Cold Millions

 

We read Cold Millions by Jess Waters for our first book of 2022.  The Omicron variant of Covid 19 was peaking and we chose to meet remotely to discuss this book.   Given the dark times and the stretches we make to find the light, most of us began this novel with a bit of reluctance because the subject is on of inequity, fighting for basic human rights and poverty. 

Jess Waters quotes Albert Camus in the the Acknowledgements, "Fiction is the lie through which we tell the truth."  This book was based on the early union organization and the fight for decent working conditions and living wages.  Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, the famous labor leader, activist and feminist features as a leading character with Rye and Gig, two brothers who are struggling to support themselves and become involved in the labor movement of the Industrial Workers of the World-The Wobblies.  

Some of us found it difficult to follow the different voices throughout the novel.  The stories are told from different voices.  Some of us liked that style, while others found that it took a while to figure out who was narrating the new chapter.  All agreed that the writing was beautiful.  Mindy pointed out Water's skilled use of simile and metaphor in his narrative.  Thumbs up for the group.  Difficult to read about the suffering, but  resolved at the end and a good documentation of the number of changes one lived through at the turn of the century into the 60's.  

Next month we are on Zoom, pending the vicarious path of the virus...We are reading The Promise by William Galgut.  We will gather on February 21st
at 6:45.