The Good Neighbor by Amy Sue Nathan

This is the book that gave me the idea for the blog.  I enjoyed the book.  It was light, and fun, and mostly correct, although I did find a couple of typos.  Typos seem common in ebooks, much more so than print books.  I think they don't get proofed as well.


Mrs. Feldman is indeed a very good neighbor.  She's always there for Izzy, and it's nice that Izzy gets a chance to return the support.  Mrs. Feldman's heartbreaking story just underscores how important it is to talk to each other, although I understand that may not have been the norm in the 1950s.  Makes me glad to be alive in the 21st century.



I don't really get why everyone got SO upset about Mac.  If a friend of mine did what Izzy did, I would just laugh and hug her and tell her I was sorry she felt so insecure.  I certainly wouldn't get all pissed off over it.  As to the whole "she could have destroyed Jade's business" bit, we shouldn't discount that Jade brought the whole thing on her self.  Let's be honest, Jade's a shit friend.  She's totally self-absorbed.  It was infuriatingly ironic when Jade told Izzy to get over herself.  Excuse me, miss missy, you're the one who turned your best friends 40th birthday party into a launch party for your business.



Throughout the entire book, Jade put herself first, making it nearly impossible for Izzy to genuinely communicate with her.  Izzy tried to tell Jade and Rachel about Mac at the very beginning of the book, but Jade got a work text and bailed before they could have a real conversation.  When Izzy thought she was having a night out with Jade to herself, Jade ambushed her with her ENTIRE website crew AND the new investor!  Five minutes after Izzy found out she needed to come up with money for daycare, Jade is telling--not asking, telling--Izzy that she's going to be the new blogger on Pop Philly in front of a bunch of strangers.  No prior discussion, no real chance to say no.  Especially when Jade starts putting on the pressure about how bad the website needs the new traffic.



And so the lie continues.  But really, who cares?  A lifestyle blogger made up a boyfriend.  It's really not a big deal.  It should have ended with her confessing on her birthday, everyone laughing it off, and a blog post about insecurity and self-worth.  But then Jade goes off again, demanding that Izzy go public and write an advice column under her own name, which Izzy is understandably reluctant to do.  And then, without waiting for an answer, Jade turns what Izzy thinks is a private birthday celebration into a launch party for Jade's new partnership.  Why are JADE'S new bosses even at Izzy's birthday party?  Because Jade doesn't think of others.  The lesson should have been, quit bullying your friends.  But somehow Jade came out the victim.  Ugh.



And what was Andrew even mad about?  He paid for advertising.  Izzy got the site traffic up.  He got what he paid for.  So she lied to him, so what?  He just met her, she didn't owe him anything.  I used to tell men I just met that I had a boyfriend all the time when I was single.  BFD.  Dude is way too sensitive.  



I guess my takeaway is: do people really believe that all those lifestyle bloggers are telling the truth about every detail of their lives?  Do they really care that much?  Yeah, lying can be problematic, but this one got blown WAY out of proportion.  These people need to chill.  Jade is the one who really needed to learn to think about how her actions impact others.  The wrong person learned the lesson.



I know it sounds like I hated the book, but I really loved it.  It made me think, it made me feel, and reading it was fun instead of work.  I already checked out another book by Nathan from the library, and I'm looking forward to reading it.

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