Page 51 - Reader's House Magazine

Dive into a world of suspense, laughter, and heart with Liz Alterman’s captivating trio: ‘The Perfect Neighborhood,’ ‘Sad Sacked’ and ‘The House on Cold Creek Lane.’
Liz Alterman’s candid narrative in “Sad Sacked” navigates unemployment
with humor and authenticity, resonating deeply with readers’ experiences.
lived through it. I also wanted to remove the shame that often comes with job loss because, really, it can happen to any of us at any time.
I love to read thrillers and suspen- seful stories—ones that you can’t put down no matter what else you’re supposed to be doing. I strive to provide that experience for readers. That said, I find it really challenging because, as the author, I know the ending. So I’m always worrying,
I wanted to read something
that brought a bit of humor to the absurdity of it all—from the shock of discovering that companies had replaced health care benefits with bagel breakfasts to spotting a great opening on LinkedIn and realizing that though it was posted only 20 minutes earlier, 400 people had already applied.
I longed to hear someone say, “I lost my job and I’m up at 2 a.m. attempting to DoorDash a McFlurry to calm my nerves.”
eyes open. It slowly dawned on me that she’d only brought me in as a favor to my neighbor. By the time I raced back to my car before my me- ter expired, I was ready to beat the dashboard with my bone-crushing heels in frustration.
Getting our hopes up only to be let down felt like a recurring theme in our unemployment journey. I knew there had to be other people on this roller coaster. I wanted to tell our story in the spirit of “misery shared is misery halved.”
How do you balance the come- dic elements with the serious themes of pressure and resi- lience in your writing?
I often say humor is my drug
of choice. Growing up, my mom routinely quoted Erma Bombeck, and this line really resonates with me, “If you can’t make it better, you can laugh at it.”
Similarly, Nora Ephron has this great bit of wisdom: “When you slip on a banana peel, people laugh at you. But when you tell people you slipped on a banana peel, it’s your laugh.”
I try to embrace these philosophies in my life and my writing.
In Sad Sacked, you explore societal expectations and the pressure to maintain appe- arances. How do you think this resonates with readers, particularly those in similar suburban settings?
When you live in an affluent
suburb, there’s an expectation that you’ll maintain a certain lifestyle. And yet a lot of people face financi- al (and other) challenges. The pres- sure to keep up can be exhausting and almost paralyzing.
Once I began confiding in friends and neighbors about our job losses, I was surprised by how many had gone through something similar. I hope that people who read Sad Sa- cked and have experienced unexpec- ted unemployment feel less alone.
Your previous work, The Per- fect Neighborhood, received praise for its suspenseful stor- ytelling. How do you approach crafting tension and twists in your narratives?
In the book, I explore how unemp- loyment is one of those things that you can’t fully grasp until you’ve
Can you share any personal experiences or anecdotes that influenced the storyline or characters in your book?
Absolutely! When I’d been out
of work for about six months, I spotted an opening for a digital edi- tor position at a major Manhattan museum. My neighbor just happe-
“Is this too obvious?” or “Is this too obscure?” Striking that balance and trying to end chapters in ways that make readers say, “I know I should start dinner, but I’m just going to read one more chapter...” that’s my ultimate goal.
ned to work there so I asked if he’d put in a good word for me. He did, and weeks later I had an interview scheduled.
I’m also very fortunate to have a supportive family and a wonderful fellow writer friend who will read rough drafts for me and let me know what’s working and what’s falling flat. I’d be lost without them.
It took me about ninety minutes by car to get there. When I finally ar- rived, the interviewer had forgotten our appointment. Luckily, she was in the building so we went ahead with the interview, but it was after lunch and she could barely keep her
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