Girl Woman Other

 On June 3rd, we met to discuss Girl, Woman, Other.  Bernardine Evaristo won the Booker Prize for her work.  We all agreed that just at the point that we were tired of reading a series of short stories, we became intrigued with how she wove the stories together, culminating with the last story.  We all were fascinated by the lack of punctuation and agreed that it felt a bit like reading poetry and that it did not interfere with the flow of the novel.  We had fun discussing the characters we liked and maybe didn't like so much.  Overall we gave this novel a thumbs up.

We are meeting next on July 20th to read American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins

Redhead by the Side of the Road

During this month of May, we read Redhead by the Side of the Road by Anne Tyler. Our members had mixed reviews.  Mindy said it best when she said that Anne Tyler writes a simple story with characters who struggle with some challenge and in the end, they resolve that conflict with a bit of a limp.  I don't know if I took some liberty with her words, but I think I captured her thought.  We had wanted to choose something during this heavy time of COVID-19 pandemic and now, sadness and grief over racial inequities that would be light and readable.  Some of us took it at that...a simple read for a complex time of uncertainty.  While others felt that it was more of a novella and perhaps did not meet the 'bookclub book' standard.  Others just enjoyed having a simple story about a man whose life was set up and predictable and what happened when two major disruptions to his routines occurred. 

Bernardine Evaristo

Other discussion centered around how much people enjoyed reading about Micah's family, his interactions with those seeking technology advice, but not wanting to pay for it, and his tendency to make meals and percolate coffee whenever someone came to his house in distress. 

We have chosen Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo to read for June 3rd on Zoom at 7 PM.