The March meeting was held at Fell's Kitchen, where 9 members
met over an enjoyable meal and gave their views on Sweet Caress by WilliamBoyd.
Some of the assembled were still reading it ( Pauline, Sue and Linda ) but commented that
they were enjoying it so far. Those who had completed it (Anne Marie, Joan,
Joanne C, Jeanette, Emma and Sheila) were also complimentary, with the
exception of Jeanette, who really did not like it at all.
The story describes the memorable life of a well-to-do woman
from 1908 to 1977. Amory Clay’s racy and well travelled life is shown to the
reader through beautiful story telling and the inclusion of photographs. She
finds herself caught up in many of the twentieth century’s most dramatic and
defining events. Joanne particularly enjoyed the historical aspects and they
were woven well into the overall story of a life well lived.
Most of us agreed
that the book was well written drawing you in easily and sustaining your
interest. However some found the jumping backward and forwards in time rather
frustrating. An unusual feature of this novel was the inclusion of old
photographs littered throughout the story. Most of the group felt that the
photographs did not add to the narrative. Given that Amory Clay was an award
winning photographer Jeanette commented that most were badly executed other
than the one with the woman in stockings. Emma agreed adding that the two photographs
supposedly of Queenie were clearly two different women. The photographs were
actually taken from the author’s private collection.
The plot was
sweeping and panoramic and tells the whole life story of one woman’s search for
success and love and conveyed this very well. There were some issues with the
plot. Amory always seemed to be present in the places where the action was
happening; in jazz-age Berlin , fighting
Fascists in 1930s London , wartime France and Vietnam . Perhaps it could be argued
that her presence in these places did stretch your believability, however the
author depicted these historical events well and reminded us of the destructive
and damaging impact of war on the lives of individuals.
Amory Clay, the
novel’s heroine, is not always the most likeable of women, but most of the group
felt that she was interesting, Sue felt that Boyd had got into a woman’s mind
very well. To steal Amory’s inventive game of describing people in four
adjectives, she is irritating, boastful, imperfect and spirited. We also felt
that most of the other main characters were well rounded too, even though many
had quite absurd names, but at least they were memorable. Several members of our
group commented that initially they thought the story was autobiographical,
which I feel shows the skill in Boyd’s writing conveying her as a real person,
flaws and all.
I feel it is
pertinent to include here the main criticism of the story as far as Jeanette
was concerned, as it generated a lot of discussion on the night. This was the
attempted suicide of Amory’s father, which really does not sit easy with
Jeanette. I tend to agree in part with this observation as suicide as a theme
in novels does seem to crop up quite a lot. Is it simply a lazy means of portraying
drama in literature? Perhaps this is a good dissertation subject for a student
of literature or psychology to research more fully?
Overall the group
gave Sweet Caress the score of 4. Personally I rated it a 5, as I really loved
it from the beginning and would sum it up as accomplished, brilliant,
captivating and dazzling.
The book selected for March is The Versions Of Us By LauraBarnett.
