The Best Kind of People, by Zoe Whittal

Zoe Whittal tackles a timely and controversial subject in The Best Kind of People.  When prep school teacher George Woodbury is arrested, accused of sexual misconduct with some of his students, the community, not to mention George's family, is shocked.  On many levels, he is a pillar of the community.  His ancestors built the town.  Despite his inherited wealth, he has poured his life into teaching at the local school.  He is repeatedly chosen as teacher of the year.  A decade before, he personally confronted a shooter at the school, saving countless lives.  Everything about him showed him to be a model citizen, a model teacher, a model husband, and a model father.

The Best Kind of People focuses on George's family, primarily his daughter, who is a senior at George's school.  She and her mother, a nurse at the local hospital, suffer the indignity of being in the family of the accused.  While George is in jail awaiting trial, they are harassed and shunned by just about everyone.  A small group sides with them, the "men's rights" folks, whom the Woodburys regard as right-wing nuts. 

Whittal's focus is the impact the accusations have on the Woodburys.  We hear next to nothing about the accusations.  George, of course, denies any wrongdoing, stating that he's being framed.  Why would someone frame him?  To what end?  Who knows.  This is actually a frustrating part of the book.  At some point, I would like to have heard more about the accusations, what prompted the students to bring the accusations to light, and the basis for George's protestations. 

Whittal addresses this objection, in a way.  George's daughter moves in with her boyfriend, whose mother's live-in boyfriend is a novelist.  He decides to write a "based-on-a-true-story" novel about the Woodbury case.  His editor presses him to include more details:

We can't have a book where the monster is actually a sweet old guy everyone defends.  There needs to be more conflict. . . . He's too empathetic so far, and it's too confusing.  This is a novel, but we need some black-and-white facts here.

At the risk of seeming shallow, I felt the same way.  Whittal leaves the question of veracity open, never giving details about what actually happened on the school trip.  In fact, in the end she leaves open the possibility that the victims were pressured to retract their testimony.  Granted, Whittal's focus is on the family and the impact of the accusations.  But the lack of focus on the case itself frustrated me.

The Best Kind of People is an uncomfortable book.  Whittal's depictions of teen sex (between George's daughter and her boyfriend), a homosexual relationship between a teacher and a teen, a relationship between a dad and a teenage babysitter, and other problematic scenarios add to the cringe factor.  Whittal nails some of the realities of the turmoil these accusations cause, but overall the development and resolution of the story left me unsatisfied.


Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!