Dear Great Book Guru, I was at a family reunion in Point Lookout last weekend and lots of my cousins were talking about a novel set on Long Island and particularly Garden City. Are you familiar with the book and-if so- would you recommend it? Fan of Local Locales
Dear Friend
of Local Locales, GOOD NEIGHBORS by Sarah Langan, was a delightful find,
indeed. It opens on Maple Avenue in
Garden City, in a kind of cul-de-sac where all the neighbors know all there is
to know about each other…or so it seems. Block parties, cookie swaps, baseball
pickup games - all these things and more unite the families. When Arlo and Gertie Wilde move from Brooklyn,
they are embraced by all, especially Rhea Schroeder – the acknowledged
neighborhood leader. A few months after
their move, the newcomers are suddenly shunned, first by Rhea and then
eventually all the residents of Maple Avenue. Mysteriously a sinkhole then
develops in a nearby park; a sense of dread envelops all the families and
reaches a climax when Rhea’s daughter Shelly falls into this muddy abyss. We know from the opening pages set twenty
years in the future that a murder has occurred but who and how is not revealed
until the closing pages. Throughout, we see this veneer of utopian, civilized
life gradually stripped away to reveal an underbelly of hypocrisy, greed, and
hatred in wildly improbable ways. Definitely a page-turner and a great start to
the new year - highly recommended!
