A Good Neighborhood by Therese Anne Fowler

A Good Neighborhood by Therese Anne Fowler
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Using a Greek Chorus to ask and raise questions, this was a story of what a good neighborhood and what it became when a new family moved in. Valerie has raised her biracial son in Oak Knoll, she knows everyone, is a professor, hold book clubs and has set opinions about ecology. When the Whitman's an upwardly mobile family moves in next door, trouble begins when Brad Whitman assumes Xavier is hired help, both parents keep a tight lock on their daughter, Juniper with a purity pledge and many restrictions. It really gets problematic when Xavier and Juniper become romantically involved and Valerie sues Brad Whitman over his destruction of an old oak tree. Delving into many themes and issues such as class, race, environmental concerns, love, lies, secrecy, consequences, family dysfunction and lawsuits this character driven book is heartbreakingly real. A must read!

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Miss Benson's Beetle by Rachel Joyce

Miss Benson's Beetle by Rachel Joyce
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I read and loved this illuminating book as part of my Albright College Zoom book discussion. The connecting stories of Margery Benson and Enid Pretty together searching for a gold beetle across the world in New Caledonia (outside Australia) during the aftermath of the war in the 1950s was a journey for both women, utterly opposite in every way. Yet both women change and grow as they travel, run away from their secrets in London, and strike out to prove they can find/make a new life on an expedition. Rachel Joyce's well developed characterization of the many women in this book is authentic and suspenseful as women who have predetermined roles and those who strike out and create new roles. Also important is the author interview of Margery and Enid at the end of the book and Joyce's acknowledgments. A must read that will warm your heart at the enduring love that friendship garners.

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The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi

The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Loved this audiobook narrated awesomely by Almarie Guerra ; The Water Knife is an adult environmental cautionary tale about the effects of water drying up throughout the United States. Angel is a water knife from Las Vegas who ensures that his boss keeps the water coming for her "Arcolody" developments. But something is up and it will pit California, Arizona and Nevada against each other as they vie for the water that is dwindling to dust. As the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, circumstances will bring Angel, Maria (poor and surviving by her wits) and Lucy (hard core journalist who writes about those who have died because of the vanishing water) together in a climax that will call into question their humanity and allegiances. Awesome, I loved Bacigalupi's Ship Breaker and this book was just as thrilling a read!

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