The Couple Next Door

Book: The Couple Next Door - Shari Lapena

Members Present: Sue, Denise, Sharon, Christy

Venue: Alejandro's

Discussion highlights:

If you read the book, then you know that there isn't that much to discuss. This was Lapena's first book. She was a lawyer, so her info about a criminal investigation was probably accurate, but we all agreed it wasn't particularly well-written and wondered how it was possible that she could get a book deal with a major publishing company and that this book could be on the best seller's list. I have researched publishing my own blog, and while I haven't tried to do so, hearing how unlikely it would be to get published has been enough to make me give up. Sharon knows someone who published a book and only made about $4000 total. So if you want to publish a book, you should probably do it for other reasons than getting rich.

The story, however, was interesting and not predictable. It was also a quick read. But there wasn't much character development, and I thought it read like a draft of a paper that someone would present in a creative writing class. Compared to similar books that we've read--Gone Girl, Girl on a Train--this one was probably the worst, but still worth reading to find out what happens.

We did not discuss Small Great Things, other than to say it was a great book. I think that it would be more useful to make this book mandatory reading than to have any kind of diversity training, because she does a much better job of representing many viewpoints on the racism spectrum than any educational program I've been a part of. So if you haven't read either, I would read this one. Or anything by Jodi Picoult.

We didn't talk about any of you, so you can all safely return to the next meeting.

Next book:

Denise was prepared and ready to host the next book club. W we will be reading Behind Closed Doors, by B.A. Paris. It is of the same genre of The Couple Next Door, but much better. At least that's what Sharon said, because she's already read it. So if you have recommendations for her of what she can read, let her know. We are shooting for end of November/beginning of December for our next meeting.