December meeting and book review "The Confession" by Jessie Burton

Five members met at Peyote Restaurant for our annual Christmas Book Swap meeting. It was an extremely cold and windy winter night with several members unable to make it due to flu, in the case of Sue and Joan, Jeanette having other issues to attend to and Emma having decamped to Edinburgh. The assembled members ( Joanne,Linda,Pauline , Debb and yours truly had all read and enjoyed THE CONFESSIION BY JESSIE BURTON. 

In fact, most regular members had actually finished this one, the assembled group receiving an additional award of one of Miss Crilly says you are a star sticker, which were proudly worn during our meal.

Although unable to attend Sue and Jeanette sent some feedback on the book, in the case of Jeanette this was a three page review which gave the book a 4 out of 5 rating (Jeanette you may wish to post your review directly for others to digest).  Most agreed with Sue that they had enjoyed the book and said the plot was gripping and with beautiful prose.  Sue added that she loved the way Jessie Burton explores the intricacies of various lives especially Elise,Rose and Connie. Remarking that like most people they are hugely complex, real yet flawed and totally believable.

All of us agreed that the split into different eras worked well and captured the times brilliantly.  Jeanette also remarked on the realism by remarking that “ the character of the actress Barbara was so well drawn that I was going to google her to see what she looked like…”

I enjoyed the way the book focusses on the intimacy of peoples lives women in particular, and agree with Sue that the secondary characters of Joe and his family who were not always positive influences for Rose but contrasted with Rose’s friend Kelly who offered good support to her.

I have picked out a few of Jeannette’s interesting comments as Joanne did ask if she had included one of her most hated lines in her lengthy review. Not this time but here are a couple of typical comments.

“ I found Rose an engaging character until she did the bizarre pretending to be Laura and then fell out with her a bit “

 I agree I found all that pretending to be someone else a bit silly and not believable.

“ I liked the themes of change and decision making and finding yourself. We can soon drop anchor in life, and I felt a message of the book was make your own mind up about doing this “

The book is an intelligent, tangled mystery involving three generations of women.

We scored the book 4.5.

Joanne has kindly chosen Somebody I Used to Know by Wendy Mitchell to read in January and to discuss at February’s meeting.

Those attending the meeting also agreed to miss the January meeting as we would be meeting very close to  New Year Day and three of the group would also still be on holiday.

So, our next meeting will be THURSDAY FEBRUARY 6^th at 6.30. I will try to book The Coach House as usual.

New members are always welcome too. If you enjoy reading and like a nice relaxing chat with good company why not come along, we don’t bite.

October review of Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer

From a list provided by Jeanette of titles she had chosen for their “cult status”.

Well, as far as most book group members were concerned everything was far from illuminated most of our avid readers unable to complete the book.  Linda only managed two pages and admitted defeat.  Some like Joanne only read a couple of chapters before giving up.  Sue was still reading it on the night of the meeting and with the determination of a climber scaling Everest she was not going to give up.  I and Pauline had indeed finished the book, but were still bewildered by the whole experience.  There were so many questions but with Sue still immersed in the story we did not want to say too much.

The story is about an American Jewish young man trying to locate the person who allegedly saved his grandfather’s life from the Nazi’s. With only a tattered photograph and the most improbable group of guides/translators he sets off on a journey into the inner depths of the Ukraine. Initially we are bombarded by the most hilarious and  twisted use of the English language as Alex tries to converse with “The Hero “ and convince him of his family’s worth as a guide. However the story becomes increasingly dark and complex as the odd group including an oversexed dog delve deeper into the past.

The initial story is told alongside an historical account of a typical Jewish village or shetel, its odd inhabitants, bizarre Jewish customs and a mythological tale about how a beautiful child survives a near drowning and is brought up in this traditional yet weird village. The narrative swaps between both stories but also includes some very strange Jewish customs and language, which Sue really found fascinating. I and Pauline are holding out hope that Sue can illuminate us about everything once she reaches the very heart wrenching conclusion.

I found the book difficult and bewildering, but when I started discussing it with Pauline who had made it to the end, it threw up some interesting questions and seemed to make more sense when discussing it in the group. On the heels of reading our previous book Milkman, which also played around with language and style, perhaps we had been over exposed to complex styles. Pauline summed it up by saying   “I was desperate to read a chick lit “

In conclusion I think this novel is one I will put on my READ AGAIN pile but I am not sure when that might happen. I have seldom read anything so funny yet terribly tragic, so that alone must be testament to the writer’s skill. There was perhaps too much going on but that is its unique value. It’s a difficult and frustrating read but strangely now it’s over I would recommend it to others, which while reading it was a definite no!  I also read somewhere that it has been made into a film, HOW was my reaction to that information.

I think it’s best not to attempt a score for this one as only a few of us read it fully.

November’s book is The Confession by Jessie Burton.

Our next meeting will be December 5th for our Christmas Book swap, so no list for that meeting. It’s our intention to try and Book the New Mexican Restaurant, so please let us know if you will definitely be coming along. Places get booked up quickly this time of year. If you are coming please remember to bring along your wrapped book.

We will decide at that meeting who will do this list for January as we all will have different books to read for December. Can I make a suggestion that the person who compiles the monthly list also does the blog/review?

Review written by Anne Marie.

August book review Milkman by Anna Burns

 

August’s read was Milkman by Anna Burns, this was discussed by a small group at The Coach House in September.

“Milkman” is written in an unusual style, where none of the characters is named, only referred to by titles such as “ first brother-in-law or “maybe boyfriend” . The author writes in the first person about a period of the life of a young woman in 1970’s Northern Ireland during The Troubles. There is a great deal of descriptive prose, and the chapters and paragraphs are very long, making finding stopping places a bit difficult.

There were mixed opinions of the book amongst the group. Some like Anne Marie loved it, enjoying the gritty presentation of the story, while Pauline and Joan found it difficult to get into, though it improved as the second half of the story developed. Joan had listened to much of it on audio, and felt that it was much improved by this, the narrator being an Irish female which helped with the atmosphere.

The book was considered by some members as to be too wordy, with Carole and Pauline admitting to missing some chunks out, and some members not able to finish it or even start it !!. It was , however considered by the group to be strongly evocative of how life must have been to live in this violent era in Ireland. Where fear and suspicion were a part of everyday life for ordinary people.

We gave the book a score of 3.5 ( undermarked in AnneMarie’s  view.)

Written by Pauline.

September Read "An American Marriage" by Tayari Jones

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones 

Meeting held at “The Coach House” Low Fell ( 3rd October 2019)

Our September read was given an enthusiastic response both at our monthly meeting and on line. We all agreed we found it to be a tender and humane story with vibrant characterisations and thought-provoking questions on issues of race, love, loyalty and marriage.  

The plot centres on an appalling miscarriage of justice. Recently married, Roy and Celestial are staying in a motel on a visit to Roy’s parents in small-town Louisiana but their lives are turned upside down as Roy is arrested for rape.

A woman, whom Roy briefly met earlier in the evening while fetching ice, has been raped and has identified – with certainty, but no apparent evidence – Roy as the perpetrator. Here the reader is simply given to understand that a black man, in the wrong place at the wrong time, will find retribution meted out swiftly and unquestioningly.

We learn that Roy and Celestial’s marriage is precarious. Despite a strong bond, incompatibilities had already begun to appear before Roy’s arrest and subsequent incarceration. On the evening of Roy’s arrest, they are quarrelling about his propensity to keep secrets, including that of his paternity. The question of whether their marriage would have continued, despite Roy’s tendency to flirt with other women; Celestial’s aspiration to forge a career as a textile artist and her ambivalence over having children, is dramatically left in the air as circumstances develop around them.

This is the story of a man trying to get back home to a waiting wife -  a wife unsure of the extent to which she is permitted to rebuild her own life. Celestial is from a wealthy family and is a talented artist, making extraordinary lifelike dolls which provides her a secure income and a certain sense of freedom and independence. Roy is the son of poor Louisiana parents trying to make his way in the corporate world. 

During Roy’s imprisonment Celestial is devastated and unmoored, and she finds herself struggling to hold on to the love that has been her centre, taking comfort in Andre, their closest friend of long standing. When Roy's conviction is suddenly overturned, he returns home ready to resume their life together, but things have changed dramatically and there are many questions which will need addressing.

Members admitted being moved by the slow devastation of a marriage, finding the characters  totally believable and their circumstances overwhelmingly difficult and often out of their control.

Personally I thought the novel to be flawless but some disagreed, finding aspects of the plot a little far-fetched. Generally, however, we all agreed that there was profound knowledge and wisdom in the writing with its light touch often managing to reach emotional depths.

There was no doubt in our minds that this was a masterpiece of storytelling, An American Marriage offers a profoundly insightful look into the hearts and minds of three unforgettable characters who are at once bound together and separated by forces beyond their control.

Awarded 4.5

Future reads:  October     “Everything is Illuminated” by Jonathan Safran Foer

                 
November  “The Confession” by Jessie Burton 

Book Club reading review for the Paris Wife.

 

A small but enthusiastic group of members met at The Black Horse Public House on American Independence day for our regular meeting,  The fact that it was  July the fourth had no real significance other than the book we were about to discuss was about the first marriage of celebrated American author Ernest Hemmingway. 

Our regular meeting place is currently undergoing refurbishment so we had to find an alternative. This popular pub was suggested by one of our Book Group as its central but unfortunately the large lounge area does not open until 7.15 our meetings start at 6.30 and the bar area was full. So as the first arrival I took up position in the outside area as a light mizzle of rain started to fall. We did eventually manage to secure a table and seats in the bar area.

A lot of our regular members were unable to attend as they were enjoying summer breaks in a variety of venues. However an amazing six of us managed to attend and most had either finished reading the book or were almost finished so we could have a reasonable discussion. 

Emma had kindly sent her views via our chat group, which I read out in full.

 The line “But when I wake again, the sentences are there waiting for me, shouting at me to be set down”: page 277. Emma remarked that this really resonated with her as a writer.  Sometimes everything just flows and it’s all there in my head and doesn’t take any effort to write. Sometimes it’s a bit harder.

This book was more unusual than our regular choices as it was fiction but the plot involved real people and real events.  I think Pauline’s comment summed it up for me:

 “It was neither nowt nor summit “Perhaps that reflects the fact that it was a mix of fact and fiction and as such did not measure up for either genre?

Debb was unable to attend but sent her comments;

 “ I found it difficult to empathise with the characters as they led such a privileged, affected lifestyle, but enjoyed dipping my toe into that era “

Most of us did agree that it was not a difficult book to read, Linda commenting that she had really enjoyed it. One incident being particularly memorable.  This was when Hadley cut her hair into the more fashionable shorter style in Paris. She then regretted it and didn’t like it but Hemingway did. The Jazz Era was successfully depicted and the contrast between these fast living, hard drinking liberated types and the stay at home domesticated wife was well portrayed.

The Paris wife is narrated obviously from Hadley’s point of view. Chronicling the five year marriage to the novelist, who was in fact eight years her junior. She is whisked away from her quiet, spinsterish life to live amongst the literary glitterati of the day.  These included Gertrude Stein, Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald and Ezra Pound. Even if you were completely unaware of Hemingway’s numerous marriages I think it would not have taken too much guesswork to see where this partnership was heading. Hadley comes across as a perfectly decent person who loved her husband and their child but became the discarded first wife of a man who seemed to treat her badly. To the extent that at one point he actually complained to her for not understanding why he was cheating on her with her glamourous friend Pauline!

I think the writer has displayed Hadley’s character with dignity and you do sympathise with her as she loses everything she loves. If she had not been married to Hemingway she would just have been another devoted wife who’s boorish and self-centred husband trades in for a new one.

There was a lot of supplementary discussion around Hemingway himself. I suppose that was inevitable given his legacy of literature and lifestyle. It also transpired that most of the assembled members had not actually read any of his novels. I was surprised by this as we could name a lot of titles, but I suppose some have been made into films too. It did however encourage us to go back and read some of his work. In fact, Hemingway did write about this particular period of his life in A Moveable Feast in which he describes it as:

“How Paris was in the early days when we were very poor and very happy”.

It’s a shame he didn’t realise this at the time.

We scored this book 3.5 out of 5.

August Book is The Tent the Bucket and ME by Emma Kennedy

 

                               

The Book we have chosen for September is Milkman by Anna Burns.

Pauline has agreed to compile the next list.

Our next Book Club meeting will be Thursday 1^st August, hopefully at the re-opened Aletaster/ Crown

June meeting: The Enchanted by Rene Denfeld

June's meeting was the first to be held in our new home at The Aletaster in a long while. After a one-meeting hiatus in July when the pub is being refurbished, we will look forward to regularly seeing each other in the back room and discussing books.

Rene Denfeld's The Enchanted was quite different to the types of book we often read here at Low Fell Book Group, but was generally well-received by all those who completed it. Set on death row and written from varying perspectives, the author tackled the subject matter and narratives in a clever and revealing way.

There was a certain other worldliness to the book, which was highly appropriate when you think of the prisoners being disconnected with society. This was created through a number of techniques, including keeping names hidden, which Lynda thought was particularly well used.

The character of the young blonde boy caught the interest of many members of the group and Ruth was pleased when he managed to escape his situation. She liked the way that he then thought about only having 20 months left and that they could be counted as 20 moons.

One of the things that we all were intrigued by was the mention of the horses running and the men with little hammers. Some of the group immediately linked these instances with the location of the prison near the San Andreas fault line, but others connected them to the inmates' state of mind and the rising tension around execution times.

For me, the real crux of the book was the idea as to whether the lady should try to save York or not, considering he expressly said he didn't want to be spared execution. It was a situation that brought in the ideas of duty, doing one's job, moral obligations and taking individuals' wishes into consideration.


We gave The Enchanted 4 stars out of 5
The next meeting will be on July 4th, when we'll be reading The Paris Wife by Paula McLain

April meeting: The Cut Out Girl by Bart Van Es

Today’s meeting was held at The Angel View and it was a wonderfully warm and joyous occasion, made special by the reunion with one or two lovely, much missed, members. We were discussing The Cut Out Girl by Bart Van Es.

This novel/biography is about the author’s journey into the history of his family which has previously been lost to him.

Some 4,000 Jewish children survived the war in hiding in Holland. Lien was one of just 358 who stayed with a non-Jewish family after 1945: she asked to return to the Van Eses. Bart van Es (the author) – an Oxford English professor who has lived in Britain since the age of three – had always known that his grandparents had sheltered Jewish children. But it was only after the death of his uncle in 2014 that he began to ask questions and made contact with Lien, now in her 80s and living in Amsterdam.

The writing is heroic in its endeavours to deliver the facts objectively, despite his personal connection. Some of the group felt that he was expert in delivering the narrative simply and that his use of understatement was effective. However, there was dissension when some felt he struggled to create narrative by writing in two different styles: one representing Lien’s voice and the other his own academic one. A couple of us agreed with a comment that it made difficult reading and that it was a bit of a slog at times, despite loving Lien’s story.
But, others felt strongly that they understood the need for the straightforward style used by Van Es to pass on information in contrast to the lyrical style used for Lien’s story.

Should one be unfamiliar with the historic background of this story, then reading this will put you right. I, for one, had no idea that so many vulnerable children were hidden from the Nazis. I had no idea that some were exploited and hideously abused by so many. The experiences which Lien went through left her numb and removed from reality. Her identity and feeling of self worth was clearly numbed by the process of being removed from her natural parents to live in another world of confusion and abject loneliness. Lien, clearly badly damaged by her experiences, questioned her existence:

“I ought not to be here”

This book is about the Holocaust and about the Dutch families saving the lives of Jewish children. Unfortunately it is also about those that turned those very families and children in to the Nazis.

The journey Lien takes as a little girl is fraught with danger and violence and we meet this extraordinary woman, having carried the burden of her experience throughout the years. Reaching the age of 80, she can finally begin to relate her experiences and share her understanding of what happened during this terrible time.

Van Es writes, “Without families you don”t get stories” - a profound statement in relation to this book.

The experience of getting to know Lien had been transformative for him and he describes it as “having changed me”.

All members felt that the book is well worth reading as a detective story which brings us to find the violators and the victims. All found it to be movingly descriptive and breathtakingly factual.

There are many characters in Lien’s story. Some are to be recommended for courage and commitment and without whom Lien would not have survived. Some characters come off really badly in the telling but they will be judged for their part in this unforgivable and terrible chapter in our recent history.

We awarded this book 4/5 stars.

Our chosen novel for May’s reading is The Enchanted by Rene Denfield to be reviewed on first Thursday in June.