Community Board

A Novel

By: Tara Conklin

Narrated by: Kristen Sieh

Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

The New York Times bestselling author of The Last Romantics delivers a wise, timely, big-hearted novel of unplanned isolation and newly forged community.

Where does one go, you might ask, when the world falls apart? When the immutable facts of your life—the mundane, the trivial, the take-for-granted minutiae that once filled every second of every day—suddenly disappear? Where does one go in such dire and unexpected circumstances?

I went home, of course.

MURBRIDGE COMMUNITY MESSAGE BOARD

FREE: 500 cans of corn. Accidentally ordered them online. I really hate corn. Happy to help load.

REMINDER: use your own goddamn garbage can for your own goddamn pet waste. I’m looking at you Peter Luflin.

REMINDER: monthly Select Board meeting this Friday. Agenda items: 1) sludge removal; 2) upkeep of chime tower; 3) ice rink monitor thank you gift. Questions? Contact Hildegard Hyman, [e-mail]

Darcy Clipper, prodigal daughter, nearly thirty, has returned home to Murbridge, Massachusetts, after her life takes an unwelcome left turn. Murbridge, Darcy is convinced, will welcome her home and provide a safe space in which she can nurse her wounds and harbor grudges, both real and imagined.

But Murbridge, like so much else Darcy thought to be fixed and immutable, has changed. And while Darcy’s first instinct might be to hole herself up in her childhood bedroom, subsisting on Chef Boy-R-Dee and canned chickpeas, it is human nature to do two things: seek out meaningful human connection and respond to anonymous internet postings. As Murbridge begins to take shape around Darcy, both online and in person, Darcy will consider the most fundamental of American questions: What can she ask of her community? And what does she owe it in return?

©2023 Tara Conklin (P)2023 HarperCollins Publishers

A warm hug we all need right now

Highlight suggest this read. Times are tough, divided, scary and insular in this post COVID era. This book was so relatable and hilarious my family kept asking what was so funny when I would lol hearing the board posts. I felt so much warmth and inspiration finishing this book, it was sad for it to end and say good bye to Darcy, Marcus and Fanny. Im now looking for other titles from this author 😊

Live, life, love

I enjoyed this book. There’s plenty to make you smile. I love writers that take the monotony of life and show how comical it is.

Lovely

Spoilers, kind of. Lovely story about how important people are to each other. I enjoyed this novel and the performance very much. I liked how the author used the community board to introduce new topics in the narrative to create an interesting and sweet story.

Not a fan

I was hopeful when I got this book but disappointed it took more than 1/2 way into the story to enjoy it.

Moments of humor....

This is one of those books that walks a really fine line between attempting to be funny using things that are actually humorous, and then throwing in things that are so crazy that it could also be sometimes considered funny. Sometimes this works. When it does, it can work brilliantly. Unfortunately, when it doesn't, it can be just....well....cringeworthy.

For me though, I think the main problem that I had with this book was that the female MC really wasn't likeable. I will put up with a heck of a lot as a reader if I like the MC. I WANT to like the main character. I WANT to root for him/her and feel sad when sad events happen to them in their story. What I do NOT want, is to feel that the MC is a self centered, extremely whiny character that eventually becomes annoying with the behaviour that we see from them. When that happens, it becomes harder to overlook some of the issues with that fine line mentioned earlier.

Yes, I gather that this book was supposed to be very "tongue in cheek". An over the top portrayal that is funny because it is SO over the top. For me though, it missed that mark. The female MC is a soon to be 30 year old with the emotional maturity of a teenager. Her behaviour is worrying, and not particularly funny. Her treatment of her parents was NEVER funny. Yes, I do understand that it was meant to be "cute" maybe? I'm not really sure what purpose having a daughter who realizes that her parents loved her "too much" is that can justify her being furious with said parents because they moved to a different city without telling her. Maybe I can understand the initial hurt when she discovers this, but to be mad about this and be childish about it for the next several months, it just wasn't funny to me.

I did think that this book had potential. I think that if it tried a little less to be the OTT funny, and actually went with more of the situations where we saw real growth from the MC - which many times happened in funny ways - that this book would have had a more solid foundation.

This was a first time author for me so I'm not sure if this is a particular style from her or a stand alone genre type book. I will say that I thought the narrator - Kristen Sieh - did a very good job with all of the different portrayals. She was also a first time narrator for me. There are definitely a lot of characters in this book - even if many only have small parts, and the readings from the Community Board were done brilliantly.

The Community Board. That was one place that I though this book did shine. The postings on the Board were really hilarious and what made them even funnier was that there were several instances that reminded me of things that I've seen on our own Next Door or the community FaceBook page. Sometimes truth really is funnier than fiction.

I did laugh, and a book that can make you laugh is always a good thing in life.
(That's my theory and I'm sticking with it) :)

Funny and easy listen

I loved this book. Easy to listen to. Characters were funny and witty and gave enough you wanted to know more about them.

A Fun Listen

I really enjoyed this book not only for its witty writing but the narration was terrific. It was a very pleasant surprise.

Enjoyed!!!

The narration was fantastic!!! I laughed out loud a number of times. A fun summer read.

Very slow start

Almost gave up on this book. It was a very slow start and took about two hours for me to even start caring for the main character. Ergo the 3 stars for the story. The style of writing was clever though, so I kept at it. Glad I did and enjoyed the feel-good ending.

I unexpectedly loved this audiobook!

First, this was a narrator I haven’t heard before and her voice and mannerisms fit perfectly for this story! Second, the story itself was so catchy….it was fun listening. When the end approached I was mesmerized.
Third, the life reminder’s touched me unexpectedly.