THE LOCALS is an excellent novel about the struggles of contemporary America: rising inequality, the decline of the working class decline, and more. It's not a cheery story, but it is a gripping examination of contemporary (and small-town) life in America. Dee's prose is excellent, and if you're familiar with his other novels I'm sure you'll know what to expect: A well-told, engaging story, populated by interesting and three-dimensional characters.

Recommended, as all of his novels are.

I had this book on my "to read" list for so long and decided to finally read it after a friend suggested it. What was I waiting for?!? This book was great! I was a bit concerned after reading the first chapter or so, but the storyline quickly captured my attention and I was hooked

a perfect read for 2017. Small town details and family dysfunction aptly written.

This was a strangely disconcerting read as I found much to puzzle and irritate me but also much to enjoy, and it’s difficult to write an objective review as I really liked the book, found it a compelling page-turner and an engaging and often thought-provoking exploration of contemporary American life. But at the same time I found some inconsistencies and infelicities that should surely have been ironed out at the editing stage. (Was it in fact edited to any great degree?). Set in the Berkshires in the small town of Howland, Massachusetts, it’s essentially a portrait of a town in decline. At the centre are the two key characters, Mark Firth, an ambitious building contractor, and Philip Hadi, an immensely wealthy hedge-fund manager who relocates to the town, finding it offers a safer way of life than New York City after 9/11, and soon puts himself forward as a sort of benevolent dictator. The way he acts – dispensing philanthropy but deciding undemocratically what happens in the town – raises many pertinent questions about government, democracy, paternalism and so on, but none of these issues seem to get resolved. The book jumps about a lot and some characters seem to be introduced for no good purpose. The prime example of this comes in the first chapter, which almost stands as a short story complete in itself, when we meet a man who needs to see his lawyer after being conned out of a lot of money and meets Mark who is on the same errand. But after this prologue he disappears and is in no way integral to the unfolding narrative. As a domestic drama, however, the book works very well and I found Dee’s powers of social observation insightful and empathetic. But then he doesn’t seem to know how to end the novel and the last chapter which focusses on Mark’s daughter seems to belong to another book altogether. When I’d finished I went back and re-read Dee’s earlier book The Privileges and as I suspected it threw into sharp contrast this latest novel, being a cohesive, well-structured book with a clear narrative arc and no superfluous people or events. A much better book all round. So ultimately I was disappointed and somewhat irritated by The Locals as I felt it could have been so much better. That said, I actually found it a really good read – a paradox indeed.

This is a very tough one to review. It kicked off with a bang with a gripping prologue narrated by a contemptible, almost sociopathic con-man in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 in New York City. The story then segues into the setting of small town Howland, Massachusetts, where local residents find themselves in a sort of class/political warfare with each other. There are plenty of characters and Dee fleshes them out beautifully - all fully human, flawed and selfish in their own unique way. The most interesting character to me was the billionaire Philip Hadi, who moves his unwilling family to the quaint and charming town of Howland in the aftermath of 9/11. Hadi and his wife, Rachel, are the only characters I thought Dee left blank. I didn't get them at all - they never felt real or substantial and I could not get a handle on Hadi's real motivation for anything he did.

The story meanders along through the years, with character arcs melding into each other mid-chapter, as if Dee were taking just an aimless walk around town. The story just ends with no real denouement.

It's just weird - started as a 4, and ended up a 3. The writing and the characters are first rate but after a while, it was a real effort to pick up for me because I just didn't care anymore. I suspect I am probably not bright or savvy enough to grasp the deep, meaningful political warning Dee is imparting here - my loss, I guess.

Sincere thanks to Netgalley and Random House for an ARC of this novel.

When a billionaire is elected mayor of a small New England town, truth might just masquerade as fiction.

An immersive character-driven novel that hits all the right notes at this point in the American story.

Eh, just really didn't go it for me. I never quite clicked with any of the characters and therefore had no investment in what became of them.

The aftereffects of 9-11 on a small town are investigated in this novel that used a panoramic point of view.

DNF @15%

I really tried to get into this book, but I couldn't grasp the plot or the character's motivation. There was a long of swearing and I was overall just bored with the content that the first couple of chapters were producing. I wish that this would have been a better hit for me, but I just wasn't all that into it. I'm still very grateful for the chance that NetGalley gave me!

The author effortlessly gives the reader a narrative of life in a small town. Howland, Massachusetts feels like a genuine community. Dee’s characterization of the ‘locals’ reveals the flaws of human nature. No matter the temperament however, each character is richly drawn; I just wish there weren’t so many as it was confusing at times. The tone is generally not a happy one but there is an undercurrent of hope. In the end, I felt good about my time spent with the ‘locals’. Overall, a story that raises questions and is a good read.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34002261-the-locals?from_search=true

What a beautiful, detailed, look at the lives of a small Massachusetts town and how the people are impacted by the emotional and economic aftermath of 9-11! I loved how Mr. Dee had the story line move from person to person in an almost fluid manner. The reader would be following Character A who would then interact with Character B. From there the reader would follow Character B, etc. This treatment helped emphasis the small town feel of Howland and how actions were all interconnected in this story that covered almost a decade of time. Perhaps the only thing that disturbed me was a gap of time near the end of the book. I felt like I had missed 10 pages where something was explained. I was able to fill in the gap through context but wondered why the author did not include it in the story as I felt it was important to the overlying arc of the book. But that mild irritation was easily balanced out by the rest of the book which was interesting and well-written.

Like John Lanchester’s post-crisis, state-of-the-nation epic Capital, Dee’s latest is a generous slice of cultural and financial pie. Money, manhood, class, domiciles and democracy are the central pillars of a long, fully-populated social sweep that starts on 9/11 in New York City but then swiftly and permanently decamps to Howland, a small Massachusetts town in the Berkshires.

Hopping from character to character like a flea, Dee illuminates a community – school teachers, postmasters, selectmen, teenage vandals, entrepreneurs, diner owners, policemen – over an extended period of years as they respond to the arrival among them of a member of New York’s 1%. Philip Hadi, some kind of Wall Street money man, relocates his family to his holiday home in sleepy Howland after the terrorist attack and thereby sets in motion a seismic political shift.

Hadi is a blank slate of a character, more of a motivating force than a personality, but through him Dee marks the changes brought about by the post 9/11 mood and economy, notably the impact of outsize wealth on what had been the status quo, on personal ambition, venality, the Yankee spirit, and confused politics of early twentieth-century USA.

Howland votes Hadi into civic power as its First Selectman, happily forfeiting democracy for the sake of lower property taxes and ultimately higher property values. The citizens are happy for him to subsidize businesses and services out of his own pocket as part of a bargain that permits Hadi to take control of Howland as a kind of personal fiefdom. If Hadi wants surveillance cameras on Main Street and he’ll pay for them, then up they go, no discussion. After all, as Hadi remarks,’ Consensus really isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.’

While examining power, incremental change, the not-so-new politics of wealth, the role of the working man (and, to a lesser degree, woman) and much more, Dee fills the reader’s sightline with the loosely interwoven lives of his broad cast of characters. Most centrally, there are the three generations of the Firths: four siblings, their ailing parents, and one child. Around them extend lovers, laborers, acquaintances and passersby, extending the network, crisscrossing and intersecting with others as existences blossom, crumble, split, survive or just fade out of focus. Men’s perspectives – often sour, sad, centre-less, confused or angry – predominate.

The sweep is neither Dickensian nor epic. Instead, Dee keeps things devotedly humdrum, dodging – after the opening chapter – anything resembling the high peaks of drama. Instead, by bleaching out the customary crescendos of fiction, he reaches for something less sensational, more tellingly quotidian. The result is a largely cliff-hanger-free agglomeration of interconnected existences reflective of the philosophies and dilemmas of one corner of a large nation in an evolutionary age.

This is an ambitious novel from a writer of reliable originality and intelligence. Dee’s mind is sharp and unsentimental; his wit is carefully contained. As a modern chronicler, his judgements are shrewd. The American character is given sympathy but not much quarter.

From the murky perspective of here and now – summer 2017 – it seems clear that the so-called greatest nation needs to keep a close eye on itself in the mirror while considering its legacies, values and truths. Dee does precisely that. He deserves to be read.

I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of reading this book! Jonathan Dee brings to jarring life the time period between Sept. 11, 2001 and the housing crash in 2008, depicting how these events and those leading up to it shaped life in a small New England town.

This book throws into sharp relief better than any other novel I've read so far the time period that led up to the social division our country is experiencing now. This includes the depiction of a Trump-like figure who swoops in to "save" the small town of Howland from itself by subsidizing public services, community events, and even homeowners and businesses out of his own pocket to cut taxes and create an illusory sense of wealth among the residents. When he jumps ship and moves back to the big city after the housing crash (running the town as an elected official was just a fun side project for him, an experiment he staged because "democracy doesn't work anymore"), he leaves the town and its inhabitants in anger and structural disarray. This doesn't end well for the citizens of Howland, who are loathe to reinstate tax burdens, and who take their anger and contempt out on one another in violent and perverse ways.

I will recommend this book to anyone who is asking "how did we get here?" as a country, as a people. The writing flows beautifully; there are a few character sketches particularly at the beginning that don't fully flesh out, but that was ok with me. The last paragraph is gorgeous, so evocative. Five stars!

THE LOCALS by Jonathan Dee attempts to explore the tensions between urban and rural dwellers, between middle class and the very wealthy. Mark Firth is a contractor who is barely getting by while living in the Berkshires near fictional Howland, Massachusetts. In the aftermath of September 11, he begins working for a hedge fund manager, Philip Hadi, who wants his former summer home made "secure" for year-round habitation. The characters in this book, including Mark's daughter Haley who grows up as the story progresses, were not very likeable. Perhaps that's in part explained by some of the descriptors used for this novel "infused with a sense of desperation and dread" (USA Today) and "captures the deeply ingrained resentment and disillusion" (Wall Street Journal). Timely and relevant? Perhaps, but not a happy, uplifting read although Booklist, Kirkus and Publishers Weekly all gave THE LOCALS starred reviews.

Well, I suppose the DNF (did not finish) in the title pretty much gives away what my thoughts were about this book. You all know how rare it is for me to give up on a book.

I keep wondering if maybe what I downloaded isn't even the right book. It has the same cover. It even has a character named Mark Firth who is a contractor in Massachusetts. But the page for the book on Barnes and Noble's website says this is a 400 page book - the book I downloaded is just 284 pages. I could understand a difference of a few pages but more than 100? And the book I downloaded opens in Manhattan the day after the 9/11 attacks, not in Massachusetts, with an unnamed first-person narrator who is an extremely unlikable character. By the time I got to the actual first chapter, I was no longer interested.

George Saunders (Lincoln In The Bardo) calls the book "bold" and "vital." Mary Karr (Lit) called it "moving." The New York Times reviewer, on the other hand, didn't love it. And I can't tell whether Ron Charles (The Washington Post) liked it or not. So I'm not saying don't read it. Although I might be saying borrow it from your library if you're interested. There's a good chance you won't want to have paid good money for it.

What a talented writer! All of the plot threads, all of the character sketches, lead inexorably to the end. “The Locals” is a disturbing, difficult, but extraordinarily timely novel that deals with personal responsibility, and our ambivalent relationship with it. Dee places his believably complicated characters on a spectrum of self-awareness, that is at times extremely uncomfortable .

Dee paints a realistic and remarkably judgement-free picture of the consequences of destroying the governmental status quo, in order to remake it.

I am sorry, but I cannot review The Locals. It is not my cup of tea and I did not like nor finish it

Interesting but certainly not uplifting or encouraging novel of small town America. Dee has a sharp eye for how things have evolved in the last 16 years, Using 9/11 as a starting point, he explores how our attitudes toward each other have changed, along with the financial circumstances which have beset so many. THere's a large cast of characters here, some of whom only appear briefly, but they are all believable. Mark and Hadi are not as opposite as they might appear on the surface. At times this is an uncomfortable read and it's hard to categorize- some might go so far as to think there's satire. Well written and worth your time. Thanks to net galley for the ARC.