Mount Pleasant by Don Gilmor

Here’s a (long-winded) quote from the book that says it all – Harry is fifty-ish and in full blown mid-life crisis analyzing his marriage, parenting failures and fledging finances with wit and savvy …

On raising children:

“There is the financial pressure. There is a physical toll, a psychic toll. Once they are teenagers, they are a threat to everyone and everything. Teenagers end up in the back of police cars. They belong in the back of police cars. They shoplift, burn down cottages, drive your Volvo into a telephone pole. They paint their bedrooms black, steal loose change, water down your Scotch, follow the herd, dress to annoy and govern themselves according the lyrics written by a rapper who is two years behind on his child support. Teenagers are not mowers of lawns, they are not drawers of water. They use your credit card to order thing from the Shopping Channel when they’re stoned. They need $200 jeans and unprotected sex. They are unemployable, addicted to video games, believe in the lasting power of graphic novels, speak English as a second language and think life is better in Japan.”

I loved this book!