In Those People Behind Us, author Mary Camarillo writes of Wellington Beach, California, a beachside community caught in the crossfire between liberals and Trumpsters during the summer of 2017, but the story could be set in any American town. She builds multiple strong characters that interact in a realistic manner.
Lisa Kensington, a real estate agent, is juggling career, family, and a live-in mother-in-law. She thinks she knows what’s best for her community and works hard to keep it on the straight and narrow. A NIMBY (not-in-my-backyard) person, she opposes the low-income housing the city planners are building nearby, worrying it will lower the property values in Wellington. One of the best parts of this novel are Lisa’s newsletters that she distributes to the entire neighborhood. They show her preoccupation with her life there and her attempts to preserve it. Keith Nelson, a juvenile delinquent turned ex-con, lives in his car since leaving his parents’ home. He’s employed but barely getting by. Ray Gorman is a live-in son, a Viet Nam vet with PTSD caring for his aging mother. Josh Kowalski is a teenaged drummer, reeling from being abandoned by his father. Jeannette Larsen is an aerobics instruction grieving for her nineteen-year-old son who died in a traffic accident and seeking solace in sex with strangers. These characters all know one another and interact in their neighborhood, but do they really know each other.
Camarillo’s plot juggles so many aspects of American life: racism, economic insecurity, politics (liberals and Trumpsters inhabit these pages), MAGA (Make America Great Again), loss, grief, geriatric relatives, and rebellious teenagers. A great look not just at individual characters, but their complete milieu.
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Those People Behind Us (She Writes Press, October 10, 2023) is available through:
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You can find my review of Camarillo’s first book, The View from Half Dome, here.
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