The Red House

The Barga Book Club met on Wednesday in Albiano at the home of Anne and Rigo Capanni, still here processing their large olive harvest. The home reminded some of a welcoming gem like crofters dwelling or perhaps the gamekeepers cottage, from our recently reviewed selection Lady Chatterly's Lover, equally hearth warmed, cozy and romantic and decidedly more finely furnished. It was the perfect setting for a rainy November evening.

After a delicious meal of savory and inventive dishes, and a taste test of the Capanni's rich fresh olive oil processed in two different ways, we discussed The Red House by Mark Haddon. Following on his successful novels A Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and A Spot of Bother, some readers were disappointed with this story of an extended family thrown together on holiday and its queer dysfunctionality.  When mother dies the wealthy successful elder son invites his estranged sister and her family to join him and his family on holiday in Wales at his expense.  Discomfort and irritability are the order of the days and personalities clash, hormones rage and the weather creates havoc. In other words, it ends up a disaster after several major life issues come to the fore and children and adults both have melt downs and serious relational problems surface. 

Salene thoroughly enjoyed its readability and page-turner aspect, its believability and the fact that she could identify with the issues of the characters and saw it as an accurate statement on contemporary social issues. Krysia, although she had enjoyed his other titles found this to be confusing and difficult and she was frustrated with the lack of clarity in the writing itself, in the monologues and at times couldn't tell who was speaking, all of which conspired to make it not a good reading experience.  Others felt it was too much of a panoply of contemporary social ills and superficial solutions. 

Whether we enjoyed it or not, as always, the book inspired lively discussion and had the knock on effect of eliciting references to other authors and titles, which is an objective benefit of the book club. 

Thank you to everyone who participated and we look forward to seeing you at the next meeting.

January 22 at Palazzo Salvi, Spring Sonata by Bernice Rubens

February at Salene's  a selection by Doris Lessing

The Deadly Sisterhood

As the sun set for a few members of the Barga Book Club on a balmy mid October evening, we enjoyed a simple repast and discussed The Deadly Sisterhood, A Story of Women, Power and Intrigue in the Italian Renaissance, by Leonie Frieda. While one journalist reviewed it under the title of 'Italy's tiger mothers,' a reference to comparative parenting styles in contemporary society, it wasn't about parenting at all but about political power behind the scenes.

The book is a complex narrative of real and conjectured power politics focusing on eight wives or regents of Renaissance rulers. Often weakened by self indulgence or gout the princes risked diminishing dominions and often during or after bearing eight to ten heirs the women took the reins, literally in some cases, and led their families to glory or at least more territory and power. The book opens with Caterina Sforza, the Lady of Forli, and "she wolf of the Romagna" heavily pregnant, her husband Girolamo Riario assassinated, holding forth obscenely and holding down the fort until she was relieved by troops from her native Milan.

The book continues with convoluted historical details of Papal intrigues and brutal power plays often exploited by the wives. Machiavelli, a recurrent figure, had nothing on them, the ends justified their means.

Most readers felt it was a very interesting and enjoyable but sometimes difficult read keeping track of all of the personages and relationships and needing to cross reference the time line and family trees. Helen mentioned its not flowing as either novel or strictly biography during the period of the stranglehold of the the Papacy, a period of entitlement, self indulgence and privilege in which strong, well educated and politically astute women capitalize on their situations. Selene felt that eight women were a lot to cover in this way and like others felt the need to have more time to finish it and do the history justice.

Everyone enjoyed the sense of being able to imagine clearly where and how these women lived practically in our midst.

Thank you to everyone who participated and brought delicious food. We were all concerned for those who could not be there and hope to see them at the next meeting.

November 20 at Anne Cappani's Albiano, The Red House by Mark Haddon

December 18  Spring Sonata by Bernice Rubens venue to be announced

The Fever Tree

A limited group of book club members assembled as the sun set on a mild fragrant fall evening  descending subtly lit stone steps bordered by sage and lavender in the gracious surroundings of  Helen’s Tiglio home to discuss The Fever Tree by Jennifer McVeigh. 

The Fever Tree, set in late 19th century London and South Africa is the story of a once privileged young woman forced to choose between two unpleasant options and torn between two men, one an idealist and the other an opportunist. The story accurately portrays the real events of the small pox epidemic in South Africa and its effect on the diamond mines and how avarice overrides altruism.

Margaret led the discussion citing the fascinating background research with reference to real epidemic events in South Africa and their implications in light of colonialization and exploitation. She commended some of  descriptive elements but mentioned the overdrawn characterization and the enormous frustration of the missed opportunity of building a great story around the historical events, for she relegated this book to Romantic Fiction, while not quite of the bodice ripping genre, it still leaves an unpleasant taste in the mouth, she added. 

Isobel found it an easy read, particularly in pace as the chapters were short and the plot linear and found the characterizations of the Dutch the most believable.

In absentia, Pietro Bianchessi added, via text message,  that he liked it but it was a bit cheap on the romance part.

Helen felt it was a good easy read and made reference to the South African issues brought to the fore and their repercussions in current society. So, she felt the book was thought provoking though superficial, and the characterizations didn’t ring entirely true.

The group was all the more indulged for being small, as the food was sumptuous and plenty. Thank you to all who participated and we look forward to seeing everyone at the following meetings:

The Deadly Sisterhood by Leonie Frieda October 16 at Kerry’s, Barga.

The Red House by Mark Haddon November 20 at Anne Capanni’s

Spring Sonata by Bernice Rubens  December 18 venue to be announced

Love, loss and marriage

As the air cooled on the evening of one of the hottest days of the summer, about 8 members of the Barga Book Club met on Pietro and Marijke’s spacious terrace to discuss A Heart So White, by Javier Marias, with the spectacular view of Monte Forato in the distance.

A Heart So White, is a love story. It is couched in an intrigue of a tragedy recounted by one who was not directly involved. A narrative in the form of the memory thought process where one goes over and over the minutiae of a heartbreaking event which could never have been prevented, the protagonist wasn’t even born yet, yet he repeats the circumstances which led up to the event and its aftermath again and again, the way one does in one’s mind,  in the hope of understanding and coming to terms with them and perhaps to prevent or avoid it happening again. In an effort that the sins of the father are not visited on the son.

The novel opens with the heart wrenching suicide of a newlywed bride and eventually unravels a story of parallels, sublime clues, and complex relationships. The narrator veers off on seemingly unrelated tangents which eventually clarify or inform the narrative intrigue. It is a love story, as the narrator continuously and repeatedly seeks to put his marriage into perspective as to his expectations and its limitations, to understand how one can grow and continue to love a partner over the long term, and avoid the common pitfalls of disillusion and boredom, which have resulted in tragedy.  He exhorts the reader to “‘devote yourself to the marriage itself, as if confronted by the most important structure and task of your life, even if you believe that the task has already been completed and the structure built.”  Alas, this is fiction for, in interview, the author says he will never marry.  

Margaret, who had recommended the novel, pointed out the references to Macbeth, both obvious, the title is based on it, and indirect, the suicide of a wife based on her own feeling of complicity, or even culpability, in murder.  Margaret referenced the film Sliding Doors for its similar sense of parallel universes.  She mentioned the sense of listening to music, where the melody is repeated, and becomes familiar and comforting. How we are effected by circular decisions.

Isobel, as with several others, was eventually drawn into the story, having had to overcome a sense of tedium with its repetitiveness, but ultimately found it clever and fascinating.

Salene referenced the feeling that each repetition felt like an embellishment to a painted picture, and confirmed the musical sense of the rondo, with a current running through that something was not quite right.

Pietro, found it fully engaging but felt that the final mystery was anti-climatic.

Most members agreed it was one of the best and most complex and moving books we have read. A beautifully constructed story based on universal themes of marriage: love, loss, beauty, pain, betrayal, and secrets.

Thank you to the Bianchessis for their gracious hosting and to everyone who contributed and participated to the delicious repast and lively discussion.

Here is the list of upcoming titles:

The Fever Tree by Jennifer McVeigh September date and venue to be announced.
The Deadly Sisterhood by Leonie Frieda October date and venue to be announced
Title to be announced, November 20, at Anne Capanni's

The Passion

How are you going to make sense of all of this? was Elisabeth’s query.

With twilit embers glowing on the deep green ridges in the distance, the Barga Book Club members met in the walled garden of Margaret’s home on the Fornacetta to discuss The Passion by Jeanette Winterson. Retiring inside as the unseasonably cool evening progressed, they enjoyed the sumptuous meal provided by the members before diving into the discussion at hand. 

The selection of this title came as a way to explore more of Winterson’s work after we’d read her intriguing autobiographical novel Why Be Happy When You Can Be Normal. 

Many book club members found this novel, in Kerry’s words an overly glib mish mash of historical fiction, frustrating, irritating, even pointless. Salene, just didn’t get it, Bill called it turgid, and said it didn’t hold together. Margaret, who forced herself to 'finish the damned thing!', and reread sections to try to get it, couldn’t see the passion anywhere, deemed it trite and pretentious and passionately hated it.

On the positive side Cynthia praised the, every now and then, luminous writing, and likened it to a surreal landscape of the human condition, but felt that the passion allusion was overdone. Isobel identified strongly with the poignant imagery of instability.

Helen was particularly drawn into the story, and felt the passion imagery and mix of mythology and fantasy related strongly to the author’s driven character. She felt it was skillfully well written and well crafted, written as though it was by a well informed observer of the journey. It was unusual but will be considered a modern classic. Elisabeth cited its novella quality, and mentioned the other criteria by which the novella should be judged, more developed than a short story but less than a novel, the slice of life approach, or that this was like a collection of short stories that came together and that Winterson is to be praised as experimenting with a form of writing. The story was full of eloquent descriptions. The content left Elisabeth  convinced Winterson was obsessed with her sexuality and the book rife with her convictions with lesbianism.

The passionate but always congenial discussion thus made sense, was concluded and they dove into the exquisite desserts.

Thank you very much to everyone who participated and here is the list of upcoming titles:

A Heart So White by Javier Marias, 31 July at Pietro and Marijke's
The Fever Tree by Jennifer McVeigh September date and venue to be announced.
The Deadly Sisterhood by Leonie Frieda October date and venue to be announced

Kerry

Black Swan Green

Hindsight is 20/20 or, in what is referred to as Black Swan Theory, a surprise eventuality, which had major impact, something which could have been or should have been predicted, but wasn’t, something, in hindsight, one could always refer to as a learning experience, happened, which was the break up of the couple, in this case the parents of Jason Taylor the 13 year old protagonist in Black Swan Green, by David Mitchell.

On a cool May evening numerous members of the Barga Book Club gathered at the now familiar, but nonetheless warm and welcoming 17th C. palazzo around the long narrow splendidly laid table to enjoy a sumptuous meal and discuss what many considered to be an evenly crafted poignant story of stilted communication and hidden messages which led to the inevitable end of a relationship and parting of ways.

The book is a semi-autobiographical coming of age story marking the end of innocence of a boy with a pronounced stammer and his struggles to communicate and be understood as he stumbles through his thirteenth year.  The setting is Worcestershire in the early 80’s and pays shallow lip service to politics and pop culture of the period and the child's game of hang man is the central image. Cruelty and bullying are recurring themes.

Liz, who had recommended the book felt it was a well written story and a good read. Janet felt it was diverting and took one out of oneself and that the emotions and what he was trying to capture were described incredibly well. Others mentioned engaging, Salene loved the poetic language and evocative imagery.  Cynthia and Pietro mentioned that it evoked childhood memories. Helen thought it was brilliantly written and brought to mind her children and well drawn characters such as the pompous drunken uncle, and family relationships. Marijke mentioned it was reminiscent of a particularly loved Dutch story of an 11 year old, but lacked  its subtleties and finesse.

In sharply dissenting opinions Margaret felt it was forced, trite, and thematically overused and reminiscent of  The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole. Elisabeth cited criticism that no 13 year old would ever have thought like that and that there was a serious dissonance caused by the adult thought processes in a child’s story. 

Thank you to everyone who contributed their very thoughtful comments. Apologies if I have left out any comments. Everyone’s contribution is greatly appreciated.

Here is a recap of the upcoming details, by title, date and venue:

The Passion by Jeanette Winterson, 26 June at Margaret Moore's
A Heart So White by Javier Marias, 31 July at Pietro and Marijke's
The Fever Tree by Jennifer McVeigh September date and venue to be announced.

We look forward to seeing you in June.

Two Meetings

First, a late and contrite note on the book club meeting for March. Held on a rainy evening at the warm fragrant Tiglio farmhouse, furnished beautifully in contemporary elegance, of Helen Fentimen, we wined and dined sumptuously and discussed Daphne du Maurier’s  My Cousin Rachel. Did she or didn’t she? No one knows for sure. Selene felt it was a real page turner filled with  manipulation and revenge and Margaret added jealousy, obsession, and love. Someone mentioned overdrawn hobbledehoy. In short, the mystery-romance story of two bachelor cousins falling in love with a beautiful half Italian distant cousin and the effect she had on them, published in 1951 followed on several years of Noir drama films where the nefarious female character was always foreign and exotic. The question throughout was whether she had poisoned Ambrose and was in the process of poisoning his young cousin Philip. Du Maurier’s character was mysterious, charming and clever and sufficiently duplicitous that one never was sure whether she did indeed do the deed.Margaret's thoughtful notes follow:

Written in the first person by Philip and therefore of necessity  slanted. We see and know only  his truths. He sees everything from a  narrow viewpoint, that of a young man who has not yet matured…until his encounter with Rachel he is a virgin. One suspects that the same was true of Ambrose. They were both therefore easily manipulated by Rachel.
THEMES: obsession, jealousy, love and hate.
CHARACTERS.
Philip: naive country bumpkin brought up in country in a household of men, secure childhood, morbidly attached to Ambrose. No knowledge of women apart from  Louisa his childhood friend who he never sees as a woman.  Limited knowledge of the world. He loves nature and is extremely aware of it, but only in his own area, specifically, his estate. When he travels to Italy he sees none of the beauty, only ugliness and poverty. He is infantile in his behaviour, his sulks and jealousy, his loves and hates. His love for  Rachel could be seen as oedipal…his father-substitute’s wife. He inherits Ambrose’s estate, money, family jewels and ….wife..  He becomes or subconsciously wishes to become Ambrose.  Irrational, he oscillates from believing one thing to believing the opposite. His jealousy and paranoia cause him to commit murder.
Rachel: worldly, sophisticated, spend-thrift. Insecure childhood, marriage to gain security first to Sangalli then to Ambrose. Sensual, attractive to both sexes. Sense of humour. Is careful to secure a livelihood. She is a woman alone in a period when women had far fewer rights. Money will give her independence, and the strength to face life and live it to the full. She appears to be caring, as when Ambrose and  Philip are ill. Has great knowledge of plants and like the witches of old, knows the virtues of medicinal plants and poisonous ones.   She casts spells. She could also be a murderer.  However,  why would she have murdered  Ambrose when he hadn’t signed the will?  Rachel is shocked by the similarity between Philip and Ambrose. While she is dying , she calls him Ambrose.
Rainardi: viewed with suspicion by Philip he represents the unknown, all that is foreign and therefore untrustworthy. He is dark and sinister and speaks another, incomprehensible language.
Louisa, good, innocent and in love with Philip. She is open and honest, contrasting Rachel’s secretive and complex character
Nick:  incapable of putting a brake on Philips wild decisions. Perhaps he  also sees the chance for his daughter of marrying money, disappearing.  He is the voice of reason which cannot be heard by the besotted Philip.
Daphne du Maurier said that when she wrote the book she became Philip and therefore like Philip did  not know  whether or not  Rachel murdered Ambrose .


The April meeting was held at the vibrant, cozy, familiar and always welcoming home of Krysia Bell. The book we discussed, most of us had read many years ago and, on re reading found it a different book altogether. This time around the themes that impressed us most were sociopolitical, socioeconomic, socialism, sufferance, equality, and existentialism. Helen remarked on the class differences writ large within the beautiful sensitively, vividly descriptive.  Margaret cited the essentially tragic age of upheaval and change, the social situation and class destruction. She brought the author's background and current social status to our attention, with reference to its impact on the story.  Krysia called it not a book for sissies. The book under discussion was Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D. H Lawrence. Here are Krysia’s extensive and intuitive notes:

The novel is set in the Midlands at Wragby Hall, the home of  Lord Clifford Chatterley and his wife  Constance, Lady Chatterley. Clifford owns the colliery bordering Wragby Hall separated by a small wood and a park. This is a perfect setting to explore the theme of  Lawrence’s novel, the nihilistic/existential monotonous life of the Aristocracy, the slavish existence of the working class, and the Marxist theory that there is no such thing as the individual only the struggles between classes.

The sex scenes for which it is famous  are disappointingly mild now and of course  we wouldn’t be shocked by the use of the ‘f’ and ‘c’ word running through it or the sexual freedom and adultery which takes place. The acquittal of Penguin books in the famous trial was a crucial step towards the freedom of the written word.

I don’t expect the ruling classes much liked Lawrences’ portrayal of  aristocratic males as spineless, arrogant, nonsensical prattlers, with wives who have lost interest in them or divorced them, children in search of their nanny’s as Clifford becomes with Mrs. Bolton at the end. Clifford is a typical example. A priggish, self centered, pompous man paralyzed in The Great War and confined to a motorised bath chair who finds most aspects of life meaningless. Even his writing, clever spiteful stories about people he has known, are in themselves, as his father-in-law points out, quite meaningless. Connie on the other hand seems to have more resolve; intelligent, outgoing, worldly, free thinking in comparison to Clifford, educated in the cultural centres of Europe, she throws her energy at the void, the dream, the simulacrum of reality in which they live, dominated by Clifford’s writing which she practically co-authors. Clifford needs her to be at his side every moment of the day, but of course it’s not long before she tires of this. The loneliness of Wragby Hall, the absence of a husband in any physical sense, the prospect of no children, and the reality of  Clifford’s blank insentience and vacuity drives her to an affair with Michaelis another listless purposeless man with whom she has to compromise herself. Mick asks her to marry him and when she declines he turns nasty. ‘He brought down her sexual feeling for him like a pack of cards by saying that women either don’t come off or wait until a man has and then the man has to hang on while the woman does and why can’t a woman synchronise her coming off when the man does?’ I suppose this would have been considered a shocking thing to voice in the Sixties.
As the years pass it’s the fear of nothingness in Connie’s life that affects her. She grows numb of the bitch goddess (which is the name they give to success) and this is another nothingness. The bitch goddess of success had two main appetites: one for flattery, adulation, stroking and tickling such as writers and artists gave her and the other, the meat and bones, were provided by the men who had money in industry.

I thought it was a great book. I loved the way we were taken into their private thoughts, especially Connie who was in some way as shallow and whimsical as Clifford although quite likeable, but what I loved about it most were the poetic colourful descriptions of the wood.

This is the newly graveled path when she first sees Mellors -‘When the rock and refuse of the underworld had burned and given off its sulphur, it turned bright pink, shrimp-coloured on dry days, darker, crab coloured on wet. Now it was pale shrimp-colour, with a bluish-white hoar of frost.’


And this one; a beautiful metaphor for their love making.

The wood was silent, still and secret in the evening drizzle of the rain full of the mystery of eggs and half-open buds half unsheathed flowers in the dimness of it all trees glistened naked and dark as if they had unclothed themselves and the green things on earth seemed to hum with greenness.

Mellors never says much until his letter at the end  in which he reveals his extreme earthiness and the obsessions about people being so interested in money that they had lost themselves.
Having made a big mistake marrying his wife Betty it looks as if he is about to make another mistake with Connie.
Connie in search for something more meaningful finds passion and erotic love. That is what they have in common which seems pretty futile in the great realm of things. Would they grow to really love one another.  Mellors wasn’t a fool but how could Connie put up with that awful dialect he spoke. You couldn’t understand what the man was talking about. And someone who said things like ‘you’ve got a fine arse to stroke on yu woman like you needs proper graftin.’
They both loved flowers, they both loved sex, would that be enough for a lifetime. Maybe for Mellors but unlikely for Connie.

Thank you to everyone who contributed and participated.
Here is a recap of the upcoming details, by title, date and venue:

Black Swan Green by David Mitchell, 21 May at Palazzo Salvi
The Passion by Jeanette Winterson, 26 June at Margaret Moore's
A Heart So White by Javier Marias, 31 July at Pietro and Marijke's

Thank you again,

Kerry and Krysia