We'll be meeting this Thursday at Gordon White Library at 6.00 pm in the Community Meeting Room. It'll be interesting to hear of everyone's experience of Sophie Laguna's 2015 Miles Franklin Literary Award winning novel.
See you on Thursday!
Monday, 23 November 2015
Wednesday, 4 November 2015
Next on the menu: 'The Eye of the Sheep'
Most of our readers felt a bit depressed after being assaulted by Golden Boys. There were pleas for a more uplifting book. Sophie Laguna's 2015 Miles Franklin Literary Award winning book The Eye of the Sheep deals with more difficult domestic issues but somehow I feel there is a faint hint of hope there which was not an element of Sonya Hartnett's novel.
Louise Swinn from The Australian penned this review of Sophie Laguna's debut novel.
I'm sure we'll have another interesting discussion when we meet on Thursday 26 November at 6.00pm at the Gordon White Library Community Meeting Room!
Monday, 2 November 2015
"Golden Boys" provokes much discussion
Sonya Hartnett's novel Golden Boys, short-listed for the 2015 Miles Franklin Literary Award, fuelled some very polarised discussion at out Between the Lines Book Club.
One of our regulars really loved the book and was so fired up about discussing it, she couldn't wait for book club. She so convinced a family member of its readability that they obtained it and read it so that their discussion could begin. She loved the language and the whole subtle suggestive way the story was told.
On the other end of the spectrum, another reader was quite confused with the intent of the book. She willing admitted that such difficult social issues need to be in the open but she felt that in the current climate, issues of domestic violence and paedophilia were very much to the forefront of the public consciousness. From this perspective she felt the book was redundant and rather a waste of time as, though it highlighted both issues and their detrimental effects, it did not offer any solutions.
Other members suggested that the book was really saying that such social problems are not confined to one particular socio-economic group but in reality found across the whole social spectrum. The superficially 'golden' life of the Jenson family hides the suggestion of the dark secretive paedophile. The author only ever suggests the crime and while there is the evidence of 'grooming', only Garrick Greene's crude exclaimations approach naming the sin. The alcohol-fuelled domestic violence in the Kiley household is far more openly described but as Freya points out in society it has been historically ignored.
There was much discussion on how family violence impacts the whole family. There was discussion how this 'invisible' crime is becoming more openly discussed today but how historically the court system really supported the perpetrator rather than the victims. Stories surfaced about both the victim and the perpetrator having to wait simultaneously outside of the Family Court and the way the perpetrator could utilise this opportunity to further intimidate the victim who then presented in court as an incompetent and thus losing the custody of children. There was much talk about why victims of domestic violence 'choose' to stay and that inside the situation the choice to leave is not practically a real option, especially when custody of children is a concern.
One of our readers is always keen to know why a novel has its particular title. There was a variety of ideas as to who the 'Golden Boys' were. Some thought it was Colt and Bastian as on the surface it appeared they had everything. Some thought it was all the boys as they were all potential 'gold' for the kingly paedophile Rex. Some thought it was Declan, the gallant and Colt the athlete who were the 'Golden Boys' as they were so gifted. There was that flood of ambiguity again!
Several readers raced through the book while others were unable to face its confronting content or had to make several efforts to get through it. Some readers commented on how clever the names of the characters were as their names amplified their roles in the story. Some of our readers found the subject matter just too confronting to read. Other readers found the story, while confronting, so engrossing they could not put it down.
Our readers were divided as the ending; some firmly believed Colt survived while others were convinced he died as a result of the beating. Sonya Hartnett is obviously at her ambiguous best.
Generally our readers thought the novel was well written but many found the subject too confronting for their taste. Sonya Hartnett's foray into adult literature has not strayed too far from her Young Adult speciality as it is the young adults in the story who bear the brunt of the sins of the adults and who reveal the truth. The adults generally are seen to be lacking in their ability to make positive adult decisions and appear completely incapable of keeping their children safe, a worrying judgement of our society.
Our book clubbers were looking to having a more uplifting read for our next book club, but unfortunately it is Sophie Laguna's The Eye of the Sheep, winner of the 2015 Miles Franklin Literary Award which is our next selection. I do think The Eye of the Sheep leaves one slightly more optimistic than Golden Boys.
Looking forward to hearing about your experience of this prize-winning Australian novel.
One of our regulars really loved the book and was so fired up about discussing it, she couldn't wait for book club. She so convinced a family member of its readability that they obtained it and read it so that their discussion could begin. She loved the language and the whole subtle suggestive way the story was told.
On the other end of the spectrum, another reader was quite confused with the intent of the book. She willing admitted that such difficult social issues need to be in the open but she felt that in the current climate, issues of domestic violence and paedophilia were very much to the forefront of the public consciousness. From this perspective she felt the book was redundant and rather a waste of time as, though it highlighted both issues and their detrimental effects, it did not offer any solutions.
Other members suggested that the book was really saying that such social problems are not confined to one particular socio-economic group but in reality found across the whole social spectrum. The superficially 'golden' life of the Jenson family hides the suggestion of the dark secretive paedophile. The author only ever suggests the crime and while there is the evidence of 'grooming', only Garrick Greene's crude exclaimations approach naming the sin. The alcohol-fuelled domestic violence in the Kiley household is far more openly described but as Freya points out in society it has been historically ignored.
There was much discussion on how family violence impacts the whole family. There was discussion how this 'invisible' crime is becoming more openly discussed today but how historically the court system really supported the perpetrator rather than the victims. Stories surfaced about both the victim and the perpetrator having to wait simultaneously outside of the Family Court and the way the perpetrator could utilise this opportunity to further intimidate the victim who then presented in court as an incompetent and thus losing the custody of children. There was much talk about why victims of domestic violence 'choose' to stay and that inside the situation the choice to leave is not practically a real option, especially when custody of children is a concern.
One of our readers is always keen to know why a novel has its particular title. There was a variety of ideas as to who the 'Golden Boys' were. Some thought it was Colt and Bastian as on the surface it appeared they had everything. Some thought it was all the boys as they were all potential 'gold' for the kingly paedophile Rex. Some thought it was Declan, the gallant and Colt the athlete who were the 'Golden Boys' as they were so gifted. There was that flood of ambiguity again!
Several readers raced through the book while others were unable to face its confronting content or had to make several efforts to get through it. Some readers commented on how clever the names of the characters were as their names amplified their roles in the story. Some of our readers found the subject matter just too confronting to read. Other readers found the story, while confronting, so engrossing they could not put it down.
Our readers were divided as the ending; some firmly believed Colt survived while others were convinced he died as a result of the beating. Sonya Hartnett is obviously at her ambiguous best.
Generally our readers thought the novel was well written but many found the subject too confronting for their taste. Sonya Hartnett's foray into adult literature has not strayed too far from her Young Adult speciality as it is the young adults in the story who bear the brunt of the sins of the adults and who reveal the truth. The adults generally are seen to be lacking in their ability to make positive adult decisions and appear completely incapable of keeping their children safe, a worrying judgement of our society.
Our book clubbers were looking to having a more uplifting read for our next book club, but unfortunately it is Sophie Laguna's The Eye of the Sheep, winner of the 2015 Miles Franklin Literary Award which is our next selection. I do think The Eye of the Sheep leaves one slightly more optimistic than Golden Boys.
Looking forward to hearing about your experience of this prize-winning Australian novel.
Monday, 26 October 2015
"Tis the last Thursday of the month this Week! Already!
Just a reminder that this Thursday is the last one for 2015's October so that means book club at the Community Meeting Room at Gordon White Library at 6.00pm!
We'll be discussing Sonya Hartnett's Golden Boys!
Looking forward to hearing your views!
We'll chat about our end of year Celebration of all things Book Club too!
See you there!
We'll be discussing Sonya Hartnett's Golden Boys!
Looking forward to hearing your views!
We'll chat about our end of year Celebration of all things Book Club too!
See you there!
Thursday, 24 September 2015
From 'The Golden Age' to 'Golden Boys'
This month we will be reading Sonya Hartnett's Miles Franklin Short-listed Golden Boys.
Victoria Flanagan in her review considers this novel is Not for children? as well as exploring the concept of young adult novels.
This novel is certainly a different shade of golden to the one discussed in The Golden Age. It should certainly make for interesting discussion.
Looking forward to sharing your views on Thursday 29 October at Gordon White Library's Community Meeting Room at 6.00pm.
'The Golden Age' a little tarnished
I had enjoyed the light deft writing of Joan London's Miles Franklin Short-listed novel The Golden Age and was looking forward to hearing some positive reports at our get-together. Silly me! Never try to predict how other readers are going to experience a book!
Our first reader found the story too slow and was not at all impressed with it. She found it very difficult to become involved in the story. Another of our readers had not finished the book but had enjoyed it sufficiently to want to continue with it, so that was more promising. One of our regulars thought it was a light enjoyable story but considered it lacked depth.
One of our readers strongly believes a novel is character driven and was disappointed with the two dimensionality of all of the characters other than Frank. They considered that the array of characters were too lightly sketched. Comments included not really getting to know the characters in depth and therefore not being able to interact meaningfully with them. Some of our readers find they can only really experience satisfaction with a book when they care about the characters and in this novel they felt they could not interact with the characters closely enough to be genuinely concerned about them.
There was discussion about how authentic some of the characters were in the context of the historical setting of the novel. Some of our readers who experienced the 1950s at first hand strongly believed that the sexual freedom enjoyed and practised by Sister Olive Penny was not credible and certainly would not have been tolerated within the social mores of the time. Some found Ida's sudden change of heart regards her piano playing difficult to accept while others conceded it was feasible to reach a tipping point when one realised that the only way forward was to change one's position on such a deeply personal decision.
Some of our book clubbers thought that the emotional and mental maturity displayed by the main protagonists did not align with their ages and certainly not young teens in the 1950s no matter what their life experience had been. Most of our book clubbers thought they were more believable as 17 to 18 year olds.
One of our readers finds it very difficult to read accounts of World War Two in the fiction genre. When she encountered this section of the book the first time she was unable to read through it but on a later attempt she was able to push through this barrier and found the author's succinct style very enjoyable despite her aversion to some of the content.
Some of our readers recall having classmates wearing callipers or having other evidence of surviving polio. Some of our readers knew Perth quite well and were able to identify with place names mentioned in the novel even though the rural setting of Leederville where the Golden Age was located has now been integrated into urban Perth.
One of our book clubbers commented that they liked the way the Gold family's Jewishness was treated as a background rather than in centre stage. They were not depicted as stereotypical traditional Jews but were rather non-committal as regards their heritage. Despite this they had still suffered persecution in Hungary.
The Golden Age was really enjoyed by another book clubber. She found the book uplifting considering the context of the polio convalescent home and really appreciated the author's precise, concise writing style.
Overall our book club enjoyed Joan London's The Golden Age as a light read but felt it lacked depth. Most of our readers really enjoyed the author's neat crisp style but were disappointed with its characterisation.
We stay with the term 'golden' and with Australian authors for our next month's read: Sonya Hartnett's Golden Boys, another novel short-listed for 2015 Miles Franklin Literary Award.
See you at 6.00 pm at the Community Meeting Room at Gordon White Library on Thursday 29 October!
Our first reader found the story too slow and was not at all impressed with it. She found it very difficult to become involved in the story. Another of our readers had not finished the book but had enjoyed it sufficiently to want to continue with it, so that was more promising. One of our regulars thought it was a light enjoyable story but considered it lacked depth.
One of our readers strongly believes a novel is character driven and was disappointed with the two dimensionality of all of the characters other than Frank. They considered that the array of characters were too lightly sketched. Comments included not really getting to know the characters in depth and therefore not being able to interact meaningfully with them. Some of our readers find they can only really experience satisfaction with a book when they care about the characters and in this novel they felt they could not interact with the characters closely enough to be genuinely concerned about them.
There was discussion about how authentic some of the characters were in the context of the historical setting of the novel. Some of our readers who experienced the 1950s at first hand strongly believed that the sexual freedom enjoyed and practised by Sister Olive Penny was not credible and certainly would not have been tolerated within the social mores of the time. Some found Ida's sudden change of heart regards her piano playing difficult to accept while others conceded it was feasible to reach a tipping point when one realised that the only way forward was to change one's position on such a deeply personal decision.
Some of our book clubbers thought that the emotional and mental maturity displayed by the main protagonists did not align with their ages and certainly not young teens in the 1950s no matter what their life experience had been. Most of our book clubbers thought they were more believable as 17 to 18 year olds.
One of our readers finds it very difficult to read accounts of World War Two in the fiction genre. When she encountered this section of the book the first time she was unable to read through it but on a later attempt she was able to push through this barrier and found the author's succinct style very enjoyable despite her aversion to some of the content.
Some of our readers recall having classmates wearing callipers or having other evidence of surviving polio. Some of our readers knew Perth quite well and were able to identify with place names mentioned in the novel even though the rural setting of Leederville where the Golden Age was located has now been integrated into urban Perth.
One of our book clubbers commented that they liked the way the Gold family's Jewishness was treated as a background rather than in centre stage. They were not depicted as stereotypical traditional Jews but were rather non-committal as regards their heritage. Despite this they had still suffered persecution in Hungary.
The Golden Age was really enjoyed by another book clubber. She found the book uplifting considering the context of the polio convalescent home and really appreciated the author's precise, concise writing style.
Overall our book club enjoyed Joan London's The Golden Age as a light read but felt it lacked depth. Most of our readers really enjoyed the author's neat crisp style but were disappointed with its characterisation.
We stay with the term 'golden' and with Australian authors for our next month's read: Sonya Hartnett's Golden Boys, another novel short-listed for 2015 Miles Franklin Literary Award.
See you at 6.00 pm at the Community Meeting Room at Gordon White Library on Thursday 29 October!
Wednesday, 23 September 2015
'Tis time to discuss 'The Golden Age'
It's the last Thursday in September so we'll be meeting at the Community Meeting Room at Gordon White Library at 6.00pm this evening to discuss Joan London's The Golden Age.
See you there at 6.00pm!
See you there at 6.00pm!
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