We Are All Good People Here
In 1962 in Roanoke, Virginia, two freshman students, Eve and Daniella, meet at Belmont College. Although they are from differing backgrounds – Eve from an old-money Atlanta family, while Daniella’s Jewish father is a professor in Washington, DC – they bond. Initially cheerful, both become disenchanted by the college’s policies towards minorities, and due to unpleasant events, they decide to transfer to Barnard College in New York. There they drift apart; Eve follows a bohemian lifestyle, becomes radicalized and, with her boyfriend, joins activist groups, while Daniella pursues a law degree. Although Daniella is involved in civil rights and participates in black voters’ registration in Mississippi, she marries a ‘reformed Republican,’ has a daughter, and joins a predominantly male law firm. Eve also has a daughter, but her group’s terrorism takes its toll, landing her in trouble. She turns to Daniella for legal assistance. However, their secrets might endanger their daughters’ lives.
White has used the 1960s-1990s, thirty years of turbulent events in American history, to shape this novel’s plot. Although the large cast of two generations of characters and inclusion of numerous significant incidents into a 287-page narrative is impressive, its scenes do, at times, feel rushed. Nevertheless, the descriptions of life in the Southern and Northern colleges are evocative of that period. The plot is made engrossing by addressing racism, women’s issues, gay rights, and anti-Semitism, together with the inclusion of historical incidents, such as the shootings of the Kennedy brothers and Martin Luther King, Jr. The message of the novel is in its line: “We are all good people here, all trying to muddle through this the best we can,” and that’s how we’ve arrived here today. However, there is also a hint of the evil that exists in the society, particularly exposed in a gruesome scene of animal cruelty involving a cat.
