My lovely friend Jeniwren sent and shared this book with me.

Jeniwren is a well-read lady who has excellent taste, so when this arrived in the post a while back with a couple of other books, I knew it was special.

After languishing for far too long on the shelf, I took it down to read and send to a New Zealand Bookcrosser (Edwardstreet), as part of The Southern Cross Book Exchange (over on www.bookobsessed.com). I wanted to send something new and Australian, and something Edwardstreet would not have read yet.

'The Neighbour' was certainly all of these things.

I picked it up knowing nothing about it, and flipped it open one evening several months ago, thinking I would just read the first couple of pages. Loved it. Read a bit more before bed that night, and GULP!

I popped a bookmark in it after chapter two, and took several deep breathes. During the rigors of the working week this was not a book I thought I wanted to read - just yet.

So, this little book waited beside my bed until the holiday break so I could read it through and enjoy the roller-coaster ride of a story. Elizabeth Lhuede described it as belonging to a group of "...books I’d recently been bingeing on: narratives that deal with dark sides of suburban life. I was right. And wrong."

Not my usual choice of story, this one is a creepy neighbourhood story that goes from sadness, to crazy and looped-to-loop whacky before ending with a possible redemptive finish.

The plot works best if you know nothing of the story - trust me. A real whollop to the stomach. And the writing is rather good. Some nice little touches and clear character progression.

It was not until I had finished reading this that I checked online and saw that this was Julie Proudfoot's first book, and that she had won the 2014 Viva Novella Prize with it.

Well done Julie Proudfoot.

On the author's blog she mentions her background in sociology, feminist studies, philosophy and psychology. And, her passion for psycho-drama fiction. Personally, this is a genre I normally steer clear of (I like a quiet and gentle life - in reality and on the page), but agree with Bookoanaut's review that the story and ending "...left me with the feeling that I had been thoroughly at the mercy of the author’s skill."

Thank you for sharing this book with me Jeniwren, and I hope you get a kick out of it too Edwardstreet.

Posting to Edwardstreet as part of 'The Southern Cross Book Exchange'.

Thank you for the lovely parcel

An Australian suburb , a stupid error, a child dies.
The ramifications in the lives of those involved are huge.
A thought provoking wonderful wee novel.

Yes Jubby I got a kick out of this ( P.S. you might want to edit the author's name in the registration)

Received as part of a bookring.
Looks like a good read.

I finally read this book in June of 2017, but it would seem I failed to note it here. According to GoodReads, it took me two weeks.

I did not enjoy this book.
Don't get me wrong, it's interesting enough to want to know what happens to the characters. But it's not a genre I would normally get into, it's not a writing style I was accustomed to, I didn't really like the structure overall, and I didn't like the way the cover felt.
I am fickle.

Posted to another user, kind of half RABCK, half wishlist exchange.

Enjoy!

thankyou so much for this wishlist title

i remember seeing/reading/hearing lots about it when it was released, but not much since - did proudfoot and 'the neighbour' just disappear from our awareness...

thanks again
;)

There was a lot of hype about this when it was released and especially after it won it had won Seizure magazine's Viva La Novella Prize in 2014 (seizure magazine - www.seizureonline.com/ - - A laboratory and incubator for new Australian writing and writers)

Some people have loved it and others have not - I think I fall right in the middle - I did not hate it, nor did I love it.

It is a dark novel as people move, or don't move, through grief following a tragic accident. I have always found psychological explorations fascinating and I think Proudfoot achieved something here. People don't communicate well with assumptions growing huge chasms in relationships - the reality is we never ever know what someone is thinking unless we ask and then we actually allow them to fully express that - give them the space to do so and we listen, really listen...

I realize place does not always matter, but I'd have liked to have had a setting as in which Australian city/town it was set in - maybe not an Australian setting after all - I tried to imagine the houses and that gap kept getting in my way.

Lisa (ANZ LitLovers) has reviewed it here
https://anzlitlovers.com/2014/06/03/the-neighbour-by-julie-proudfoot-bookreview/

and Sue @ whispering gums :
https://whisperinggums.com/2016/07/06/julie-proudfoot-the-neighbour-review/

Sharing this Australian debut with another reader as it travels the country

Thanks CavyNoves for sending it my way
;)

travelling companion with wishlist tag and another to keep it cozy

happy reading
;)

Thanks for the surprise extra. The cover does have a strange feel.

Chilling and twisted.

To be released in the Nambucca Heads Community Garden Bookcrossing Zone.

Arrived in Nambucca Heads, will read this one myself before releasing in Nambucca Heads Growing Together
Book Zone

Considering the subject matter, I quite enjoyed this book. Liked the confirmation for what I thought had happened at the end. to me it made the reader more aware of different stages of grief and the importance of getting help when things become too much.

A good read, hope someone else enjoys this book