Amy Sohn's tome on Park Slope parents, titled Prospect Park West, is officially out there causing a stir. Recently her "neighbor" and local blogger Louise Crawford trashed Sohn for fueling the cliches of the Bugaboo culture that thrives there, or maybe because she was jealous she didn't write the book... one of those. Now the NY Times takes a closer look at life in Sohn's portrayal of the neighborhood; any outbursts about that portrayal seems to be grounded in the paradox that Sohn says is “Every mother know[ing] what a Park Slope Mother is, but no one think[ing] she is one." (In fact, Susan Fox, the founder of Park Slope Parents, tells the Gray Lady she's “non-frumpy, non-cargo-wearing mom who actually has a good marriage, unlike PPW would have us believe”).
Basically, we learn that Park Slope does have helicopter moms, there are co-ops, breastfeeding in public happens, overprotective parents may or may not put knee pads on their children, and swinging couples are out there tainting the precious message board with their key party invites!
Perhaps the biggest bit of knowledge in the piece is that Sohn is penning a follow-up. We hope it includes vampires (maybe they can live in Jennifer Connolly's old haunted mansion); this would make the inevitable big screen adaptations much more interesting.
