Sad Sacked

<p><strong>A sweaty funny examination into suburban marriage motherhood social status and all the other reasons I left New Jersey.</strong> Joel Stein columnist for <em>Entertainment Weekly</em> and the <em>Los Angeles Times</em></p><p>The last person Liz Alterman expects to hear from during her Thanksgiving prep is her husband Rich. He never calls from his job at a busy Manhattan newsroom. And he never will again because he's just been laid off. Two months later Liz is downsized too.</p><p>At first Rich is enchanted with his new leisurely lifestyle. But when he's still unemployed six months later his euphoric mood devolves into depression and despair. It falls to Liz to figure out how to support their family of five and keep up appearances in their well-to-do suburb where even nannies drive the latest model Lexus.</p><p><em>Sad Sacked </em>blends the wit of Nora Ephron's <em>Heartburn </em>with the madcap hilarity of Maria Semple's <em>Where'd You Go Bernadette</em> to expose the pressure on women to put on a happy face even as their world falls apart. In Liz Alterman's gifted hands we laugh until we cry about what happens when the bottom drops out.</p>