Excellent portrayal of the effect on every family member when the head of the family is accused of a scandalous and humiliating crime.
Flawless character development and an engaging writing style puts this novel above the typical family drama of a father with an impeccable background and a dirty secret that comes back to destroy the whole family.
I liked the way we don't get to know George Woodbury firsthand, we see him only through the eyes of his wife Joan, son Andrew and daughter Sadie, I think it made the story more intriguing to figure out whether or not he was innocent from what people thought of him.
His teenaged daughter acted out in typical fashion, however, it was interesting to see the parallel between her crush on the aspiring author and how he manipulated her to get his story and the alleged flirting and manipulation done by her father and other teenaged girls at her school.
His wife, Joan's character was very realistic - I identified with her and thought the abrupt ending was also realistic. Life is not always tied up neatly and the motivations of others , even ones close to us, is not always easily understood.

Thank you for PRC. The first few chapters really kept me interested. But... found it difficult to get through this book. The plot just dragged on and on without ever picking up steam. Ending was predictable.

What happens when the town hero gets arrested on charges of sexual misconduct with students from his school? Does everyone stand behind him, or do they make him the villain? This book will keep you engrossed from beginning to end. Perfect for the fans of Jodie Picoult, this is definitely a book you will want to read.

This was really a 3.5 star read for me - but I couldn't quite bump it up to a 4 because I really struggled to get through this for some reason.

The storyline itself is compelling and thought provoking. A husband, father, teacher, and true hero, is accused of inappropriate acts with some students during a ski-trip. His family is left trying to sort through the mess - the questions, the betrayal, the cruelty of people who assume the father's guilt and how horribly they treat the family. Each member of the family has to wrestle with their own emotions as they wade through the situation carrying their own personal baggage, feelings, experiences. The writing was very well done and the characters well-fleshed out and very real.

BROOKE’S REVIEW

The Best Kind of People starts off with an incredibly engaging premise: beloved teacher George Woodbury is arrested for sexual impropriety. He is the town hero after saving the school from a gunman over a decade ago and now several girls are accusing him of sexual assault.

What follows is a story told through the varied perspectives of his family members as they follow his trial. Is he guilty, or is this pillar of the community being falsely accused?

While the first half of this book is gripping, the second half of this book lost its appeal for me. The exposition of characters falls short and the exploration of the men’s rights movement misses a note for me.

Overall, this novel has been well-received and will entertain most readers. For me, it started with a bang but ended with a whimper.

PRAISE

“A gripping novel, one that shines a light on family dynamics under extreme pressure.”—The Vancouver Sun

“Zoe Whittall’s undisputed talent as a writer shines, as does her understanding into the complexity of our sympathies, our morality, and our humanity. With incredible empathy and undeniable skill this book is sure to spark much-needed dialogue, vital debate, and richly deserved acclaim.”—Stacey May Fowles, author of Infidelity

“The Best Kind of People examines the effects of rape culture on an entire community with rare nuance and insight. Every character is fully rounded, flawed, and achingly human. It puts me in mind of a twenty-first-century Ordinary People.”—Kate Harding, author of Asking for It

“The Best Kind of People gets into the hearts and minds of an ordinary family forced to confront the monstrous. This novel is a timely discussion of what we owe those who abuse and those who are targeted in our communities.” —Kaitlyn Greenidge, author of We Love You, Charlie Freeman

AUTHOR

ZOE WHITTALL’S debut novel Bottle Rocket Hearts made the Globe and Mail Top 100 Books of the Year (2007) and CBC Canada Reads’ Top Ten Essential Novels of the Decade. Her second novel Holding Still for as Long as Possible (2009) won a Lambda Literary Award and was an American Library Association Stonewall Honor Book. She was awarded the K.M. Hunter Artist Award for Literature in 2016. Her writing has appeared in the Walrus, the Believer, the Globe and Mail, the National Post, Fashion, and more. She has also worked as a writer and story editor on Canadian National TV shows such as Degrassi, Schitt’s Creek, and the Baroness Von Sketch Show. Born in the Eastern Townships of Quebec, she has an MFA from the University of Guelph and lives in Toronto.

As a final note, I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

Thank you NetGalley for the PRC. This story was so interesting to me, the way one person's guilt and imprisionment can effect an entire family. The story starts out telling the story of how local teacher George Woodbury saves an entire school from an active shooter, including his daughter Sadie. George later gets accused of inappropriate sexual behavior with students while on a ski trip. While this family seems to have it all, a large house on a private lake, notoriety in the community, and ties with local government, other people and kids at school aren't so kind. Sadie, George's 17 year old daughter takes most of the brunt and durning the book we watch her go from 4.0 student and track star to a pot smoker and skipping school. I enjoyed the way Whittall showed each persons side of the arrest and how it changed their life.

Sadly, The Best Kind of People was not one of the best kinds of books... The first fourth or so was close to terrific - the reader is led through the first moments, hours, and days after a main character is arrested for sexual misconduct with his students. We experience the confusion and the conflicted feelings of his wife and teenage daughter, and the story moves along briskly.
However, the tone and tempo seem to change and I was less engaged with any of the characters through the end of the novel. It does bring some interesting points to light, and would certainly be good as a discussion book due to the nature of the matters it covers.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing an advance copy for review.

I was enthralled with this book until about 75% through. I found things that I both liked and detested about each character, but I just had to see what happened with George.

The ending completely ruined the book for me, to be quite honest. It was such a let down, and I sat on this review for quite some time trying to think of how to reign in my thoughts on it.

Unfortunately, this book wasn't the home run I had hoped it would be for me.

This book was well done all the way through until the ending. This author had great insight in victim's and criminal's families and what they do through during the legal and social process of the aftermath of a crime. And then the ending was just a letdown in every single way for every single character. It wasn't that I wished for a different outcome as far as the trial - but the whole thing and how that ending happened was pathetic and disappointing as far as how well written the rest of this book was. The ending was not well written and was simply too "pat" and easy. Really sad when she had a unique opportunity to tell a story and did so well until it ended....then just abandoned sense and storytelling and shut it down in a pathetic way.

I don't really know how to describe this book. I really liked the story, but I realized about half way through that nothing was happening. I really wanted to know more about the alleged crime, but this book really isn't about that.

The book is about how an accusation, whether true or false, can completely change the lives of the people surrounding it. Every person, besides one, in the family changed by the end of the book.

I enjoyed the author's style of writing and wanted to keep turning the pages. But I really wanted to know about the crime and you don't get much story about it. In fact, in the end you don't really know what happened - and I think that's what disappointed me the most about the book

DNF. It's a rarity that I don't finish a book. This just happens to be one of those rare times. The failure I think is as much me as it is the author. Reminds me of a chef. Everything cooked has to meet both the chef expectation and the diners to work. So it goes with a book. My poor review could be that I just didn't like the style.

The characters fell flat for me. By the time I put the book down at the 50% mark I knew more about the sex life of Georges 2 Kids than I did about the alledged crime commited by George.

I have not banished Zoe Whittall to the nether regions never to be read again. Something else of hers may pique my interest.

My thanks to Zoe Whittall, the Publisher The House of Anansi, and Netgalley for my free copy in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

I was not a fan of this book. It begins with a teacher protecting his daughter and the rest of the school from a shooter. This local hero, George, is years later accused of sexually assaulting several female students on a school trip. The book focuses on George's family and how they are effected by the accusation and subsequent trial. The writing was not bad but I did find the book incredibly boring. I had zero interest in any of the characters and had to really force myself to keep reading.

[Disclaimer: I received a free e-copy of this book from NetGalley for review purposes.]

This is going to be a short review.

There was too much focus on Sadie's sex life - wasn't a fan of the descriptions of her having sex with her boyfriend and jerking him off/giving him a BJ. And while I understand why she turned to pot and other drugs/alcohol in order to cope, I thought it felt a bit too casual.

Joan's reaction to what her husband did felt the most real, but all of the anger the author talks about her feeling never really explodes to the point I'd imagine it would.

Andrew's breakdown felt the saddest, because he had a really good thing going with his boyfriend and his father destroyed that.

In fact, George destroyed everything. And in the end, we aren't even given the satisfaction of knowing whether he actually did what he was brought up on charges for. The main victim recants, it's made to look like he was sleeping with the school secretary at the time, and then the charges are dropped. Nothing is put forward as to whether he did it. That's literally the only thing I wanted to know, because I was so bored with the rest of the book.

And then there's the last line, which ruined the entire thing for me. The fact that Joan reconciled with him, giving in after all his manipulation, felt absolutely pathetic. It seemed like she'd managed to finally start living her truth, and he just wears her down until she agrees to come back.

I don't recommend this book to really anyone. I appreciate the opportunity to read, but it wasn't what I was hoping for.

I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review. This book held my interest and is very well written. I enjoyed it..

I enjoyed this novel and felt the author was very familiar with what she was writing. The way she described the wealthy small town and the community felt very real to me and I enjoyed reading about it. For me the criticisms would be the plot involving Kevin, I was waiting for this to blow up and be a big plot development for me it kind of just puttered out and didn't live up to the emphasis given to it. I was also not 100% satisfied with the ending - nothing seemed to be resolved but I suppose that it very true to life. Again I think I was waiting for a big twist. Early on the foundations were laid that George was being set up but nothing came of this angle which for me was a disappointment.

3 stars

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A popular high school teacher in a private school is accused of sexual misconduct with several of his female students during a ski trip. The book follows the fall-out of his arrest on his immediate family.

This book started out promising and I really thought I was going to like it. Unfortunately it started to drag in the middle of the book. About 60 % into the book I didn't like any of the characters and just wanted it to be over. Then I got my wish, because all of a sudden the book rushed to an end. It was really jarring. The end of the book also seemed like a huge cop out and I literally rolled my eyes. In addition, the author left several storylines hanging with no closure. So disappointing.

This was a very interesting book. The plot and characters intrigued me from beginning to end. It does seem as if the main character got off way too easy but this book sort of leads to it. I would definitely recommend this book to my friends.

George Woodbury, a schoolteacher, is arrested. The arrest leaves his family wrestling with the possibility of his guilt and this reader wondering how she managed to finish this one. It wasn’t what I expected at all.

The Woodburys cherish life in Connecticut until the night George is charged with sexual misconduct with students from his school. His wife, Joan, vaults between denial and rage. Their daughter, Sadie, finds refuge in an unexpected place. Their son, Andrew, returns home to support the family, only to confront unhappy memories from his past.

I grabbed this book from NetGalley with the expectation that the story would focus mainly on one thing – the accusations against George – and I spent the whole book waiting for that story. What did happen? I wanted to hear from the girls. I wanted their story. However, The Best Kind of People wasn’t about the accusations themselves but how those accusations effected the family. The entire book felt long and drawn out. Then when what I was waiting for came, it came like no more than a passing thought.

I was disappointed in this one. Mainly because it wasn’t the story I was expecting, but also because the writing wasn’t compelling. If you enjoy books that focus more on the reactions to events rather than an event itself, this is for you. If you’re like me and want the details of an event itself, save yourself the time and skip this one.

This book was so disappointing--it seemed to be written in a rush, with uneven character development and a confusingly written point of view. The premise--how a seemingly perfect American family is turned upside-down when the patriarch is accused of sexually assaulting several young teenage girls in his care--deserves more thought and complexity than this author has given it.

How accusations of sexual misconduct are handled by institutions is a relevant topic in contemporary society. Just two years ago, a student at Columbia University accused another student of rape, and she did not feel the university handled the accused rapist appropriately. The victim carried a dorm mattress with her throughout her senior year as a form of protest. The Best Kind of People is about a man accused of sexual misconduct with students at the prep school where he teaches science. George Woodbury is an exemplary teacher and the descendant of wealthy men who built the rich enclave where he lives in bucolic Connecticut, on a private lake. Georges's wife, Joan, is a nurse, and his daughter, Sadie, is a student at the prep school. The oldest son, Andrew is a young lawyer in New York. On Sadie's 17th birthday, the police arrive at the Woodbury mansion and arrest George. The entire family is in shock as is the school and the community. George has been 'Teacher of the Year' for several years running. Ten years ago, he charged at a man who entered the school with a gun and saved the life of the student the gunman was holding. George is known as a hero, the best kind of citizen a community could want and now, under arrest for sexual misconduct with a student.

The rest of the novel depicts the unraveling of a family who is in shock and disbelief. Additional characters come into the picture to add tension and by the time I reached the end, I was, like Sadie, wondering about the veracity of George's cry of innocence. The story is good in that it details what happens to the family of someone in that situation. Lives are forever changed and one can only hope they will get past everything and forget, or learn how to protect themselves.

Thank you to NetGalley, Zoe Whittall, and Ballantine Books for the opportunity to read this ARC (pub 9/17).