A Good Neighborhood Review

By Therese Anne Fowler

Rating: 4/5

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.

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If you haven't read the book, please be aware my review might spoil some of the book for you!

I had a hard time reining in my feelings for this book. I'm a little disappointed I won't be able to meet and discuss this book for the Barnes and Noble Book Club due to the pandemic closing all their stores.

In all honesty, this book was not at all what I had imagined it would be. I hoped to read about a forbidden teenage romance that would prevail passed family beliefs, etc. Instead I read a tragic story of how our society hasn't changed much through the decades both for people of color and young women.

A young biracial man's life being ruined for falling in love simply because of the color of his skin. Decades later, we're still seeing this discrimination and it's just very saddening. This would have been a very different tale if this young man were to be white. Among this story we also see the girl involved learning to navigate the world and discovering for herself she can be more than just a housewife. Growing up, she had been told to find the right man to take care of her so she wouldn't have to work. Reading about this ideation for being the proper role for a women was infuriating to me. I understand this is what some women aspire to be, or want to be, etc. But it should never be the only option. Especially the whole Christian view that women should be only loving house wives and mothers that simply do as they're told.

Overall, I found this book to be very true to today's society. It's the sad, cold hard truth that decades later we've no better as a society with these issues. I hope someday that no matter your skintone, upbringing, or gender that we could live our lives happily. I definitely recommend this book to those have strong opinions on these issues. Just don't expect a happy ending.