Joined in 2023 
82 
63 About this deal
I would definitely recommend this book to people who enjoy tense neighborhood dramas that explore current societal issues. I know this won't work for everyone, but for the Readers who do end up enjoying it, I think they'll walk away feeling like they've had a memorable reading experience.
Those People Next Door - Wikipedia
Salma Khatun is extremely hopeful about Blenheim, the safe suburban development to which she, her husband and their son have just moved. Their family is in desperate need of a fresh start, and Blenheim feels like the place to make that happen.Since the author's "Next of Kin" was one of my favorite books of 2021, this book was one of my most anticipated reads of 2023. As with all of this authors work, heavy themes and thought-provoking intense scenarios are presented and explored. Emotions take hold of these characters decisions and things escalate toward grave consequences. This book takes neighbourhood drama to a whole new level. Not long after they move in, Salma spots her neighbour, Tom Hutton, ripping out the anti-racist banner her son put in their front garden. She chooses not to confront Tom because she wants to fit in. It's a small thing, really. No need to make a fuss. So Salma takes the banner inside and puts it in her window instead. But the next morning she wakes up to find her window smeared with paint.
THOSE PEOPLE NEXT DOOR BY A.G. GARDINER - Blogger THOSE PEOPLE NEXT DOOR BY A.G. GARDINER - Blogger
A few months ago, this book's very discriminatory publisher declined my NetGalley request to review this audiobook which, ironically, was a book about discrimination and rejection. There are many grey areas. I thought I knew who were the good guys and who weren't but the lines blurred as misperception and prejudice go both ways. Perfectly Nice Neighbors is an A++ Legal Thriller featuring major Neighborhood Drama from Kia Abdullah.Kia has written for The New York Times, The Guardian, The Financial Times, The Times, The Telegraph and the BBC, and has received a JB Priestley Award for Writers of Promise (2020). She is also the founder of Asian Booklist, a nonprofit that advocates for diversity in publishing. Those People Next Door is a fast-paced, emotionally taut book, and in some ways, also a legal thriller. But mostly, it’s a psychological study of six people. All six are doing their best to get by in this world, yet because of…well, choices, they can’t quite have the lives they want. Many of their choices are understandable, if not unavoidable, yet throughout the story, you just keep wanting to ask: you may have won this round, but at what cost? But except for that gripe, the rest of the book was amazing. The courtroom scenes were excellent, as you’d expect from this author. Zain and Tom's son, Jaimie, have become friends, but their parents have forbidden them from seeing each other. The boys secretly work together to develop an app and receive a grant. Salma later wonders if she is prejudiced against beautiful, white, blond, classy women like Willa. So many aspects of this book has been carefully considered, everything down to the title and use of the word ‘those’ to mean ‘different’ or even ‘antisocial’, but certainly not ‘us’.
Those People Next Door | Kia Abdullah | 9780008433710 - NetGalley Those People Next Door | Kia Abdullah | 9780008433710 - NetGalley
This had the makings of a very good domestic thriller/court room drama, and very far into this I very much enjoyed it but sadly I parted at the end less enamoured with Those People Next Door. A twisty and consuming thriller, Perfectly Nice Neighbors asks: When your dream home comes with nightmare neighbors, how far will you go to keep your family safe? As you know I LOVE new neighbours stories and new streets but this was kinda different, the rawness of the dispute and the real anger and nerves touched where based on colour, the author very cleverly and succinctly gave both sides of the story, one of those where you read a chapter and you are ‘right, that’s my side decided’…..until you read the next one and you are then ‘well, actually I think I’m changing my mind’, I LOVE how the author brings in all sides of ( perceived ) prejudice, highlights them, does not pass judgement on anything( as some authors can’t resist doing ) and leaves us the reader to ‘come to our own conclusion’, and to think, it was great to have to have a good think about the points and situations being raised, it’s so well done,I can’t compliment the writing enough A small act of malice between suburban neighbours snowballs, bringing tension and terror. Terrific and hugely thought-provoking’ Ian RankinBrilliantly pacey and wonderfully written with a lovely big twist. Highly recommended’ Neil Lancaster i loved the eerily realistic themes and events of the current political and social world we live in right now and think Abdullah’s writing was chef’s kiss (per usual). Not long after they move in, Salma spots her neighbour, Tom Hutton, ripping out the anti-racist banner her son put in their front garden. She chooses not to confront Tom because she wants to fit in. It’s a small thing, really. No need to make a fuss. So Salma takes the banner inside and puts it in her window instead. But the next morning she wakes up to find her window smeared with paint. One of the things that ai like most about this authors writing is that she is not afraid to go there. She will push that boundary and talk about the things that others may not be brave enough to. This book is all about racism and class. It always feels authentic in the writing and the characters are believable. You really do have strong feel is one way or another on what is happening and to who it is happening.
Those People Next Door: Quick Reads 2024 – HarperCollins Those People Next Door: Quick Reads 2024 – HarperCollins
As communication breaks down between all parties, the neighborhood rapidly turns into a suburban battleground. Y'all, I am always down for the drama. But this is a different sort of neighborhood drama than I'm used to. This was on a different level than most. Whenever I see Kia Abdullah’s name attached to a book, I get very excited, and ‘Those People Next Door’ was a perfect example of why this author elicits such feelings. Some hills are worth dying on, and some are worth walking down from, and how things escalate to that final twist felt over the top, and I had a hard time buying into the character’s behavior and motivations’ taking away that believability element that this could happen in the story. In the end, this was not a hill worth dying on but one worth walking down however that is one of the things for readers to think about, making this one a great one to think deeply about. All my guesses on how this would end were wrong! (love that!) Kia Abdullah is the queen of final twists you never see coming. Yet again she delivered!
Featured Reviews
Salma and Bilal swore they’d never end up in a modern house like Blenheim but viewing weary, nothing matches it for space or price. So, they make an offer and here they are, moving in. They receive an invitation to a May Day barbecue and feel as if they have to attend. It proves a bit awkward at times even a bit cringeworthy. Will they fit in? Only time will tell. This is an odd one, the central idea really only acts as bookends to the film with odd bits of filler inbetween. Although there was some tension, their first neighborhood barbeque and meeting the neighbors went okay. It's quite a change from the "We're all in it together" that filled British movies from the start of the war to the end. This makes full use of snobbery, both of the upper classes towards the working folks, and that of the lower class Charles Victor, full of Bolshie contempt for the uppers, and yet always ready to cadge whatever he fancies, from a beer to Warner's reading glasses. Warner has his own pride, thinking himself as good as any man and twice as good as most, and his women folk the best of all. This is when, in melodramatic fashion, she marches over to his house and accuses him, without proof, of this action as well, and I found it difficult to sympathize with her despite some “less than flattering” behavior by Tom.
Great Deal 
New Comment