Seven enthusiastic members of the Barga Book Club met Wednesday evening to discuss the novel, 158 lb Marriage by John Irving. The story was a period set piece of mid 1970’s lifestyle choices, exploring sexual attitudes and representative of the author’s early thematic development.
The plot revolved around two couples who exchanged sexual partners in an early experiment during the so called sexual revolution. Twisted rationalization prompted the beginning of the experimentation and extreme disillusion ended it and tragically ruptured one family.
Though the opinions were typically divergent, the consensus was that though readable, the writing was heavy handed, the story contrived, the characters calculating and exploitative. It is representative of a particular period in time and therefore seemed dated. Various influences on the author at the time were cited as too apparent. Opinion varied as to interesting aspects of the writing such as the seeds of typically wry John Irving humor and touches of the absurd. One member noted that the peripheral characters seemed to have been very interestingly developed but not integral to the story. There was an overall wrestling metaphor with allegorical implications of Irving wrestling with a theme of the period, which was inter-relational sexual experimentation that ultimately went very wrong.
We will next meet on Wednesday the 2nd of June to discuss The Tehran Conviction by Tom Gabbay. We’re very happy to report that the author will be there for the discussion.
In July we will discuss Divine Secrets of the Ya -Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells.
A sincere thank you to Julie Flynn-Ciniglio for hosting the meeting again and thank you very much to everyone for patience and effective cooperation in the book exchange process. A special thanks to Margaret Moore for getting copies of the books and helping to organize the exchanges.
We look forward to seeing you at the next meeting and we’ll confirm the place closer to the date,
Kerry and Julie
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Small Island
The Book Club met on Wednesday to discuss Small Island by Andrea Levy. Krysia Bell opened the meeting and gave this astute summation of the book.
‘Small Island’ by Andrea Levy doesn’t really need to be unearthed and analysed like some of the previous books we have read because it speaks for itself. The novel is about the arrival of Jamaicans in England just after the war, the racial discrimination and hostility that they encountered and the disappointment in a land which they regarded as their mother country. As Jamaica was part of the British Empire they couldn’t understand why they were not welcomed with open arms. The characters and events are based on the experiences of the author’s parents who sailed from Jamaica to England in 1948. The author skillfully moves backwards and forwards in time using multi narratives to create the four main protagonists in the novel.
Gilbert, who has come to London from Jamaica to make a better life for himself and his new wife Hortense. Their landlady Queenie rents out the rooms in her grubby Earls Court house and is frowned on by the neighbours for accommodating ‘darkies’ and bringing down the neighbourhood. Queenie has waited three years for her miserable husband Bernard to return from the war and by now considers herself a war widow. The opening chapter of the novel tells of Queenie as a child when she is taken to the Empire Exhibition. She follows the smell of chocolate to the African village where a black man who is manning the stand shakes her hand. Her father reassures his frightened daughter that the man would have been a chief or a prince in his own country ‘you can tell he’s been civilised says her father, because he speaks English. The story starts with Hortense’s arrival in the middle of winter on a boat from Jamaica ‘on the boat women were in their best clothes, cotton dresses, hats and white gloves, jumping up and down waving, being met by black men in scruffy coats and hand knitted scarves hunched over in the cold’. The scene is set. The contrasts made. You know what awaits them.
However the discrimination which pervades this book is quite shocking at times. Queenie says to Hortense when she first arrives at the house ‘I hope you are not bringing anything into the house that will smell’.
Mr. Todd, a neighbor relates the story of how his sister is approached by two black women who, in passing, force her to step into the road. He says, ‘don’t they know that it should be them that steps into the road and not a white person.’
Then of course there is the scene in the cinema where the black and white GI’s are segregated, and the heart wrenching scene when Hortense goes to the Council offices to apply for a teaching job and ends up walking into the broom cupboard. But horrible bigoted Bernard is the most dislikeable character in this book especially at the end when he walks into Gilbert and Hortense’s room and looks at the curtains ‘The curtains grubby and ripped. He thought Those coloured people don’t have the same standards....the war was fought so that people might live amongst their own kind. Everyone was trying to get home to be with kith and kin except for those blasted coloured colonials. I’ve nothing against them in their place but their place isn’t here. Mr. Todd thought they wouldn’t survive another cold winter. I hope he was right.’
For me this was an award winning book. A story, simply written, with brilliant dialogue, big characters, funny, moving and above all memorable. Yes, I did find the Michael Roberts connection and the baby rather incredulous but it’s a good story.
An animated discussion ensued and the reviews were mixed. In many ways the book succeeded in capturing a sense of the times which was rendered in excellent use of description and dialogue, but there was a minority opinion that it missed an evocative rendering of Jamaican life. Some felt that, despite an overall successful telling of the tale, there were aspects which lacked continuity, while at the same time being strongly written. At the end, one wonders to which small island the author was referring. An interesting read nonetheless.
The book chosen for the May meeting, which will be held Wednesday 5 May, is The 158 Pound Marriage by John Irving. The book selected for June is The Tehran Conviction, by Tom Gabbay.
A huge thanks to Margaret Moore for hosting the meeting and providing several delicious dishes and equal thanks to everyone who participated and contributed.
We look forward to seeing you at the next meeting.
‘Small Island’ by Andrea Levy doesn’t really need to be unearthed and analysed like some of the previous books we have read because it speaks for itself. The novel is about the arrival of Jamaicans in England just after the war, the racial discrimination and hostility that they encountered and the disappointment in a land which they regarded as their mother country. As Jamaica was part of the British Empire they couldn’t understand why they were not welcomed with open arms. The characters and events are based on the experiences of the author’s parents who sailed from Jamaica to England in 1948. The author skillfully moves backwards and forwards in time using multi narratives to create the four main protagonists in the novel.
Gilbert, who has come to London from Jamaica to make a better life for himself and his new wife Hortense. Their landlady Queenie rents out the rooms in her grubby Earls Court house and is frowned on by the neighbours for accommodating ‘darkies’ and bringing down the neighbourhood. Queenie has waited three years for her miserable husband Bernard to return from the war and by now considers herself a war widow. The opening chapter of the novel tells of Queenie as a child when she is taken to the Empire Exhibition. She follows the smell of chocolate to the African village where a black man who is manning the stand shakes her hand. Her father reassures his frightened daughter that the man would have been a chief or a prince in his own country ‘you can tell he’s been civilised says her father, because he speaks English. The story starts with Hortense’s arrival in the middle of winter on a boat from Jamaica ‘on the boat women were in their best clothes, cotton dresses, hats and white gloves, jumping up and down waving, being met by black men in scruffy coats and hand knitted scarves hunched over in the cold’. The scene is set. The contrasts made. You know what awaits them.
However the discrimination which pervades this book is quite shocking at times. Queenie says to Hortense when she first arrives at the house ‘I hope you are not bringing anything into the house that will smell’.
Mr. Todd, a neighbor relates the story of how his sister is approached by two black women who, in passing, force her to step into the road. He says, ‘don’t they know that it should be them that steps into the road and not a white person.’
Then of course there is the scene in the cinema where the black and white GI’s are segregated, and the heart wrenching scene when Hortense goes to the Council offices to apply for a teaching job and ends up walking into the broom cupboard. But horrible bigoted Bernard is the most dislikeable character in this book especially at the end when he walks into Gilbert and Hortense’s room and looks at the curtains ‘The curtains grubby and ripped. He thought Those coloured people don’t have the same standards....the war was fought so that people might live amongst their own kind. Everyone was trying to get home to be with kith and kin except for those blasted coloured colonials. I’ve nothing against them in their place but their place isn’t here. Mr. Todd thought they wouldn’t survive another cold winter. I hope he was right.’
For me this was an award winning book. A story, simply written, with brilliant dialogue, big characters, funny, moving and above all memorable. Yes, I did find the Michael Roberts connection and the baby rather incredulous but it’s a good story.
An animated discussion ensued and the reviews were mixed. In many ways the book succeeded in capturing a sense of the times which was rendered in excellent use of description and dialogue, but there was a minority opinion that it missed an evocative rendering of Jamaican life. Some felt that, despite an overall successful telling of the tale, there were aspects which lacked continuity, while at the same time being strongly written. At the end, one wonders to which small island the author was referring. An interesting read nonetheless.
The book chosen for the May meeting, which will be held Wednesday 5 May, is The 158 Pound Marriage by John Irving. The book selected for June is The Tehran Conviction, by Tom Gabbay.
A huge thanks to Margaret Moore for hosting the meeting and providing several delicious dishes and equal thanks to everyone who participated and contributed.
We look forward to seeing you at the next meeting.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
In Tribute to J. D. Salinger
Thank you to everyone who attended the Barga Book Club Meeting on Tuesday. Thank you as well, to our host for the splendid setting and delicious meal.
Margaret Moore has honored us with a perspicacious recap of the meeting below.
Although Salinger's work merits much further study we will move on to discuss Small Island by Andrea Levy at the meeting which will take place 13 April and then Book of Illusions by Paul Auster at the May meeting. We would like to encourage everyone to participate. Even if you did not like the books which were chosen, your contribution is appreciated and valuable to the discourse at hand. We look forward to hearing from any and all of you as to which books you might wish to read and discuss.
Thank you again and we look forward to seeing you on April 13th.
This month the Barga Book club was hosted for the rather reduced number of members present. There was a lively discussion of the book, ‘Raise High the Roof Beam Carpenters’ by J D Salinger, led by Kerry Bell who chose the book. For some this was the re-visitation of a book read and loved in the sixties, for others it was a first time reading. Approaching the book so long after its publication, one is perhaps more of aware of the historical context. It was suggested that this book has its roots in the Jewish background of the author, who also spent some time in Vienna in 1939 where he can hardly have been unaware of the precarious situation for Jews at that time. For others the overwhelming importance of this book was that it was emblematic of the culture of youth , when for the first time the young looked objectively at adults and rejected their values as phony. Youth was speaking its own language and communication with the previous generations was often impossible. It had not as yet acquired its own identity. The War broke down many barriers; for the young who were abruptly empowered when they took on the burden of active service, and for women whose role was changing, too.
The opening page of the book, through a story from the Dao, has an Eastern Philosophical slant, and the writing throughout is permeated with this Zen-like approach to life. The scene is set in 1942. Seymour’s sister is in the navy, Buddy in the army, Seymour has seen action, another brother was killed. Salinger too saw active service during World War 11 and was present at the liberation of a concentration camp. The effects of these experiences , after which he suffered a nervous breakdown, will be evident throughout his life as he seeks in Eastern Religions a more peaceful and compassionate way of life. While many post war books dealt with the external aspects of this period, Salinger was concerned with inner emotional perception and explores relationships, through the invented Glass family, of mixed Jewish/ Catholic parentage like himself
The main character, Seymour Glass, although absent , is presented through others. He is the bridegroom who leaves his bride alone at the wedding, too overcome and almost unbalanced by his immense happiness. It is up to the narrator, Buddy, his brother, (Salinger’s alter ego) to defend his brother’s absence. Through him the reader comes to know about this intellectual, erudite, sensitive, beautiful man and poet, who seems to live on a plane that the average person cannot approach, let alone understand. The Glass family, parents Jewish/ Irish, had seven children who all took part in the radio programme ‘It’s a Wise Child’ for child prodigies. They are set apart from their peers at an early age, partly through their astonishing intelligence but also because Seymour educates them in Eastern philosophy, and preaches love and compassion. The dynamics between the family members is realistic and convincing.
After the wedding fails to take place, the guests exit and seek escape. The atmosphere is suffocating, in a limousine in the heat of New York, where a very noisy parade is taking place and effectively blocks their passage. The noise is deafening. They then proceed to an airless closed apartment where Buddy hastens to turn on the air conditioning. He is surrounded by the bride’s guests, who do not know his identity. He is further constricted by plaster round his body as the result of an injury . While the Matron of Honour is vociferous, telling everyone that Seymour needs psychiatric help and may even be ‘a latent homosexual and a schizoid personality’ , and her army officer husband subtly reinforces the concept of authority, Buddy is at first unable to be himself and avoids saying who he is. Everything is claustrophobic ad vaguely menacing. The only person with whom Buddy can communicate is the deaf-mute uncle, who theoretically is the only person who cannot express any views and remains like a smiling Buddha throughout.
The language used by Salinger is immediately identifiable, as Manhattan-ese. It is credible, and reinforces the solid reality of the situation , where ‘normal’ people are commenting, what to them is inexplicable and abhorrent behaviour, which Buddy is defending , as not only acceptable but as supremely understandable. The abyss, between their way of perceiving things and his own, is emblematic of the rift between ‘normals’ or ‘phonies’ (See the Catcher in The Rye’) and the Glass family, as it is between youth and the older generations. The Matron of honour accuses Seymour of ‘freakish behaviour’ . What does not adhere to the norm is frighteningly incomprehensible and must be labelled as abnormal.
While the guests lie around his sister’s apartment in the heat, Buddy retreats to the bathroom to read his brother’s diaries. Seymour’s somewhat inexplicable love for Muriel who is quite different to the Glass family is summed up when he says, ‘’she wants her own Christmas tree ornaments to un-box annually, not her mother’s.’ Seymour defines himself as a paranoiac in reverse, ‘I suspect people of trying to make me happy,’
There was general recognition of the importance of Salinger’s writing, not only in its historical context but today as well. His output was slim but had a massive impact. It was prophetic and is still pertinent in the 21st century. Like a Zen aphorism; either you get it or you don’t . Margaret Moore, March 4, 2010
Margaret's work can be found here.
Margaret Moore has honored us with a perspicacious recap of the meeting below.
Although Salinger's work merits much further study we will move on to discuss Small Island by Andrea Levy at the meeting which will take place 13 April and then Book of Illusions by Paul Auster at the May meeting. We would like to encourage everyone to participate. Even if you did not like the books which were chosen, your contribution is appreciated and valuable to the discourse at hand. We look forward to hearing from any and all of you as to which books you might wish to read and discuss.
Thank you again and we look forward to seeing you on April 13th.
This month the Barga Book club was hosted for the rather reduced number of members present. There was a lively discussion of the book, ‘Raise High the Roof Beam Carpenters’ by J D Salinger, led by Kerry Bell who chose the book. For some this was the re-visitation of a book read and loved in the sixties, for others it was a first time reading. Approaching the book so long after its publication, one is perhaps more of aware of the historical context. It was suggested that this book has its roots in the Jewish background of the author, who also spent some time in Vienna in 1939 where he can hardly have been unaware of the precarious situation for Jews at that time. For others the overwhelming importance of this book was that it was emblematic of the culture of youth , when for the first time the young looked objectively at adults and rejected their values as phony. Youth was speaking its own language and communication with the previous generations was often impossible. It had not as yet acquired its own identity. The War broke down many barriers; for the young who were abruptly empowered when they took on the burden of active service, and for women whose role was changing, too.
The opening page of the book, through a story from the Dao, has an Eastern Philosophical slant, and the writing throughout is permeated with this Zen-like approach to life. The scene is set in 1942. Seymour’s sister is in the navy, Buddy in the army, Seymour has seen action, another brother was killed. Salinger too saw active service during World War 11 and was present at the liberation of a concentration camp. The effects of these experiences , after which he suffered a nervous breakdown, will be evident throughout his life as he seeks in Eastern Religions a more peaceful and compassionate way of life. While many post war books dealt with the external aspects of this period, Salinger was concerned with inner emotional perception and explores relationships, through the invented Glass family, of mixed Jewish/ Catholic parentage like himself
The main character, Seymour Glass, although absent , is presented through others. He is the bridegroom who leaves his bride alone at the wedding, too overcome and almost unbalanced by his immense happiness. It is up to the narrator, Buddy, his brother, (Salinger’s alter ego) to defend his brother’s absence. Through him the reader comes to know about this intellectual, erudite, sensitive, beautiful man and poet, who seems to live on a plane that the average person cannot approach, let alone understand. The Glass family, parents Jewish/ Irish, had seven children who all took part in the radio programme ‘It’s a Wise Child’ for child prodigies. They are set apart from their peers at an early age, partly through their astonishing intelligence but also because Seymour educates them in Eastern philosophy, and preaches love and compassion. The dynamics between the family members is realistic and convincing.
After the wedding fails to take place, the guests exit and seek escape. The atmosphere is suffocating, in a limousine in the heat of New York, where a very noisy parade is taking place and effectively blocks their passage. The noise is deafening. They then proceed to an airless closed apartment where Buddy hastens to turn on the air conditioning. He is surrounded by the bride’s guests, who do not know his identity. He is further constricted by plaster round his body as the result of an injury . While the Matron of Honour is vociferous, telling everyone that Seymour needs psychiatric help and may even be ‘a latent homosexual and a schizoid personality’ , and her army officer husband subtly reinforces the concept of authority, Buddy is at first unable to be himself and avoids saying who he is. Everything is claustrophobic ad vaguely menacing. The only person with whom Buddy can communicate is the deaf-mute uncle, who theoretically is the only person who cannot express any views and remains like a smiling Buddha throughout.
The language used by Salinger is immediately identifiable, as Manhattan-ese. It is credible, and reinforces the solid reality of the situation , where ‘normal’ people are commenting, what to them is inexplicable and abhorrent behaviour, which Buddy is defending , as not only acceptable but as supremely understandable. The abyss, between their way of perceiving things and his own, is emblematic of the rift between ‘normals’ or ‘phonies’ (See the Catcher in The Rye’) and the Glass family, as it is between youth and the older generations. The Matron of honour accuses Seymour of ‘freakish behaviour’ . What does not adhere to the norm is frighteningly incomprehensible and must be labelled as abnormal.
While the guests lie around his sister’s apartment in the heat, Buddy retreats to the bathroom to read his brother’s diaries. Seymour’s somewhat inexplicable love for Muriel who is quite different to the Glass family is summed up when he says, ‘’she wants her own Christmas tree ornaments to un-box annually, not her mother’s.’ Seymour defines himself as a paranoiac in reverse, ‘I suspect people of trying to make me happy,’
There was general recognition of the importance of Salinger’s writing, not only in its historical context but today as well. His output was slim but had a massive impact. It was prophetic and is still pertinent in the 21st century. Like a Zen aphorism; either you get it or you don’t . Margaret Moore, March 4, 2010
Margaret's work can be found here.
Friday, February 5, 2010
The Reluctant Fundamentalist
The Barga Book Club convened Tuesday with a spirited discussion of The Reluctant Fundamentalist, by Mohsin Hamid, led by Margaret Moore who presented an astute and cogent account of her reading of the story.
It is told as a monologue by the Pakistani protagonist who recounts his personal history, as a gifted student who achieves select placement in the financial sector in New York, to an unknown American listener in a cafe in Lahore, Pakistan. It is an intricately woven tale of multi-layered symbolism and allegory. There are intriguing suggestions of a complicated conspiracy to assassinate either the listener or the protagonist. The strength of the story is in poignant and beautifully composed passages describing his relationship with a bereaved American woman and in vivid descriptions of his homeland and its history. Through historical references intertwined with topical subject matter, such as 9/11 and an allusion to the assassination of Daniel Pearl, the speaker tells his tale of infatuation and disillusionment in what amounts to an upbraiding of American capitalistic arrogance and hegemony.
Thank you very much to Margaret and everyone who participated.
The book we’ll discuss on Tuesday March 2nd, is Raise High the Roof Beam Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction, by J.D. Salinger. There are a number of copies in circulation so keep in touch if you would like to borrow a copy to read.
The following book will be Small Island, by Andrea Levy.
We look forward to seeing you in March,
Kerry and Julie
It is told as a monologue by the Pakistani protagonist who recounts his personal history, as a gifted student who achieves select placement in the financial sector in New York, to an unknown American listener in a cafe in Lahore, Pakistan. It is an intricately woven tale of multi-layered symbolism and allegory. There are intriguing suggestions of a complicated conspiracy to assassinate either the listener or the protagonist. The strength of the story is in poignant and beautifully composed passages describing his relationship with a bereaved American woman and in vivid descriptions of his homeland and its history. Through historical references intertwined with topical subject matter, such as 9/11 and an allusion to the assassination of Daniel Pearl, the speaker tells his tale of infatuation and disillusionment in what amounts to an upbraiding of American capitalistic arrogance and hegemony.
Thank you very much to Margaret and everyone who participated.
The book we’ll discuss on Tuesday March 2nd, is Raise High the Roof Beam Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction, by J.D. Salinger. There are a number of copies in circulation so keep in touch if you would like to borrow a copy to read.
The following book will be Small Island, by Andrea Levy.
We look forward to seeing you in March,
Kerry and Julie
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
The Book Thief
An enthusiastic group of 7 Book Club members met on Tuesday to discuss The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, the story of a young girl in Nazi Germany, sent by her distraught mother to be taken in by foster parents at the height of the war. Narrated by an omniscient and omnipresent figure of Death, it is a poignant story of a family struggling not to become overwhelmed by the war effort, and to maintain their principles under the circumstances.
The meeting opened with an engaging discussion of members’ associations with the war and its aftermath. Several members recounted moving connections with survivors of the war from both sides of the conflict, as well as their own local associations, whether it was observing bombed buildings, studying historical texts, or an exhaustive investigation of the Imperial War Museum.
The readers’ responses were at extremes. Some felt the book was a moving and captivating emotional tale of characters with whom they could identify and empathize. Common agreement was expressed as to the wholesome nature of the portrayal of the protagonists relationships and certain well written aspects. Others were extremely frustrated by the author’s devices, which seemed contrived, its lack of effective imagery, and moreover, by the flippant superficiality with which the author treated the historical subject and circumstances of the war.
The book chosen to be discussed on Tuesday, January 12th, is the novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid.
Thank you very much to everyone who participated and for bringing incredibly delicious food and beverages and a special thanks to Julie for hosting the gathering, and providing more delicious food and punch!
We welcome any comments or suggestions for future meetings.
We look forward to seeing you January 12th, the date set to allow everyone a chance to enjoy the holidays.
Best wishes for a lovely holiday season to everyone, wherever you may be,
Kerry and Julie
The meeting opened with an engaging discussion of members’ associations with the war and its aftermath. Several members recounted moving connections with survivors of the war from both sides of the conflict, as well as their own local associations, whether it was observing bombed buildings, studying historical texts, or an exhaustive investigation of the Imperial War Museum.
The readers’ responses were at extremes. Some felt the book was a moving and captivating emotional tale of characters with whom they could identify and empathize. Common agreement was expressed as to the wholesome nature of the portrayal of the protagonists relationships and certain well written aspects. Others were extremely frustrated by the author’s devices, which seemed contrived, its lack of effective imagery, and moreover, by the flippant superficiality with which the author treated the historical subject and circumstances of the war.
The book chosen to be discussed on Tuesday, January 12th, is the novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid.
Thank you very much to everyone who participated and for bringing incredibly delicious food and beverages and a special thanks to Julie for hosting the gathering, and providing more delicious food and punch!
We welcome any comments or suggestions for future meetings.
We look forward to seeing you January 12th, the date set to allow everyone a chance to enjoy the holidays.
Best wishes for a lovely holiday season to everyone, wherever you may be,
Kerry and Julie
Friday, October 23, 2009
November Book Club Meeting
As it turns out we can meet on Tuesday, 3 November, and most likely it will be at Julie's apartment in Barga Vecchia. Now if I could just find a copy of that book...
See you there
See you there
Friday, October 9, 2009
The Buddha of Suburbia
On Tuesday evening Julie Flynn Ciniglio articulately presented her selection, The Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi, to an enthusiastic group of least 12 Barga Book Club members in the lovely and convivial atmosphere of her own studio apartment in Barga Vecchia.
The Buddha of Suburbia is an engaging story of the trials and tribulations of an ethnically diversified young man coming of age in the London suburbs in the late 20th Century. The protagonist, Karim, with a long suffering English mother and charismatic Indian father, is presented growing up through the lenses of pop music and culture clouded by his ethnic heritage.
Political and sociological themes of family, immigration, racism, class, spirituality, religion, sexuality, and mysticism are explored. The author deftly negotiates the subject of discrimination in post-colonial Britain, remaining seemingly objective, while focusing on the exploits and evolution of society from the early 70’s onward. In addition to cultural issues concerning race, the conflicts of a multitude of religious influences from Christianity through Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism are wrestled.
The book’s title refers to the protagonist’s father who develops a, first, suburban and then urban, following as a guru and spiritual leader, though his son can’t shake the feeling that he is more charlatan than shaman. Karim’s English mother fills an uncharacteristically subdued role of neglected partner while his father runs off with an artistic, sexually liberated sophisticate.
Karim himself goes through a laundry list of casual sexual exploits expected of the liberated.
Julie also thoughtfully provided the audio of an interview with the author in which he answers questions from a live audience and email queries. He gracefully skirts the prurient questions as to the book’s autobiographical nature and explains the story as the evolution of a new breed of British citizen, presenting the contradictory Indian characterization of sage and beggar by adaptation of identities and escapism.
The book seems to be a deceptively affectionate portrait of late 20th century British social issues and conflicts and covers many themes of contemporary interest.
The next Book Club meeting will be held on Tuesday, November 10th and the book presented will be All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy.
The following month we will discuss The Tehran Conviction, hopefully with the author himself, Tom Gabbay.
Many thanks to everyone who brought food and/or wine and stayed to help Julie tidy up.
We look forward to seeing you all at the next meeting,
Kerry and Julie
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)