Thanks to Stacia Decker, the smartest, steadiest hand I know. Thanks to Loan Le. I am so lucky. You know what I’m doing better than I know what I’m doing.
Thanks also to the team: Sarah Self (always), Hilary Zaitz Michael, and Circle of Confusion. Antonio D’Intino, your enthusiasm is contagious, and you time it exactly when I need it. Lawrence Mattis, it’s warming to have the first person to visit after Clem was born also steer my career.
Thanks also to the Atria Team: Libby McGuire, Lindsay Sagnette, Suzanne Donahue, David Brown, Megan Rudloff, Maudee Genao, James Iacobelli, Min Choi, Paige Lytle, Jessie McNiel, Liz Byer, Joshua Cohen, and Erika Genova. Wow, are you great.
I’ve been fortunate to have great friends who are also great writers: the past, present, and future members of the writing group Who Wants Cake, which will forever claim a piece of my heart. Lunch club! Nicholas Kaufmann and David Wellington, for everything. My Los Angeles writing group (Meg Howrey, J. Ryan Stradal, Chris Terry, Sarah Tomlinson), the Directors of the Shirley Jackson Awards (F. Brett Cox, JoAnn Cox, Jack Haringa, John Langan, and of course, Paul Tremblay). Jon Evans. Victor LaValle. Liz Hand. For help when I needed it, Kelly Link, Andrew Pyper, agent and mom extraordinaire Jennifer Carlson, and new LA friends, Kirsten Roeters and David Eilenberg.
Thanks finally to my hometown of Garden City, which hopefully has a good sense of humor.
Good Neighbors
Sarah Langan
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. The suggested questions are intended to help your reading group find new and interesting angles and topics for your discussion. We hope that these ideas will enrich your conversation and increase your enjoyment of the book.
Introduction
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.
But menace skulks beneath the surface of this exclusive enclave, making its residents prone to outrage. When the Wilde family moves in, they trigger their neighbors’ worst fears. Dad Arlo’s a gruff has-been rock star with track marks. Mom Gertie’s got a thick Brooklyn accent, with high heels and tube tops to match. Their weird kids cuss like sailors. They don’t fit with the way Maple Street sees itself.
Though Maple Street’s Queen Bee, Rhea Schroeder—a lonely college professor repressing a dark past—welcomed Gertie and her family at first, relations went south during one spritzer-fueled summer evening, when the new best friends shared too much, too soon. By the time the story opens, the Wildes are outcasts.
As tensions mount, a sinkhole opens in a nearby park, and Rhea’s daughter Shelly falls inside. The search for Shelly brings a shocking accusation against the Wildes. Suddenly, it is one mom’s word against the other’s in a court of public opinion that can end only in blood.
A 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.
Topics & Questions for Discussion
Before tragedy strikes on Maple Street, Julia and Shelly have a growing friendship. Other than the circumstance of being neighbors, what do you think bonds the girls together? Discuss what they have in common.
A parallel friendship is that of Julia’s and Shelly’s mothers, Gertie and Rhea. How does the arc of the mothers’ friendship mirror that of their daughters’? How does it differ?
The suburban setting of Good Neighbors is integral to the book itself. How does Sarah Langan describe Maple Street? What are its physical characteristics? How do these characteristics influence the neighbors who live there? Do you think this novel could have been set anywhere other than a wealthy suburb?
Maple Street is in the middle of two environmental crises: a heatwave and a sinkhole. Why do you think the author chose to incorporate very physical emergencies into the internal emergencies the characters experience in the novel?
What typically suburban, idyllic summertime activities are distorted by the sinkhole and its surrounding tragedies? Would you consider Good Neighbors satirical?
Discuss the author’s choice to include book excerpts and newspaper articles throughout the book. Did you feel this was an effective storytelling technique? Did any of the characters’ fates surprise you?
What qualities make the Wildes good scapegoats for the problems on Maple Street? Why do the longtime residents of the street believe the rumors about the Wildes so readily?
Almost every resident of Maple Street hides a secret. What are the neighbors’ attitudes about keeping or revealing secrets? What does it say about their characters?