A Good Neighborhood by Therese Anne Fowler

"In North Carolina's tight-knit Oak Knoll neighborhood, professor Valerie Alston-Holt is raising her bright and talented biracial son, Xavier, who is headed to college in the fall. All is well until the Whitmans, an apparently traditional family, move in next door. Popular local businessman Brad had new money, ambition, a wife who escaped her upbringing in a trailer park, and a secretly troubled teenaged daughter. With little in common except a property line, these two very different families quickly find themselves at odds: first, over an historic oak tree in Valerie's yard, and soon after, the blossoming romance between their two teenagers"--Back cover.

In this time of environmental consciousness, this book brings home the importance of our surroundings and how.
A beautiful majestic oak tree is at the center of this conflict between two neighbouring families made up of completely different type of people.
The tree is representative of so many things to Valerie, most of all, her husband but it is in danger due to the unthinking selfish actions of the new neighbour Brad. The conflicts between the two families are brought to the fore while drawing vivid pictures of the characters involved. The relationship that the children of the warring parties develop is another angle worth pondering over.
This book was a pure pleasure to read and made me wish I had read the author sooner. I will recommend this one to my friends in a heartbeat. Its a great book for the book club having so many different aspects for discussion.

For “Carolinas” book club read

This book just didn't work for me. Ultimately, the writing just...did not feel strong enough for all the topics this book carried.

Primarily, it covers important topics about America's history, specifically in the South, and highlights how its past is effecting the present now. I can get on board with this, as I'm very anti-glorification of the South. However, I had a few problems with the way it was written and the characters. I agree with other reviews criticizing two aspects:

1) the characters were very much caricatures. from the stepdad with a secret everyone saw coming, the almost ethereal Jupiter, and rags to riches Julia. Valerie was probably the best written character but we didn't get enough time on her.
2) I really, really didn't like the tense used. It really didn't work for me and I always felt removed from the story.

This story was sad and frustrating, which is realistic probably and an important message. I encourage people interested in this topic to seek out more of these stories covering these topics. I highly recommend reading Richard Wright for insight on being an African-American male in America. I've only read 2 of his novels but his writing is strong and so is the message.