Everyone was keen to share their experience of the last two months' books.
We decided to first discuss each book separately and then discuss their differences and similarities.
We began with Simon Cleary's Closer to Stone. Many readers questioned the motives of the father with some finding it impossible to understand his actions. Some thought the father was intending to try to 'man up' his softer second son. Some enjoyed the mostly linear structure of the story. One reader was very upset with the desert terms being used incorrectly. Most found several scenes upsetting and quite shocking. Very clever structure lulled the reader into a false sense of security which was very abruptly shattered.
Most readers were glad they had read the book. One reader found her second reading of this book far more satisfying than her first. It seemed it was a book of two brothers' spiritual journeys both as a response to a traumatic event in their lives.
Leaving the desert inspired spiritual passage, we moved to Ruth Ozeki's A Tale for the Time Being which was set in a much damper Tokyo and on an even wetter island off the coast off British Columbia. Our readers thought that Ruth Ozeki captured both the adolescent voice of Nao and the more mature voice of Ruth very well. Some readers found jumping between the two stories confusing while others really enjoyed it. When one of our readers used the quantum physics aspect to tie the two tales together, it revealed the true beauty of this novel's structure. The notion of parallel universes clarified the ending wonderfully for one reader who had been struggling with the ending. One avid reader declared that this particular novel would rate as the best of the book club selections she had read as it was cleverly constructed, beautifully written and told a captivating tale.
At first glance these two novels seemed quite different: one a desert setting with the main characters being male while the other was set both in metropolitan Tokyo and the desolate British Columbian island and the two main characters are female. However the settings for various reasons develop a feeling of isolation for our main characters. Various events are catalysts for our main characters to embark on seeking answers as to their own existence. Thus both of these novels are really spiritual journeys.
Opinions were divided as to which was the preferred book. Overall it seemed to be a successful couple of months of reading. Sharing one's experience of a book really enhances the whole reading experience and adds another dimension of enjoyment.
Thank you to everyone for your enthusiastic input and sharing!
I'll talk about our June book club selection in another post!
Hope you enjoy getting between the lines of our next read!
No comments:
Post a Comment