In the Neighborhood - Peter Lovenheim

Full title: In the Neighborhood, The Search for Community on an American Street, One Sleepover at a Time.

3.5/5 stars.

After a murder-suicide happened in his street, the author, Peter Lovenheim, realizes that the tragedy might have been avoided had the wife been able to reach out to her neighbors. Unfortunately, people on his street do not know each other. To remedy this, Peter proposes to sleep over at some neighbors' and spend the day with them, to create a sense of community, and to be sure that his neighbors know they can reach out to him, and he to them, if they are in need.

The book itself was not that interesting, since it mainly related the author's sleepovers and his neighbors' life. From a narrative perspective, the content was a bit disappointing -it's fortunately a quick read. However, from a conceptual point of view, it was fascinating. Now, I am admitedly biased, as I am struggling to feel that I belong in Seattle and in my new neighborhood. So the effort of one person to make his neighborhood a community of people who know each other really drew me to the book. While reading it, I asked myself what kind of community I would want to live in, what kind of neighborhood I'd like to move to next. My downstairs neighbors have a great community back in Texas. I wish I had that here.

So the book doesn't offer solutions -well, unless I want to go ahead and spend the night at my neighbord (no, thanks!)- but it's a ncie snapshot of what our lives have become when we barricad ourselves behind walls. It's also a call to be more mindful of what our neighbors might be going though in their lives and to offer support if the opportunity arises. Interesting. Not earth shattering, but definitely mind opening.