Dad Arlo’s a gruff has-been rock star with track marks. When the Wilde family moves in, they trigger their neighbors’ worst fears. We hope that these ideas will enrich your conversation and increase your enjoyment of the book.īut menace skulks beneath the surface of this exclusive enclave, making its residents prone to outrage. The suggested questions are intended to help your reading group find new and interesting angles and topics for your discussion. This reading group guide for Good Neighbors includes an introduction, discussion questions, ideas for enhancing your book club, and a Q&A with author Sarah Langan. Suddenly, it is one mom’s word against the other’s in a court of public opinion that can end only in blood.Ī riveting and ruthless portrayal of American suburbia, Good Neighbors excavates the perils and betrayals of motherhood and friendships and the dangerous clash between social hierarchy, childhood trauma, and fear. The search for Shelly brings a shocking accusation against the Wildes that spins out of control. Then, during one spritzer-fueled summer evening, the new best friends share too much, too soon.Īs tensions mount, a sinkhole opens in a nearby park, and Rhea’s daughter Shelly falls inside. Their next-door neighbor and Maple Street’s Queen Bee, Rhea Schroeder -a lonely community college professor repressing her own dark past -welcomes Gertie and family into the fold. Spunky preteen Julie curses like a sailor and her kid brother Larry is called “Robot Boy” by the kids on the block. His wife, beautiful ex-pageant queen Gertie, feels socially ostracized and adrift. Welcome to Maple Street, a picture-perfect slice of suburban Long Island, its residents bound by their children, their work, and their illusion of safety in a rapidly changing world.Īrlo Wilde, a gruff has-been rock star who’s got nothing to show for his fame but track marks, is always two steps behind the other dads.
Like Shirley Jackson, Langan’s work blends a bleak streak with an underlying sense of the humane that wrung my heart.” -Victor LaValle, author of The ChangelingĬeleste Ng’s enthralling dissection of suburbia meets Shirley Jackson’s creeping dread in this propulsive literary noir, when a sudden tragedy exposes the depths of deception and damage in a Long Island suburb - pitting neighbor against neighbor and putting one family in terrible danger.
“Sarah Langan is a phenomenal talent with a wicked sense of wry humor. “ A modern-day Crucible….Beneath the surface of a suburban utopia, madness lurks.” -Liv Constantine, bestselling author of The Last Mrs.
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