Neighborhood Watch

Neighborhood Watch by Sarah Reida, 320 pages

In the neighborhood of Oleander Court, homes and lawns are perfectly maintained (by hired help, of course), the "book club meetings" are just excuses to gossip and drink wine, and everyone is in everyone else's business. But when a string of murders starts taking out the most judgmental and vapid of the residents, those who remain have a choice: turn toward each other to help solve the crime, or turn on one another to weed out the riff-raff. Can't have it both ways and survive...

There's something wonderful about reading this book and seeing the most horrible people get their comeuppance. The woman who assumes that the Asian American neighbor must not understand English, the lady who reacts to her housekeeper's family emergency with dismay that she may have to wash her own dish for once, the nosy neighbor who thinks the lesbian couple next door needs to stop "flaunting" their lifestyle... it's schadenfreude at its finest. While I have a few minor quibbles with how one character's past life is portrayed, I can see this becoming a very popular book. Perfect for anyone who's ever received a passive-aggressive note about lawns, trash cans, or noise from a neighbor.

You'll Enjoy It When You Get There: the Stories of Elizabeth Taylor / 428 pp.

What a thrill to find this among our new books: an esteemed English novelist and short-story writer from mid-twentieth century whose work has been overlooked in the U.S. in recent years.  (And no, she was never married to Richard Burton; that was another Elizabeth T.)  These stories, written between 1950 and 1975 and many published first in The New Yorker, are, to this reader, fantastic.  They are 'small' stories set in middle-class homes in suburban England, but Taylor's powers of observation are tremendous.  Many critics describe her claustrophobic marriages dark and twisted; I found her descriptions rather compassionate instead.  Consider this description, from Sisters: "...the massive, mottled flesh beneath, creased, as it must be, from its rigid confinement, or the suspender imprints at the top of her tapering legs.  Her navel would be full of talcum powder."  It sounds cruel, but as the story plays out, it's clear that Taylor is beyond mere mockery.  Brilliant and subtle, Elizabeth Taylor gets my vote!