A Suburban Tale Of Orange

The community of Hartlind rests in a pleasant valley on the California coast, but young Calvin Lewis can't stand it anymore. Lost in the mediocrity of a middle-class town, he dreams of escaping and rooting out the truth of his mother's death. Calvin's tale begins accidentally when bad timing and harsh words set him on a suburban adventure of isolation, companionship, and a tenuous bond between father and son. After inadvertently exposing a secret betrayal, he finds the truth for which he yearns. Reeling from shock, he galvanizes the fates of those around him, forcing the transformation of his father's life and entangling himself in the futures of his new friends, whose garage band balances on the verge of fame. Meanwhile, Calvin wanders in search of identity and meaning, which, in the end, present themselves in a way he could never have imagined. With his debut novel, Shane Zimmer has written a charismatic story of sincerity and rough-edged beauty. "A Suburban Tale of Orange" composes a touching picture of a modern American teenager and his father, as it looks past the superficialities of their ordinary pettiness to unveil a rich portrait of their humanity.