Funny, quirky, and sexy in the down and out, let's climb that hill to the Shining City. This is one of those hate-to-love or love-to-hate books (much like the cover, it makes you self-conscious). Greenland tries very hard to make this book extreme, a walk on the X side of ugly America (which authors like the Barthelmes have explored for years, only without the shock and awe of tawdriness). Of course, I'm tempted to give an extra star for pushing boundaries, while simultaneously taking away a star for trying too hard; hence, they balance out. Nevertheless, Greenland succeeds quite well in making the unlovable and should-be-despicable acceptable and even adorable, in its poledancing way, and the crazy loser protag somehow heroic. Ironic as it is, Shining City leaves you wanting more -- more sex and degeneracy, actually, but in general more of it all. In that way we have a winner. Now if only we could work on removing that annoying ticket to Shinetopia clogging up the cover. ( )

Shining City by Seth Greenland
Note: Early Reviewer edition.

Inventive, clever, quirky and funny, Shining City is a hands-down winner. The crazy characters drive the crazy plot. Marcus and his family brave a perilous adventure teetering between economic bliss and destitution throughout this outrageous adventure, begun by the death of Marcus’s unsavory brother, Julian.

The first paragraph of the book gives you the flavor what’s to come. A lithe, Brazilian female in a hot tub: “[l]ong dark hair lay wet against her back, her implants bobbing in the churning water, two bulbous boats with nipples for prows.”

Marcus Ripps inherits his brother’s dry cleaning business, a front for his escort service, which evolves into a prosperous family enterprise. Lenore, the Grandmother, does the books. Marcus’s wife, Jan, takes over the management, instituting innovations that make it wildly successful. Jan’s former business partner, Plum, joins the business as a highly sought after dominatrix.

The escort business saves Marcus’s failing marriage. Tips from the girls help Marcus rekindle Jan’s interest in their sexual relationship. The business partnership changes Jan from a woman on the brink of divorce to a loving, supportive wife. The profits allow them to give Nathan, their son, the extravagant Bar Mitzvah that is de rigueur among his friends.

Lenore, Jan’s mother, lives with the family. Due to her glaucoma, she’s frequently high from smoking weed and prone to the giggles. The escort business provides health insurance that allows Lenore to get eye surgery to save her sight. It also allows Lenore to earn money to install a stripper pole in her room. She is passionate about her pole dancing class, where she earned her level two thong, magenta satin with her initials on it. At Nathan’s Bar Mitzvah:

“Lenore and her well-toned and exceedingly affable friends from the pole dancing studio enticed the older, more groove-resistant guests onto the dance floor, bumping, grinding, and unleashing the Dionysian propensity that lurks beneath the surface of a bourgeois breast.”

Having no knowledge of the escort business or how a pimp should behave, Marcus applies his business acumen and experience, setting up his girls with 401k plans, health insurance, and paid vacations. Jan adds personal development benefits, creating the book club where the girls read Anna Karenina. It’s a winning combination that causes the competition to send Tommy the Samoan after Marcus, to tell him that the business is too successful.

Shining City might have been funnier if it weren’t so extreme. I find situations that are too outrageous and incredible not as funny as the more plausible ones. Even if it’s not “fall out of your chair funny,” Shining City is undeniably an enjoyable, entertaining read. ( )

"Shing City" was... not bad. Considering the premise -- shlub down on his luck inherits his brother's prostitution business -- it wasn't hilarious enough to make up for the lack of sex and not sexy enough to make up for the lack of funny.

It was an enjoyable read, though. Seth Greenland writes awkward loser very well, and you start rooting for the poor guy on his journey towards solvency, respectability, and (hopefully) non-jailed freedom.

Marcus Ripps is a middle-aged man who works for a toy company and is
struggling to make ends meet. His son is almost ready for his bar
mitzvah and is expecting a lavish one. His mother-in-law has moved
in and needs eye surgery but has no insurance. She smokes pot for
her eye condition AND she wants to bea pole dancer!
His wife owns a small, not very profitable clothing store
with a friend who seems interested in lots of thing OTHER than selling clothes.

With all of this going on he and his wife don't seem to have much in
the way of intimate relations anymore.

As the story opens his boss announces he's moving the company to
China and Marcus can either move to China or he's out of a job. Could
things get any worse?

Marcus is really struggling over whether to move to China, his wife is
definitely against it, but what will he do if he doesn't go?

Things liven up when his black sheep brother dies of a heart attack and leaves
him his dry cleaning business. He begins to think this might not be so bad -
dry cleaning could be a nice, steady business, but little does he know that
it's actually a front for one of the most popular escort services in West Hollywood!

Life really gets interesting from there!
The characters are well developed and the story moves right along at a nice pace.
With the crazy cast of characters and the unexpected chain of events this makes
for a really entertaining read. ( )

I found SHINING CITY by Seth Greenland to be a fun read, however I'm not sure which version The Seattle Times was reading, because I did not find 'the plot of Shinning City to be racing along'. In fact, with the exception of the prologue, the plot didn't get interesting or start moving until halfway through the book when the wife got involved. Way too much dull character development for me. I also felt that the author was writing with a Thesaurus in one hand and a pen in the other. I liked the story, but always felt there was more to come, as if something was being promised but not delivered. This was the kind of book that is someone's fun day dream without being too believable or responsible to the reader. The ending, although fun, was kind of cop out. I do think it would make a good movie.