The Narrow Road to the Deep North

The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan

This month we read a remarkable novel by Richard Flanagan.  The title, The Narrow Road to the Deep North comes from a book by Japanese poet, Matsuo Basho describing a dangerous journey he took on foot through Edo Japan in the seventeenth century.  A famous quote from the work is  "Everyday is a journey and the journey itself home."  These words describe the incredible story of prisoners of war  working on the Thai-Burma Railway during World War II under the harsh supervision of the Japanese.  This Railroad has also been described as the Death Railway.  22,000 Australians were taken prisoner by the Japanese during WWII and many were put to work to build this railway.  This novel is about those who survived and those who did not survive.  The novel is about how one copes with trauma and how one resolves be a part of the infliction of trauma on others.  

The Narrow Road to the Deep North is a harsh depiction of a difficult story.  The writing is beautiful. Some members of Book Club said it was the best book they had read in the past five years.  All were moved in one way or another.  Ed's story of his friend who was taken prisoner by the Japanese and how this book affected his memory was moving.  Cindy and Lexi who had been without power for days in a storm found the pain filled pages difficult to read.  All were taken by the love story embedded within the story.  This was a book about grieving and we were all affected by the story of Dorrigo Evans.

For next month, we are meeting at Cindy's House on January 13th  for a discussion of An Unnecessary Woman by Rabih Alameddine.

Heart of Darkness

 This month we read Heart of Darkness.  I was unable to attend Ed took on the job of blogging.  Here is his report:

  

Tough to recreate the somewhat disjointed discussion of Heart of Darkness.

  First, everyone enjoyed it- hadn't read it since college (I'm not sure I ever read it).

Thick poetic prose, short in pages but you couldn't read it fast and appreciate it.

  Tim and others remembered "Apocalypse Now" about Viet Nam, which was based

on Heart of Darkness (I remembered my almost favorite movie-"African Queen").

The descriptions of the physical setting and the ominous wilderness were compelling.

  A bit like Moby Dick, very ambiguous, allowing the reader to read whatever he or she

wants into it. An adventure story or a reflection of "civilization" and morality as a thin

veneer or simply situational.

  Example, what did "the horror, the horror" mean? Regret, fear at his own behavior or

a valedictory on the local culture which he had to fit himself into.?  Did Kurtz lose it,

so to speak,  or was he just fitting into the local scene by putting heads on poles?

  Shocking account of late 19th century racism and exploitation of the Africans.

  Marlow saw the natives as part of the human race but a lesser subdivision. Conrad

makes the point that the Romans coming up the wilderness Thames were faced with

the wild and uncivilized Britannic tribes several milleniums earlier.  

  Lying to Kurtz's girl friend about his last words- someone said she would have

been better off with the truth and could have gotten on with her life, instead of thinking

his last thoughts were of her.

  Well, there may be a few more bits and pieces, but I think that's a good part of the

discussion.

  Next meeting is at Chrysanne's, hosted by Lexi. We changed the date from December 11th to December 17th due to this crazy storm we just had.  Book is Narrow Road To The Deep North by Richard Flanagan- this year's Booker winner.

Americanah

We read Americanah this month.  Everyone gave the novel a thumbs up.  Reading this novel inspired an honest discussion about racism and our own prejudices.   The group thought that the novel offered terrific insight into the black and immigrant experience and racism.  The blog entries seemed bit on the harsh side toward life in the US and Nigeria.  We thought that the author was an amazing observer of the human experience, life,  and relationships.  We also enjoyed the love story.  Lexi liked reading about the Black hair care experience.  We all agreed that it was a bit long and wished Obinze had returned a bit earlier in the work, but it all worked.  We were all glad we read this book.  


Mindy served an amazing African Vegetable Stew and has promised the recipe for the blog.  She also served wine and aperitifs from Africa!  Quite cultural!  

Next month we are reading another novel based in African culture: The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad.  We are meeting on November 5th at Tim's.  

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The Middle Parts of Fortune

Fred aptly chose The Middle Parts of Fortune by Frederic Manning for this month's book choice.   July 28, 2014 marks the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I.  The Middle Parts of Fortune has been described as a classic and one of the best descriptions of a soldier's experience fighting in that war.  I really should have asked Fred to write this entry because I nearly failed World History as a freshman in college.  However, I brought my notebook, took notes and asked a lot of questions.  I still don't completely understand what caused the war and what the issues were, but that is because, I was assured by Ed, Tim, and Fred that it was complicated.  At one point I learned that the unresolved issues of WWI were the beginnings of the unrest in the Middle East which led to a lively side discussion.  At another point, I learned that the Boer War had everything to do with the outbreak of WWI.  

Perhaps it was hard to really focus while Mindy and Chrysanne were singing along to Fred's background music of WWI inspired songs.    For those members who understand WWI and the experience, they found the book to be an excellent rendition of trench warfare.  Fred had visited some of the sites of the trenches involved in the war and he was able to help us understand the very difficult nature of fighting in that war.  He described soldiers tossing grenades and weapons across  a short distance of land (No Man's Land) to the  trenches  on the other side and at some point having to run through No Man's Land to attack the other side.  This method of warfare led to the loss of 16 million men or 6,500 lives a day over the course of the four years.  There were 20 million casualties in all.  

Our meeting was quite informative and I am tempted to read a history book so that I can better understand  how the war led to current day conflicts between countries, not to mention King Ferdinand, Sophie and the Serbian anarchists.  Fred suggested several books including the following:

Fear by Gabriel Chevelier
The War Poets by Robert Giddings
Under Fire: The Story of a Squad by Henri Barbusse

Fred served an excellent curry paired with very nice beverages.  I was glad he did not cook the rabbit described in the novel. Also happy that he did not ration rum. 

* If there are any inaccuracies in my reporting of world history, do not hesitate to let me know.  

We are set to meet September 29th at Tim's house.  We chose the novel Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

The Quiet American

This month was The Quiet American by Graham Greene.  We made the decision to read this book based on two factors.  One, Tim has been suggesting Graham Greene for quite sometime.  And two, we needed to read something short since we needed to reconvene at Ed's before Louise left for Argentina so that we could see her glorious garden of irises and peonies.  We were sorry that Tim could not make it.  And we were once again treated like royalty by Louise who had planned a cold dinner, but since it was cold and drizzly out, she had to made some changes and add some warm dishes.  Needless to say, it was a lovely dinner.

In terms of what we thought about the book,  the majority of the members thought the book was amazing.  We had a great discussion about the beginnings of our involvement in Vietnam (helped along by our history experts) and about the fifties in general.  We were all able to appreciate the timelessness of this work.  The theme of the ivy school educated American who thinks that they know what is best for another culture is portrayed  well with Pyle's character.  And the older, journalist, Fowler who avoids taking sides or taking a stand must finally take action.  We had a long discussion over the moral nature of his action which inevitably led to Pyle's death and the winning back of Phuong.  We had some disagreement over whether it was a love story or a story of loneliness and a need for companionship.  In general, many of us were inspired to read more Greene.

We are meeting next at Fred's home.  Fred is very interested in World War I.  This year is the 100 year anniversary of the war.  In order to commemorate, we are reading The Middle Parts of Fortune by Frederic Manning-not Her Privates We which is the expurgated version of the work.  See you on July 29th.

Confederacy of Dunces

This month we read Confederacy of Dunces, a rare re-read from the Greater Westford Literary Society list.  Ed Amidon was the inspiration.  This is one of his favorite books.  And John Kennedy Toole did not disappoint us, except for Tim.  Tim just didn't jive with the book.  Just coming off his legislative duties may have had an adverse effect!  Most of us loved the clever language and the caricature of many different stereotypic characters.  Mindy did some secondary research and was really quite enlightening with excerpts from a biography of Toole.  In any case, the story of how this novel came to be a Pulitzer Prize winning novel is amazing.  The only book in competition at our meeting was Terry's new book, Coffee Can Investing!  

Next Month is Graham Greene's The Quiet American.   We will meet at Ed's for a garden tour on June 11th!  See you then!

Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Book Store

Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Book Store was a fun read.  The contrast between technology and bound books and bookstores and the internet inspired a lively conversation.  With a show of thumbs called by Chrysanne, the overall opinion was mixed and led to the inevitable discussion of what is a book club book.  For the first time ever, there was a concerted effort to be a bit more definitive and here is what we have (subject to change by the next book club meeting):

The book should:

• Capture the Human Experience
• Expose one to something unusual
• Cause controversy in our discussion
• Expose us to new possibilities
• Be a book we may have never chosen on our own
• Be well written with language we enjoy

Perhaps the group will review and add to the criteria! Tim?  Katie?  Meanwhile, Lexi and Ed reviewed books read and not read in the distant past by the Greater Westford Literary Society and with the help of Fred's excel spread sheet with titles and authors came up with a list of books to consider.  And since it will be at my house I had the definitive vote.  And because I have been hearing about the Confederacy of Dunces for so long and because it is Ed's favorite book and because Lexi always says, "Let's read it!"  We are going to go with it for May 19th at Cindy's House.  See you there!

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

 This month, we met at Ed's.  We were missing our legislative members, Katie and Tim who were off fighting the good fight, creating a better Vermont for all of us.  And Chrysanne was off on her now annual trip to Oaxaca, Mexico.  We had the added benefit of Louise's cooking for this book club with dinner served in the dining room with multiple pieces of silverware and candles!

The book was not overwhelmingly endorsed by members-however, the idea of leaving the house one day and just starting to walk towards something led to some very funny stories including Ed and Louise's recent holiday season where as Louise put it-we outsourced our relatives and our gifts and drove across country with our dog and spent 10 days in a cabin on Lake Tahoe to Terry's tale of a nearly missed Ph.D. and the acquisition of a Rolls Royce when he was living in the Northeast Kingdom, managing a Californian money fund.  Terry eventually drove the Rolls Royce cross country in order to obtain the best sale in California.

I laughed so hard, I cried at one point!  Louise served not one, not two, but three desserts.  They were all so good that some of us took cookies home in ziplock baggies.

We are meeting next at Chrysanne's on March 24th.  We are reading Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore: a Novel by Robin Sloan.  Both Fred and Mindy brought the book for a suggested title.  See you in March!

The Sisters Brothers

 I missed this book club which met at Mindy's in January.  We read Patrick DeWitt's The Sisters Brothers.  I found this photo of the author and I think that his image reminds me of the brothers!  I don't really know what to write about, not having been there for the discussion, but Ed did send me this note:

Hi Cindy- Very sorry to hear about Fred's dad. Next meeting is February 10 here at my house.
The book is The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce.  Everyone liked Sisters
Brothers except me. I wasn't convinced by the discussion- it seemed like loosely connectedincidents of violence porn but others saw humor, redemption, odyssey. And Mindy seemedto see the whole thing as a bit of slapstick on Western novels.

So there you have it.  I hope Ed doesn't mind that I copied his email on this blog.  Will remove if he does!