Good Company by Cynthia D'aprix Sweeney

 

Summary (from the publisher): 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 bona fide 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. 

Review: Flora has been happily married for over two decades to Julian. She works as a voice over actor and he operates a small theater company called Good Company. Despite financial struggles, they have managed to raise their daughter Ruby in Manhattan, also with their close friends Margot and David close by. On the eve of Ruby's high school graduation, Flora stumbles upon an envelope with her husband's wedding ring, a ring he claimed to have lose in a pond when their daughter was five. This discovery upends Flora's life and what she thought she knew about her marriage, her relationship with her best friend Margot, and her future. 

Sweeney has created an entertaining cast of characters in this novel and given them exceedingly interesting occupations, particularly Flora who does voice overs for commercials and television spots and Margot who is a star of a hit television series. I was charmed by the way the four adults almost view Ruby as their collective child. While she is Flora and Julian's daughter, Margot and David never had children of their own and are exceedingly fond of Ruby and constantly lavishing her with gifts and experiences. At heart, this novel feels like it is about how much we are willing to endure for love and the power of the truth to wound us and challenge happiness and what we know to be true. 

I love that Sweeney gives considerable background to each of her characters, but the meandering writing style in this was grating at times. Finding a picture or another small event will trigger a memory in the character that will then lead to a a long winded flashback where background stories and details are shared. While these are illuminating, they made the book feel as if it was not presented in any sort of chronological order and was merely veering around in the characters' minds. I also didn't particularly care for the characters. I think the reader is meant to be rooting for Flora and Julian to stay together and for everything to go on as it had been, but they didn't seem that particularly happy together and Julian didn't seem like that great of a husband worth saving. 

I listened to the audiobook version of this and Marin Ireland did an amazing job, as always, at bringing the story to life. 

Stars: 3

Related Title: 

• The Nest by Cynthia D'aprix Sweeney