Title: The Best Kind of People
Author: Zoe Whittall
Genre: Fiction, Mystery, Crime
Pages: 404 pages; 11 hours (audiobook)
Level of difficulty: 3/5 Dictionaries
Rating: 3/5 Stars
Brief Introduction:
George Woodbury, a well-liked teacher, beloved husband and father, is arrested for sexual impropriety at a prestigious prep school on the birthday of his seventeen-year-old daughter. The arrest leads to a series of events for his wife, Joan, his daughter Sadie who is a student at the school, and his son Andrew, a lawyer in New York. The book follows the family’s journey of coming to terms with the allegations.
Review:
This book engaged with what happens to the family of a sexual assault offender/predator, how they gripple with the scrutiny, the deceit, and their lives changing forever. The author did a good job of engaging with the plot and issues addressed sensitively. However, I did not like the element of fatalism – several characters not speaking up for themselves, several characters easily getting away with questionable character and the lack of critical dialogue required in a book that engages with sexual violence.
TW: sexual assault, violence, drug abuse
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