I didn't like the story or the writing. Left me cringing in parts....

If these are THE BEST KIND OF PEOPLE...no thank you. Couldn't get into the story, left the father's fate hanging while everyone was, for want of a better word, whining about how the situation would effect them while offering no support to the father. That and the amount of f* bombs made the book unpleasant for me to attempt to finish reading.

Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for the opportunity to preview the book.

This is a book about rape culture, but unlike many books about rape culture, it doesn't focus on the victims, nor does it focus on the accused. Instead, it's an exploration of how people on the periphery of an accusation are affected, and I appreciated reading this less common perspective on this oft-discussed topic.

A timely book that deals with the "rape culture" in America, The Best Kind of People takes a close look at those (not so) indirectly affected when accusations are made. This book focuses on the family of the accused and how it affects their day to day life as well as their relationship to each other and those to whom they share a close bond. The book hooked me from the very beginning and would be a 5 star read. However the ending seemed rushed and not nearly as well executed as the rest of the book. The ending was just a little too neat for my taste - although I do admit to being surprised which is always a good thing.

Zoe Whithall is an established and respected poet and novelist. She is considered one of the top Canadian writers who won the 2008 Dayne Ogilvie Prize. So why did I dislike this novel so much?

The novel asks the question, what would you do if you found out that your husband, or father is not the beloved person you thought? The husband and father is charged with sexual misconduct against several teenage girls at the high school where he teaches and annually wins the best teacher award and where his daughter is an honors student. The author certainly took on an ambitious topic, and I have learned it took her six years to write this novel, but after the first few chapters there is no meat.

His adult gay son was once bullied, as a student, at the same school, yet somehow it is never mentioned why this wonderful dad and teacher had not even a hint of an idea that this was happening to his son. The wife/mother had my pity at first then her unhappiness was written over and over again until it became ad nauseam. I wanted to slap her to wake up. The teenage daughter, had some depth simply because she was a teenager self medicating in her confusion. And, don’t even start me on the ending, which you will simply have to read yourself to make your own judgments’. I’m simply not sure what all the hype is about.

Good read. This one really makes you think about human nature.

Touching with all the feelings you could imagine. Highly recommend!!!

George Woodbury is a beloved teacher at an elite prep school who is accused of rape by a student. This novel explores the response and processing of this event by the other members of the Woodbury family. A timely topic, the novel starts out strong, but doesn't quite seem to deliver as the story unfolds. The characters did not evoke empathy for me which took away from the story.

The Best Kind of People covers the story of a family impacted by charges against one of them, atrocious charges, and how they try to cope in the months preceding the trial. Four people are thrown out of the context of their lives never envisioning anything this horrific could happen to them.
The father, George Woodbury, is accused of sexual misconduct with four minors and attempted rape of a minor while on a class skiing trip with the school where he teaches. The mother, Joan, is stunned beyond belief as she would never ever have thought anything like this was possible with George. Daughter Sadie does not know what to do. She is a senior at George’s school-a star student and very involved in school activities. Andrew is the oldest child and lives in New York, far away from the stifling community of his parents. He is shocked beyond all reason by the charges and needs to cling to the notion that his father is innocent.
As these lives unravel, each must battle their way back to a new sense of normalcy, one that includes the possibility that George is guilty, no matter how much he says he is innocent. Sadie becomes more and more into marijuana as an escape and envisions herself in love with an older man. Andrew’s relationship with his partner begins to come undone. Joan finds solace in a support group for women in her situation.
If there is resolution, it is in each person finding what they really need in order to cope.

This novel seemed like a Jodi Picoult, Karin Slaughter wannabe....and not quite making it. I didn't care much about the characters because they weren't terribly well-developed and were quite shallow. The content is important but execution of the idea was weak

This book is about family, relationships and loyalty! It is told from the point of view of several characters and how they feel about what is going on. George, the husband. Father, teacher is accused of sexual assault on several students! His son, wife, and daughter, have to decide to believe him or his accusers. It seems like the whole town bans together against the family. The daughters boyfriends "stepfather" writes a book about the whole thing. I enjoyed this book, it keeps you guessing what happens next

This is a provocative and poignant story about an American marriage and family, when the father/husband is arrested.It is also a picture of modern-day suburbia. The plot is well-paced and characters realistically portrayed. I could not put this novel down.

Initially this had me hook, line and sinker in the beginning chapters, but this emotionally charged story of George Woodbury who was once hailed the town hero for stopping a school shooter became a bit tedious towards the later part of the book. George Woodbury, his wife Joan and their two children, grown son Andrew and teenager Sadie have lived a privileged life in a small town called Avalon Hills. They have an idyllic life in a generations old family home until one day allegations of sexual misconduct arise against well respected teacher George. What happens throughout the book is the emotional toll these allegations take on the family, testing their loyalties and what they believe. while I found the subject sensitive I didn't feel anything much for the characters of this family like mainly Joan his wife who struggled with the backlash in the community or for their youngest daughter Sadie with her constant quoting of statistics that unnerved me. As the book progressed towards the end that left me a bit surprised, the actual ending fell a little flat for me.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with this ARC for an honest review

I loved the book up until the end. I loved the plot, the characters, the writing and the pacing.. All that said I do look forward to reading more from this author. The end to me felt rushed and not realistic. Trust me when I tell you that I wasn't expecting that ending. I don't give out spoilers but the book is good enough to read and you can experience it yourself and see what you think of the ending.

Tough subject and unsatisfying ending - though not unrealistic. Interesting POV.

Other than the ending, which felt contrived, I was very engaged with this book and the conflicts that the major characters were going through. It feels as if it is inspired by many true events, which all great fiction should be!

I received this as an ARC from NetGalley.
I really liked this book. The story was interesting, but in the same way it was kind of a glimpse of every day life and what goes on in a regular family (for the most part) when something bad happens to them. The topic, rape/molestation/inappropriate behavior accusations, is extremely serious. The father, George is accused of these behaviors totally out of the blue--he is a well-respected, educated, town-hero who is looked up to and admired. His wife, Joan and kids Andrew and Sadie are all shocked and do not know what to do or how to handle the situation of their father being in prison all of the sudden. The town (and family even) is divided as to who supports him and who thinks he is guilty and the family is treated terribly by many. So many things change as the story evolves, but I like that fact that the reader is kind of left to draw her own conclusions on the truth and what everyone should or should not have done. The writing it amazing, descriptive, interesting and I was so engrossed in the story that I could not put this one down without finishing it. I see that a lot of other readers did not like the characters or the story, but I think that it is a truly honest view into what happens in a family when a loved one is accused of something completely out of characters. I am not sure how I would react either...none of the characters are perfect but they seem really honest and genuine in their feelings, at least to me.

I wanted to love this book, and in many ways I really liked it, but there was something off for me in terms of flow and narrative.
I found not only the writing choppy (especially descriptive elements) but also had a very hard time connecting with the characters. I think this may have had to do with the structure but found the characters hard to relate to, understand and many of their actions unbelievable. Especially had difficulty with Sadie and Joan.

It's been a long time since I stayed up well past 1am to finish a book, but The Best Kind of People compelled me to finish it.

George Woodbury is a pillar of the community - until he's not. Seemingly out of nowhere, the respected teacher is accused of sexual impropriety by several young students. As he's arrested and awaits trial, his family is left to navigate these unforeseen waters. His daughter, Sadie, is shunned by classmates, torn between believing her father and the young women, and emotionally exploited by a writer workout scruples. His son, Andrew, returns to the town that was so unwelcoming to him as a gay teen to help, shutting out a loving partner and taking a leave from work. Joan, the wife who had no idea, grapples with understanding what is happening, what it means about her marriage, about the kind of woman she may be.

I would've liked to hear from the accusers, but this isn't really their story. It's not even really George's story. Rather, it's the story of his family and how they cope with this new existence.

My only real problem with the story is a scene with daughter Sadie toward the end of the novel. Without giving anything away, I'll say that the telling of an experience she has isn't followed up on, leaving me to wonder why it was included at all of it wasn't going to inform the character.

Overall, The Best Kind of People is a fascinating and compassionate look at those left to pick up the pieces when a loved one is accused of a horrific crime.

George Woodbury is a prep school science teacher in the affluent town of Avalon Hills and a hero in the town for having stopping a school shooting almost ten years earlier. But on the day of his daughter Sadie’s 17th birthday, the police came to arrest him for accusations of sexual misconduct during a weekend field trip he was supervising. He was held in jail without bail until his trial date, which was not for eight months.

George insists he was being set up, but there were four different girls making the accusations.

The community’s judgment is immediate, as is, surprisingly, the family’s. The story takes us through the period leading up to the trial, as well as its aftermath. There are any number of tragic repercussions, as well as some surprising twists.

As the author writes about Avalon Hills, this was a community that “seemed ripe for parody, with its perfect greenery, cafes boasting fair-trade coffee and chocolate, a yoga studio on every block, and its low high school dropout rate.”

Sadie was a reflection of the seemingly perfect families in Avalon Hills:

“Sadie was in the accelerated academic program, a group of well-regarded students who, barring a stint in the eating disorder wing or a trip to rehab for Adderall addiction, were all heading to prestigious universities. . . . They ate lunch in the student government lounge, because naturally they were the student government.”

After her dad is arrested, Sadie is worried about all kinds of things: how do you know if a person is really good or bad? What makes someone do something bad? What if criminal behavior is hereditary? Sadie was also plagued by not believing her own father. It was not that he ever gave any indication of the behavior he was accused of, but she was socialized - by George even! - to give victims the benefit of the doubt.

Sadie said to her brother Andrew: “Dad is fucked. We’re fucked. Hasn’t it totally shattered your image of him?”

George’s wife Joan, a nurse, wonders, what if George has a tumor that made him do it? What if he’s physically sick?

Joan felt “[s]omeone had taken Joan’s only confidant, the one person who actually knew her completely, and her best friend, and replaced him with a monster. The person she knew and trusted was gone.”

Both Sadie and Joan discovered that “. . . if someone puts the possibility of something terrible in your head - and people around you believe it - you can’t go back to thinking its completely inconceivable.” Because at some level, the very fact of the accusations had a persuasive effect.

Only Andrew, who is gay, has some doubts, because he knows how malicious high school girls can be from his own experiences: As he tells his mom, “Some of those girls accusing Dad, they look just like the girls who spit in my face, who had their boyfriends kick. Out my car headlights and kick me into a corner and then piss on me as I huddled there. That’s all I can see, when I see those girls - the evil suburban menace, you know?”

Meanwhile, not only George, but the rest of the family is now subject to the judgment and shunning of their community. How could the wife have been oblivious? She must be guilty of knowing or at least suspecting and not reporting it. And as for Sadie and Andrew, they are tainted by association: Sadie finds obscene graffiti on her things - “whore” and “Sadie Woodbury sucks big dicks!” And Andrew is pilloried by the local press for being gay, the implication being that the whole family is “perverted” in some way.

Sadie goes to stay at her boyfriend Jimmy’s house to get away from the harassment. Along with Jimmy’s mom Elaine, Elaine’s boyfriend and frustrated author Kevin also lives at the house. Kevin keeps stashes of pornography and pot in the house, and Sadie starts stealing his pot, or accepting Kevin’s offers to join him in smoking when he is around. Pretty soon she is turned off by Jimmy and fantasizing about Kevin. Kevin is paying a lot of attention to her and she misinterprets it.

Sadie gets more into drugs and drinking, and even gets a “dealer.” She blames her father. “Fuck my dad. Fuck him.”

But then there is an unexpected development at the trial, and the family’s life is turned upside down once again.

Discussion: At the end of the book, a number of questions were left unanswered. But maybe the *process* was the point - i.e., what happened to everyone involved regardless of what the truth of the matter was.

It struck me as odd however, that not only does almost everyone almost immediately assume George’s guilt, but no one appears to be much interested in finding out the facts. There is a lot of discussion about rape and victimhood, and “he said” versus “she said” situations, but as for what specifically happened on the field trip, it seems not even George’s family wants the details.

I felt the author was making a point about the way this community turned on the family and tormented them, but there was also no “meta level” discussion about it or interrogation of any of the characters as to why they would also turn on the wife and kids. Wouldn’t at least some of them feel sympathy toward the family or at least the kids? And if not, why not?

Finally, there aren’t really many likable characters in this book, with the exception of Sadie’s boyfriend Jimmy, who is, however, so clueless and feckless there is a limit to how much a reader can identify with him.

Evaluation: This would be an excellent book for book clubs. There are so many topics to discuss, from the specifics of the reaction of this family and community to the accusations, to the whole question of sexual misconduct accusations generally. One could also have a lively discussion about what different readers thought happened at the end; I would love to be in on that one!