Saturday night

Tight, clean prose and thoughtful observations make this series of essays about the Saturday night experience hum with all the vitality and activity of its subject. Freelance writer Orlean demonstrates a fine eye for detail as she describes an array of Saturday night activities: partying, watching television, geriatric polka dancing, working in a missile silo or simply cruising the streets. She explores the mystique that has grown up around Saturday night, the one night that allows significant variety and opportunity for socialization. Also examined is the seemingly random violence that occurs more often on Saturday night than at any other time. But whether discussing the social etymology of the phrase ``Saturday Night Special'' or the tribulations of arriving after 9 p.m. at the video store, which earlier ``would probably still have some color movies available,'' the book reveals much about ourselves. First serial to the New Yorker, Spy, New England Monthly, Washington Post, Boston Globe and the New York Times. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Held in almost reverential awe by many, Saturday night is an American icon, important to our culture and perhaps necessary to our psychological make-up, according to journalist Orlean. Traveling the country to find out what people do on Saturday night to make it so special, she attended a coming-of-age celebration for Hispanic girls in Phoenix known as a quinceanera ; a polka dance at Blob's Park in Jessup, Maryland; a snobbish New York socialite's dinner party; and a host of other activities each more fascinating than the last. Nonjudgmental, nearly as fun to read as the occurrences it describes, this fascinating book is also a powerful, incisive tract mapping out heretofore unexplored sociological terrain. An excellent addition to popular reading and sociology collections.--Mark Annichiarico, ``Library Journal'' (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

An original cultural stunt that turns into a valuable survey. Saturday night is for a majority of Americans what a full moon is for a lycanthrope--his night to change his skin, cast off worries, charge over the landscape and howl. To be sure, many just stay home with their VCR--but most across America have a scene to make. Orlean was observing Saturday night cruising behavior in Elkhart, Indiana (the largest town in Indiana without mass transit and flooded with cars), when it struck her that taking the temperature of Saturday night fever across America could be a joy to do. Even when one has nothing to do, a Saturday night is more passionate and intense than, say, Thursday afternoon. ""For most people Saturday is the one night that neither follows nor precedes work, when they expect to have a nice time. . .when you want to do what you want to do and not what you have to do. . .a Saturday night not devoted to having a good time is a major human failure and possible character flaw."" Orlean finds herself sharing Saturday night with polka dancers in Jessup, Maryland; with Wellesley College students polishing their nails as they ride the weekend bus to dates and mixers at Harvard and MIT; with Hispanic teen-agers in Phoenix, gowned for their debuts at the Aztec Plaza: with a four-piece lounge act of young musicians in Portland, Oregon; and with two ferociously overdressed teeny-boppers in L.A. She also hangs out with the police in Robeson County, whose murder rate--which peaks on Saturday nights--is the highest in North Carolina and 100% higher than the national average; with folks at the Hilltop Steak House in Saugus, Mass.; with dieters at the Pritikin Longevity Center in Miami Beach, where a well-marbled steak is considered toxic; and with the guards in a missile silo in Cheyenne, Wyoming; and so on into the Sunday Blues. Can't get out? Try Saturday night curled up with Susan Orlean--terrific fun. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Held in almost reverential awe by many, Saturday night is an American icon, important to our culture and perhaps necessary to our psychological make-up, according to journalist Orlean. Traveling the country to find out what people do on Saturday night to make it so special, she attended a coming-of-age celebration for Hispanic girls in Phoenix known as a quinceanera ; a polka dance at Blob's Park in Jessup, Maryland; a snobbish New York socialite's dinner party; and a host of other activities each more fascinating than the last. Nonjudgmental, nearly as fun to read as the occurrences it describes, this fascinating book is also a powerful, incisive tract mapping out heretofore unexplored sociological terrain. An excellent addition to popular reading and sociology collections.--Mark Annichiarico, ``Library Journal'' Copyright 1990 Cahners Business Information.

Tight, clean prose and thoughtful observations make this series of essays about the Saturday night experience hum with all the vitality and activity of its subject. Freelance writer Orlean demonstrates a fine eye for detail as she describes an array of Saturday night activities: partying, watching television, geriatric polka dancing, working in a missile silo or simply cruising the streets. She explores the mystique that has grown up around Saturday night, the one night that allows significant variety and opportunity for socialization. Also examined is the seemingly random violence that occurs more often on Saturday night than at any other time. But whether discussing the social etymology of the phrase ``Saturday Night Special'' or the tribulations of arriving after 9 p.m. at the video store, which earlier ``would probably still have some color movies available,'' the book reveals much about ourselves. First serial to the New Yorker, Spy, New England Monthly, Washington Post, Boston Globe and the New York Times. (May) Copyright 1990 Cahners Business Information.