INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “A provocative, absorbing read.” — People “A feast of a read… I finished A Good Neighborhood in a single sitting. Yes, it’s that good.” –Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Small Great Things and A Spark of Light In Oak Knoll, a verdant, tight-knit North Carolina neighborhood, professor of forestry and ecology Valerie Alston-Holt is … Light
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, who’s headed to college in the fall. All is well until the Whitmans–a family with new money and a secretly troubled teenage daughter–raze the house and trees next door to build themselves a showplace.
With little in common except a property line, these two 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.
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 love in a story that’s as provocative as it is powerful.
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Very emotional story about rights and privilege.
This was an interesting book. It’s a story about how a single event could be so misunderstood that it could upend the lives of so many people and lead to disastrous consequences. Recommended.
High fences made good neighbors. This book tells the story of what can happen when neighbors fight and will do anything to win without considering the possible cost. There is also a subplot about the step-father in one of the families, as well as tones of feelings of racial bias. This was a good read. Would recommend.
I didn’t like this book. Thought the foreshadowing was very heavy handed with predictable ending.
“Start here, please, in communion with one another despite our differences, recognizing that without ‘start’ there is no ‘end’.”
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Wow! Where to start on this amazing read?! Between my anger, frustration & tears, I was emotionally exhausted when I finished this last night and, for me, that is a sign of a great book! I found it had a bit of a slow/choppy start & took me the first 100 pages to really get into the storyline & get used to the unique narrative. However, like a rollercoaster, it builds & builds then completely explodes into a fast paced & emotional story! I don’t want to give anything away so I will just say it is about a changing neighborhood in the South (Triggers: racism & inappropriate adult fantasies). A definite bookclub pick, with plenty to discuss. I will definitely recommend to my friends who are not afraid to read books with heavy subjects! So good!!!
This was a Book Club choice and it sparked much discussion!
Using a Greek Chorus narrative, the all-seeing “we” pulls the reader into this multilayered plot from the start.
Community gentrification, interracial relations, love, hate and secrets are all expertly woven together in this family drama. And, like a nosy neighbor in the window, “we” watch it all transpire.
The plot is both tragic and thought provoking. A cautionary tale well worth the read.
Wow. It was sooo good. I couldn’t stop until I finished. But as soon as I approached the end, I knew it was going to be bad. But the emotions! I’m sensitive but have only cried out loud that hard in a book two other times. This was so heart-wrenching. Still processing! The writing is phenomenal. I so see this putting Therese Anne Fowler on the map and a production deal in the future. I’ve not read anything else by her. I’m anxious to read more and meet her! I’m fortunate to have her as a local author!
3.5 stars. I didn’t love A Good Neighborhood as much as I wanted to. While there were aspects that I did enjoy, the ending left me unsatisfied. Let me break it down for you.
The novel is narrated in the third person by “the neighborhood,” an unknown, unnamed person or people. I’ve noticed other reviewers are put off by this, but I actually liked the distance. It set the reader on the outside of the action, just as the neighbors were, and effectively built-up the tension. It reminded me a bit of the role the chorus plays in Shakespeare’s works.
While I thought the characters were distinct–I didn’t get any of them confused–I wanted more from Xavier and his mother, Valerie. They seemed flat to me; I didn’t feel like I knew them well enough, or necessarily believed their actions.
This novel tackled a lot of issues–racism, classism, religious trauma, patriarchy, grief, gender equality, and even ecology. You would think that it might be too much, but the author handles it deftly, weaving them throughout the story. However, it wasn’t the plot or the story that I had issues with, it was the characters’ choices and reactions from said issues that didn’t seem to match with the character they represented. In other words, I wasn’t satisfied with the ending.
I do think A Good Neighborhood would make a great book club read–there’s lots to unpack and discuss. And I would pick up another book by Fowler–she did keep me turning pages.
*I was provided an advance copy of this novel from the publisher, St. Martin’s Press.
Song/s the book brought to mind: Coming Home by Keith Urban
YOU BROKE MY HEART THERESE ANNE FOWLER! Man this was rough guys! At the end of A Good Neighborhood I had tears streaming down my face and I could barely see the pages. I would highly recommend keeping a tissue box close to your side for the end of this one.
There are some majorly heavy themes in A Good Neighborhood including racism and sexism. For much of the book you feel like you will be safe but then Fowler jerks the rug out from under you and it becomes something that will hit a lot of people extremely hard.
I love that the author put the acknowledgements at the front of the book (although I had to read them again after I was done), and came right out saying she was fully aware she was a white author writing from African American viewpoints, and shared a quote from when she heard Zadie Smith speak. I could tell she cared about getting things right and I appreciated that since I’m white myself and would have no idea how to properly write from that viewpoint. There are some stereotypes in this book, but they seemed to be accurate ones at least.
A Good Neighborhood is fairly short at just 311 pages, but don’t let that fool you because it sure packs a wallop! I really enjoyed the ‘we’ perspective although it will probably bother some readers. I did find it a tiny bit frustrating at the end when all I wanted to know was what was going to happen, but overall I enjoyed that viewpoint and thought it was a nice addition to the book. I also really liked the voice it is written in overall and I liked that it was very unique and different from a lot of what I usually read.
It did feel a little slow going at the beginning but after a few chapters I was hooked and the rest of the book felt like it was speeding by. I definitely had some love/hate relationships going on with a few of the characters and some parts just made me so mad. A Good Neighborhood really makes you FEEL things and it’s not going to be something I forget any time soon.
I’ve already started working on my list of top 10 books for the year and I can tell you now A Good Neighborhood is definitely on it! I haven’t read this author before and although I know her expertise is technically historical fiction (which I like), I will for sure be reading her other books now and anything she writes after this. I can’t sing enough praises for this book and I think it is such a timely novel and one that you don’t want to miss.
Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an advance review copy of this book, all opinions and thoughts are my own.
This book is brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. So incredibly observant, beautifully drawn, astute and reactive, it’s a tiny speck in a universe which allows you to relate to the lives of two families who become neighbours for better or worse. Read this novel!
A Good Neighborhood is my favorite kind of novel u2060— compelling, complicated, timely, and smart. With great humanity, Therese Anne Fowler imparts a full-hearted, unflinching indictment of a broken system and in so doing tells a story hard to put down and hard to forget.
I’m in the minority, I think. Interesting premise, but it ultimately fell flat for me as the author tried to shoehorn in too many social issues. Felt heavy-handed at times.
I devoured this book in one sitting after reading the amazing review by @noseinabook. The story is set in an idyllic upscale North Carolina neighborhood of Oak Knoll where Valerie, a professor and her son Xavier a senior in High School lives. This idyllic setting doesn’t last too long when the Whitmans move next door and these families find themselves at odds with each other. I enjoyed reading about the third person all knowing narrator in this riveting read about race, prejudice, money and class in a refreshing plot skillfully delivered. Fowler is a brilliant writer who really understands the brevity of social issues and self-centered decisions in a timely heartbreaking story.
This is written in the voice of the neighborhood telling a story of an earth activist, money driven neighbor, their two kids, and neighbors gathering for a book club. The white activists sons father was black and suddenly died. The boy black with blonde hair struggles for acceptance. Story moves well and kept my attention. I suggest it
I can see why A Good Neighborhood is on lists of this year’s most anticipated books. The author addresses issues pertaining to race and class in today’s society and does so in an interesting manner. I highly recommend this novel.
Foreshadowing began with the opening sentences, narrated in a voice that brought to mind Rod Serling introducing a Twilight Zone episode, setting up the story.
A girl sitting beside a swimming pool behind her newly built home. The neighbor boy welcoming her to the neighborhood. A typical day in a typical good neighborhood, upscale and friendly, a place where women gather for book clubs and teenagers can safely run in the local park.
But underneath the ‘tenuous peace’ simmers the possibility of fracture, the conflict of class and money and race and values. For some, conspicuous wealth is the goal. For another, environmental concerns are primary.
And probing deeper, there are secret desires and blooming love and the blindness we hold on to for self-protection.
Lives will be destroyed.
“No. Yes. Of course. I am going to be a good neighbor.”~from A Good Neighborhood by Therese Anne Fowler
Xavier was good looking, a National Honor Student. He had won a scholarship to study classical guitar. He was also biracial. His white father died tragically. His mother Valerie was a professor whose hobby was more than ‘gardening’, it was environmental restoration and preservation. She was especially proud of the towering oak tree in her back yard.
The oak tree whose roots had been harmed when the house behind was torn down and replaced with a showcase McMansion.
New girl Juniper never knew her dad. Her mom Julia struggled before she lucked out, catching the attention of a self-made man with a lucrative business. Brad Whitman set ‘his girls’ up in a sweet deal of a life. But Brad’s easy-going charm hid his motivation of self-interest and sick obsessions.
Valerie includes Julia into the neighborhood while Xavier and Juniper discover friendship is turning into something more.
Valerie cannot allow development to destroy the environment–she must make a stand and decides on a lawsuit. Juniper doubts the Purity Pledge her parents shepherded her into taking and secretly meets Xavier. She knows something is wrong with her dad’s attentions but Brad justifies his obsession and plots ways to take action.
I will tell you this: the culmination will make you shudder and you will cry.
A Good Neighborhood is a reflection of the social turmoil of our time.
I had to consider my own ‘good neighborhood,’ a two-square-mile city highly rated on lists, with quick selling properties, a safe neighborhood. A predominately white neighborhood with a small demographic of foreigners and split in half politically. A city that voted out a mayor who used tax money to dig up dirt on her opponent and fired long-time city workers who would not cooperate with her plans.
And yet…every tree-lined avenue may shade secrets.
I received access to a free ebook through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.
Therese Anne Fowler is a powerful wordsmith who creates a thoroughly compelling read in A Good Neighborhood. Under her spell from the first paragraph on, I can’t give this book sufficient praise! It gets a well-deserved 5-stars from me.
The Oak Knoll neighborhood in North Carolina is a good place to live. People are friendly, helpful, and any racism, biases or other character flaws are securely hidden behind the doors of the lovely homes. Truly genteel people don’t air their real feelings in public!
Valerie Alston-Holt, a widowed black professor, is raising her biracial eighteen year old son Xavier there. Xavier is a talented guitarist and will be leaving soon for the San Francisco Conservatory of Music where he has earned a scholarship. Brad Whitman, a local HVAC business celebrity, has built a huge house behind Valerie’s home. His wife Julie and daughters Juniper, 16, and Lily,7, are eager to settle in an make friends. When the two teens become attracted to each other, and a 100+ year old tree that Valerie loves is damaged by the disruption of its ecosystem due to Brad’s construction, the tenuous relationships between the two families are stressed and strained to their breaking point.
The use of the all-knowing ‘we’ narrator, who seems to speak for the other people in the neighborhood is brilliant!! It gives readers background details about each of these complex, flawed characters and alludes to the tragedy that awaits readers.
This emotional and tragic tale is one I won’t soon forget. Do yourself a favor and put this book at the top of your TBR pile!
My thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for allowing me to read a copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. All opinions expressed here are my own.
This is a brilliantly written book that was a real page turner for me. Valerie Alston-Holt is a well-educated, professional, black widowed female raising her biracial son, Xavier, in Oak Knoll, NC. “Zay” is a top student and accomplished musician who is set to leave for college in a few months on a scholarship. Their neighborhood is an older one with huge trees and older homes. Recently, people have been buying up homes, clearing the trees and building mini-mansions. One mini-mansion was built behind the Alston-Holts after the land had been cleared of all the trees and, in the process, Valerie’s very large, very old oak tree has started to show signs of dying. Brad and Julia Whitman move in to the new home with Julia’s daughter from a previous relationship, Juniper and their younger daughter Lily. Zay notices 17-year-old Juniper right away and takes a liking to her and the feeling is mutual. Everything that happens in this book has most likely happened, or could happen, in any neighborhood in any city anywhere. This book is so good and is to right on mark about life in suburbia. Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC of this fabulous book in exchange for an honest review. I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes a really good all around book about life in general and neighbors.
I was totally impressed with this novel! What a story! This book deals with teenage love, neighbors of different class and race, and racial issues. The genres for this novel are fiction, women’s fiction and contemporary fiction. It’s written in different points of view–the narration and the story line. This is truly a book that everyone needs to read. I have never read such a story as this, and it will be one that will be remembered for a long time. I have such high praise for this novel, and I recommend it to everyone. A GOOD NEIGHBORHOOD reminds me of a modern-day ROMEO AND JULIET. I can definitely see it as a Best Seller or even made into a movie. This is my first novel by Therese Anne Fowler and it definitely won’t be my last.
I received an ARC of this book, and all opinions and comments are purely my own.
A Good Neighborhood is a timely and well-written novel about two families and deep, lingering prejudice in what is seemingly a “good” neighborhood. Add into the mix the old families vs new families, economical differences in everything from ecology to education, and two teens who are drawn to each other and things in the neighborhood are about to get complex.
Valerie has been living in Oak Knoll, raising her teen son on her own. Brad is a self-made, local semi-celebrity who has just moved his family—including his wife and her two daughters—into their new home in the neighborhood. But the two families quickly fall to odds, first over a historic oak tree, and then as the two teens become involved with each other.
But this isn’t just a book about the good character vs the bad character, A Good Neighborhood is a carefully structured journey into how each person, based on their own life experiences, will react differently to similar circumstances. It is also about how appearances can lead us to misjudge people, sometimes in the most shocking ways.
Theresa Anne Fowler has written a provocative and intense novel that will leave you pondering your own beliefs about each character as their stories evolve. It is a dark, sad story, with masterful character development that will keep you turning the pages until the very last.
*I received an ARC of A Good Neighborhood from NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review*