Rabbit Run

Mindy came up with the Rabbit quote that seemed to sum him up: "If you have the guts to be yourself, other people will pay the price."  My (Ed's) choice of Updike's Rabbit, Run provoked a great discussion this month.  Whether folks liked the book or not was roughly even split- some loved it, some hated it, even maybe Tim who leaned favorable ( and Chrysanne- I couldn't get a reaction).   Terry/Mindy couldn't get beyond Rabbit as a profoundly immature/unattractive scumbag on a weak plot line.  Tim found the book depressing, but with literary value reflecting a lot of life's relationship and other complexities.  Cindy loved it for it's craftmanship and portrayal of feeling trapped in a small town world.  Our guest and hopefully, new member, Lexi was glad to have had the push to read Updike and found the end better than the beginning.

We discussed some themes- Rabbit as a rebellious seeker, running from life's traps vs. Rabbit as a superficial, irresponsible, sex driven scumbag. All agreed, Rabbit not an attractive protagonist.  We also talked about Rabbit representing the uninhibited picture of chauvinism in the 60's.

I (Ed) had to explain why the Rabbit obsession (which  a former member had resisted as a choice for
so long)- it seemed that all of the Rabbit books had merged in his over the hill mind- Rabbit becomes a much more sympathetic and poignant figure in later books.

Overall, the main characters were losers but with internal thought
processes showing them to be very complicated. We found Eccles and Tothero as positive figures or were they bums like the rest?  Some saw the book as expressing a dark period in American life.  I saw some redeeming qualities in Ruth despite her job history.  All agreed it was a slow read with each page exquisitely crafted,
like reading poetry.

Written mostly by Ed and organized by Cindy



Next month we will read The Tower, The Zoo and The Tortoise by Julia Stuart and we will meet at Mindy's on August 22 at 7 PM.  We welcome Lexi Potter !

 

Half Blood Blues

“Think about it,” muses Sid. “A bunch of German and American kids meeting up in Berlin and Paris between the wars to make all this wild, joyful music before the Nazis kick it to pieces? And the legend survives when a lone tin box is dug out of a damn wall in a flat once belonged to a Nazi? Man. If that ain’t a ghost story, I never heard one.”

This month, we read Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan.  Everyone loved the novel.  She describes the music and the characters' love of jazz with the simplest of words written with a
Baltimore dialect which captures the passion and drive of a young group of jazz musicians in the 40's. The novel reads like an old record, revolving between 1939 and 1992 and covering the plight of German 'half bloods' persecution of the Jewish and Black Germans and the sketchy life of jazz in Berlin and Paris.  As Mindy captured our feeling for the book when she said that it was like meeting a client who lives such a different life from your own, yet struggles with the same dilemmas.  You learn something about that life.

Next month we decided to read Rabbit, Run by John Updike.  Ed suggested that it was time to read an Updike.  After much discussion, we decided on Rabbit, Run.  We will meet at Chrysanne's on July 25th.  Mindy will invite a potential new member for our book club for our next meeting.

Snowdrops

 In a BBC interview, A.D. Miller stated,
"[Russia] is a place where if you don't have powerful connections your life is a bit of a tightrope walk. If something goes wrong you can be in very deep trouble very quickly." Terry volunteered to lead our group discussion given his experiences of running various businesses in Russia in the 90's.  Miller does an incredible job at creating the backdrop of the lawlessness and corruption involved in the banking and business enterprises with which the main character, Nick finds himself.  Terry regaled us with stories of his attempts to establish a pizza restaurant, a Ben and Jerry's, a clothing store, a bar and a vodka store.  As described in Snowdrops, investment experiences involving Terry looking over his shoulder sometimes with armed body guards and managing the changing rules and procedures.

Given how well the setting was developed, the group, on whole, was disappointed in the character development.  Nick, the lawyer seemed superficial.  Masha, his lover was even less developed.  The structure of the novel being a letter to his fiancee confessing his love and failures in Russia was puzzling to us.  Whereas Nick is applauded for his honesty, whether his soon to be life partner does indeed agree to marry him was a question in our minds.

We selected Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan for our next meeting, June 27th at Chrysanne's house.  Cindy will facilitate the discussion.  We hope Kate and Fred will be able to make it.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Unbearable Lightness of Being

Lightness and Weight, Russian occupation of Prague, love, and kitsch were the main topics of conversation Monday evening as Tim brilliantly led us through our discussion of the Unbearable Lightness of Being.  Having Kundera in his extended family bloodlines once removed (a cousin who translated Kundera's work), Tim prepared himself by stopping by and viewing his cousin's collection of Kundera manuscripts and books in her New York apartment (see photo below).  

The themes of lightness and heaviness were briefly discussed as the focus of the novel on these themes was thought to have almost compromised character development of Tomas Tereza, Sabina and Franz.  Kundera's characters felt to be caricatures of lightness and heaviness with Sabina and Tomas as lightness and Tereza and Franz being heavier characters.  The lightness and heaviness against the backdrop of political unrest as Russia took over Prague in the 80's created a  more stirring sense of place and a platform upon which Kundera shared his opinions of the political motivations and human nature. 

Kitsch, however was the main topic of our conversation.  Chrysanne loved the idea of Kitsch and she was able to point to just about every obvious and sublime example in the novel.  I dug up these definitions to illuminate the liberties Kundera takes with Webster's definition:

Definition of KITSCH

1

: something that appeals to popular or lowbrow taste and is often of poor quality-Webster

2

: a tacky or lowbrow quality or condition <teetering on the brink of kitsch — Ron Miller

3

: the absolute denial of shit (Kundera)." Kitsch functions by excluding from view everything that humans find difficult with which to come to terms, offering instead a sanitized view of the world, in which "all answers are given in advance and preclude any questions".

Overall, the Bookclub gave this novel a 4 thumbs up.  Mindy, who has brought this book as a suggestion a couple of times, usually being turned down immediately by Tim, ended up not liking the novel, while Tim, having done his research ended up having more of an appreciation of Kundera (by his own admission).   

 

Next month we are reading Snowdrop by A.D. Miller.  This novel was shortlisted for the Booker Prize last year.  Kate will be joining us as a guest.  We will be meeting at Ed's house on May 23rd.  We did not choose a facilitator.  Any takers?

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

This is a small sample of my cousin's Kundera books (every one in the picture!)  She also has a wall of boxes of manuscripts, some handwritten in french--T

This month's selection, The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Kundera is going to be so exciting because Tim is going to facilitate our discussion!  He has personal connections and relations to a Kundera specialist and here is her library!  See you at Terry's! 

Freedom

Last month, we read Freedom by Jonathan Franzen.  Although written as an epic satire, the characters evolved and somehow became more real by the end of the novel.  Most of our members really liked the novel.  The writing was excellent and Franzen's caricatures were well developed.  Some of the members experienced the novel as a bit over written and tedious at times.  Mindy led our discussion and enriched our experience with reviews which had us thinking about aspects of the novel we had not considered.  We were experiencing unusual Spring weather which felt like Summer weather.  We sat out on Tim's screened in porch and enjoyed having Chrysanne back in the country and at the table!

Next month is Milan Kundera's Unbearable Lightness of Being.  We are meeting at Terry's House on April 30th!  Tim is reluctantly on as facilitator...did we mention that he is related to Milan?

The Sense of an Ending

We met on February 22nd at Mindy's house for an intimate gathering of just four book group members.  Mindy kept bringing out three plates, three forks, three napkins because she kept thinking, "only three tonight!"

We unanimously loved the book!  Previously, we had read Arthur and George in Book Club and some had read Flaubert's Parrot on their own.  We all agreed that The Sense of an Ending far surpassed Barne's other works.  We spent some time talking about the young adolescent boys in the novel, discussing how history was written in with their high school history teacher and then how the main character, Tony writes his own personal history.  New facts are brought to light which cause some dissonance and cause him to revisit his past.  We could all personally relate and shared some liberties we had taken with our own histories and what it felt like when we confronted some facts and feelings we had not considered until they were right in front of us!

We missed Ed, Fred, Chrysanne and Katie!  We are reading Freedom by Jonathan Franzen for next time and we had to change the date to March 19th in order to accommodate Terry's trip.  We had a little discussion about Book Club structure given the fact that Don is no longer here to enlighten us on secondary sources and multiple levels of meaning.  We thought we might try having a person assigned to lead the discussion.  Mindy is on for next time.  See you at Fred's with a back up at Tim's!