Awash with tragedy

Well talk about reading the blues!  It seemed to be the general consensus that this month's reads were generally hard work. Some folk hadn't quite finished them despite valiant efforts while some folk who waded through felt a little underwhelmed with the conclusions.

"On Chesil Beach" was considered the more rewarding read of the two. Some readers found themselves frustrated with the communication breakdown between the two protaganists while others spoke of the tragedy of timing - they just met in the wrong decade! Many readers empathised with the pain experienced by the main characters and therefore felt sympathy towards them while others just wanted to shake the book and thus bring the characters to their senses.

However "The Sea" did not seem to evoke the same degree of empathy. While some readers really enjoyed the beauty of Banville's language and thought the sea provided an underlying rhythm to the book, others got tired of feeling caught in the backwash and just got annoyed with the main character.
Other readers thought the language used made the story less accessible than it needed to be. Many readers opted to skim the book and just read the final chapter. One reader shocked everyone by admitting they always read the final chapter first and then go back and read the book, claiming this gives them a better idea of what they need to be looking for in the book. This admission certainly raised a lot of eyebrows and animated discussion.

As it was our last Book Club for the year we spent time reminiscing about the books we've read over the past couple of years and some of our participants decided to catch up on some of the ones they had missed. There was also much discussion about reading plans for the Christmas break.

As we do not meet until 30 January 2014, we opted for a big read over Christmas - "The Luminaries" by Eleanor Catton. This bulky tome won the 2013 Man Booker Prize and should ensure readers gain rather sculpted arms as they read!

I'll include more information about this book in my next blog.

Keep those pages turning!