Dear Bookclub,
Like a good neighbor, The Barrel Room accommodated our group for a nice outdoor lunch while we discussed Sarah Langan's "Good Neighbors". But unlike the folks of Maple Street, we were on stable ground, able to enjoy the comfortable weather, and endured no violence nor slanderous threats.
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| portrait of author by her father, Peter Langan |
A trembling discomfort traveled through our presence as we voiced our thoughts and opinions about the book. Langan had obviously done a good job of upending our reading experiences. collectively agreeing that we wanted to finish the novel and travel to the other side of her creation... i.e. the end. Global warming, sink-holes, the neighbor one really doesn't 'know', cruel people, mean children, misinformed authorities, social media... the anxiety list mounts. Did I mention death?
Wanda noticed the author's jacket bio included her having an MS in environmental toxicology along with her Columbia MFA. "Mommy, when I grow up I want to be an environmental toxicologist who writes good novels". Cool or creepy.
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| Wikipedia |
Rod Serling's "The Twilight Zone", episode 22, season 1, entitled "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street" was a strong influence to Langan. Please check out the eerily similar description:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Monsters_Are_Due_on_Maple_Street
Val had mentioned this reference she found while researching the book. I connected her mention to what turns out to be a different episode, that I thought of immediately. Involving what I remember as people stuck in a dollhouse, it's not nearly as fitting as the true inspiration:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stopover_in_a_Quiet_Town
My favorite from that is the closing narration:
"The moral of what you've just seen is clear. If you drink, don't drive.
And if your wife has had a couple, she shouldn't drive either. You might
both just wake up with a whale of a headache in a deserted village in
the Twilight Zone."
Sorry for the digression but The Twilight Zone was compelling as was "Good Neighbors" and I could probably have a memory of it in 50 years too. ***
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Panopticon - Adam Simpson Artwork for the New York Times book review of The Panopticon, by Jenni Fagan. |
Forgetting to bring up the relevance of Rhea's obsession with the panopticon, I must include the above.
Finally, while reading the novel, I struggled to picture the sinkhole, especially the children's trek into it and the image of the dog bite. My weak research did not help but I thought it amusing:
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| https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-69635-5_7 |
Val's suggestions for an upcoming read:
"Cloud Cuckoo Lane" Anthony Doerr
"Taste My Life Through Food" Stanley Tucci
"The Lincoln Highway" Amor Towles
"Beautiful Country" Qian Julie Wang* chosen
Up next:
Happy reading,
LK
PS
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