MAY 2018 LORD JIM by JOSEPH CONRAD

The author, Joseph Conrad was a Polish born English novelist who today is most famous for his novel  "Heart of Darkness".  This is a fictionalized account of Colonial Africa, originally published as a serial in Blackwood's magazine from October 1899 to November 1990.  

This novel "Lord Jim" is the story of a man named Marlow's struggle to tell and to understand the life story of a young man named Jim.  When Jim is serving aboard a vessel called the Patna, carrying Muslim pilgrims to Mecca, the ship strikes an underwater object and springs a leak. The crew abandon ship and take the lifeboat. Jim joins them on the lifeboat.  A trial follows and Jim attempts to come to terms with himself and his past. 

At our book club meeting the novel "Lord Jim"produced a great deal of lively discussion and strong opinions about Jim's character.

JUDY D:

This is the story of a young British man who has done quite well.  He becomes a captain's mate on a small steamboat carrying 800 pilgrims.  The crew take the lifeboat and abandon ship when the boat hits rocks. Jim thinks of himself as a good man but decides to jump in the lifeboat as well.  Judy said it was a good story but very depressing.  She said it was beautifully written but too wordy.  She found going back and forth with the story a bit confusing.

ED:

Ed only read up to Chapter 5.  She couldn't get into it and wasn't really interested.

CONNIE:

Connie read the whole book and said the writing was extremely good.  She enjoyed the descriptions.
She felt the whole thing hung on the case that Jim was a coward.  The story line itself wasn't as important as the thoughts and ideas of Marlow himself who was telling the story.  Connie said she would have enjoyed it more years ago.  She said the end dragged out a bit.

ROSEMARIE:

She read a small amount and agreed with Connie that it would be better to read in one block.

JULIA:

She liked his actual style of writing.  Julia read it at school.

CLAURENE:

Claurene found it unappealing and doesn't like books that use five words instead of two words.  She went back to it later and read to page 65 but still didn't like the book.

SHEILA:

She read 70 pages in one sitting.  She got the gist of the story before he went to court but decided not to go any further.  

PRUE:

Prue said the author wasn't fluent in English until his late teens, early 20's.  This story was considered psychological modernism. Marlow is the narrator in several books.  This story is about the relationship of  Marlow to Jim and what he thought of Jim.  In the court trial they didn't want Jim's story, only the facts.  One of the judges committed suicide as he didn't agree with the way the court was run. The book explores what shame does to people.  Prue found it very descriptive with lots of different structures which made it a bit confusing.

WENDY L:

She didn't think she would enjoy it but once she got into it she did enjoy it, although she had to read the first 100 pages twice.  The themes were guilt, morality and honour.  Jim was a flawed character, an idealist but tragic.  It's a real psychological study of Jim.  She found it difficult to read.   Apparently the author used an artistic tool called delayed decoding meaning ambiguities in the earlier part of the book that were explained later.

JUDY A:

It's basically a story about a man called Marlow struggling to understand a man called Jim.  When Judy understood about Marlow she felt better about the book.  She read the whole book but didn't like Jim.  "The book was okay but it was a labour and not a labour of love" Judy said.

JOAN:

Joan read it all.  She found it hard going initially.   The story is in two parts.  The first part is very difficult.  It's about Jim's sea experiences.  Joan got tired and impatient reading the first  part and said there was too much over analysis.  The second part had wonderful descriptive passages.

TAM:

Tam found it hard to read but she challenged herself and made herself finish the book.  She wondered if the author Joseph Conrad just used a theme to explore "how do we handle a guilty conscience".  He explores the fact that you can't get away from the inner turmoil despite how far you go.  She felt Jim had a deep inner compass. Tam said she would read another one of his books.

VAL:

Val agreed with so much that was said.  She read it at school and thoroughly enjoyed it but found it more difficult to read now.  She was struggling with it but is definitely going to finish the book.  She said it had some lovely phrases.

CHARIS:

Despite the author saying he ultimately wrote Lord Jim as a novel which was serialized over a year as 13 segments in a magazine, he wrote Jim's story in segments outlined by the characters who had met him and had something to contribute to the story of the mariner's life.  In the last page of the book Conrad writes of Jim having a "shadowy ideal of conduct" and "one ready to surrender himself faithfully to the claim of his own world of shades".  Charis said the writing was dated, and each sentence has to be considered, not skimmed, so it's reading takes time.  She found herself re-reading paragraphs wondering if she had fully understood the meaning, and at the same time thinking the writing was good.

DIANN:

Diann felt the author was writing to a very well educated audience.  She said she had read it at fourteen with a History and English teacher breaking it down with them.  She didn't like the book.  She found it very heavy. 

PAMELA:

Pamela liked this book but said it was important to mention what hadn't been said.  Right from the beginning Lord Jim liked holiday reading, tales of heroic deeds and he saw himself this way.   He was a dreamer.  He has a position on a steamship carrying 800 pilgrims, men, women, children and babies.  He holds himself aloof from the captain and the rest of the crew.  He thinks they are scum and sees himself as superior.  When the crew abandons ship in the lifeboat, Jim decides to go with them but later blames them that they made him jump. Pamela also feels Marlow is not a reliable narrator as he makes excuses for Lord Jim. 

BEV:

Bev read HEART OF DARKNESS as she couldn't get a copy of Lord Jim.  She liked it and said it was a good book.  Marlow was also the narrator in this story.   It explored the treatment of native people in the Congo and the subject of slavery. 

Kris
 

In JUNE we will be reading books by the author Danielle Steele

In JULY we will be reading books by Alex Miller.  We have a choice of four books as follows:
Lovesong   ~  Passage of Love  ~  Journey to the Stone Country  ~  Autumn Laing

APRIL Michelle de Kretser

Michelle de Kretser is an Australian novelist who was born in Sri Lanka and moved to Australia in 1972 when she was 14. Her books have won many awards including the Miles Franklin in 2013.

THE ROSE GROWER:

Leslie

This first book by the author begins around the time of the French Revolution. An American hot air balloon falls out of the sky into a small farming community. The story highlights problems of rural towns and those involved in the Revolution. It contrasts politics in Paris and small communities and unrequited love. It also brings in some of the problems behind the Revolution.

Sophie is a plain single nobody who creates the rose hoping to feel special and be remembered.

Leslie described the book as being written gently and tenderly. It was long, slow, nicely written but not gripping and didn’t hold her interest.

Comments from other readers:

Connie:

Too long and too many complications, but did enjoy reading about the times.

Diane D:

Waiting for something to happen, but couldn’t finish it, although found fascinating some of the detail around the Revolution.

Pauline:

Couldn’t get into it, so not finished. Confusing as it changed from 1st to 3rd person. No flow. 

 

THE LOST DOG:

Judy J:

Tom Loxley, an Indian-Australian professor is trying to finish his book on Henry James while staying in a remote bush hut. When his dog goes missing he and his friends search for him. Meanwhile there are many reflections about his father, relationship with his mother and new friends.

The fact that the dog is lost forms the framework for all these other narratives.

Judy found it tiring and draining to read.

Comments from other readers:

Ed:

Found the writing very convoluted and over descriptive. With this book, at times, she felt lost.

Prue:

The author has fantastic word power, and great sentence structure.

Prue liked the book for the English, not the characters or story.

Joan:

The writing is spectacular in places but too long. The characters are not convincing.

Charis:

Found this book a difficult read full of seemingly irrelevant prose pieces.

The author’s philosophical ramblings took precedent over character building.

Dissatisfied with a weak ending.

 

SPRINGTIME:

Kris:

This is a very short (85 pages) and quirky ghost story.

Frances, who is in her 30’s meets Charlie and his young son at a party in Melbourne. Charlie leaves his wife and he and Frances move to Sydney with a rescue dog called Rod. The story explores the difficulties Frances faces with Charlie’s young son when he comes to stay.

Frances walks the dog each day and on one of these walks she sees a woman and a dog in a garden. Believing she has seen a ghost she wants to find answers.

Comments from other readers:

Diann F:

Too descriptive, but didn’t like it.

Sheila:

On re reading the story found it more interesting.  Author brought in many memories from childhood in Sri Lanka Her short sentences were descriptive but very irritating.

Pamela:

She liked it. As a ghost story it did not have the usual setting. It was springtime, sunny, Australia and nothing frightening about it.

Val:

Beautiful presentation of the book.

Felt a bit like an exercise in beautiful English. She didn’t feel any attachment to any of the characters. The author is very clever and observant but sometimes too academic and over the top.

 

THE LIFE TO COME:

Judy A:

5 short stories with different characters but linked by one character, Pippin.

There is no central plot but it is a book about the characters. Judy loved it.

The author has an eye or detail, a brilliant wit and an ability to satirise first world problems.

Comments by other readers:

Pat:

Found it so monotone, didn’t like the characters and nothing happened.

Didn’t finish it as she ‘reads for enjoyment’.

Jo:

Read about half the book, but had no idea what she was reading. A very forgettable book.

Natalie:

Didn’t like it, hard to follow and confusing. She felt it didn’t flow. With each story you started again and difficult to find a connection. Characters were unlikeable and uninteresting.

 

THE HAMILTON CASE:

Claurine:

Set in Ceylon in the 1930s with the main character being Sam Obeysekere, a Ceylonese born but Oxford educated lawyer. When an English plantation owner is murdered, Sam sets out to find who is responsible. This changed his life in many ways.

The writing is beautiful and mixture of murder, mystery, descriptions of the jungle, treatment of the Tamils, and Sam’s treatment of women make it a very interesting book.

Need to read it slowly, but Claurine enjoyed it.

Comments by other readers:

Denise:

Didn’t like it, the characters were horrible and the plot escaped her.

Wendy J, Julia and Bev were unable to finish it.

QUESTIONS OF TRAVEL

Wendy L:

The novel tells the story of 2 very different lives, Laura an Australian girl and Ravi from Sri Lanka.

Each chapter builds up their stories, the characters are well drawn and finally in the later part of the book it all comes together.

There are many contrasts told beautifully in little chunks of writing – Ravi an immigrant from a war torn country, his wife and child murdered, why and the way he is travelling.

Laura is aimless, comes into money and travels overseas and suffers from first world problems.

Wendy described it as a ‘hard read’.

Recommended reading by Tam

Breaking the Spell by Jane Stork – a riveting read about life in the Ashrams in the 70’s. She couldn’t put it down.

 

BOOKS FOR THE COMING MONTHS

May ~ Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad

June ~ Danielle Steele …..your choice

July ~ Alex Miller

            Lovesong               The Passage of Love

            Journey to the Stone Country        Autumn Laing