LETSBuzz Book Club 26th April 1998
Doreen began her thoughts about 'Ingenious Pain' by talking about the cover of the paperback which depicts a scene of bedlam, a terrorised bird in a Gilded Cage. Doreen pointed how clever this cover was. This scene is part of a family portrait called 'The Graham Children' by William Hogarth. Doreen brought a copy of the Hogarth painting with her which she pointed out contained a likeness of a child that had died. The terrorised bird and small figure of death had been included in Hogarth's composition to represent the death of this child. The book is about a man born without the ability to feel pain. The book follows this character through the changes in his life as he is taken up into a freak show coming to a point where he is able to feel pain at last. The central theme of the book could be characterised as a cold, unfeeling character who is redeemed. Doreen pointed out that the book was not like most first novels. It starts with a post-mortem ( for one thing). It is set in the 18th Century and establishes a good period. The book is full of good similes and metaphors and the writer really makes you look again at the 'gilded cage'. Doreen described 'Ingenious Pain' as highly recommended and concluded by saying the author was born as recently as 1960.
Doreen
Doreen then went on to talk about 'The Nature of Blood' by Caryl Phillips, which she described as an extraordinarily good book. She told us that Caryl Phillips always writes about racism. The novel is mostly about the holocaust. The book starts at the point where the Allies arrive at the camp so that one is lulled into thinking that theworst bits will not be included however Doreen warned that the camp scenes were "dreadful". The book is written using a first person narrative in a 'cool' style that is not laid on heavily. During the book four people in all speak in the first person. Doreen commented that sometimes she didn't notice where the book moved from one voice to another. One of the voices in the book is Othello in Venice (though the book never says so) . The book gives us a description of Venice in the Middle Ages. Doreen described the book as "beautifully written", difficult to read but full of elegant writing. The author is writing about things that are still going, racism and hatred. Concluding Doreen said this was a great book - one of the best books she has read for a very long time.
Seán making a link with the hatred theme drew our attention to Any Questions? where they were talking about which book did you read for National Book Day. Tony Benn said he read 'Mein Kampf' by Adolf Hitler to remind himself how plausible bigotry could be.
Doreen
Caroline said that this novel read like an autobiography describing a man Indian ethnic background from the West Indies arriving in Britain. Caroline also was intrigued by the cover of her book and drew our attention to it. The book starts dealing with an apparent idyll in Wiltshire but then slowly gets below the surface. Caroline described the writing as slow and reflective as it peels away the layers. In the section of the book 'The Journey' Caroline told us how the writer described what he expected to achieve in London. His ideas of London were based on Dickens and of course London was not like that at all.
At this point there was a group wide discussion of the rather fanciful expectation that some visitors to England had of this country. Andrew told us about his friend who had come to England to see Gravesend, expecting it to be like the description of the town that Dickens' had recorded. Caroline concluded her comments about V.S. Naipaul's book by telling us how the author felt that he had tried to leave his own heritage behind at that time. He was in a sea of refugees in Britain at that time but did not record his observations in his earlier writing. Now V.S Naipaul is talking about going back to Trinidad. Caroline said she thought that this was a book for a holiday as it was almost too thoughtful for a going to bed book. Doreen said that she thought V.S. Naipaul had a very solid style. Seán added that the book was simply very convincing.
Caroline
Andrew started by commenting that he did not know what to say about 'To the Wedding'. He said that he found it difficult to read and could not see where the novel was leading to. He said that he found it 'opaque'. Doreen was surprised and said that she found the wedding scene in particular heart-breaking. She also commented that there was the odd pretentious sentence in the book. Andrew described himself as unmoved and could not see the point of it. There was some discussion at this point as to whether there was a "Male/Female divide" on certain books and as to whether ' To the Wedding' was such a case. Seán agreed to read 'To the Wedding' and then to pass it to Gavin. Seán commented that he thought it would be interesting to see whether other men got anything out of the book.
Andrew
Andrew described the central character of the book as a person who does not do anything well. The book starts with the character making a marriage to a shocking woman who is then killed. The character can see past his infatuation for this woman and as part of his healing process relocates himself to Newfoundland to work on the local newspaper. Andrew said he felt that the book was well written in a matter-of-fact style and successfully describes how he copes with a small island community as being part insider/part outsider who is accepted in some ways but not others. Andrew praised the great set pieces in the book picking out 'Nutbeam's' leaving party from the Gammy Bird as an outstanding piece of writing.
Andrew concluded by saying that he would describe 'The Shipping News' as being highly recommended.
Gill had also read the book and characterised it as a great study of an out of the way sort of place, where everyone knows everyone. She also commented that the food in the book was quite revolting. Andrew picking up on the spirit of the place noted that the weather was very important to the book - gloom, rain and wind, but that this established a strangely optimistic note in the book. He also noted another great set piece in the book when the main character buys an unseaworthy boat and tries to go out to sea in it. Referring to 'Snow Falling on Cedars' Gavin made the commented that local newpapers and journalists made good settings for novels set in remote places as they give a natural insight into the community.
Andrew
Gill started off by noting that it was similar to 'Behind the Scenes at the Museum' (Kate Atkinson's first novel) in that it was written in the first person dealing with a teenage girl growing up. Gill said that as a second novel she had not expected 'Human Croquet' to be as good, however after having trouble getting into the book she found that it was very good. Gill said that the book takes you in and is about time and reality and a tale about "where you are in time". As the book was set in the suburbs in the north and in the 1960s Gill said that she could relate to the book as she grew up in a similar environment. Talking about both books she had read Gill commented that she enjoyed it when an author brought in another work such as 'The Book of Knots' in The Shipping News which helped explain what was going on in the book.
Doreen said that had not enjoyed 'Human Croquet' despite reading 'Behind the Scenes at the Museum' . Gavin added that he felt that the first twenty pages of 'Human Croquet' were almost the same as the beginning of 'Behind the Scenes' and that he felt that Kate Atkinson needed a new beginning for the book. He then added that he felt that the book 'took off' after about one third of the story and was very successful after that point.
Gill
Seán said that he felt that this book brought the group back to Doreen's choice The Nature of Blood as 'Darkest England' also deals with racism and hatred. This book is written by a South African and starts off being narrated by a character who is a UN observer during the first free election in South Africa. However, what the book really deals with is the history and expectation of a Bushman tribe. In the 19th century the British made a promise to the tribe to protect them from the Boer and now in the 1990s the Bushmen want to hold Britain to its promise. In order to do this they mount an expedition to modern Britain. The bulk of the novel is therefore set in Britain and is written from the perspective of the bushman who comes to Britain.
Seán said that the style was difficult to get into as it was written in short, simple sentences of the character who was the only member of his tribe to know English. The story takes us through the Bushman's views of 1980s/1990s Britain. He passes through the detention centres and the legal system that deals with immigration. Despite its awfulness the character 'mis-interprets' what is happening to him and is grateful, for example, for a meal he is given and the 'special' treatment he receives. The book relies on the fact that the character never sees through his expectations to see that his treatment is unacceptable. He always puts what is happening to him down to good motives. Seán did not highly recommend the book. He felt that it had a strong message but was not literary in its writing style.
Doreen had read other books by the writer and felt that they were very good.
Seán
Gavin felt that the beginning of 'Restoration' was extremely successful. The book is written in the first person following the exploits of a bawdy young man living in the time of the Restoration of Charles II in London. Despite being a male perspective written by a female writer the voice was convincing as this male character whored his way through life. The book also dealt with the fact that the this character was a student of medicine who realises that he is becoming obsessed by his studies. Gavin described how at one point in the book the character mentally dissects his father-in-law's eye during a musical recital. As the book progresses it deals with the rise and then the fall of this character finally moving on to the 'restoration' of this character from his fallen state. Gavin felt that this was less successful. The book ends on a strangely diffuse note which unfortunately meant that he could not recommend it particularly highly.'
Gavin
'Captain Corelli's Mandolin' is a book whose praises have been sung by almost everyone recently and Gavin commented that he agreed entirely with the good things that have been said about this book. Gavin observed that as he had read the book while travelling through Greece he was able to compare the descriptions of the scenery in the book with the real world and found them to be convincing. Gavin commented that he particularly liked the use of various styles of writing through out the book which carried the story along and he quoted the example of the pamphlet section of the book which ridicules Mussolini. Gavin like everyone else recommended this book.
Gavin
The frames have gone all funny - click to make it good.