Reviews with content warning for Grief - A Good Neighborhood

Title: A Good Neighborhood
Author: Therese Anne Fowler
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Rating: 4.25
Pub Date: March 10 2020

T H R E E • W O R D S

Tense • Provocative • Thoughtful

📖 S Y N O P S I S

Oak Knoll is a tight-knit community and when a new family, the Whitmans, move in next door to Valerie and her son, Xavier, the two families have very little in common. A dispute over an aging oak tree and a budding romance between two young lovers put these two families at odds. With escalating tension, another incident occurs that will change all of their lives forever. A story packed with secrets and lies, and what it means to be a good neighbor.

💭 T H O U G H T S

I had originally added A Good Neightborhood to my TBR without really knowing too much of what it was about. What I got was a powerful, eye-opening, and redemptive story about a broken system. The book flies along quite quickly and the writing was good. The third party narrator was one of the things I really loved. It gave the book suburban, gossipy neighbor vibes. Exploring the themes of love, family, race, class, power, and privilege, it is packed with drama and touches on the injustices of the 'justice' system. It touches on the theme of ecological welfare, which was a nice addition, but I wish that part of the book had been developed more. Even though it is quick paced, the characters and the story line were slow to develop, casually dropping hints of the tension between the two families. The author does an exceptional job at creating a dislike for step-father Brad and creating a plot I could realistically see happening.

Overall, I thought this to be a solid read that had me thinking about my own judgements and perceptions of people. There is definitely lots of discuss and contemplate here.

📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• readers who like Little Fires Everywhere or Ask Again, Yes
• fans of domestic dramas
• Desperate Housewives followers

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"We'll start here.

They were just words, the same way this story is just words. Words, thought, are how we humans have been communicating with one another almost since time before time. What has more meaning to humankind than words? Without a call to action, change rarely occurs.

Start here, please, in communion with one another despite our differences, recognizing that without start there is no end."

Content Warnings

ekmook's review

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emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Content Warnings

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