Palisades-News-June-3-2015-

Page 18 Palisades News June 3, 2015Greenfeld’s Novel Reimagines the PalisadesBy LAUREL BUSBYStaff WriterImagine offshore oil rigs along the Pali -sades coast, packs of coyotes attackingpeople in the local mountains and acrumbling Sunset Boulevard closed betweenPCH and the 405.Imagine a country so affected by greedthat debtors’ prisons have arisen, and anyonewith a bad credit rating is sent there.Families of unimprisoned “subprimes”are on the run and forced to live in hiding.The Internet is over, and the Dallas Cowboysstadium has been overtaken by achurch pushing the idea that environmentalists,progressives and anyone elsewho isn’t promoting a free-market agendais against God’s will.In this re-imagined, near-future PacificPalisades and United States, local authorKarl Taro Greenfeld’s satirical novel TheSubprimes comes to life. He describes thesetting as “capitalism gone amuck” with “noOSHA, no federal tax, no FDA, no governmentregulation, aggressive super-muscularcapitalism, horrible dystopia, and superwealthyelite.”The idea for the book stemmed fromthinking about a contemporary version ofJohn Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath—an“economic and political story . . . of contemporarylife in the Palisades and what’s it like ProudlyServing thePalisades forOver 35Years!Karl Greenfeldto hold onto economic and social positionin this world that’s trying to pull you down,”said Greenfeld, who will read from his newnovel on June 4 at 7:30 p.m. at SkylightBooks, 181 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles.Followus onFacebook!Photo: Courtesy of Sports Illustrated Broker Associate Fine Home Specialist 30+ Years ExperienceGreenfeld, who grew up in the Palisadesand now lives and works in the town, basedone character on some of his life experiences,except like the broader culture of thenovel, this character is in some ways a versionof himself gone amok. Where Greenfeldis a respected journalist who headedTime’s Asia bureau for many years and alsoworked for Sports Illustrated and BloombergBusinessweek, his alter ego in the book,Richie Schwab, has also written for thesepublications, but his research is so shoddythat he relies on lawsuits to retain his jobs.Publications in The Subprimes don’t wantto fire journalists who are co-defendantswith them in a libel lawsuit.Another similarity stems from Greenfeld’steen years at Palisades High School,where he tended to use marijuana at lunchand thus had a hard time succeeding inafternoon classes.“At Sarah Lawrence College, I arrived nottotally literate—I didn’t know what a completesentence was. One summer I had toteach myself how to parse a sentence,” saidGreenfeld, who graduated from PaliHi in1983 and set himself the goal of being awriter. Both of his parents, Josh Greenfeldand Fumiko Kometani, are successful writers.“I was very slow developing . . . Myteenage years—I had to survive them.”At the beginning of The Subprimes, middle-agedRichie Schwab is still in the phaseof getting high that Greenfeld gave up asa young man. There are other parallels betweenthe two that allow Greenfeld to usehis life experience to bring Schwab to life(Continued on Page 19)HONESTY • INTEGRITY • PROFESSIONAL WORKMANSHIP• Re-piping Specialists • Sewer, All-Drain Cleaning • Earthquake Shut-off Valves• Repair Work • Sprinkler Systems • Installation of Sub Meters & Tankless Water Heaters16626 Marquez Ave. Ray Church, owneremail: PalPlum1@aol.com (310) 454-5548 INCORPORATED — CA Lic. #385995PALISADES SCREEN & GLASSFamily Owned & Operated since 1973GLASS✓ Custom Mirror Installations✓ Glass Table Tops ✓ Sliding Mirror Doors✓ Framed & Frameless Shower Doors✓ New Window Installation✓ We Repair All Types of Broken WindowsSCREENS✓ Window Screens ✓ Security Screen Doors✓ Sliding & Swinging Screen DoorsCall Us For A Free Estimate16628 Marquez Ave., P.P. • www.palisadesscreenandglass.com(310) 459-3596 (Emergency Service) (310) 454-3416KATYKREITLER