savvylit's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? No
3.0
Good Neighbors is a tense blend of eco-thriller and suburban horror. What if your neighbors suddenly decided to hate you as a bitumen-spewing sinkhole opens up across the street from your home? Langan explores this question thoroughly, deftly portraying unsettling groupthink and ignored environmental disaster. The neighbors of this novel are genuinely terrifying in an all-too-real way due to their classist hive mind mentality. They make so many assumptions that ultimately cascade and escalate to the point of violence. Langan perfectly understands and reveals the covert hatred that is often seething just under the surface in so-called "good" American neighborhoods.
All that being said, the execution of the plot left me feeling a little hollow. I wanted to love this book for its social commentary. However, the format ultimately keeps it from feeling cohesive. Good Neighbors is interspersed with newspaper clippings from various retrospectives on the events at the heart of its plot. It would seem that these article snippets were included to maintain intrigue and drop clues. Really, though, the snippets took unnecessary focus away from the actual happenings in the plot.
Graphic: Child death, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Gun violence and Addiction
finleyfrogreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Death, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Sexual content, Incest, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Medical content, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Violence, Pedophilia, Gun violence, Murder, Forced institutionalization, and Grief
Moderate: Classism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Terminal illness, Blood, Cancer, Excrement, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Emotional abuse
mkmcdonald's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Moderate: Violence, Drug use, and Rape
cursivewolf's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Child death, Child abuse, Death, Grief, Pregnancy, Stalking, Suicide, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Animal death, Cancer, Emotional abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Drug abuse, Ableism, and Addiction
Minor: Rape
bookbunny's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Moderate: Child abuse, Gun violence, and Violence
adventuresinpages's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, Child death, and Animal death
Moderate: Murder, Ableism, Addiction, and Alcohol
Minor: Sexual assault and Vomit
violetandirises's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Violence, and Blood
jennivardier's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Grief, Gun violence, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Violence
jourdanicus's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Graphic: Self harm, Suicide, and Murder
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Violence, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Animal death, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Pregnancy, and Pedophilia
Minor: Medical content, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual violence, and Rape
imstephtacular's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.25
Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug use, Grief, Gun violence, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Suicide, Violence, and Mass/school shootings
Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Chronic illness