A Good Neighborhood by Therese Anne Fowler

As a native of Raleigh, North Carolina, I am a sucker for things set here.  Most of us are.  We hoot and shout during Wagon Wheel, we at least attempt to tackle Outlander because in like season 37 they come to North Carolina or some bizarre representation thereof, we are flattered (if confused) by Where the Crawdads Sing and its use of our state's geography (who knew quick shopping trips from the beach to Asheville were so common?!), we will fight you over Charles Frazier.

So it's no surprise that when I found out (directly from the author herself) that Therese Anne Fowler was coming out with a book set in a fictionalized version of a local neighborhood, I was very interested.  Therese is always excessively kind in coming to our book club meetings and so we've snagged her again for a Zoom meeting later this year where we'll discuss A Good Neighborhood, the third of her books that we've read.  And we don't just keep reading them because we can have a brush with celebrity afterwards.  We read them because they're freaking good.

Her writing is believable, even when addressing strange topics.  And the characters are complete people with realistic motives and feelings.  It's hard for me to not relate to a book where a character says, "I might could."

A Good Neighborhood does not disappoint.  It hurts and bewilders, and at times frustrates.  But it's a good book with a lot to say and a unique way of saying it.  Like a Greek chorus, a third-person semi-omniscient narrator representing the residents of the neighborhood guides us through this story.  We enter the minds of all the relevant characters and find the sources of misunderstandings and resentments.

This story could easily take place in many different places in this country, but I recognized so many of the things that form our character here.  There is the tension of a neighborhood changing from a modest, quiet place to one now sprouting mini-mansions filled with the nouveau riche while still housing the long-established residents.  There is also the tension between races in a world quickly changing but not always keeping up with itself.

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There is one typo I noticed in the ebook.

Disgraced, Ayad Akhtar

If you're looking for a play that may offend EVERYONE, this is it. Brutally honest about the way people view themselves and other races and religions, Disgraced is a roller coaster of cringe-worthy moments. Did he really just say that?! Oh he's not going to--yes, yes he is, ok.

There is something very satisfying about watching someone open up about their secret thoughts to the extent that they implode and destroy their entire lives. The ancient Greeks knew where it was at #catharsis

And we all have those thoughts, to some extent. Whether the thoughts are fleeting or they form the background for our entire lives, at some point we all judge others on appearance, religion, nationality, or race. For some of us, as with Amir, we judge our own kind harshly too. For most educated people, there is a strong element of self-hatred that comes from feeling pride in something we know we should not be proud of.

I have not seen this staged and can only imagine the impact of seeing live human beings enact these sentiments. Definitely a work that will make you think long and hard about a lot of issues.

Huckleberry F***

NewSouth Books is coming out with an edition of Huckleberry Finn sans the dreaded "N" word. The idea behind it is that the word prevents the book from being taught in today's classrooms.

Yes, the word is offensive. But its derogatory nature is not a recent development. Twain used the word to mock people who thought of black Americans as less than human. The people who used that word in the antebellum South most often were prejudiced, under-educated and insecure.

We covered Huck Finn in high school and I got to hear choice passages read aloud by my awesome English teacher, complete with character voices. I honestly can't remember how he even got around the "N" word. I think he used a less offensive word or just skipped it all together. I don't remember because no one made a big deal about it. He didn't spend an hour explaining to us why Twain used the word. He didn't have to.

We all knew that it was one of many words that was acceptable at one point in history. These days, it's not ok to go around calling people N***** Jim. People are categorized by their race less and less often in our relatively enlightened society. This is in large part because of authors and activists like Twain who threw bigotry in peoples' faces in order to show them how wrong it was.

But go ahead and mangle literature because people are too weak to deal with a dead writer's opinions or our nation's history. If you're too stupid to skip a word when reading aloud or replace it with another one (which is the only thing this new edition is good for), you probably shouldn't be teaching our children anyway.