Holy Land: A Suburban Memoir

First Impression of Holy Land by D.J. Waldie: Anonymous mid-level municipal bureaucrat walks to his neighborhood office supply store. Purchases several hundred 3 x 5 index cards. Jots down 316 random thoughts about water rights, transplanted Okies, growing up Catholic, city parks, Jewish developers planning a community in which they could not live, building codes, mandatory trees, and the death of parents. Miraculously finds willing publisher. Wins a California Book Award.Short sentences. Brief essays. No Brian Doyle mega-sentences for this suburban chronicler.Upon further reading, Holy Land contains a few delightful stories, scattered at random throughout the book like children’s pick up sticks. This randomness doesn’t work well for a memoir, given the lack of an index.This is a different kind of baby boomer coming of age tale. No one is setting out to make over the world in Holy Land. Waldie is not addressing the insanity of the Vietnam War, condemning racism or railing against the Nixon Administration. In Lakewood, suburbanites are reluctant to rock the boat. “After a while, Mr. H’s neighbors complain. They have hesitated years before calling city hall. The neighbors say they don’t want to ‘make trouble.’ “In Holy Land, idle chit chat about people, things and trivial facts dominate; conversations about ideas and concepts are rare. It resembles a collection of reasonably well-written employee newsletters featuring birthdays, bowling scores and baby showers – but nary a mention of looming layoffs.Read Holy Land if you are a fan of the quirky and mundane.

The book showed up in fine shape - as good as you can expect for a paperback shipped in a padded envelope. But what I really want people to know is just how incredible this book is. I’ve given it as a gift multiple times now, and each time I gave it away I’ve felt compelled to buy another copy for myself because I can’t be without it. As a writer I’ve been referencing Waldie’s writing for a couple of years now. It’s really that good. His accounts of stuff I thought would bore me — the book is, after all, an account of suburbanization — are so prescient and compassionate and human and honest, you can’t help but love Waldie and everything he explores in this book.Yes, it’s a book of personal history by someone you probably haven’t heard of, someone without a lot of exciting accolades to gab about. But it’s an incredibly human book by a man who’s startlingly in touch with humanity. We could all use a bit of that.

I shared a similar southeast LA county suburban childhood as the author. It was almost as boring as Waldie's experiences. His knowledge of Lakewood"s development was obviously informed by his work for the city. These outlying tracts as they progressed were and are a unique experiment in post WWII lifestyle. As flat and wide as Waldie describes, and mostly at right angles.Made you want to run away to a horse ranch, a farm or NYC just so there would be something interesting or new going on. I am amazed that Waldie still lives in his parents' Lakewood D-5 and hasn't upgraded to Cerritos or the beach, or Downey, at least. Apparently, his monkish lifestyle suits him, and he really believes he lives on holy ground.

Very interesting about the history of my city Lakewood. I can’t believe all the research that went into writing this book. Even if you don’t live in Lakewood it explains how a blank piece of land can turn into a tract housing dream.

I am surprised how much I have enjoyed reading this required book for a class in L.A. Literature. So much of what we have read has come from a "noir" perspective, painting all aspects of the "American Dream" as a corrupt lie. I was pleased to find a more wholistic perspective that includes the positive and the negative. I am drawn to the vignette form. There is power in the incisive brevity of each section.

At times Mr. Waldie's book was difficult to put down. He didn't stay on one subject long enough to make it boring yet returned to it later to give closier. Very well written. I wish all authors write this way.

I purchased this book for a History of California course. It is easy reading but the organization is a little confusing. It is not a straight chronology but zig zags its way through. I attribute it to creative writing but I would not recommend it for classroom reading.

I grew up in this town in the 60's. It was a great place to grow up. I learned a lot I did not know about Lakewood. That was good but I expected to hear more that would remind me of my youth there and of the place itself. I had expectations that I would recognize more things and places but the author seems more focused on permits and street layouts and grim discussions about cookie cutter architecture and the pitfalls of suburban living. There's not much joy and not many memories. The signs said Lakewood but it didn't feel like it.

I've read better