The Best Kind of People

This was a made-for-TV-movie type story of a respected teacher accused of sexual misconduct with students. I thought the premise was interesting and the writing and story started out okay, but both just got worse as the book wore on. Unlikable characters, unbelievable story line, bad dialogue. I don't recommend.

This book is thought provoking, comes at you any different angles and points of view, and I totally could not put it down, read in one sitting, took me 3 hours. Wonderful to read a book that makes you think and realize how much changes in one's life when the chips are down, how others look at us in our daily life, or how we look at each other... Suspend your belief in the way laws and justice work, because this book does NOT have to follow any set of rules, because, itnis, after all, a BOOK, and a work of FICTION, so to the reviewer who gave a lot less stars than this book deserves due to the law in the book not following the real world model is just awful. A book of fiction can say the judge had wings and flew around if that is how the author wants to write it, no one should give bad reviews because real life procedures were not being followed in a book. This is not, nor did it say it was, a law book, it is about how a family and town around them are torn apart and changed because of rape alegatiom, not what law process was or wasn't followed, geesh... Totally loved this book. Focus on the plot, not the side stuff. You got the book for the plot, not the procedures...

The story is an all-too-familiar one: a beloved teacher is charged with improper behavior towards female students. Headlines scream. Families crumple. Lives disintegrate. I'd venture a guess it's happened in just about every high school at one time or another. And if a parent or administrator is quick to deny such a thing would ever happen at their All-American High--just ask the kids. They know.
George Woodbury fits the profile: beloved teacher, active community member, loving family man. George was it at Avalon Hills Prep School. (In fact, George is so wonderful he single-handedly took down a school shooter at his daughter's elementary school a decade earlier.) But one late-summer night, the police show up at the door. Arrest George. Strip the home he shares with wife Joan and seventeen-year-old daughter Sadie of photo albums, computers, files, even family portraits on the wall. Gone.
The charge? Sexual misconduct with three female students and attempted rape. George promises he'll be out in a day or so. Joan pledges to make bail and stand by his side. Sadie is devastated. How could anyone accuse her father of such a ridiculous charge. He's the one who gave her the rape whistle she wears. He's the one who preached 'girls can be anything'. "He even read the Gloria Steinem biography," Sadie remembers. But is seems there have been rumors--whispers and warnings that George never spoke of to Joan--and some members of the community aren't surprised.
There's a fair amount added to the plot that I didn't need. Sadie has a lot of sex with her boyfriend. There's a party scene (or the aftermath) that's raunchy. A based-on-real-events novel gets written about the case. The Woodbury's live in a wealthy lakeside community and live on inherited money. Son Andrew can't open up to his partner.
It's Joan I can't get out of my mind, though.
The woman did everything by the book. She married her sweetheart, she put him through grad school, she kept a beautiful home and grew vegetables and baked cookies and volunteered from here to kingdom come. As if that wasn't enough, Joan was a respected emergency room nurse at the local hospital. She raised two incredibly bright and successful children. (Sadie's older brother Andrew is a lawyer living in New York.) She was the Harriet to her Ozzie, the June to her Ward. She did things the. right. way.
How could she not know. She had to, right? That's what the community thought. That's what I think when I hear about these cases in the news. Or could it be that George wasn't even guilty? Maybe he was just set up by some disgruntled, troubled young girls. That's what the community thought. That's what I think when I hear about these cases in the news.
But we women love our men--even those behaving badly, right? Through thick and thin, 'til death do us part and all that.
We watch Joan grow a pair. She attends a support group for women whose partners are in prison. She finds out the trust money is (surprise!) nearly gone. She asserts herself, cuts off contact with George because of the evidence and starts to think about building a life without him.
Of course you want to know Joan's decision. George's guilt or innocence. There's no spoiler alert here, reader. But let me end by saying that the last page was so charged I could have thrown my Kindle across the room.
It's a doozy.

The Best Kind of People
Zoe Whittall

I admit to being a bit triggered the first time I tried to read this book about a beloved schoolteacher accused of molesting teen-aged girls, and the effect it has on his family. But I gave it another shot, and frankly found it too quiet for the subject matter, and pretty much unbelievable.
Things I had trouble believing:
-No bail, incarceration in prison for 8-9 months when the accused was a member of a founding family, a local hero and beloved teacher? Because he was a flight risk? No.
-The length of time George was in prison gave his family time to shift from “hell no” to probably guilty.
-That two books could be written and published after the arrest and before the accused went to trial.
-that a high school senior was basically set “free” …not attending classes, not accounting to anyone, and apparently had unlimited funds, but still got into Columbia.
-that no one sued anyone else civilly.
Despite the inability to suspend disbelief, the writing felt authentic. I am not sure about choosing three different narrative points of view though, and the book didn’t impress me enough to want to read more. To be fair, it is tough subject matter that requires facility with teenagers, the legal system, the gossip and publishing worlds, gay issues and the psychological effect all those things have on a “typical suburban (wealthy) family.” To the extent that the author took those risks is commendable.
I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

THE SETTING

Avalon, a lily-white town filled with the affluent, privileged people; bringing up what some might call: entitled youth—born with silver spoons in their mouths. A community shrouded in the darkness of “have.”

THE CAST

George: Born into wealth, filthy rich. A hero who thwarts a school shooting—in life he settles for becoming a teacher. He is beloved. He is the teacher-of-the-year, year-after-year—until charged with four counts of sexual assault on young students.

Joan: A dotting loving wife + a sharp-as-a-tack nurse.

Sadie: A near genius, athletically gifted, beautiful daughter.

Andrew: A gay (of course) son who escaped the shadows of Avalon for the openness and bright lights of New York.

Clara: Sadie’s at times heartless sister.

Elaine + Jimmy + Kevin: Elaine: a woman who wanted a child—chose to go it on her own. Jimmy: her son, a product of insemination + Sadie’s boyfriend. Kevin: A struggling past-relevant author, Elaine’s partner.

THE STORY

I wanted to love this novel. For the most part, I did. At times I had to keep reminding myself it was fiction.

The story starts with George saving the day by stopping an active shooting situation, by risking his life. He instantly becomes a hero. Has he the perfect family—the perfect wife—the perfect life?

His life crumbles. George faces four counts of sexual deviance of young students on a ski trip.

What I loved about The Best Kind of People is that it took an original take on a complicated subject matter by for the most part: taking the main character out of the plot. He is incarcerated with no chance for parole, and with limited interaction with family.

Whittall tackles: sexual assault, deception, darkness, secrecy, and the fight for understanding + the survival of the main characters as their lives are ripped apart by the judgement. Is the judgment misdirected?

Community support amongst adults, although most of them sit in silence—skews toward George, with devastating results for his accusers.

Whereas, Sadie, is shunned by classmates; as youth crawl over each other in battles for popularity. Joan becomes an emotional waste, barely holding onto reality. Andrew returns to support his family—reliving his past and what it was like to be gay in a community with deep closets. He reveals a secret love of his own—a moral question between gay and straight, hidden in the past.

The characters are not lovable. Somehow, I found myself pulling for them. Without George, in the forefront, each of them took the stage, flaws and all.

What would you do if a member of your family committed a sexual crime; would you stand with them in support; would you believe innocent until proving guilty?

Alternatively, would you assume the worst and fall into a world where you try to piece life together without fully knowing whether it is going to fall apart or not?

I struggled with the assumption of guilt.

With George in prison + limited communication with his family, he said, “I am being set up,” the lack of storyline addressing his innocence—didn’t seem real. Surely, his wife, daughter, or son, would’ve been giving more of a story than “I am being set up.” Without question; they would have stood by—after all, he had been a hero, a perfect husband, and father.

The lack of addressing guilt or innocence in more detail led to an assumption of guilt. Page-after-page his story was not entirely told.

How could it not have been?

The back stories are fascinating. The struggles, although part of the fiction, mostly translate in a fictitious way: had the family reduced to defeat—there appeared to be no fight—no real support—a perfect life became a secret life draped in darkness before the light was to reveal the truth.

Would you assume guilt?

Before I go, Kevin, the once-relevant-writer, and Sadie...provide a twist amongst the twisting and turning storylines where with her father lost, she..?

The Best Kind of People bounces between George's family members as they try to navigate murky dark truths they do not know. It is a gripping emotional roller coaster that tugs at every ounce of readers’ moral fibres with every turned page as they ask themselves: how would I feel, what would I do; and can love survive, the dark depths of unfaithful, on a level rarely seen?

The main character, in the background, not having a voice; missed an opportunity—that is okay—the moral questions are important—I remind myself: this story is fiction.

I was intrigued by the plot of The Best Kind of People. This book was looking at the aftermath of when a teacher is accused of sexual assault on a student. When I mean aftermath, I mean how the family is affected by everything that happened and how they cope with it. So, I was a little disappointed when the book didn’t live up to my internal hype of it.

I could not connect with any of the characters after my initial feeling bad for them. There was a disconnect with Sadie, Andrew, and Joan with me. They didn’t seem to ring true as I read the book. Sadie’s descent into smoking pot and stealing drugs was a little too much for me. What also was a little too much was Andrew’s reactions to his hometown. To sum it up: He loved to hate the town and the people in it. And then there is Joan. For someone who kept saying that she didn’t look down on people, she sure looked down on everyone in the book. She was very judgy and she drove me nuts. Her reactions to different relationships nailed it for me.

What I did like, and I wish more emphasis was put on it, was George and what he did. The author did a great job keeping you on your toes. Did George do it or was he being set up? There wasn’t a concrete answer. You were forced to make your own decision based on the facts that the author let leak during the story. It was great.

The author also did a great job portraying a family that was blindsided by what happened. The effect of George and his arrest almost dismantled his family. Sadie got the worst of it…seeing that she was in the same school as her accusers. She went from being a popular well-liked girl to a social pariah within a day. Andrew, whose relationship was already on shaky ground, started developing awful anger and relationship issues. Joan was having issues coming to term with what George did and had no clue how to act or what to do. The author also did a great job of showing how they recovered or didn’t recover, from what happened.

The end of the book was not a happy one which was ok with me. Not all endings have to be happy. There were still issues that needed to be resolved and you are left wondering “Did he do it?”

My Summary of The Best Kind of People: 3 stars

The Best Kind of People started off with a bang and then stalled out before ending on a weak note. While I liked that I was kept on my toes about George, I felt that there was a disconnect with his family and that is what brought the book down a star for me.

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.

THE BEST KIND OF PEOPLE, by Canadian author Zoe Whittall, is quite simply one of the most gripping and literary page turners I have read in quite some time. The plot is fairly simple. George Woodbury, a popular and well-respected teacher in a private New England prep school is suddenly arrested and charged with sexual improprieties and attempted rape involving several of his young charges. This is a highly character-driven narrative, which follows the emotional whirlwind that George's wife and children find themselves caught up in. Joan, his wife of thirty-five years and a nurse, finds herself alone and ostracized, not knowing who or what to believe or trust, as events unfold around her. Seventeen year-old Sadie, their daughter, who is a popular senior at the school, is also suddenly enmeshed in a strange new world of uncertainty and doubt. Their older son, Andrew, a thirty-something attorney in New York City, where he's made a life with his partner, Jared, is forced to once again confront his unhappy adolescence as a gay teenager in the small town he thought he'd escaped.

And, while it's true that this family, wealthy and privileged, might indeed be considered 'the best kind of people,' as its title implies, they are also very human, and Whittall proceeds to make this unmistakable as she follows the changing fortunes of Joan, Sadie and Andrew while George awaits trial in prison. Because this is a story "about human limits. The limits of the body, the mind, the spirit."

And all of these limits are severely tested. Joan in particular is tested by her wildly fluctuating feelings. In a session with a therapist, she expresses her yearning for things to be normal again, noting, "Routines can be so unremarkable, even boring, you never think about them until they change."

But this is a story of a family trapped by inescapable changes and how they deal with them. Even at over 400 pages, this is a pretty quick read; it's that good, nearly unputdownable. Whittall, who has written three other novels, is also a poet and a television writer. Her ear for convincing dialogue and eye for detail are unerring and dead-on, her characters utterly believable. This is one hell of a good read. Very highly recommended.

- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER

You know I very rarely have a hard time deciding how to rate a book. Sometimes I have to sit and think about the book and then decide. I finished this book and still do not know how to rate this book. I have been torn between a 3 and a 3.5 so I am going to leave it at a 3.

Just how well do you know your husband? Your Father? Your co-worker? Your employee? What secrets do people keep? How are they able to keep them? Just how good a liar or they? Or do people become good at ignoring the truth? What is someone you knew was accused of an atrocious crime? What if you have doubts? What if you believe them? How will you feel when secrets are revealed?

George Woodbury is a husband, father and teacher. A couple of years ago he saved a life when an armed gunman entered his school. He has been the local hero. He is seen as an all round good guy, a family man and respected member of society. His family and his town are shocked to the core when he is arrested and charged with a horrible crime. He has taken students on a school trip and three girls have accused him of sexual assault. He strongly claims that he is innocent and that his family should not be worried, that his name will be cleared.

As he is incarcerated and the police investigation continues, Georges's family experiences many emotions and stressful situations. His daughter, Sadie, goes from being a popular high school student to the town pariah. She has a boyfriend but becomes confused about her feelings and her relationship as revelations come to life. She also is getting attention from a local Author who has decided to write a book and has become friendly with Sadie. She becomes confused about his intentions and her feelings for him. Her mixed up feelings and emotions cause her to make some bad choices and get in uncomfortable situations. George's adult son, Andrew, helps with the investigation while grappling with his past and trying to make a future with his supportive partner who Andrew keeps at arms bay. George's wife Joan has mixed emotions concerning his crime. She fluctuates between being in denial to believing the worst of her husband. Their community is turning against their family as George's secrets begin to be revealed.

There is a lot going on in this book and the Author slowly unravels multiple layers at the right pace. There are some touchy issues in this book - teenage sex, consensual sex between a teacher and student, rape, adults in authority taking advantage of students, secrets, family secrets, bullying, etc. There are definitely some creepy aspects to this book which may also be difficult for some readers.

I will be honest, I was disappointed with the ending but I do realize that life does not always give happy endings and the Author kept things real in that aspect. There are parts of the story that I enjoyed and parts that I did not. This book proved to be a fast read for me and kept my attention. I wanted to know - was he guilty? Will he be found guilty? I did enjoy watching the family experience various natural emotions ranging from doubt, disbelief, fear, confusion, anger, rage, disappointment, hope, etc.

I received a copy of this book from Random House Publishing - Ballantine and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This novel starts out strong. When George Woodbury, a respected teacher, is arrested for sexual misconduct with minors and attempted rape of a minor, the lives of his wife of nearly thirty years and his children, Andrew, a lawyer, and seventeen-year-old Sadie, are torn in pieces.

The arrest divides the town of Avalon and the private school where George teaches and Sadie is a senior. It was hard reading the stuff from the men’s rights group, who think women make up rape charges when sex didn’t go as they wanted or they felt some kind of guilt for their bad behavior. But that was the point: Do you believe George, who has never said anything improper about young girls and whose computer is without child porn, or do you believe the young women?

As his wife and children waver about whether they believe his claims that he’s being set up, they find themselves ostracized at work, school, and church. Andrew fairs better since he lives in the city, not the small town anymore, but it wreaks havoc on his relationship with his long-term partner.
I didn’t love the ending. Maybe it was the author’s point that such cases are never black and white, but in the world of fiction, I wish the author had made some different choices.

Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine for the opportunity to review this book.