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Short Take: Good Company

Author of The Nest, Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney’s newest novel, Good Company, opens with main character, Flora, finding the wedding ring her husband Julian told her he’d lost years ago. Dropped into the middle, a moment in time that will affect the future and shade the past, Sweeney immediately pulled me into the narrative. I wanted to know how Julian lost the ring? If he lost it, why is it here, in the back of this old filing cabinet? What kind of relationship do Flora and Julian have? Do I like Flora, or Julian, or their daughter Ruby? What about best friend Margot and her husband, David? As the narrative goes on, and Sweeny moves between the present and the past, New York and Los Angeles, the theater world and the television studio, each character is slowly fleshed out in all their complexities. I loved how the assumptions I made in the beginning about each of them was gradually replaced by a deeper understanding of their motivations, helped by the fact that the point of view moves around to all five of the main characters. Sweeney is spot-on in her understanding of the underlying emotions at play in a variety of relationships, not only romantic ones. This would be a perfect read for anyone who likes novels about complicated families and an excellent choice for book clubs. We currently have signed copies!

— Lori