The November meeting of the Low Fell Book Group marked a year since our merry little band of readers had started congregating regularly. As such, we decided to go somewhere special for our anniversary and met upstairs in The Bank. There was a good turnout and interesting discussions of Big Brother by Lionel Shriver commenced.
It was generally considered that the book was well-written and everyone got into it, although many people were quite perplexed by the ending. Joan admitted to being caught off guard by it and needed to flick back and forwards over the section where the plot twisted in order to get her head around what had happened.
"It would have been better if it had started with the funeral" - Joan
Sue said she felt like the book was more like a memoir and had in fact found out that the author had written it around the time that her own brother died. Writing about the themes of guilt surrounding the issues of obesity and what can be done to help someone in the situation Edison (the big brother of the title) was in could therefore have been something of a catharsis for her.
Joan suggested that leaving your family to live with your brother was somewhat unrealistic, but Jeanette pointed out that the book was about people's relationships with food as opposed to each other. Joanne C said that she though it was offensive to skinny people, who are portrayed as judgmental throughout.
The idea of eating oneself to death is one that is uncomfortable and sparks plenty of debate. Sue was reminded of the film La Grande Bouffe in which a group undertakes a suicide pact to eat themselves to death on fine cuisine. Relatively early on in the book, there is a line that I (Emma) felt summed it up. "Now cratered down the middle like a half-dug grave, the mattress would have to be replaced".
"It was about losing himself and finding himself" - Jeanette
We discussed the various characters and which ones were likable, with Linda pointing out that the daughter was the only one she could get on side with. Once again, the partner of one of our group could be seen in the character of Fletcher (although we'll keep names secret to protect the innocent!). It was generally agreed that the names were also fairly pretentious.
Several members of the group have read We Need to Talk About Kevin, which is also by Shriver and decided that they preferred it to this latest offering.
"I read it; I was enjoying it; but I hated it by the end" - Sharon
The group decided to give Big Brother three stars, with some rating it as little as one and others going as far as 4.5.
Eight of us stayed on an had a meal at The Bank, which despite the long wait for food and a conspicuous absence of Caesar dressing made for a very enjoyable evening.
Next month's book is The Stranger in my Home by Adele Parks. Feel free to read along with us.
