Neighbors

by Thomas Berger

Suburban regular guy Earl Keese confronts the yawning pit of chaos in the persons of Harry and Ramona, a younger couple who have just moved into the only other house on their dead-end street. Literally overnight, Earl's painstakingly controlled world is turned upside down. Soon he is engaged in guerilla warfare with his new neighbors, who seem to threaten the very fabric of his carefully constructed reality.

Genres: Fiction, Humor, Comedy, Literature, Novels, The United States Of America, Literary Fiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Thomas Louis Berger was an American novelist, probably best known for his picaresque novel Little Big Man, which was adapted into a film by Arthur Penn. Berger explored and manipulated many genres of fiction throughout his career, including the crime novel, the hard-boiled detective story, science fiction, the utopian novel, plus re-workings of classical mythology, Arthurian legend, and the survival adventure.

Berger's use of humor and his often biting wit led many reviewers to refer to him as a satirist or "comic" novelist, though he rejected that classification.

Reviews

[Dennis · Rating 5 out of 5]

A feud between two neighbors over a 24-hour period. Momentum shifts throughout. For me, this book represents a new discovery of a writer who also wrote Little Big Man, which was made into a well-regarded film starring Dustin Hoffman. Neighbors was also made into a film -- a bad one starring John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd. Funny, I can't see them in this role. I picture Jason Alexander for Keese and Dennis Quaid for Harry.

This is a black comedy so you have to prepare yourself properly. I didn't. The events that happen in this novel are so outrageous that I put the book away thinking it was crap. I came to this conclusion (premature, I admit) because I was reading mostly realistic novels and stories, so to suddenly find myself in the land of the strange, I couldn't cope. After a week, I picked it up again and decided to really teach myself how to read this author -- his unique style, content, and vision. This is important because things will happen in the novel that will not be in synch with your (or anyone else's) reality. The end result? This was probably the most entertaining book I've read all summer (and I've read quite a bit, thank you very much).

It's very dialogue-heavy, which was the first major obstacle for me. (I don't like characters who talk too much) The decision-making of the characters was the second major obstacle. Frankly, I couldn't believe people with such judgments existed in real life! But these two obstacles turned out to be non-issues as soon as I learned to enter Berger's world of misfits.

[Cecily · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is like no other book I have read. Twenty four hours in nearly 300 pages reads almost like real-time, which works well in this story of strange neighbours. Each individual incident is plausible, but in combination, it creates an acutely observed surreal nightmare of escalating paranoia.

Earl and Enid are are in their late 40s (but seem older) and long time residents of a quiet road. Their predicable life is overturned by the arrival of new neighbours. Harry and Ramona's unabashed presumptiousness and mind games make Earl lose touch with reality and doubt his sanity: trespass, pointless lies, vandalism and worse.

It's bad enough when strangers are weird and unpleasant, but it is far worse when they are in your own home and when your own family, friends and even random strangers seem to be against you for no reason. And it is relentless, "He believed that she and Harry worked by attrition" so that "Every time he believed he had got things in hand at last, another threat appeared".

At one point, Ramona says "ownership means everything to you" and also asks "how far would you go to avoid humiliation?", which are the crux of the mental assault. This makes Earl behave increasingly out of character, "His persistent conviction that he had been mocked... relieved him of the claims of decency".

No matter how he tries to play it, Earl finds himself wrong-footed by bizarre behaviour and strange non sequiturs. At one point, Ramona has taken over his bed and when challenged, says "It's your house, your bedroom, your bed. What's fair? Do we get any kind of vote?"

One quirk is the overuse of the word "chagrin", even as a verb, "chagrining though it might be"! Nevertheless, it is a painfully realised and expertly written book.

Near the beginning, it mentions that Earl is prone to hallucinations ("he was at odds with humanity as to one of its incontestable truths: seeing is believing"), but it is not mentioned again. So how much of the story is real?

[Mark Desrosiers · Rating 4 out of 5]

The key to this relentless nightmare is right there on page one: "Were Keese to accept the literal witness of his eyes, his life would have been of quite another character, perhaps catastrophic, for outlandish illusions were, if not habitual with him, then at least none too rare for that sort of thing." And so as we read on, always from Keese's point of view, you're led to doubt whether depictions of his neighbors Harry and Ramona are accurate -- that they may be the ramping up of his own peculiar malady. Another novel can be written of the same weekend's events, from Ramona's perspective (for example) depicting Keese as a twitchy paranoid psychotic in deep need of help and restraint.

As a narrative, there are broad themes kicked around in here about "country" versus "city" and the monstrous violence that is barely suppressed in quiet civil towns. But on the whole I think Berger is hoodwinking us into believing the new neighbors are nutzoid, when in fact it's our central character whose brain has created this nightmare -- let's not forget the sudden ending (no spoilers here) which seems to join hands with the page-one statement above as some sort of anatomical inevitability. The last turn of the worm.

[Mike McPadden · Rating 5 out of 5]

NEIGHBORS made me hyperventilate. No other book conjures such a "trapped in the funhouse" feeling, wherein every page makes you feel like you just turned and slammed your face into yet another glass wall or distorted mirror.


The book, in and of itself, is NOT unfilmable, but the botched Belushi-Aykroyd attempt pretty well iced any chance of a proper version ever existing.

Berger is one of my favorite authors, and I'd recommend NEIGHBORS to anyone—but THE FEUD, I'd say, is really the best place to start.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

The reviews for this book are all over the place, and I can see why. It is a darkly humorous book, extremely well written, but one whose twists and turns are designed to make the reader uncomfortable. Personally, I thoroughly enjoyed the twists and turns, as characters repeatedly responded unexpectedly to new situations. The characters are all well-developed by the end of the book. Just say Ramona...

[Dolceluna ♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

A più riprese viene da chiedersi, leggendo “Vicini di casa” di Thomas Berger, se noi, insieme ai protagonisti, ci troviamo su una candid camera.
Invece no.
E’ tutto reale, per sfortuna del nostro protagonista, Keese, borghese di mezza età, sovrappeso e un po’ ottuso…quando apre la porta ad Harry e a Ramona, i suoi nuovi vicini di casa, tutto, nella sua vita, comincia a sgretolarsi. I due, attraverso una serie di sotterfugi, prendono possesso della sua villetta e combinano una serie di incredibili disastri, portando confusione, scompiglio e zizzania nella sua famiglia, tanto che la moglie Enid patteggerà per le loro strambe marachelle piuttosto che stare dalla parte del marito.
Le azioni, strampalate, si susseguono una dopo l’altra, senza reale continuità di tempo a riprova di una storia che stramba si vuole dall’inizio alle fine e che, dall’inizio alla fine, strappa sane risate da black humour. E così va letta, come una folle favola da intrattenimento senza grande aderenza alla realtà. Non cercate un thriller o un romanzo d’azione con risvolti di spessore perché resterete delusi.
Tre stelle di sufficienza, non di più.

[Eric Gilliland · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember the Belushi film as a curiosity of the 1980s, so i decided to check out the novel. Berger makes it readable and fascinating even though the characters are extremely annoying, especially the middle aged drone Earl. Berger works a brutal satire on how most middle aged Americans choose to live: with zero passion or spontaneity. The neighbors Harry and Ramona remain ambiguous all the way to the end, are they angels or demons? Their anarchic lifestyle is either to be applauded or condemned. Berger knew the emptiness of the American soul and this novel is a look at just how banal it is.

[Charles Fischer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just the kind of zany, hysterically-pitched, smashing black comedy that has no place in today's market, a storyline stretched to great lengths, by equal turns obnoxious, rude, and hilarious. It was made into a terribly-received John Belushi-Dan Aykroyd comedy, but that's not surprising, as it's the kind of book - essentially about an uncouth couple who move next door to an older married pair,and, over the course of a very long night, proceed to drive them absolutely crazy - that you'll either admire and savor or hate and abandon around page 43. Berger, rest in peace, you're probably the finest novelist the city of Cincinnati ever produced.

[Dennis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Most people know this story more through the film with Dan Ackroyd and John Belushi than through the book. to be honest, the book read more like an overlong Playboy short story than a novel and didn't really take me anywhere except to take the theme of neighbor-from-hell to another level, without leaving you liking anybody in the end (or in the middle or from the start...) Fortunately, it was short.

[Ted Sweeney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Saw the film years ago. It was difficult not too see the actors as I read but still I found a lot to like about it. Riding through the story, now directly inside the mind of Earl Keese was enlightening. The feeling of contrast was practically tangible between my memories as a boy watching a film which was funny but entirely unrelatable to a reading a novel that felt very familiar and personal as a man who now has a home and family and NEIGHBORS!

[Paul G · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a story about 24 hours of psychological warfare between trite, staid middle class suburbanites, and the free-wheeling grifters who move into the house next door.
Quirky and uncomfortable, but also very well-written, funny, and never boring. It's a very quick read, too.

[abby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unlike any book I've ever read, in a way that is hard to explain. Banal yet surreal, with really interesting stylistic choices. Quick and engaging read, more of a long short story than a novel.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very black - like a bad dream that keeps getting worse.
It reminds me of A Confederacy of Dunces because the characters are so irritating.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bizarre, funny satire with a great closing scene. Worth seeking out.

[Duane Ballenger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bizarre, and I loved it for it!

[Griffin Connolly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Real fun stuff. Strangely a little haunting at times.

[Surya · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is one of the strangest, weirdest books I have ever read in my entire life. And I am not kidding about it. By saying this I am probably going against a majority, who seem to love this book. When I purchased this book I purely went by reader reviews and said to myself, man I have to read this book.

The book starts off really well by introducing us to Keese the protoganist if I may say so. Keese is seemingly a laid back guy, happy with his house and life on a dead end street with the only daughter in college. Everything is laid out for him including the with whom he is going to have the weekend dinner every weekend. Now enter the neighbors (from hell?) Harry and Ramona. The way these characters enter Reese's life is extremely interesting and this definitely gets the reader going. Then things start to become strange, then weirder and weirder. What seems to start off as childish pranks with neighbors turns into something inexplicable and unreal overnight.

I chugged on, respecting many reviews, waiting for the jaw dropping ending that will make it all worthwhile, but it never comes. The whole premise and some situations seem outrageously unreal. Again the story ends on a weirdest note.

Through the reading,the earlier part that is, I started empathizing with Reese as we are made to feel that everybody is against him and doesn't understand him at all. But halfway through the book I am ready to slap every character silly starting with Reese. I wish I could or hoped that it was just a bad dream Reese is having. Alas!

I hope this sums my feelings for this book and may be deter a reader or two from taking this mind numbing, outlandish, bizarre book called Neighbors. But so called dark comedy is your cup of tea, I wish you a very happy reading!

[Steve Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amusing, frustrating, and above all, an odd tale of a bucolic country existence being turned upside down for an event-packed 24 hours--and, perhaps the presaging of a midlife crisis (vis a vis Earl's changing attitude). Berger's prose is excellent and he certainly spins an interesting story. Naturally, my impression of the characters was influenced by the largely forgetten film adaptation with John Belushi (Keese) and Dan Aykroyd (Harry). I'm not sure if that helped or hindered, but I did enjoy the book.

[ginny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Weird and funny and disorienting. As someone who is frequently the new family on the street, it was an engaging read. The plot centers around a middle aged man (and his wife) who leads a pretty banal existence in a quiet neighborhood with only one other house on his street. Crazy new neighbors move in, zaniness ensues and the pratfalls/pranks get progressively more aggressive and weird. I kept waiting for the punchline but the ending, while good, left me still asking so many questions.

[Seán · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the fourth book I've read by Berger, and it's probably my least favorite. I have a sneaking suspicion that makes me an idiot.

The blurb said it best: it's as if Henry James was writing "Waiting for Godot." Clearly brilliant and deploying a sharp eye on convention and real life, but a bit too out there for little old me.

[Candice · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was like being wrapped in cling-film, straitjacketed, and then tickled with a feather. In other words WHY?!?!?! I got through half this book which was purportedly a “quick read” but took me ten million years. This many poor decisions, fickle switchbacks, and prickly pranks in a story that spans 24 hours is torturous. I can’t do it, people. I quit.

[Ayana · Rating 2 out of 5]

No idea what I just read. Extremely quirky, which I usually love, but not sure the payoff was worth it

[Maura Heaphy Dutton · Rating 2 out of 5]

Grating.

I decided to give this a go because I remember enjoying Berger's Little Big Man so much. That was an absurd, stylised retelling of the American West with great heart and resonance. I liked that. (Great movie too!) More topically, I decided to read it because we're in the midst of our own house move, so I thought the promised story of Neighbours from Hell might put our own woes into some perspective. However tedious the relocation process is, at least we won't get neighbours like Earl Keese, and Harry and Ramona, right?

And so I must hope, because as Thomas Berger tells it, Earl, Harry and Ramona are on the Insane end of the Bad Neighbours spectrum: within minutes of Harry and Ramona moving in next door to the (dull, suburban and routine obsessed) Keeses, they are at war. But this is no common or garden slow-burn between neighbours arguing over shared fences and parking rights and when the bins get put out -- Earl and the new couple next door barely draw breath long enough to introduce themselves before they're at each others' throats, wrecking each other's cars, trampling boundaries and threatening violence over nothing. Out of the blue, over a surprisingly contentious spaghetti dinner, Ramona accuses Earl of trying to rape her. (They have met, like, an hour before. Although, to be fair, Ramona immediately goes upstairs, uninvited, to have a shower, and lounge next-to-naked in the Keese's master bedroom .... Yep, that about sums it up ...) To which accusation Earl's wife only responds "That was quite a performance ..."

So, as you may have guessed, this isn't exactly High Realism, and style and substance are completely over the top, and surreal. There's a hint at the beginning that Earl suffers from some kind of "perception" issue -- seeing things that are not there. Is all this happening in his imagination? If so, Berger doesn't really cut the reader a break, and allow them in on the joke. Or hint at why the idea of a middle-aged man hallucinating extreme outrages by his new neighbours (and responding in kind) might be funny. Far from figments of Earl's imagination, the outrageous Harry and Ramona seem as real as Earl (which is to say, not a lot). Wife Enid is checked out, and oblivious to what's going on, to the point where it seems like she's in a completely different novel ... Is there a clue there ...?

So, Earl says or does something and Harry & Ramona over-react. And then H&R say or do something, and Earl over-reacts. And then one or other of them announces that it was all a joke, or a misunderstanding, and let's all just get on like good neighbours. And then it all starts again ...

I found it wearing. One reviewer suggested that it might have worked better as a short story -- an absurd little allegory of the pressures of suburban living, where things like shared fences, parking and trash cans can result in otherwise sane people going to war with each other. Perhaps. But it went on and on and on, without much pay off.

[Steve · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had high hopes for this, being an enormous fan of the movie. But the more I read, the less enthusiastic I felt. I realize it’s supposed to be a kooky kind of story, where nothing is quite normal, but what I found sickening was the author’s choice of writing style and excess of $10 words. Anyone not an English major needs to keep a dictionary handy. That doesn’t make for smooth reading. On 2 adjoining pages alone are “adamantine” and “unctuousness”. Berger also has the college age daughter speaking in highfalutin sentences.

No, the book is certainly not better than or even close to being as good as the film. Vic (movie) was a much better choice than Harry (book) for the slick, sleazy, crazy new neighbor with questionable motives. The movie’s final dealings with all 3 of the Keeses was much better, especially the ending of the movie compared to the cop out book ending.

Sure, without the book there would’ve been no movie. But without the movie, we’d be stuck with the book.

[Sue Dounim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everything that every reviewer of this book said was true. The ones who hated it and the ones who adored it. But to me the key was the surprise ending. Which means that the reason of this review has to be hidden because of spoilers.
Instead of the ending that Berger wrote imagine this one.
As Harry piloted Earl's car into a future of infinite possibilities, Earl was suddenly struck with the question: how did everything and everybody I was so sure of suddenly and radically change? Enid and Elaine have become unrecognizable. Worse than that, so have I. I've done things in the past 24 hours I never before in my life would have even considered. But most incredible of all, I've made peace with it all.
He was becoming aware of a faint smell in the car that he couldn't identify. Suddenly he had it: burnt toast. Yes! he was having a stroke.
As he fell to the floor next to the window, the movers turned off their van's engine. A large dog barked once as they got out of the cab.

[Annatrailibri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Assurdo e fuori di testa. Non saprei come altro descrivere questo libro.
Enid e Earl si ritrovano ad accogliere due nuovi vicini di casa, e nel giro di una giornata si svolgerà questa folle storia di paradossi in cui pagina dopo pagina ci ritroviamo a strabuzzare gli occhi, ridere, indignarci e domandarci di quali sostanze abbia fatto uso l’autore durante la scrittura.
In sintesi i due nuovi arrivati ed Earl si ritroveranno a farsi reciproci “dispetti” (realmente definibili tali?) l’uno dopo l’altro entrando in un vortice di eventi e insulti assurdi che si susseguono fino ad un finale all’altezza del libro. Il tutto condito con una scrittura scorrevole e fluida.
Se avete voglia di qualcosa di leggero, decisamente strano e lontano dal politicamente corretto, che però vi faccia anche ridere… beh potrebbe fare al caso vostro!

[Eleonora Carta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nonostante questa accattivante copertina vagamente hopperiana e un'ottima idea di base, ho faticato a finire il libro. L'arrivo di una nuova coppia di vicini di casa può avere conseguenze inattese, e su questo credo concordiamo tutti. In particolare, questa coppia di vicini di casa, fin dalla prima sera si rivela invadente, oltremodo fastidiosa, maleducata e insopportabile.
La sequenza di eventi, tutti concentrati in poche ore, che coinvolgeranno i protagonisti dalla vicenda potrebbe essere surreale, invece diventa inverosimile. I dialoghi stentati. Le reazioni ormai prevedibili nella loro assurdità. Fino all'epilogo, anche questo intuibile fin dalle prime pagine.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is in a class all its own. I loved the peculiarity of it, and I was quite entertained throughout the whole story. If you are someone who prefers to stick with more traditional and/or popular writing, I would say this is not the book for you, but if you are looking for something refreshing and hilariously quirky, check it out.

I have not seen the movie and did not even know there was one until I started reading some of the reviews. So I read this book with no expectations based on the movie. Now, despite what I have read about it, I kind of want to watch it for comparison.

[Marnie Z · Rating 2 out of 5]

rounded up from 1.5*.. I did not like this book, it gave me anxiety. The first half was ok but then I skimmed through the last half and almost gave up because I couldn't take it anymore! Are there really people as obnoxious as Harry and Ramona? Not that the Keese family is all that better.. Why would anyone put up with all this craziness? I would have called the police to get them out of my house if I had to. I kind of liked the ending so I'm glad I at least hung in there but this book was not enjoyable

[Scott Burn · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite books of all time. It all takes place in a very short window of time as a perfectly reasonable man has all sense of reason stripped away. Hilarious, heartfelt, and wildly uncomfortable seeing Earl Keese's life uprooted soon after we meet him - I've gone back three times to enjoy it. Roll the dice, grab it. You might love it too.