LETSBuzz Book Club 23rd July 2000
Harmless enough. Andrew knew a lot of the places having stayed in
the area. Not particularly well written, no tension or flow. Easy
to read.
Andrew
A holocaust novel about a boy, mid-teens, who starts an affair
with an older, illiterate woman who was involved with the
transporting of Polish Jews.
The second part of book, after their affair has ended, is
about the court case which takes place after she is arrested. The
boy attends the trial and tries to befriend her again by visiting
her in prison and reading to her. She is on trial on the basis of
having written a report - a quandary for the boy who knows she
can't write. A very gloomy book, Andrew did not enjoy it.
Andrew
More straightforward than the author's 'Life and times of Michael
K'. A hopeless story - the main character is in a downward spiral
of hopelessness, punishing himself following an affair with one
of his students. He goes to live with his daughter and they are
attacked. The daughter is raped. A metaphor for the downfall of
South Africa? Would be interesting to discuss the book with
someone from South Africa to get their perspective.
Andrew
Even lighter than 'The Wishbones'.
Filmed last year, with good reviews. Whole book is written in the
first person but there are six-seven different narrators,
including the teacher and the three candidates for school
president. Pared-down writing. Entertaining, bouncy, frivolous -
almost a book for teenagers, but a bit too knowing. A good plot.
Recommended.
Andrew
Rory was trying to read this but had to interrupt to read Alison
Lurie and the Anita Desai, for the R4 Book Club. Then he couldn't
be bothered to re-start. No narrative thrust. A bit weird: 300
year old knights... Nowhere near as good as Captain
Corelli. Characters merge together. Doreen also unable to
read this one - just too weird.
Rory
Describes 16th & 17th century Spanish, Dutch and English
settlers in North America. A bit biased - but maybe trying to
redress the balance. Trying to correct misconceptions - e.g. that
there weren't many Indians whereas the author suggests there were
between 50-70 million, many of whom were then wiped out by
disease introduced by the settlers. (e.g. smallpox - death rate
70-80% - much greater than the Black Death). Looks at the
rationalisations of the settlers and their justification for
taking over the land - this was seen as ok because the Indians
roamed over the land rather than settling. The early settlers
were dependent on the Indians for their food but still described
them as marauding.
Rory
Set in Elizabethan times. Very anti-Catholic. Quite shocking to
read at first: Catholic=bad / Protestant=good. Religion had a
much higher profile then than it has in England today.
Gill
Enjoyed it. Nothing to add to everyone's comments.
Gill
A book of short stories, all of which are about women. Set in
Canada. Rather depressing - content includes murder, abuse,
broken marriages, etc. Well written but not enjoyable. Doreen had
read these as well, and admired the style of the writing if not
the content. The first story could be taken as a model of 'how to
write a short story' - excellent construction.
Gill
Bought this in a second-hand bookshop, because of a vague memory
of having read something good by this author. Very disappointing
- (maybe this is why it was in the shop!) Story concerns a
woman's obsessive attraction to her stepson who, unknown to her,
is gay. There is one interesting, eccentric slightly witch-like
character. But the book felt like a waste of time.
Jean
Read Foreign
Affairs for the R4 programme and liked it more than had
expected so went in search of more Alison Lurie. This book was
ok, though nothing really special. Interesting to note that one
of the characters had appeared briefly in Foreign affairs. Not
sure whether this happens in other books - probably only noticed
because read one immediately after the other. But like the idea
of a character continuing. Must be frustrating for authors
sometimes to create an interesting character and then have to
stop writing about them.
Jean
Bought this in search of another 'fix' of Michèle Roberts
writing, having recently finished 'Impossible
Saints'. A strange book, hard to know what is real and what
imagined. The central character gathers five modern-day 'sibyls',
together on a magical ark, designed according to their whims.
e.g. it includes a huge library, an indulgent bathroom, a big
warm kitchen, and as in all Michèle Roberts' books, some
very delicious food. Each sibyl represents a different aspect of
women's lives and all have their own stories to tell, often
illustrating the difficulty of being a woman writer. Some rich
sensual writing - often very enjoyable but sometimes
over-the-top.
Jean
A very powerful and gripping read. Central character is a
working-class Irishman in London who gets caught up with some
very nasty types. His friend is murdered, in a particularly
unpleasant way. Unusual style, very short sentences, lots of
dialogue, and strange inner thoughts of the central character who
has been sent a little mad by his experiences. Highly
recommended.
Jean
Short stories; the author is an American Jew and most of the
stories are about Orthodox Jews. Some set in Jerusalem, some in
New York, some at the time of the Holocaust and some modern. A
window into a closed world. The author writes well, good
description of the circumscribed lives of Orthodox Jewish women.
Some of the stories are very sad. Interesting stories.
Recommended.
Doreen
Doreen described this book as 'Middlebrow - better than Joanna
Trollope but not great'. Author tends to write romances with a
bitter streak. An unusual story: a romance between two people in
their 60s. From the beginning we know that the man is after the
woman's money but he hides this with great charm and
attentiveness. Quite nasty. The woman has been badly hurt in the
past and does fall quite badly. Well written and very persuasive.
The chapters alternate between the two characters.
Doreen
Shortlisted for the Booker prize. Doreen loves Michael Frayn's
writing: very erudite, lots of interesting content and writes a
good story. This is a book about paintings - the narrator thinks
he has found an unknown Breugel. The owner of the picture is a
chinless wonder who owns a huge house and needs to sell the
picture to pay for repairs to the house. The author talks about
the picture in loving detail - Doreen found it frustrating to be
reading this book in a holiday cottage and therefore unable to
look at the pictures to check the details described. There is a
(real) mystery about a series of pictures painted by Breugel and
it is not known whether some of them are missing. This story
concerns a possible sixth picture in the series. Book is very
entertaining but also very tense - will he manage to buy the
picture.
Also very funny - some good jokes.
Doreen
The frames have gone all
funny - click to make it good.