August: Segregation and The Colour Purple

This month we took advantage of the Library’s multiple copy collection with some members reading The Colour Purple by Alice Walker. Others chose books with similar themes of race and segregation.

The novel was written by Alice Walker, published in 1982 and won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize.

It is an epic tale spanning forty years in the life of Celie, an African-American woman living in the South who survives incredible abuse and bigotry.

Connie:

She found it interesting the way the author told the story through letters, and was disgusted by the behavior of the men towards women. She felt great sympathy with the people and the times they lived in.

Jo:

Jo loved the book, once she became used to reading the letters and colloquial language used by the author.

Sheila:

Sheila felt that Celie was a very strong character, but that it was an awful state of affairs when many accepted their situation. The incest and the beating of the women were horrendous. She thought the only way for this to change, was to educate the women. She was happy with how the book ended.

Judy D:

Judy liked the letter style of writing and thought the relationship between the 2 sisters was very heartwarming. But there were so many other horrific things that happened in the book.

Charis:

Charis called it a ‘woman’s book’, the letters were written between the two sisters who were both powerful characters and their attempts to get their families together again after being separated so long before. She commented on the interesting way that Celie’s faith developed for her. Both sisters had strong faiths.

Pat:

Pat thought that the behavior of the men was a learned behavior. She gave the example of Harpo who wanted to be like his father in the way he controlled his wife.

Celie developed as a character, accepting of what happened to her, until she met another strong woman.

Pat found it hard to read, but enjoyed it.

Judy J:

Judy commented on the languages, grammar and short sentences that the author used. This gave the book more authenticity.

The title comes from a comment by Shug to Celie that God would get angry if you walked past the colour purple in a field and didn’t notice it, referring to people who ignore the good and beauty in the world.

Tam:

Tam thoroughly enjoyed it, she liked the language that was used as it felt part of the characters.

She thought Shug was the catalyst to get the other characters to change.

Great book.

 

Wendy L:  The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

In 1951 Henrietta died of cancer in a segregated hospital. Following her death, the hospital kept cells that had been taken for a biopsy and started to experiment with these . Permission had not been given and the family were never told. It happened that her cells were quite different from others and very reproducible.

The book is part biography of Henrietta, part expose of the science community and part detective story to discover what really happened.

Wendy described it as honest and intimate prose backed by strong research. A great read!

Wendy J: The last Runaway by Tracy Chevalier

Honor Bright is a young English Quaker who migrates with her sister, to Ohio (USA) before the Civil War. Following several family tragedies, Honor is alone and gets drawn into the clandestine activities of the Underground Railroad, a network helping runaway slaves escape to freedom.

Wendy was interested, as she became a Quaker herself.

Diann: Short Stories of Apartheid by Ilan Ossendryver

The author is a photojournalist who grew up in South Africa during the worst years of apartheid. He has compiled a collection of stories from this time.

Family Reunion is the story of the small village Lwako. One day the chief receives a visit by Government officials who hand him a letter and advises him that the families must be ready to leave in 3 days as the government is taking their village. The chief is illiterate, but plans with his people to defend their homes.

The police and government officials arrive, and following a brief resistance, the village is destroyed and the people removed. When the chief’s son returns to see his father, he finds the letter and reads that the wrong village has been targeted!

Pamela: Absalom, Absalom by William Faulkner

The story concerns Thomas Sutcliffe who could be considered as ‘white trash’ but he makes good in Haiti and marries a planter’s daughter. She proves to be an unsuitable wife, so he leaves her and returns to the south with 100 Negroes. Here he lives a respectable life, and fathers  two children with a married woman.

The story is very complicated, told by several narrators, very few chapters and very long sentences. 

Pamela described it as the most haunting book she had read, brilliant but irritating. It makes you understand the terrible problem of racial intolerance in the South

Kris: Small Things Great by Jodie Picoult

Three characters narrate the story. Firstly there is Ruth, a black midwife, well respected and 20 years in the job. Secondly, there is Turk, an obnoxious white supremacist who demands that Ruth does not look after their baby. When the newborn dies, Ruth is blamed. Finally there is Kennedy, the white Public Defender in the case.

Kris thought the characters were interesting, but the writing was too wordy with a tendency to describe everything in such detail.

The book was written from a white position and makes you question position, power, race and privilege.

Rosemary: The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

Written in 1964, the book has themes of racism and prejudice.

Rosemary enjoyed the book, commenting that it was full of insights, including that prejudice can go both ways.

Pauline: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Her comment was that the book was rather nice and quite humorous. She enjoyed their adventures down the river. It was interesting that 14-year-old Huck and Jim the black slave, who was 21 years old, and married with children, got on very well. They were both accepting of the role and position of slaves having grown up with it.

 But their relationship changed when they met the ‘nigger hunters'.

A classic book, well worth reading.

Judy A : There There by Tommy Orange

This is the complex story of 12 characters who, all for different reasons come to Oakland (California) to attend the Big Oakland Powwow. What once was a beautiful suburb is now an urban slum. The city mirrors the sad demise of the American Indian.

Judy liked it, but didn’t love it!

 

SEPTEMBER:  Your choice of an autobiography or biography

OCTOBER:  As Willa Cather books were difficult to obtain we will have a different author for our October meeting.  We will be reading Susan Fletcher, a British author born in 1979

Four titles have been chosen:

Eve Green
The Silver Dark Sea
A Little Love
Let Me Tell You about a Man You Know.

JULY, 2018 - BOOKS BY THE AUTHOR ALEX MILLER

ALEX MILLER was born in 1936 in London,U.K. to a Scottish father and an Irish mother.  He migrated alone to Australia at the age of 16.  He worked as a ringer in Queensland and a horse breaker in New Zealand.  He later graduated from the University of Melbourne in English and History in 1965.  He is now one of Australia's best loved writers and the winner of many literary awards.

LOVESONG:

Kris:

 It's a story of a marriage between a young Tunisian immigrant and a young Australian man in Paris.  Sabiha, an exotic dark skinned young woman has recently arrived in France to help her widowed aunt with her cafe.  The cafe offers a home away from home for North African immigrant workers. Tragedy strikes and eventually the couple move to Australia with their young daughter to start a new patisserie and put the past behind them.  It was an interesting story and beautifully written.

Pamela:

Pamela didn't like the book.  She didn't like the characters, especially the disloyalty.  She felt Sabiha was an awful person.

Pat:

Pat liked the book.  She liked the style of writing.  There was sadness but it was also a feel good book.  She also enjoyed the scenes in Paris and liked the characters.

 Claurene:

Claurene was really pleased she found this author.  She wondered how she has missed him and will read more books by this author.

PASSAGE OF LOVE:

Rosemarie:

This book was written in 2017. Robert, a young man leaves London and moves to Queensland and then to Melbourne.  He becomes an author and meets Lena who is educated and well off.  It's a love story but Lena has mental health issues.  Rosemary said she liked the characters despite their flaws.  She also said it was well written with tones of a male voice open to emotion.  Rosemarie said it was the author's own story moulded into fiction.

Charis:

Charis said the blurb on the cover said it was Miller's own story in a novel.  The story is the passage of people's relationships and it follows people's ambitions.  There is tension in the relationship which comes through in the writing.  She enjoyed the book until about half way and then got got sick of the simple descriptions of the land.  She also found the psychological aspect interesting and would recommend the book as a semi light read. 

JOURNEY TO THE STONE COUNTRY: (Published 2002 - Winner of Miles Franklin Literary Award)

Joan:

The two main characters are Annabelle who has been a Melbourne academic and Bo, an aboriginal ranger and cultural surveyor.  Annabelle's husband has a fling with a student and then Annabelle has an affair with Bo.  They both grew up in North Queensland on a farm.  Joan said there was good characterizations but felt the descriptions of the land didn't give you the feel of the land.  There was a theme of the need for the two cultures to work together. The most powerful part was the last twenty pages.  The strong ending was revelatory, confronting and threatening.  Joan also said cigarettes were a big part of the story and would like to try some of his other novels without the constant smoking. 

Ed:

Ed was annoyed about the descriptions of the characters smoking all the time and rolling their cigarettes.  She enjoyed the book but felt dubious about Bo and Annabelle's relationship.

Judy J:

Judy also found the relationship with Bo and Annabelle highly unlikely.  Annabelle had a privileged lifestyle and went to a Melbourne boarding school.  Maybe it was a physical attraction? Judy couldn't get past the spitting and  smoking.

Val:

Val said she usually chooses books by their first page and this book did it for her.  She had only been to the outback once and felt there was a sense of spirituality there.  The descriptions are beautiful.  Val liked the story.

Wendy 1:

Wendy said the description of the country was good.  Annabelle was a weak character whereas Bo was a stronger character.  She agreed the relationship was a bit unlikely as well.  She liked his writing and felt he got the Australian vernacular quite well most of the time.  The  indigenous characters weren't portrayed as victims.  The confrontation with the old Aboriginal woman at the end of the book was very powerful.

Jo:

Jo loved the book and loved the descriptions.  She found it very interesting.

Tam:

Tam  said it was very descriptive and had a spirituality theme - the Aboriginals drawn to the land.  She also got sick of the smoking in the story.  The relationship between Annabelle and Bo didn't make sense.  She felt the story had a theme of how to move together with love and acknowledgement, despite the difficult past. 

Prue:

Prue felt there were three main characters, Bo, Annabelle and the landscape.  Bo and Annabelle were both returning from places in their past.  The minor characters were well done.  She felt he did the language well and that all the author's experiences come through.  He regards his stories as gifted to him.

Anne:

Anne enjoyed the book.  She said it was partly based on a true story.

AUTUMN LAING

Connie:

Connie said it was excellent writing.  She enjoyed it but didn't like the characters.  The descriptions of Queensland were good.  The story is set in Melbourne about a group of modern artists who Connie felt weren't very nice people.  She didn't like the promiscuity.The narrator is a woman of 85 writing her autobiography.  It tells the story of each of the artists, one who becomes the narrator's younger lover after leaving his pregnant wife.  Autumn doesn't care at the time but regrets it later in life.   

Wendy 2:

Wendy didn't read the whole book.  She enjoyed the style but not the story and just couldn't finish.

Charis:

Charis read this book as well as PASSAGE OF LOVE.  She preferred this book.  She disliked the character of the narrator.  She liked to control her art circle but couldn't conquer and control her young lover.  She found the descriptions of the landscape bland and she felt cigarette smoking permeated the story as an irritant. 

COAL CREEK (Published 2013)

Pauline: 
 

Pauline had liked two books of Alex Miller she had previously read.    This time she read Coal Creek.  This story is set in the hinterland of Queensland in the 1940's.   Bobby Blue is a cattleman looking back on his life.  It is told in artless prose.  It is disconcerting when used to the good prose of Alex Miller.  There is a new constable from the city who has deep fear and suspicion of country people.  He is Bobby Blue's boss. Bobby's best friend Ben has a violent streak and a series of conflicts arise.  The characters are well defined.  It is beautifully written and sensitive.  It's about love, loyalty and trust.  Pauline said it was a good read.

Kris

AUGUST:  We will be reading books about Segregation.  One example is Colour Purple.

SEPTEMBER:  We will be reading books by the author Will Cather.  Various titles include "My Antonia","O Pioneers" and "The Song of the Lark".  Otherwise choose your own book by this author.

After our book club meeting this month we celebrated our Christmas in July lunch at the Cornerstone Cafe.  It was an enjoyable time with good food and good company.
 

June : Danielle Steel

Danielle Fernandes Dominique Schuelein-Steel (born August 14, 1947) is an American writer, best known for her romance novels. She is the best selling author alive with over 800 million copies sold. She has written 165 books, including 141 novels. She has produced several books a year, often juggling up to five projects at once.

Steel has also published children's fiction and poetry, as well as raising funds for the treatment of mental disorders. Her books have been translated into 43 languages, with 22 adapted for television, including two that have received Golden Globe nominations.

She has been married 5 times and has 9 children including her adopted son, Nicholas Traina.

Bev:

 Season of Passion (1979)

A beautiful and talented young girl falls in love with a football star. Because of his background, her family disowns her. Many disasters happen, but there is a happy ending.

Bev said that it could have been an episode of The Bold and the Beautiful!

Diann:

Jewels  (1992)

In this historical romance novel, Sarah, the Duchess of Whitfield looks back on her long and eventful life. The story covers the period between 1916 until 1975 and includes love, war, an abusive husband, death of a child and the rise of a jewellery business patronized by royalty.

A good story that Diann enjoyed.

Judy 3: The Good Woman (2008)

Annabelle Worthington was living a very privileged life in New York, which changed remarkably after the Titanic sank. She became very involved in charity work, continuing this with the outbreak of WW1.

Hotel Vendome (2011)

The story of the owners, celebrities and other guests who frequent the hotel, once run down, but now turned into one of the world most luxurious hotels!

Legacy (2010)

Brigitte Nicholson is living an ordinary life, working, writing her book, and living with the man she loves. But all this changes when she helps her mother on a family genealogy project and makes an stunning discovery concerning the French aristocracy and a proud Sioux Indian man.

Judy enjoyed this book much more than the previous two.

Claurene:

Winners (2013)

Claurene’s brief comments were: The book was about skiing, and rehab for juveniles. It was a very light read but quite interesting.

 

Jo:

Vanished (1993)

When their son is abducted, the lives of a young couple living in Manhattan are thrown into turmoil. As the crime is investigated many secrets about their lives are revealed as suspicions and accusations move from one to the other and an old friend who has suddenly reappeared.

Jo enjoyed it.

Val:

The Cottage (2002)

Val quite enjoyed reading this pure fantasy about 3 men who live in a magnificent estate known as “The Cottage”. One is an actor, still handsome, past his prime and heavily in debt. Two younger men come to live with him to help pay his debts. The book tells the story of their friendship, love and lives set against this glamorous background.

With the author’s undoubted success, there is obviously a place for this type of book.

The women are smart, beautiful and successful. The men “know what women want”.

Dianne:

 The Ghost (1997)

An architect who lives in London, seems to have the perfect life….great job, beautiful wife etc. But when his wife suddenly leaves him for an older man he takes time off and heads to New England. Here he rents a cottage and finds a diary of a woman who lived in the house in the 1780s.

Predictable story where not much happens.

Natalie:

The Gift of Hope (2012)

The author wrote this book after her adopted son Nick Traina committed suicide. In her grief she turned to God who spoke to her, telling her to help the homeless.

She started in a small way by giving out clothes but later set up a charity to help the homeless in San Francisco. All this was done anonymously.

 

Wendy J:

 First Sight  (2013)

A young girl who grew up in an orphanage goes on to become a successful designer. She meets and falls in love with a handsome doctor who wont leave his wife because she has cancer.

The author waffles on around this love triangle, and the story becomes very repetitive without much happening.

Connie:

 Property of the Noble Woman (2016)

The story begins when the court allows a long abandoned deposit box in a New York bank to be opened. The beautiful bank clerk finds among other things, amazing jewellery and private letters. These are to be sold, but before this happens, the clerk determines to find out to whom they really belonged.

Connie thought the story was very predictable and the characters and events weren’t explained deeply enough.

Judy A:

Country  (2015)

Stephanie Adams has endured a loveless marriage for many years. When her husband dies she makes a spur of the moment decision to visit the Grand Canyon. Here she meets a Country and Western singer and a whole different life opens up for her despite the resentment of her children.

Judy enjoyed it as a light escape and contrast to other books she has recently read.

Ed:

 Family Ties (2010)

Following the tragic death of her sister in a car accident, a young Manhattan architect devotes her life to raising her 3 children.

Each of them has challenges in their lives. Her niece becomes a successful Vogue photographer but finds it difficult to commit to any relationship. Her nephew who is a law student has a trashy affair with an older married professor. Her younger niece becomes involved in an interfaith relationship, visiting Iran and becoming trapped there!

Ed’s opinion was that it was ‘OK’.

 

Wendy:

Rushing Water  (2016)

When a hurricane hits New York many people are affected but the story revolves around a beautiful, successful few.

Wendy described the story as being wordy, over repetitive and the characters so shallow you don’t really care what happens to them!

Joan:

Palamino  (1982)

Following the breakdown of her marriage, Samantha goes to a friend’s ranch to help her recover. Here she meets Tate Jordan, the ranch foreman. This leads to different challenges that she must face.

Prue:

 Daddy  (1989)

Sarah and Oliver Watson seem to have the perfect life… he has a successful advertising business and she is the devoted mother to their children. When the children are older, she moves to Harvard to study, and doesn’t return. The father and the children don’t cope, but it all gets sorted out in the end.

Prue described it as an easy read with little bits of interest but nothing to get your teeth into.

Charis:

 Past Perfect  (2017)

Again we begin with the successful and privileged life lead by a family in Manhattan.

When they buy an old mansion in San Francisco the ghosts of the original owners appear.

The story documents 2 families on 2 different time lines.

Charis described it as a simplistic, quick read. It lacked emotion, feeling and had few adjectives. She feels the author was distant from the story and was just documenting family history research.

Judy J:

Accidental Heroes (2017)

The story has a current theme with 2 planes flying from New York to San Francisco. There is reason to believe there may be a terrorist threat on one of these planes. As the authorities learn more about some of the passengers on board, they must make a decision as to how to contain this situation.

An easy, and forgettable read.

Kris:

The Family Album  (1985)

Kris could only read a small amount of this story, skipping many pages as well. It seems to cover 40 years of this woman’s life who began as an actress and was able to become a successful director. The book also weaves her the story of her children through all of this. Kris found it too predictable and cliched.

Pamela:

Safe Harbor (2003)

Pamela was disconcerted by the number of pages of prayers in the beginning and so couldn’t read much more!

Tam:

 The Apartment  (2016)

In this book, 4 girls, aged 28-32 and all from different backgrounds live together in an apartment in New York. They are ambitious, they encourage each other when they are down, and they are not interested in marriage.

It is light and easy to read. Tam thought that maybe they are the characters that people secretly aspire to.

Julia: 

The Gift  (1994)

The story is set in the 1950s when life was simpler and people believed in dreams. It takes place in a small town in the heartland of America.  A number of extraordinary events happen, some are tragic, and individuals and families find it difficult to cope.

But there is a happy ending and Julia described it as a beautiful book. 

JULY: Alex Miller ~  Love Song,  Journey to the Stone Country, The Passage of Love, Autumn Laing

AUGUST:  Segregration ~ copies of Colour Purple available from the library or you can select your own title.

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