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A Good Neighborhood
A Good Neighborhood | Therese Anne Fowler
165 posts | 144 read | 1 reading | 76 to read
Therese Anne Fowler has taken the ingredients of racism, justice, and conservative religion and has concocted a feast of a read: compelling, heartbreaking, and inevitable. I finished A Good Neighborhood in a single sitting. Yes, its that good. Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Small Great Things and A Spark of Light A provocative contemporary novel that examines the American dream through the lens of two families living side by side in an idyllic neighborhood, and the one summer that changes their lives irrevocably, from the New York Times bestselling author of Z and A Well-Behaved Woman. 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 dooran 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? But 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 in 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 thats as provocative as it is powerful. Praise for A Good Neighborhood: "A Good Neighborhood is my favorite kind of novel 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." Laurie Frankel, bestselling author of This is How it Always Is
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Hilary427
A Good Neighborhood | Therese Anne Fowler
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Pickpick

Ugh, this one was BRUTAL! I read ahead (I know, I know 🙄) so I knew what was coming, but damn. I really enjoyed this book. The only negative was HOW many issues this book tries to get into - racism, classism, environmentalism, misogyny, pedophilia, the issues surrounding “virginity”, etc etc etc. Narrowing that scope could have helped IMO. Overall though, a really great read!
⭐️: 4/5

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Erin.Elizabeth10
A Good Neighborhood | Therese Anne Fowler
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Pickpick

Wow, this book is so important. It tells the story of white and Black neighbors, how their teenagers fall in love, the ways that adults push their agendas, racism in the criminal justice system as well as society in general, not listening to young women, and more. It had a modern-day Romeo and Juliet feel to me. There are many trigger warnings for this book, just be aware.

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Kristy_K
A Good Neighborhood | Therese Anne Fowler
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Pickpick

While it took me a bit to get into, I soon became invested. I was surprised at how heavy it was, at times being a difficult &uncomfortable read, &ultimately heartbreaking. It addresses serious topics of racism, sexism, &more. As an audience, it feels like we are watching these scenes from above &the diction enhances this, even though we get glimpses of what people think, it feels disconnected to the depth of some of the situations.

Kristy_K Also has death of a spouse, a stepdad lusting after his teenage stepdaughter, suicide. 4mo
52 likes1 stack add1 comment
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Lcsmcat
A Good Neighborhood | Therese Anne Fowler
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Bailedbailed

I‘m having issues with Litsy. Posted last night, it didn‘t show up so I tried again. Then it was there twice. Tried to delete one post and it wouldn‘t go. Woke up this morning to find both posts gone! 🤦🏻‍♀️ This book isn‘t worth this much trouble! Short version- too much telling instead of showing, too much self-hyping. Bailed before 100 pages, which is not my norm. #doublespin

IndoorDame Exactly the same thing happened with a post of mine last night! But it seems to be sorted now 1y
JamieArc I woke up to duplicate posts that had disappeared last night too 🤷🏻‍♀️ 1y
Ruthiella Yes, Litsy has been on the fritz the last few days! 😕 1y
Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks Same!! They are supposed to be looking into it! 1y
Lcsmcat @IndoorDame @JamieArc @Ruthiella @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks I‘m glad it‘s not just me. I was starting to worry. 1y
40 likes1 stack add5 comments
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Lcsmcat
A Good Neighborhood | Therese Anne Fowler
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Started my #doublespin book today. January is off to a good start.

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Bec_lectic
A Good Neighborhood | Therese Anne Fowler
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Pickpick

I‘m not sure what to say about this book without revealing too much. It truly was not what I expected and evoked emotions of anger and sadness that I usually do not get from reading any old book. I thought this book was about a dispute over an old oak between two neighbors yards but it‘s so much more than that. I wanted to reach through the pages and strangle one of the characters which would have been well deserved. Heart breaking story 😔

TalesandTexts I felt so strongly (and negatively) about the protagonist from Beware of Pity. Have you read it? 1y
Bec_lectic @TalesandTexts no I have not read it. I usually don‘t get mad at characters in books but this one got me going! I‘ll have to check Beware of Pity out. 1y
Wesleypaker Hello how are you doing today V 1y
47 likes2 stack adds3 comments
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CollapsingLibrary
A Good Neighborhood | Therese Anne Fowler
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Old photo that popped up in my memories today! Thought I‘d share some cat love with you all this morning. Hope you‘re having a wonderful weekend ☺️

Ruthiella 😻😻😻 2y
47 likes1 comment
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JenReadsAlot
A Good Neighborhood | Therese Anne Fowler
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1. I'm good with both
2. Tagged book is still fresh in my mind!
Thanks @Kshakal @TheSpineView #two4Tuesday

TheSpineView Thanks for playing! 🤩📖📚 2y
23 likes1 comment
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JenReadsAlot
A Good Neighborhood | Therese Anne Fowler
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Pickpick

This book 😢 I was not prepared to be so punched in the gut. My #bookspin for January @TheAromaofBooks

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!! 2y
37 likes1 comment
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JenReadsAlot
A Good Neighborhood | Therese Anne Fowler
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Andrew65 Great choices. 2y
29 likes1 comment
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JenReadsAlot
A Good Neighborhood | Therese Anne Fowler
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Couple books that have been on my TBR for ages! #bookspin #doublespin @TheAromaofBooks

TheAromaofBooks Yay!!! Good luck!!! 2y
27 likes1 comment
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Nikki_E
A Good Neighborhood | Therese Anne Fowler
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Pickpick

A Good Neighborhood by Therese Anne Fowler

Oh man, this was brutal. I equally loved it and wanted to punch someone.

45 likes1 stack add
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kspenmoll
A Good Neighborhood | Therese Anne Fowler
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Eggs Beautiful 🤎🍁🧡 2y
69 likes1 comment
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Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
A Good Neighborhood | Therese Anne Fowler
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#Leaves
#GratefulHarvest

🍂🍁🍂🍁

Eggs 🍁🧡🍁 2y
69 likes1 comment
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Neniacorcoran
A Good Neighborhood | Therese Anne Fowler
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Mehso-so

I was REALLY enjoying this one… until I got to the climax, and then I was kind of frustrated with it. I‘m not going to spoil it, but I wasn‘t happy with some of the decisions the author made to end this one.

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marleed
A Good Neighborhood | Therese Anne Fowler
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Pickpick

I‘m not a fan of stories that use the kitchen sink of social issues to tell a story - I‘m counting 8 right now without even tracking a list. However, I‘m give this a pick because of the emotions I felt as this story progressed and concluded. Also, I liked the narrators - I thought of them as a background doo-woop trio had the book been a musical :)

#14Books14Weeks2021 B11W11
@TheHeartlandBookFairy

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bookmama22
A Good Neighborhood | Therese Anne Fowler
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Pickpick

A fast pace and slightly unpredictable ending make for a good - and reflective - read.

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melsimpson
A Good Neighborhood | Therese Anne Fowler
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Pickpick

This book has broken my heart. I sobbed and felt sick with dread whilst reading it. I did not want this story to end the way it did. The inevitability is appalling. The characters are uttterly believable and grab hold of your heart to wrench its strings through the absolutely vile desires and deeds that run rampant in some. Love, trees, race and selfishness. Read this book. It will stay with me for a long time.

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canbku
A Good Neighborhood | Therese Anne Fowler
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A book and a cider is a pretty great night for me 😂

89 likes1 stack add
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mcctrish
A Good Neighborhood | Therese Anne Fowler
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Pickpick

This book starts off saying a small event takes place and that no one wanted to take sides. So immediately I was curious and concerned. Then it goes into the back story and I went from worst case scenario feelings to oh maybe it‘s not so bad to oh that‘s what it is to oh F not that to HOLY F NOOOO. A absolute gem of a story, I can not praise the author enough for toying with me so HARD! Well done ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

canbku I kept thinking one of the other characters was going to get it. So glad I was wrong, but also devastated by the ferocious last third of the book 3y
mcctrish @canbku ferocious is the perfect word for how INTENSE this story got 3y
53 likes3 stack adds2 comments
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mcctrish
A Good Neighborhood | Therese Anne Fowler
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Next up, another Christmas gift from my husband ( I‘ve been meaning to read this author forever)

35 likes1 stack add
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Chelsea.Poole
A Good Neighborhood | Therese Anne Fowler
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Pickpick

This isn't a perfect book, but it gets all the stars from me. A book that I'm able to connect with, feel a range of emotions and even cry while reading is a mission accomplished. Maddening. Heartbreaking. Worthwhile reading.

83 likes2 stack adds
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Lovesbooks87
A Good Neighborhood | Therese Anne Fowler
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Pickpick

I finished this one this afternoon and it just broke my heart. I know at the beginning of the book it said there was going to be a tragedy. But I wasn‘t prepared for all the heartbreaking events that took place. I was hoping and praying for a different ending. But it didn‘t happen. This was my #doublebookspin book this month.
#bookspinbingo
#botm

TheAromaofBooks Great review!! 3y
58 likes1 stack add1 comment
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amyf0x
A Good Neighborhood | Therese Anne Fowler
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Pickpick

When a new family moves into the neighbourhood, Valerie is incensed that their newly built house is killing her oak tree but her son Xavier only has eyes for Juniper, the Whitmans‘ teen daughter...

Read November 24-27
Rated 4/5 ⭐️
Book 50/60

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Purrfectpages
A Good Neighborhood | Therese Anne Fowler
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Mehso-so

This takes place in the well respected town of Oak Knoll. Widowed Valerie and her son, Xavier have lived a quiet and happy life there for years. But new construction brings unwanted upheaval and questionable new neighbors. This book felt like a play. There was a narrator who would pop in, foreshadowing gloom and doom. It was built into parts that felt like acts. A harrowing tale, this attempts to shed light on our misconceptions about each other.

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Branwen
A Good Neighborhood | Therese Anne Fowler
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"She hated that the progress toward that post-racial future she and her husband and others like them had fervently fostered was now being reversed. Why couldn't we see one another as simply human and pull together, for goodness' sake? The planet was dying while people fought over things like who was most American-or who was American at all."

So true! ?

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Branwen
A Good Neighborhood | Therese Anne Fowler
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I had this book on hold for sooooo long I forgot all about it until it finally came in! Now I'm excited to read it all over again! 😂🤣 Happy Monday, littens! 💕📚

51 likes1 stack add
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emmaturi
A Good Neighborhood | Therese Anne Fowler
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Pickpick

This was a great book, I wasn't sure what to expect as the story centres around an amazing tree needing to be cut down as it got damaged when a family did renovations to their property before they moved in. It deals with racism, young love and family problems. I really did not expect that ending, it made me cry!

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BittersweetBooks
A Good Neighborhood | Therese Anne Fowler
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Start here, please, in communion with one another despite our differences, recognizing that without start there is no end 🌳💔

20 likes2 stack adds
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Kempfme
A Good Neighborhood | Therese Anne Fowler
Pickpick

This is a great read of two neighbors that start out as friends until a tree dies and the teenagers fall in love. I loved the characters and the story, but the writing style was a little weird. It's written in the third person and there are times that the detailed description of certain events are like a book report, or notes that the author forgot to edit out.

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Rissa1
A Good Neighborhood | Therese Anne Fowler
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Mehso-so

A modern day Romeo and Juliet.

21 likes1 stack add
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Rissa1
A Good Neighborhood | Therese Anne Fowler
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My goals for #SuperSeptember readathon...
1. Read the pictured stack.
2. Finish current kindle read.
Keeping the goals super simple.
@Andrew65

Andrew65 Good luck 😊👍 4y
Andrew65 Harlan Coben 😍 4y
Rissa1 I should add finishing the tagged book. 4y
16 likes3 comments
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emmaturi
A Good Neighborhood | Therese Anne Fowler
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1. I keep some I will definitely read again and others pass on.
2. There are many! But I would love to have A Girl Made of Air by Nadia Hetherington and Eight Detectives by Slex Pavesi

@TheSpineView #TwoforTuesdayGiveaway

Thanks for the tag @EadieB

TheSpineView Happy Tuesday and good luck! 4y
14 likes1 comment
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emmaturi
A Good Neighborhood | Therese Anne Fowler
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I began this today, not very far in at the moment! #currentreaf

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ferskner
A Good Neighborhood | Therese Anne Fowler
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Panpan

Gosh this book has great intentions but to me it really fell short of the mark. I know the author wanted to highlight the injustices of racism but instead she created a wholly unrealistic teenage boy who seems to deserve our sympathy because he's the "good" kind of Black kid. It felt icky.

#pop20 #bookwithathreewordtitle #litsyatoz @BookishMarginalia

NikkiRobson73 To me the beginning dragged and the ending was rushed...I felt like I couldn't connect with any of the characters 3y
49 likes1 comment
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JennyM
A Good Neighborhood | Therese Anne Fowler
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Pickpick

First up - I can‘t believe the same author wrote Z: Zelda Fitzgerald! This is so different! It‘s had mixed reviews, and I can definitely see the concerns raised. Saying that, I did enjoy it and I thought she handled the issues well. Hugely sad and equally enraging, I think it‘s a good and thought-provoking story.

Cathythoughts I bailed on Zelda , but I see this one around & im drawn to it. I didn‘t recognise the authors name 4y
JennyM @Cathythoughts It‘s really different to Z. I thought Z was the better read, so I‘ll be curious to see what you think 🤔 It‘s getting lots of mixed reviews - good book club book 4y
61 likes1 stack add2 comments
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LiteraryinLawrence
A Good Neighborhood | Therese Anne Fowler
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Pickpick

I ended up finishing this book on the last day of August instead. It was a book that had me reading nonstop for many hours. I think it was well-written. It was told from the point of view of the Greek chorus of neighbors, not any of the main characters, which was sort of interesting.

ChasingOm The idea of the Greek Chorus caught me! 4y
92 likes1 comment
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LiteraryinLawrence
A Good Neighborhood | Therese Anne Fowler
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Here is my #bookspinbingo list for September, @TheAromaofBooks ! I had lots of fun with it in August- I read 11 books even though they weren‘t my bookspin or double spin choices aaaaand I didn‘t make any bingos... 🤷🏻‍♀️ But it was still fun! This month, maybe I‘ll make some bingos! I left 20-25 free for books that come up; I didn‘t do that last month but I bet it‘ll make it easier. Excited for Wednesday so I can create my bingo board! 😋

MallenNC I did the free spaces this month and it helped a lot! I used all of them. 4y
LiteraryinLawrence Ooh, I forgot about the #septemberswap! Opening day is the 14th, so that‘s plenty of time before the end of the month. I‘m adding whatever book I get for that as number 21! 4y
Sarahreadstoomuch Your tagged book is on one of my work book group lists for this year! 4y
TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!!! I found the free spaces to be quite helpful as well!! 4y
80 likes4 comments
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meglynn86
A Good Neighborhood | Therese Anne Fowler

Got up early for work. Finishing up A Good Neighborhood

#mbcreadathon #mbcgiveaway2

MonthlyBookClub Got your entry! 4y
5 likes1 comment
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Megabooks
A Good Neighborhood | Therese Anne Fowler
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Mehso-so

In another author‘s hands, this could have been a beautiful book. Unfortunately Fowler‘s characters are more caricatures. The white male ubervillian, the ditzy rich white mom, the smart black mom, the black honor student...

While her story definitely drives home a point (an important white/black point in the South for sure), it is too heavy handed to be a pick!

#bookspinBINGO blackout!! 🥳

#awesomeaugust goal met 9/9 books!! 🎉

Andrew65 🍾 🥂🥳 And still 3 days to go. 4y
TheAromaofBooks YAY!!! Such fabulous work!!! And great review as well - sometimes it feels like authors want to jump on bandwagons of popular messages, without actually exploring the nuances that make these issues important and complicated. 4y
Megabooks @Andrew65 bonus books!! 👍🏻👍🏻 4y
See All 6 Comments
Megabooks @TheAromaofBooks thank you! Such a wonderful way of putting it. And thank you for continuing with this awesome challenge!! 4y
Reviewsbylola I thought this one was well done but it wasn‘t exceptional. I like her historical fiction better. 4y
Megabooks @Reviewsbylola yes. It was a stretch for her, and not a positive one. 4y
72 likes1 stack add6 comments
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Cathyloves2read
A Good Neighborhood | Therese Anne Fowler
Pickpick

This book was DEEP!Such a page turner.I read some reviews that stated this book didn‘t go anywhere.I disagree! It has so many layers and touched on just about every issue that our country is currently struggling with.I loved the narrative form it was written in. And this is yet another book I‘d give more than a 5 rating to If I could.I‘m on a roll!

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Megabooks
A Good Neighborhood | Therese Anne Fowler
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My updated #BookspinBingo board with my #b4bookspin! Three to go!! The finish line is in sight! 🏁

@TheAromaofBooks

Cinfhen Woohoo 🙌🏻 🎉💕 4y
Bookwormjillk Amazing! Way to go! 4y
TheAromaofBooks Yay!! So close!! 4y
See All 8 Comments
Soubhiville That‘s incredible! Go you! 4y
LiteraryinLawrence Wow, that is crazy!! 4y
UwannaPublishme 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 4y
vlwelser 🎉🎉🎉🎉 4y
65 likes8 comments
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FelinesAndFelonies
A Good Neighborhood | Therese Anne Fowler
Panpan

Heavy-handed. Slow. Uneven pace. You aren't missing anything.

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Peaceful_Reader
A Good Neighborhood | Therese Anne Fowler
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Pickpick

This book was so gripping! I felt very connected to Valerie‘s love of nature and this story shows how one decision can spill the dominoes everywhere. #BLM #family #ecology #fathers

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candc320
A Good Neighborhood | Therese Anne Fowler
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Mehso-so

I really wanted to love this story. I admire what the author was attempting to convey with the narrative but it just didn‘t work for me. It was such a slow burn that I put it aside for quite awhile and then decided to just dig in and get to what I was thinking was going to be an exhilarating ending (isn‘t that what the omniscient narrator was promising)? Instead I just ended up sad and annoyed. Overall it was well written but not for me. 🌟🌟🌟

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kimmypete1
A Good Neighborhood | Therese Anne Fowler
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Bailedbailed

Still nothing has happened so I went to look at the synopsis and some reviews. It‘s supposed to “explore the effects of class, race and heartrending star-crosses love” and so far I‘ve gotten none of that. DNF.

Some spoilers in the comments. ⬇️

kimmypete1 The stepfather is clearly interested in his stepdaughter (confirmed by several reviews), I wasn‘t interested in all the talk about the tree.

Plus I saw in a review a spoiler that said Xavier kills him self at the end, as some kind of martyr. I am not here for that at all.
4y
JamieArc I did not like this one at all. I wish I had bailed. The pedophilia storyline felt like it was for shock value only, which really bothered me. 4y
13 likes2 comments