Community Board: A Novel

Written by Tara Conklin

Narrated by Kristen Sieh

The New York Times bestselling author of The Last Romantics delivers a wise, timely, big-hearted novel of unplanned isolation and newly forged community.

Where does one go, you might ask, when the world falls apart? When the immutable facts of your life—the mundane, the trivial, the take-for-granted minutiae that once filled every second of every day—suddenly disappear? Where does one go in such dire and unexpected circumstances?

I went home, of course.

MURBRIDGE COMMUNITY MESSAGE BOARD

FREE: 500 cans of corn. Accidentally ordered them online. I really hate corn. Happy to help load.

REMINDER: use your own goddamn garbage can for your own goddamn pet waste. I’m looking at you Peter Luflin.

REMINDER: monthly Select Board meeting this Friday. Agenda items: 1) sludge removal; 2) upkeep of chime tower; 3) ice rink monitor thank you gift. Questions? Contact Hildegard Hyman, [e-mail]

Darcy Clipper, prodigal daughter, nearly thirty, has returned home to Murbridge, Massachusetts, after her life takes an unwelcome left turn. Murbridge, Darcy is convinced, will welcome her home and provide a safe space in which she can nurse her wounds and harbor grudges, both real and imagined.

But Murbridge, like so much else Darcy thought to be fixed and immutable, has changed. And while Darcy’s first instinct might be to hole herself up in her childhood bedroom, subsisting on Chef Boy-R-Dee and canned chickpeas, it is human nature to do two things: seek out meaningful human connection and respond to anonymous internet postings. As Murbridge begins to take shape around Darcy, both online and in person, Darcy will consider the most fundamental of American questions: What can she ask of her community? And what does she owe it in return?

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Release date: Mar 28, 2023
• ISBN: 9780062959409

Tara Conklin

Tara Conklin was born on St. Croix in the US Virgin Islands and raised in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. She is the author of the New York Times bestsellers The Last Romantics and The House Girl.  

Reviews for Community Board

[geauxgetlit · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Darcy, 29, world has fell apart as her husband wants a divorce and her parents moved out of their family home without telling her. Needless to say, Darcy is almost 30 and is finally experiencing being an adult!

If you read Really Good Actually and enjoyed that book then you will enjoy this one also. This book is a bit better; however, Darcy’s character is another whiny adult about how her life is over after divorce at the ripe old age of 29.

The writing was great and it did bring some heartfilled moments in the end.

[hccpsk · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

When Darcy’s husband walked into the kitchen after work one night and announced that he was “done” her life fell apart. She left her job, rented the house, and moved back to her parent’s house in a small, western Massachusetts town only to find that her parents were living in Arizona. For weeks all Darcy does is eat canned food from the basement and read posts from the town’s online posting board. Tara Conklin’s Community Board is another book in a trend of twenty-something women navel-gazing after losing their job, significant other, etc., but Conklin approaches the genre with solid writing, a lot of humor, and an actual plot with action. Readers looking for a lighthearted book with a damaged but plucky narrator and plenty of funny moments will enjoy Community Board.

[susan.h.schofield · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This was a sweet and charming novel. It was light, funny and entertaining with a good message about friends and community. I really loved The Last Romantics and while wasn't as good as that book, I enjoyed it and would recommend it as an easy vacation read. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC.

[literaryleftovers · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Community Board by Tara ConklinDarcy Clipper has lived a life full of love and support, always counting on her parents as a safety net. When her husband leaves her and she finds that she must work through it on her own, Darcy is utterly unprepared. Despairing, she hides herself away in her parent’s house, surviving on their stock of canned goods and reading old copies of National Geographic. After months of solitude, learning about the neighborhood only through the active community board, Darcy knows that she must step out of her comfort zone in order to live. This is a story about one woman learning about independence, responsibility, and what we owe to each other as a community.Having previously enjoyed the touching story and mellifluous phrasing in Conklin’s debut The House Girl, and finding the unconventional family dynamics on display in her gritty sophomore novel The Last Romantics engaging, I was somewhat let down by this book. The main character Darcy spends the majority of the book whingeing and wallowing in self-despair, unable to grow out of the teenage mindset of expecting to be cared for by her parents. For a woman turning 30, she was incredibly immature and rather wearisome. On a positive note, my favorite part of the book was the realistic portrayal of social anxiety. After our collective experience during the pandemic, most of us can think of someone in their life who lost their confidence in public interaction after self-isolating. The terror of buying a drink at Starbucks or going into a grocery store is deftly explored here, and speaks to all who have suffered this type of communal apprehension. While the stream-of-consciousness writing style did not appeal to me, the titular community board messages felt extremely authentic, and the types of neighbors portrayed will be recognizable to anyone who has ever been on NextDoor or a similar site. This quirky and offbeat novel may not be for everyone, but I believe it will find an appreciative audience.