“Community Board” - Tara Conklin

 💻 I read this confection of a novel over a single cross-country flight. It was that engaging! CB is a charming tale about social etiquette in the digital age. It’s a classic underdog story where you sometimes want to shake the underdog out of her pity party on steroids. At the same time, her sudden, self-imposed isolation and timid reentry into society strike a chord with all of us in this post-pandemic world.

💻 Conklin is gifted at characterizing grief, loss, and depression realistically, while also imbuing the novel with humor. Darcy is quite literally adrift - the ending of her marriage was an utter surprise to her. With the loss of her marriage went her comfortable existence (that was mostly ok), her friends (she sort of liked), her job (she didn’t love). She returns home to Murbridge fully expecting the town, her childhood home, and her parents to be unchanged, and to welcome her back with open arms and soothe away her hurts.

💻 Though Darcy’s POV with regard to her loving parents is grating and petulant, I’m glad Conklin included this annoying dimension to an otherwise sympathetic character. It was interesting to read how we - even as successful adults per societal standards - can convince ourselves of the culpability of others for our own failures.