This month we visit Joan London's 'The Golden Age'

This novel was shortlisted for the 2015 Miles Franklin Literary Award. It tells of a time when polio was every parent's worst nightmare.

 

 

Geordie Williamson, The Australian's chief literary critic had this to say about Joan London's third novel.

 

 

Hopefully discussion will be more upbeat this month when we meet on Thursday 24 September at 6.00pm at Gordon White Library's Community Meeting Room.

'Go Set A Watchman" disappoints

Our avid readers had approached reading Harper Lee's long anticipated 'second' novel with some intrepidation. A couple of our readers had read and studied Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird in great detail and it had been an important part of their life journey. They had a great fondness and respect for this classic novel. It had helped mould their values and like Scout (Jean Louise) they had perceived Atticus' concept of justice as a worthy benchmark.The original movie starring the 'perfect Atticus' Gregory Peck also resurrected fond memories for many. Go Set A Watchman had a legendary child with a passionate loyal following to compete with.

A couple of our readers had heard of but not read To Kill A Mockingbird so they were in some ways better equipped to read Go Set A Watchman more objectively.They did not have to cope with the same level of expectation.

Most of our readers admitted to enjoying passages of exceptional writing but on the whole felt the book needed far more editing. There was much discussion of how a book left in draft form for 55 years could be effectively edited. The author would have changed so much style-wise and the audience and context would also have changed so dramatically that modern editing would have been glaringly obvious and continuity would have been difficult to maintain. The downside of this of course, was that our readers generally thought that  Go Set A Watchman felt like a draft. Moments of magic were separated by large gaps in the narrative.

There was also discussion about whether racism was still as widespread  in the US and depressingly it seemed from our discussion which considered recent events in the United States, that really not that much appeared to have changed on the North American societal landscape.

They spoke of To Kill A Mockingbird being peopled with a vast array of well drawn characters, many of whom were quite idiosyncratic, and a great deal of coming and going whereas the fewer folk in Go Set A Watchman were less clearly delineated and our readers had trouble connecting with them. Many of our readers found the grown Jean Louise quite irritating and did not consider her character as believable in light of her upbringing and background. Our readers spoke of the story line being very slow to start and then everything at the end happening at breakneck speed. One of our readers was very cross with the ending and just could not consider it as plausible.

Overall there was an atmosphere of palpable disappointment hovering over our meeting this week. Discussion seemed more muted than usual. When our readers were asked to rate our read out of ten, most suggested 5 or 6 and felt they were being generous at that. The isolated passages of beauty made reading it worthwhile but some commented that they would be reluctant to recommend this novel to anyone.

There was discussion about whether Harper Lee was wise to publish Go Set A Watchman and some were curious as to her motivation for publishing. There was a general consensus that the person who had recommended not publishing Watchman was probably wiser than the person who went ahead with its publication.

Some readers commented that they liked the book title and were more satisfied when they uncovered the origins of the title. They also liked the cover design that reflected the connection to To Kill A Mockingbird.

Apparently Harper Lee considers Go Set A Watchman as the parent novel of To Kill A Mockingbird. Life could prove a difficult journey for the parent of such a famous, well-loved child who has had fifty years to dwell in people's hearts.

Tonight's the night to 'Go Set a Watchman'

Harper Lee's second book is up for discussion this evening at the Gordon White Library Community Meeting Room at 6.00pm!

Looking forward to hearing how you experienced this long anticipated novel!

See you there!

'Go Set a Watchman' is next on our list!

The release of Harper Lee's landmark new novel set two decades after 'To Kill a Mockingbird' has created a great buzz in the reading universe. On Sunday 2  August,  at 6.00pm (all good book clubs begin at this auspicious time) ABC's Sunday Book Club will be discussing Go Set a Watchman.

Here is what Jennifer Byrne had to say about the new novel  in The Sydney Morning Herald.

 

 

I hope to remember to watch the Book Club on ABC on Sunday to see what other folk are saying about this much anticipated novel.

Reporters from the British newpaper The Telegraph made these comments on Go Set a Watchman.

 

Looking forward to hearing about everyone's experience of Harper Lee's novel at our next book club!

Books written by Herb Hamlet

For those folks interested in reading more from Herb Hamlet here is the list of his books. We don't appear to have any other books by Herb Hamlet in the library so one would probably need to request an inter-library loan. Some of his books seem to be ebooks and he seems to write either thrillers or stories similar to Bluey's War.

Hope this assists those eager to pursue this author's works.

"Bluey's War" nearly causes a blue!

Herb Hamlet's Bluey's War certainly stirred up a hornet's nest! I'm quite cross that I forgot to do the usual round up of scores out of ten as I think they would have ranged between minus five and eleven!
It was fantastic to get such a range of experiences of the book. In many cases, the book evoked a positive response because it connected the reader to experiences in their own lives. However for others the plot line and the language used was enough to get their hackles up despite any connection to their life experiences!

One reader has present family members overseas on deployment so the experience of husbands returning to families and the effect that has on family dynamics was a topic very close to home. She thought the way war experiences were told in very broad terms was the way she had experienced post-deployment discussion. She felt there was no need for detailed description of the horrors of war in this style of  book. Because of the family's close association with today's war this reader found she had a close affinity with this book.Other readers spoke of grandfathers, uncles and fathers coming back from the war and that on the whole, the war was a 'no-go' topic of conversation. Some of these relatives took pride in attending Anzac Day Parades while others found the memories were too raw for this reminder and therefore refused to attend.

Another of our readers knows the country around Goondiwindi quite well  and while identifying with the landscape, felt that the description was a bit on the bland side. There was a search for adjectives but these were found to be a little thin on the ground and those that were used were somewhat mundane in character. Another knew the Gold Coast really well and was delighted to be transported to childhood haunts by the accuracy of Hamlet's description.

There was a lot of discussion about how this pared back style of writing was appropriate to the time and setting of the book. There was discussion about the book being written by a male and that he had captured the laconic style of the 1940s and 1945s really well.Others thought it might do very well to use this style when relating a neighbourhood yarn but it was not good enough to be published as a book! Some thought that while this direct style was appropriate to this story it could only be considered as a lightweight read and certainly could not be deemed 'literature'. Some admitted to normally disliking this style of writing but were very taken with it in the context of this story.

Our next reader has read a lot of factual books on the Second World War and therefore found this part of the book  rather underwhelming in its depiction of prisoner of war camps in South East Asia. Other readers argued that this book was fiction and within the romance genre and therefore not the place for the sort of detail that one would find in memoirs and factual accounts of the war.

One of our book clubbers was quite cross with the 'happy' ending. She could not understand how Ellen could forgive Bluey and that this ending was too romantic and too unrealisitic. Other readers argued that it took incredible strength of character on Ellen's behalf to forgive and possibly empathise with Bluey's behaviour. Others maintained that Ellen's behaviour was quite in keeping with the mores of the time and that one just copes with the situation at hand and that strength of character and bravery have nothing to do with it. Readers who had grown up in small country towns spoke of erratic behaviour by returned soldiers being tolerated and accepted by townsfolk uncluding the local constabulary.

One of our readers enjoyed how Ellen and Bluey's children were depicted. They particularly enjoyed David's protectiveness of his mother when it came to thwarting Humphries' designs on Ellen and how he enlisted his sister's assistance to ensure that his mother and Humphries were never alone together.

One reader noticed that Bluey's speech patterns changed intermittently thoughout the book and they found this changing style frustrating: at times he spoke with a strong country Australian accent and at other times there was no Australian slang in his speech. Others argued that the vocabulary and idiom used was appropriate to that time and place and that his language varied according to the context.

Some of our readers really enjoyed the down-to-earth feel of the book and believed this gave the story credibility and authenticity. Others considered the no-frills style as being unworthy of publishing while others really prefer a book of much more substance and therefore found the lighter touch difficult to cope with.

It was wonderful to hear such a contrast in readers' experiences of Bluey's War. Some readers were keen to experience other books by this author to see whether the story dictated the style or whether  his style was consistent while others indicated an almost allergic reaction to the idea of reading another book by this author. Whether the book was loved or loathed, I'm sure everyone's experience of this novel was enhanced by the passionate, animated discussion at book club.

Looking forward to more lively conversation at our next book club at Gordon White Library on Thursday 27 August, 2015.

We'll be talking about Herb Hamlet's "Bluey's War" this Thursday!

Just a reminder to everyone that this Thursday is the last Thursday in yet another month which means we will be meeting at the Community Meeting Room at the Gordon White Library at 6.00pm to discuss the Australian novel Bluey's War.

Looking forward to hearing about your experience of this book!