Great Expectations: A Novel

 

In April, we read Great Expectations: A Novel by Vinson Cunningham.  Our group saw this novel as a coming of age story based on Vinson's work as a young adult on Obama's campaign.  He  pulls together the experiences of a young man's work as part of a major political campaign that promised hope and change with the main character's experiences as a young parent, lover, and friend.  He weaves in the influences of religion into the narrative in an interesting way.  We agreed this was a work that captured a time and an experience at a pivotal time in history.  Where it might have been better for our experienced crowd would have been to have a narrative that could have had more of a universal connection to a broader experience.

For May we are reading Tom Lake by Anne Patchett.  Tom Lake is a modern day rendition of Our Town by Thornton Wilder.  For extra credit, we can either see a rendition of the play or read the play for our discussion. We are meeting at Chrysanne's at 5:30 on June 5th.

The Prophet Song

 

In March, we read Paul Lynch's Booker Prize winning novel, The Prophet Song.  This was a dystopian novel that was inspired by the Syrian refugee experience.  The novel is set in Ireland and from the start, things go from troublesome to trouble to tragedy.  Members of our bookclub thought it was an important work, however, so tough to hang with it through all the hopelessness.  There was little hope left at the end and we all felt the themes of being torn about when to recognized the time to leave and weigh the cost of leaving one's home. Hard read, but important work.

in April we will read Great Expectations: A Novel by Vinson Cunningham.  Our new member Jeffrey suggested this novel.  We will meet at Alan's at 5:30 on May 1st.