman-Summer, Nina's meteorologist husband whose job at Newark airport was "offshored" (or outsourced) to the Philippines. A similar poker scene takes place after he gets his pink slip. That particular plot point puts many of the novel's tensions into motion.
"It's not always the case, but very often, at least around here, the wife's income is the second income," said Galant. "... Most women I know work part time, or do freelancing, or have their own businesses. But the husband's income usually provides the health insurance and a lot of the money."
Losing the primary income is particularly frightening when the cost of living is high, as it is in North Jersey, she added.
Easy to recognize
Friend and Baristanet co-owner Liz George of Montclair — a self-professed Prius driver — found some of Galant's social commentary a bit too sharp, but takes it in stride.
"I was at a party, and somebody came up to me and said, 'She really skewered Montclair!' " George said. "I said, 'Well you know those Glen Ridge wannabes.' " (Galant lives in Glen Ridge with her family.)
"It certainly adds pleasure for people who are local, because you can recognize things, even if I've disguised the names," said Galant.
But Galant also wanted to take apart that New Jersey suburban life, exposing her characters for who they are. "The essence of the character is somebody who is very self-satisfied, and politically correct, and better than most people," she said of Nina. "... I wanted to paint her in terms of her own hypocrisy."
E-mail: shih@northjersey.com
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