Good Company ⭑⭑⭑
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
US Publication: April 6, 2021
Print: 320 pages
Audio: 8 hours 59 minutes
Confetti Rating: 3 stars
REVIEW:
Here’s my advance review as published to Goodreads on January 10th, 2021:
Did you see that 2019 movie “Marriage Story” with Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver? Did you enjoy it? If you answered yes to both of those questions, then you might like Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney’s follow up to her blockbuster debut, The Nest.
These are the types of reviews I enjoy writing the least. The ones for books that classically embody the word “fine.” For while there’s nothing inherently unpleasant or wrong with Good Company, there’s not a lot about the story or writing to make the novel memorable once finished.
Good Company also calls to mind the books of Emma Straub or J. Courtney Sullivan. Its rating average will hover in the low-to-mid 3-star range on Goodreads, but people will read it anyway given the author pedigree, beautiful cover, prominent bookstore placement, and inevitable celebrity endorsements. White upper middle class bi-coastal actor types struggle with midlife malaise and marital discord? This will be catnip to celebrity book clubs.
I listened to an advanced copy of the audiobook, which luckily features the narrating talents of Marin Ireland. Ms. Ireland is rapidly becoming a favorite voice talent with audiophiles, and she does a great job here as usual. When I see her name attached to a title, that’s often reason enough for me to choose the audio format over print. I’m certainly glad I chose to spend my time with Good Company in hers.
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Then on April 5th, the Read with Jenna Book Club announced it as its April 2021 selection. And as of today, its Goodreads rating is 3.67 (and dropping). So toot toot! I nailed it. ;)
PUBLISHER SYNOPSIS:
A warm, incisive new novel about the enduring bonds of marriage and friendship from Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney, author of the instant New York Times bestseller The Nest.
Flora Mancini has been happily married for more than twenty years. But everything she thought she knew about herself, her marriage, and her relationship with her best friend, Margot, is upended when she stumbles upon an envelope containing her husband’s wedding ring — the one he claimed he lost one summer when their daughter, Ruby, was five.
Flora and Julian struggled for years, scraping together just enough acting work to raise Ruby in Manhattan and keep Julian’s small theater company — Good Company — afloat. A move to Los Angeles brought their first real career successes, a chance to breathe easier, and a reunion with Margot, now a bonafide television star. But has their new life been built on lies? What happened that summer all those years ago? And what happens now?
With Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney’s signature tenderness, humor, and insight, Good Company tells a bighearted story of the lifelong relationships that both wound and heal us.