Last night, my book club met for our first meeting of 2009. As usual, we had a great time, and my spirited members had much to discuss about the December 2008 book of the month, The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets, by Eva Rice. Opinions varied across the board as to liking or disliking it; I was one of the naysayers. This book completely fell short of all my expectations for character development, storyline, plot (or lack thereof), and good ending (once again, or lack thereof). As I stated last night at our British venue, Pound and Pence in lower Manhattan, "If a book doesn't end well, then it's not a good book. If you like a book up until the ending--and you don't like how it ends--it's not a good book." Thanks, Toni for seconding me on that!
A few of the ladies kept saying how they enjoyed "Secrets," but kept asking questions or discussing topics within the book that revealed flaws to all of us. A couple of the highlights were noted by Krisha (pleasantly and quietly opinionated) and Marnie (a fiery one) who noted that they enjoyed when Rice narrated the banalities of everyday life; how she would randomly write about the little nuances in the characters' behavior that made them real and/or mroe special. We all agreed that that kind of writing is what makes for an enjoyable read.
However, there were some more complex issues raised as well. For example, Racquel, one of the most wonderfully opinionated women in the group, asked: "Why is it that strong women and/or promiscuous women always get punished in the end with death or some kind of disease (AIDS, cancer)?" She then drew parallels to SATC, all of which were very true. This is quite an interesting issue that I will have to address in an essay one day, but until then, much obliged to Racquel for searing this on my brain.
So, in the end, who truly liked the book? I think less people did than before we talked about it...
I'm curious to discover the opinions of our January book, Fairy Gunmother, by Daniel Pennac, one book of a French series that has been translated into English. It's gotten fantastic reviews the world over, but has yet to reckon with the eyes and minds of this fiesty group of ladies! Stay tuned...
6 comments:
fairy Gunmother is fantastic. I hope you'll post your group's comments about it.
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