Nothing But Reading Challenges discussion
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A Good Neighbourhood
Buddy Reads: Current & Upcoming
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Fowler, Anne Therese-- A Good Neighbourhood informal buddy read starts June 16, 2020
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I can't wait to read this!
I need to grab it and see if there are any names that will fit for any other Wheel letters this round!
How far in are you? I just got a copy way earlier than expected and may join you.
3 Chapters!Edit- I'm still in chapter 3
I keep trying to grab a few pages between work bits, so I am about 20 pages in. I have a feeling this is going to go to some ugly and interesting places.
Ok, I'm starting. There are at least 3 letters that work for me :)
I saw that there is an X, and I don't need an X this round!!!!! I'm sure I will later. Oh well.
Yeah! Glad you are joining us Stacey!
Jenny, my copy of Devolution is here! I decided to purchase the book. I'm super excited but will wait until we read some of the others.
I have a couple of questions already. Who is narrating? There are weird asides like "We didn't know what to think." or stuff like that. I am not quoting directly. Who is we?Also, does anyone else have a cast member from The West Wing in their head when reading about the dad?
Jenny wrote: "I have a couple of questions already. Who is narrating? There are weird asides like "We didn't know what to think." or stuff like that. I am not quoting directly. Who is we?Also, does anyone else..."
The neighbourhood? I have to read more to confirm my guess.
Jenny wrote: "I have a couple of questions already. Who is narrating? There are weird asides like "We didn't know what to think." or stuff like that. I am not quoting directly. Who is we?Also, does anyone else..."
So not the neighborhood but (view spoiler)
That makes sense, but they keep bringing me out of the story. I feel as if someone is watching me read over my shoulder and pointing out the obvious points that I should be absorbing. Maybe I will get used to it.
I am at chapter 14. I keep sneaking in pages at work- don't tell my boss! teeheeI am so creeped out by Brad. Does it get worse? Don't tell me.
Tree nymphs? And aliens? Wow, now I know who the narrator is.
Sorry I couldn't resist throwing in the aliens!
That would be a surprising and extremely unexpected twist. I'm for it.
Laura, I love your chapter 20 comment! I'm unsure about this one. I am listening and this narrator isn't helping. It makes me wonder how I'd feel if I were just reading. She is fairly monotone and is making me feel lectured too, especially when combined with the writing style.
Are you sure it isn't the neighborhood? I agree it does appear when trying to make a point, but at one point they talk about how they wouldn't have felt so strongly about Juniper being spoiled had they known about her 3rd birthday.
I can definitely see some of the directions this is going but I feel like there is something bigger that I'm missing.
OK. I finished just before I had to leave for work, and now that I am here, I don't have time to comment, for now, except to say GAH!Really unsure how to rate this book. I loved it and hated it.
I just finished. It wasn't subtle at all, was it. It did affect me though. I think I need a happier read next.
I think I liked the hopefulness, or the promise of young love up against the odds, and Valerie had some nice qualities. The creep fest that was Brad was too much. And I still really didn't like the interjection of "the neighborhood as conscience" bits. I felt bludgeoned by the obvious. I think the story in the hands of a more capable author would have been much better.
I'm in it now and I'm liking it. Part 1 down and on to the next - hoping to finish this weekend!!!
Synopsis
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.