"The Rules of Inheritance" does not inspire

Claire Bidwell Smith's memoir which traces her self-destructive lifestyle following the loss of both of her parents at a relatively early age failed to inspire most of our readers. One of our readers tuned into her compassion and was able to empathise with Claire as she wisely concluded that never having been in Claire's shoes she could not predict what her grieving process would have been in a similar situation. Most of our readers found the length, self-destructive and repetitive nature of Claire's grieving quite frustrating and irritating.

Some found the non-linear structure confusing while others kindly pointed out that the book was structured according to Elisabeth Kubler-Ross's five stages of grief: denial, anger,bargaining, depression and acceptance. Some found it difficult to differentiate between the supposedly different stages as it seemed to be just more and more of the same. Kubler-Ross herself is keen to point out that there are no rules for grief and that the five stages are just a cognitive skeletal framework which is prescriptive for neither time endured nor sequence.

Overall, it seemed that the most positive thing most could say was that it was printed in a manner that encouraged efficient reading. It was not the most pleasurable foray into non-fiction.

Despite a mostly negative reaction to this book, our members are still pleased to be reading outside of their comfort zone and experimenting with different authors and genres.

We return to fiction with our next novel "All the Light We Cannot See"" by Anthony Doerr.

 



We'll meet to discuss this title on Thursday 29 January, 2015 at Gordon White Library.

Don't forget our MRCL Book Club Christmas get together at Gordon White Library Community Meeting Room from 6.00 pm to 8.00 pm on Thursday 18 December. Don't forget to bring along some finger food to share and some beverages to suit your personal taste!

Looking forward to seeing you there and have the chance to talk more about books!

How are you coping with 'The Rules of Inheritance'?

Hello there,

Well it's nearly the last Thursday of the month already! I am still struggling with this book! I hope to get it finished by Thursday but am finding it quite a chore!

Have just realised I don't think I have a book selected for the Christmas break! Yikes! Something else to go onto my 'Got to be done by yesterday!' list!

Looking forward to hearing your views on this month's book.

See you at 6.00 pm on Thursday 27 November, at Gordon White Library!

Reading, reading, reading........

The Time we Have Taken apparently was time wasted?

Well Steven Carroll's Miles Franklin Award winning The Time we have taken did not seem to impress our members. Descriptors like 'slow', 'boring', 'dull' seemed to be in the majority. Many folks were quite dismayed when they realised that it was the third book in a trilogy and were quite relieved that at least they had only had to read one and not three books in a similar vein.

Folks agreed that the author had certainly captured the monotony of life in the suburbs well but they had difficulty finding any sympathy or empathy for the characters and therefore found it difficult to connect with the book.  Discussion on the novel was a bit restricted in that everyone seemed to be on the same page and in agreement which doesn't lead to that impassioned debate stimulated by one's desire for one's opinions to be seriously considered by the rest of the group.

I often find that if I have not enjoyed a book, listening to those who have gives me another perspective which encourages me to re-read it with a more positive attitude. As we did not have this variance of opinion in our group, I have included a copy of what the Miles Franklin judging panel had to say about the novel, as they were certainly impressed by it!



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2008 Winner - The Time We Have Taken by Steven Carroll

Commenting on the winner’s novel, the Judging Panel wrote:
“In the spare, episodic style of the two earlier novels (The Art of the Engine Driver and The Gift of Speed) in this trilogy, Steven Carroll undertakes a parallel task of representation as his cast of characters reconsider their lives in and beyond the suburb that has been their crucible. Michael, son of the engine driver, moves to the city and falls in love with a girl beyond his reach – or so, poignantly, he believes. Vic, the father, has long since travelled north to a life of abstracted retirement. The mother, Rita, too well turned out to quite fit into the street, sells the house which has been her refuge, and makes an unlikely alliance with the widow of the industrial entrepreneur they called ‘Webster the Factory’. At night they drive together across the thistle-landscape in a sleek black car that is both comet and hearse.
What do they all make of their lives? Do they hear ‘the music of the years’? Or are they deaf, missing the wonder of it? Carroll’s novel is a poised, philosophically profound exploration of the question, a stand-alone work that is moving and indelible in its evocation of the extraordinary in ordinary lives.”


We are delving into the world of non-fiction with the memoir The Rules of Inheritance: a Memoir by Claire Bidwell Smith.

 

 



I'll include more information about this book in a later blog but I'll let you get started on your own views before I give you more to ruminate on.

Keep those pages turning and the grey cells firing!