For the May meeting we met in the back room of the Victoria in Low Fell. Our book for discussion was Rosanna Ley’s ‘The Saffron Trail’. Joan very kindly started the meeting by distributing fruit cake (many thanks to her winning first prize at the last Fells Angels WI meeting).
The response to ‘The Saffron Trail’ began with a Simon Cowell (Britain’s Got Talent) ‘I didn’t like it’, but sadly didn’t progress to the pregnant pause and unexpected reveal; ‘I loved it’. Fair to say the closest positive endorsement was ‘I quite liked it’.
The unravelling of the story of Amy and Nell was found to be ‘predictable’ by most readers. The alluring and heady promise of intrigue, magic, mystery, secrets of the tarot and the labyrinthine medina was more of a Rough Guide to Morocco with some rather nice tagine dishes to pause and enjoy along the route.
The research undertaken by Rosanna Ley into saffron, Moroccan cuisine and design did not go unappreciated. Memories of holidays and time spent living in the Middle East were shared with enthusiasm in the group, but it was felt that nothing much ‘went off the beaten track’ in terms of both locations visited and the relationships between the characters.
Little moments of nodding connections with readers were enjoyed: Hideous Kinky (‘seen that’), Catcher in the Rye (‘read that’) Leonard Cohen (‘heard that’) but there wasn’t enough to draw the readers in with any sense of excitement for the trail.
The interweaving of plot lines and the juxtaposition particularly of World War II and Vietnam conflicts was regarded as technically adept rather than being engaging.
Many members of the group thought it difficult to empathize with the main characters of Nell and Amy, finding that that the characterizations ‘lacked depth’, and were ‘too shallow’. The similarity of the one syllable names did little to distinguish the women. Readers nipped back in the text to establish if Aunt Lillian was related to Amy or Nell (however given the connection between the women perhaps this was intentional.)
The male love interests were thought to be equally indistinguishable and unsupportive to their partners. It was difficult to remember who smelled of ‘grapefruit and leather’ and who has a whiff of ‘toothpaste and autumn leaves’. And incidentally why did Jake ‘always smell of grapefruit?’ (The unanswered question raised by Amy at the very end of the book.) Google suggests the answer lies with Dior Homme Sport by Christian Dior. Available on Amazon: £55.75 for 100ml.
The suicide (or was it?) of Nell’s mother seemed a rather gauche and ill researched plot line. In the last few pages of the book we find out ‘she was ill’ and ‘she didn’t want surgery’. As someone who works in mental health I find suicide distinctly unromantic and left curious as to why this had to be the character’s death.
As a ‘skimming along the surface of a quite an interesting plot with a bit of a twist that you might see approaching from quite a distance’ type of read ‘The Saffron Trail’ fitted the bill. Members were a little disappointed in the ‘and they all lived happily ever after’ ending, likening the loved up closing scene to a Mills and Boon storyline. But there again, the book is marketed as a holiday read and likely is ideal for this. ‘It’s an easy read’ was the feeling of the group, but possibly left in the hotel lobby for others to try rather than brought home with the intent of suggesting your best friend would enjoy it. One member of the group felt that the proof reading had been poor and the book contained a number of mistakes. I felt the ending seemed rather rushed, almost as if now the characters were back in Cornwall the author had lost interest and wanted to get things tied up as soon as possible.
However, finding something I enjoy reading is not necessarily my focus for joining a book group. Together with my enjoyment of the ‘collective consciousness’ experience of reading a book at the same time as others, my pleasure comes from being with the group. I’m at rather an unexpected stage in my life, where my prediction that a reduction in parenting responsibilities (daughter going to university) would lead to greater freedom in my social life has been somewhat upended by caring responsibilities for my mother moving into that space.
During this difficult period of losing my mother to Alzheimer’s disease it’s lovely to have the book group in my diary.
How wonderful to share cake and to take a moment out to hear about members of the group going to Las Vegas, sharing amusing stories about the latest WI meeting and commenting on favourite BGT acts. For me the joy of the book club is as much about the company of others as it is about reflecting on our reading. I’ll be happy to spend as much time viewing photographs of Elvis at our next meeting as I will be discussing ‘Glorious Heresies’. And I now know how to upload information onto a blog!
Group star rating for ‘The Saffron Trail’ 2 out of 5.
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