A Good Neighborhood
Fiction
St. Martin's Press
February 4, 2020
Advanced Reader Copy
304
Publisher via BookExpo
In Oak Knoll, a verdant, tight-knit North Carolina neighborhood, professor of forestry and ecology Valerie Alston-Holt is raising her bright and talented biracial son. Xavier is headed to college in the fall, and after years of single parenting, Valerie is facing the prospect of an empty nest. All is well until the Whitmans move in next door―an apparently traditional family with new money, ambition, and a secretly troubled teenaged daughter.
Thanks to his thriving local business, Brad Whitman is something of a celebrity around town, and he's made a small fortune on his customer service and charm, while his wife, Julia, escaped her trailer park upbringing for the security of marriage and homemaking. Their new house is more than she ever imagined for herself, and who wouldn't want to live in Oak Knoll? With little in common except a property line, these two very different families quickly find themselves at odds: first, over an historic oak tree in Valerie's yard, and soon after, the blossoming romance between their two teenagers.
Told from multiple points of view, A Good Neighborhood asks big questions about life in America today―What does it mean to be a good neighbor? How do we live alongside each other when we don't see eye to eye?―as it explores the effects of class, race, and heartrending star-crossed love in a story that’s as provocative as it is powerful.
My review:
Reading this book was like watching a car wreck. You knew it was going to break you, but you just couldn't look away! You know from the beginning of the book that something bad is going to happen in the fictional town of Oak Knoll NC, but that something will not be revealed until the end (may I suggest tissues). In a nutshell this book explores what happens to a good neighborhood when a pompous white guy destroys one of the houses to raise a McMansion. The destruction of a tree on his neighbor's property is just the tip of the iceberg for the problems that ensue. From racial and justice inequality, to purity vows, young love, and rags to riches complacency, this book packs a punch! Little by little pieces are revealed until the shattering conclusion that was predicted. The writing was skillful, the pacing was perfect, and the characters were very well formed. So well formed that I wanted to reach into the book and shake several of them and say "what are you doing?" I'm very thankful that there is an epilogue in this one, I don't know that my heart could have taken it if there wasn't.
Don't miss this one, it will most definitely be one of my top books of 2020!
