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A review by purrfectpages
The Perfect Neighbors by Sarah Pekkanen
3.0
Just upon reading the first few pages of The Perfect Neighbors immediately I began to conjure up images of Desperate Housewives (there's even a passing mention of the Delfino family!) meets Big Little Lies. Convinced I knew where this story was headed, I braced myself for soapy intrigue set against an otherwise idyllic backdrop. The theme had to be everything is perfect here...or is it?
While this prediction was not entirely untrue, I felt that The Perfect Neighbors didn't really live up to the level of intrigue I was hoping for. This story revolves around four main women who reside in the community: Kellie, who just returned to the work force, Gigi, whose husband is taking a stab at a political career, Susan, a successful businesswoman still bitter about her recent divorce, and Tessa, the new, mysterious resident of Newport Cove. All of the women (minus Tessa) have shared potluck dinners and carpool outings. When Tessa enters the mix, they are eager to add her to the fold, but also weary of this mysterious woman who seems like she has something to hide.
The Perfect Neighbors fell flat in a few key areas. First off, there's the women's friendship. I don't think this novel's success was predicated on the relationship between these women, however, since their lives obviously overlapped, I wanted to see even more intertwining. I wanted them to either be there for each other or be at each other's throats. Instead, the characters all came across like ships in the night. Sure, they worried about each other from time to time, crossing paths and knowing glances at random functions. But nothing meaningful or no real bonding ever came from their friendship. It had me wondering why we needed them to be "friends" at all.
Then we have the individual stories of each woman. To be blunt, none of them were meaty enough for me. Okay, so Susan's husband left her for a woman she thought was her friend. If this had happened in the story itself perhaps it would have seemed more scandalous. But we're introduced to Susan in the aftermath of this occurrence. Susan's story is all about how to move on. I know this is important, but it's not exactly riveting.
Next up we have Gigi who is stressed at trying to exude the perfect suburban lifestyle as the wife of a potential politician. But Gigi's got a brooding teen at home and she's harboring a few secrets in her own past that need addressing. Gigi's past seemed a bit random. Howver, I think I would have liked this story more had Gigi spoken to her daughter about her past. It was mentioned that Gigi thought about it at one point, but the follow through never happened.
Finally though, we have my two least favorite women of the pack, Kellie, who, although married, his seriously flirting (and crushing) on her co-worker and Tessa, the new resident with the deep, dark secret. Kellie irked me because it was clear she wanted more to happen with her co-worker all along. It seemed like she only told her husband out of fear of being found out, which was supposed to have turned into genuine remorse. I suppose things could have happened that way, but I didn't like how Kellie's character was painted and wasn't sure she deserved to be forgiven so easily.
Which brings me to Tessa. I guessed Tessa's big secret pretty early on, but hoped I was wrong. I mean her reveal was a juicy one but hello...Tessa's husband KILLED. A. MAN. and got away with it! We never really even learned all the facts there. Did the guy do anything to these kids or did he just possess the pictures? Don't get me wrong, either is creepy, but murder? Really? Why didn't they just report the guy to the cops like normal people and get the creep out of their lives?
All in all as I reread through this review I realize this book made me angrier than I realized. To end on a positive, the one thing about the story that made me chuckle were the listserv blurbs in the beginning of each chapter. Again, the book earned interest, but I'm not sure it entirely earned my respect.
While this prediction was not entirely untrue, I felt that The Perfect Neighbors didn't really live up to the level of intrigue I was hoping for. This story revolves around four main women who reside in the community: Kellie, who just returned to the work force, Gigi, whose husband is taking a stab at a political career, Susan, a successful businesswoman still bitter about her recent divorce, and Tessa, the new, mysterious resident of Newport Cove. All of the women (minus Tessa) have shared potluck dinners and carpool outings. When Tessa enters the mix, they are eager to add her to the fold, but also weary of this mysterious woman who seems like she has something to hide.
The Perfect Neighbors fell flat in a few key areas. First off, there's the women's friendship. I don't think this novel's success was predicated on the relationship between these women, however, since their lives obviously overlapped, I wanted to see even more intertwining. I wanted them to either be there for each other or be at each other's throats. Instead, the characters all came across like ships in the night. Sure, they worried about each other from time to time, crossing paths and knowing glances at random functions. But nothing meaningful or no real bonding ever came from their friendship. It had me wondering why we needed them to be "friends" at all.
Then we have the individual stories of each woman. To be blunt, none of them were meaty enough for me. Okay, so Susan's husband left her for a woman she thought was her friend. If this had happened in the story itself perhaps it would have seemed more scandalous. But we're introduced to Susan in the aftermath of this occurrence. Susan's story is all about how to move on. I know this is important, but it's not exactly riveting.
Next up we have Gigi who is stressed at trying to exude the perfect suburban lifestyle as the wife of a potential politician. But Gigi's got a brooding teen at home and she's harboring a few secrets in her own past that need addressing. Gigi's past seemed a bit random. Howver, I think I would have liked this story more had Gigi spoken to her daughter about her past. It was mentioned that Gigi thought about it at one point, but the follow through never happened.
Finally though, we have my two least favorite women of the pack, Kellie, who, although married, his seriously flirting (and crushing) on her co-worker and Tessa, the new resident with the deep, dark secret. Kellie irked me because it was clear she wanted more to happen with her co-worker all along. It seemed like she only told her husband out of fear of being found out, which was supposed to have turned into genuine remorse. I suppose things could have happened that way, but I didn't like how Kellie's character was painted and wasn't sure she deserved to be forgiven so easily.
Which brings me to Tessa. I guessed Tessa's big secret pretty early on, but hoped I was wrong. I mean her reveal was a juicy one but hello...Tessa's husband KILLED. A. MAN. and got away with it! We never really even learned all the facts there. Did the guy do anything to these kids or did he just possess the pictures? Don't get me wrong, either is creepy, but murder? Really? Why didn't they just report the guy to the cops like normal people and get the creep out of their lives?
All in all as I reread through this review I realize this book made me angrier than I realized. To end on a positive, the one thing about the story that made me chuckle were the listserv blurbs in the beginning of each chapter. Again, the book earned interest, but I'm not sure it entirely earned my respect.