Our Book Club
Book Reviews: Literature & Fiction
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Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
Read by Tracy in February 2012
Tracy recommends as an interesting look at the tragedy of 9/11
There are a lot of books creeping onto the market which look at the impact of 9/11, however, this one does it from a slightly different perspective – 9 year old Oskar Schell, his mother and his grandmother (Anna). Oskar and his father (Thomas) were incredibly close and after his father is killed in the World Trade Centre on 9/11 he is desparate to keep his father’s memory close. Interspersed with this storyline is that of Oksar’s grandfather who left Anna before Thomas was born because he was unable to accept the devastating affects on the WWII bombings on Dresden which saw his family and friends killed plus his girlfriend (Anna’s sister) who was carrying his child. In the aftereffects he loses the ability to speak.
Oskar is highly intelligent, verging on autistic in his tendencies, he corresponds with famous people (Stephen Hawking, Jane Goodall etc), must carry his tambourine everywhere, wears only white and is afraid to connect with people. Normally characters like this can alienate their audience, but Oskar still has the emotional vulnerability of a child who fundamentally can’t comprehend why things have happened. Oskar lives across the road from Anna and they are in constant contact via a walkie talkie, she is his rock, someone who gives him constant attention. His mother has recently started a friendship with Ron, who she met in grief workshop but Oskar is unable to accept their relationship. Eventually Oskar enters Thomas’s closet where on the top shelf he finds a blue vase. Inside the vase is a key in an envelope marked with the “Black”. Oskar believes this is a challenge set by his father, so he embarks on an incredible journey through New York to meet every person with the surname Black to see if they have the lock to fit the key. For a child who does not like interacting with people and who is increasingly afraid of any forms of transport, tall buildings, lifts etc, he is certainly outside his comfort zone as he embarks on the journey. He finds a Mr Black in his own apartment building and they combine to make the journey easier. Oskar is then eventually assisted by Anna’s renter and who bizarrely agrees to help him dig up his father’s empty coffin?
The constant return to his Grandparents story did distract from Oskar’s story and the stories of those that he met on his journey. They too had incredible stories and narrated their own tragedies and difficulties in life and I loved how Oskar captured each person in his notebook. Oskar’s mother was also a character that sat in the background and you wondered why she wasn’t more involved, but in reality she was with him every step of the way, she just wanted him to find the answers he so desperately wanted. Unfortunately no matter what she did, Oskar just desparately wanted his father back, even telling his mother she wished it was her. Underpinning this resentment is the secret that Oskar carries with him which he finally divulges at the end of the book – he listened to his fathers last messages via the answerphone and can’t accept he did not pick up and speak to him on his last attempt to contact Oskar. The style of this book did remind me of Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad with pages interspersed with different media, however, in Incredibly Close I felt it detracted slightly from the storyline and some of the images were confronting, but then it isn't an easy topic.
There is a movie out which is similar, but very different to the book – read the review at the OurBookClub Book to Screen page.
The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach
Read by Tracy in February 2012
Tracy recommends for an old fashioned look at sport
You can't escape this book - it is everywhere, lots of online articles, the book jumps out at your in the local bookstore, so it was impossible not to see what the fuss was about. This is Chad Harbach's debut novel and it certainly has some high praise (Jonathan Franzen who Tracy loves, Oprah and was picked by the New York Times as one of the 10 best books in 2011). This was certainly a long time coming, 10 years in fact, which is maybe why Franzen is one of the champions of this book. Of course with the current success of Moneyball at the cinemas, starring none other than Brad Pitt, there is a lot of interest in Baseball. In a similar story to Lionel Shriver (We Need to Talk about Kevin), Harbach was unable to find a publisher until a young agent took it on and after a bidding war, Harbach was paid over $600k for the rights to the book. Not bad for a debut novel. So is it worth the hype and money...
The story starts at an amateur baseball tournament in Peoria, Illinois where shortstop, Henry Skrimshander, is noticed for his graceful fielding style by Mike Schwartz, who is I suppose a baseball scout. Mike sees that Henry has a profound talent of being able to judge where the ball will go and is able to throw it exactly where it needs to be, so he snaps him up for Westish University. When Schwartz and Skrimshander combine, they are above to bring the baseball team together and achieve a remarkable streak of error-free games. This is where two genre's cross and usually not very successfully, sport and campus. However here we are not treated as teenage idiots, instead Harbach provides some entertaining and engrossing writing that is emotional but not too sickly. This is something a lot of books aren't able to achieve when they are writing about male bonding.
Soon Skrimshander is in the eyes of the major league and as he is about to sign on the dotted line he loses his form. Whilst this is happened there are some other major plot lines being build, from a homosexual love interest between the college president (Guert Affenlight) and another baseball team member (Owen) which crosses all sorts of boundaries from race, age and not least previous sexual orientation, to Affenlight's daughter Pella who escapes an unhappy marriage and retreats to Westish and then falls in love with Schwartz. It is these four main characters (Henry, Mike, Owen and Pella) that the story revolves around and makes you hope that college sports mirror some of the overfunded and culturally narrow perceptions that you hold are misfounded. I have to draw parallels with Franzen's Freedom and its plot details that evoke a past era which manages to avoid resting on cynicism. In America, I would think Baseball is held in the same league as Soccer around the globe and involves male friendships and team spirit that offer an escape and optimism for the future. Luckily the book isn't too Baseball detailed as I know nothing of the sport, except from what I have seen in Moneyball, instead it looks at communities and how lots of different people can achieve their own American dream. I would have thought this would make a great movie, but may be a bit too similar to some recent Baseball movies, but honestly if it didn't come down to the last play of the last game of the season it would lack suspense. My only criticism is that some relationships are too neatly tied off, but sometimes that isn't such a bad thing, but Harbach also does his best to think that college sports teams are extremely intelligent - and this may be a step a bit too far.
In The Art of Fielding Harbach also managed to make it a book for different generations - perfect for book clubs, so hunt down some questions and see how you go.
When God Was a Rabbit by Sarah Winman
Read by Tracy in February 2012
Tracy recommends as a slightly disturbing look at how emotionally connected brothers and sisters can become
Beginning in England during the 1960s and 70s and finishing just after 9/11, we follow Elly (who is also our narrator). We are immediately drawn into her closest family. When she is only small, her mother Kate loses her parents and spirals into a deep depression, her father Alfie I felt was relatively distant - sort of there, but not really, he too has emotional issues and seems to be waiting for the day when his life comes crashing down. Elly's brother Joe comes to her rescue and their intense relationship is sealed. Elly's only childhood friend seems to be the neighbour, Mr Golan, who himself is delusional and Elly soon finds herself the victim of sexual abuse. Her brother cannot accept it happened and gives Elly a rabbit (who is subsequently named God), to comfort her. Luckily for everyone, Mr Golan soon meets an unhappy end. Elly and God talk to themselves and she is soon thrown into a friendship Jenny Penny. Now the character of Jenny Penny is a highlight in the book, Jenny is the daughter of a rather strange mother who, herself is a victim of domestic abuse and has to constant move, so much so that their lives are quickly dismountable and leave no permanent connections. Eventually some good luck falls on the family and Elly’s parents win the football pools which sees them relocate to a magical property in Cornwall which becomes a B&B for the eccentric and a range of unexplained characters move through the family's life. However eventually tragedy does strike and it has a devestating blow on their dynamics and characters. The saddest part of the story was the loneliness that Elly endured, with no other friendships outside of Joe as she became an adult.
Although the book was interesting and a few tears where shed, instead of answering some of the deeper questions, Winman focuses on strange components such as the Nativity play. What happened to the coin that Jenny Penny pulled from her arm with a future date on it? Then there are the unexplained relationships - Charlie and Joe for instance. Underlying the story is the relationship between Elly and Joe and the interactions of the other characters are subservient to this. But even this didn't quite ring true with lots of unanswered questions or missing storylines making the book seem slightly off kilter. My complaints aside, this would make an interesting book club choice as it certainly leaves many thoughts up in the air. There are some reading guides at the back of the book to get you started.
The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson
Read by Natalie February 2012
Natalie recommends as a beautifully written book, laden with symbolism and hidden stories.
The Gargoyle is one of those books that pulls you in from the minute you start reading it. Beginning with one of the best opening lines I have ever read, it then embarks on our nameless narrator’s journey starting with his vividly descriptive car crash where high on cocaine and drinking bourbon, he plunges off a cliff only to be trapped in his car which quickly explodes and begins to burn. His recounting in graphic detail of the feeling of his hair and flesh as he burns alive, only to be saved when his car finally rolls into a nearby creek, to the horrific treatments he must endure as the doctors battle to keep him alive and of course the very well thought out and elaborate suicide he plans as he lies in the hospital waiting to be released. Yeah, it pretty much doesn’t let you go from the start. And while the narrator is a fairly cynical guy, partly brought about by his birth resulting in his mother’s death, his childhood spent with meth-addicted relatives, his career as a highly paid and sought after porn star and his emotionally detached seduction of women, you can almost think he deserved the fate that awaited him as he plunged off the cliff. This is never more so with the crushing blow he suffers with the unfortunate loss of his most prized appendage on account of the bourbon spilling into his groin during the crash and providing the fuel for what essentially became a human candle (ouch!). However, while in hospital, he is visited by the beautiful and enigmatic Marianne, a woman who claims to have known and loved him in medieval Germany over 700 hundred years ago. As our narrator doubts his new visitor’s stories, particularly when he learns she is a sometime psychiatric patient in the hospital, he is nonetheless grateful for her company particularly because of her flagrant disregard for the rules of the burn’s unit but also her ability speak openly of his condition without the disgust he sees in so many others. As he continues to receive his visitor, he also starts to take part in the physical therapy that is forced upon him, slowly coming to the realisation that he may want to live afterall. During this time, he continues to learn more and more about the so-called past he and Marianne shared, along with the moving love stories of her friends, including a glass blower in ancient Japan, a farmer’s wife in Victorian England, a Viking in Iceland and an Italian metal worker in ancient Italy. Choosing to ignore the fact that Marianne is clearly delusional as she recounts these stories from her “past”, he is nonetheless impressed with her attention to detail and her factual account of the times. When the day of his release approaches and Marianne suggests he come and live with her, now clearly smitten, he readily agrees.
Upon arriving at her stone fortress, the narrator soon discovers more about her, including her work as a sculptor, carving great grotesques from stone once she has slept upon the rock and learnt of the creature who wants to escape. As Marianne recounts more of their past story, she also explains her work, believing she has multiple hearts within her chest that she needs to release upon the advice of her three masters and once this is complete her time on earth will be done. Struggling also with his increasing addiction to the morphine he was provided in hospital, the narrator starts to witness Marianne as she falls into an ever increasing manic period of carving. Fearing for her safety, he tries everything to get her to stop. However, it is only when she reaches the end completing her second last statue that she calms down and then begins the work of pulling him from his drug addiction (the bitchsnake in his spine – fantastic!). Tying up all of her loose ends, including finishing her final statue, a beatiful recreation of our narrator and finishing the story of their previous life together, Marianne finally explains to him his role in all of this, but most importantly his role in her life. As she leaves it all behind, she also leaves him a vast fortune and some small proof that perhaps she was who she said she was after all. Our narrator on the other hand, finally learns what love is and what his future now holds.
I have to admit, this book had a really unusual synopsis. Part history lesson, part religious enlightenment and part supernatural, it somehow managed to weave these elements together without forcing any one of them down your throat or overdoing it entirely. The writing itself is beautiful, even when told by our cynical narrator and it is interesting to watch him change over time, finally realising that when he was beautiful on the outside, he was a monster on the inside and it is only now, when he is ugly to look at, that he finally becomes a better person. Marianne herself was a mysterious and engaging character and I really loved the stories she told from her past, particularly the love story between them, a former nun and a burnt mercenary. Whether her other stories were reincarnations of their relationship, hearts that she had released from her own chest or simply friends in her long life, well that’s your guess. What is certain is that all of the stories play a role. The book is laden with symbolism and stories hidden within the main story. Analogies with Dantes’ Inferno (a book Marianne reads to him in the present and translated for him in the past) are rife, and this is never more obvious than in the opening chapter when he plunges down the cliff and into the fiery abyss of hell. A fantastic and intriguing story that will leave you thinking about it long after you’ve put it down.
With or Without You by Brian Farrey
Read by Natalie February 2012
Natalie just says wow, this book is confrontingly beautiful
What can I say, I really loved this book. It is beautifully written, extremely moving and confronting and very, very honest. It’s Brian's debut novel and also formed the basis for his thesis when completing his MFA, receiving the award for "Outstanding Fiction Thesis"...I can certainly see why.
With or Without You is the story of Evan, an 18 year old boy who has spent his life as a loner, an outsider, never really fitting in either at home or at school. Friends only with Davis, they are constantly picked on for being different, for being gay. Although every day is a struggle for them they both know come graduation they are leaving for college in Chicago where they will be free to leave behind the town they've grown up in, the families that don't understand them and the bullies who pick on them. But Evan also has Erik, the boyfriend he's been hiding for nearly a year now. Seeking solace and comfort in the one person who seems to understand him, Evan keeps their relationship a secret from everyone, including his best friend. Unable to believe that he deserves the love that Erik offers or that Erik would ever stick around if he discovered the "true" Evan, he fights hard to keep these two parts of his life separate, hoping to never have to choose between the loyalty he feels for his best friend or the love he has for his boyfriend.
But when Evan and Davis graduate, Davis is lured into a group known as the "Chasers". Promising freedom, understanding and a chance to be accepted, Davis is entranced by the group in particular their mysterious and enigmatic leader, Sable. Evan is wary, confused by what the group is really about and shocked at the tactics Sable uses to recruit new members. But he also knows what Davis is like, his constant longing to be accepted by people forged from his father’s abandonment and mother’s mental illness, he longs to be a part of something. While Evan can understand this longing and has his own family issues to contend with, he also knows he has Erik, a man who has changed him, made him a better person. He likes the Evan he becomes when he is with Erik, and desperately wants to hang on to that.
Just as this path of destruction that Davis has chosen begins, Evan receives another offer from Erik, a chance to move with him to San Diego where they can escape and build a new life together. Torn between what he should do, Evan tries to find a way to make both paths of his life work, all the while knowing that he cannot be in two places at once and will eventually be forced to choose. Trying to rescue Davis from Sable’s clutches, he starts to keep more and more secrets from Erik. In doing so, Erik’s year of patience and understanding finally starts to wear thin. Unsure of Evan’s reluctance to introduce him to his friends and family, unsure of whether Evan believes in their relationship, Erik confronts him, forcing him to reveal more of himself, both through his art work and his real life. Evan however continues on his quest to save an uncaring Davis, somehow still hoping he can have both his best friend and his boyfriend.
All of this implodes when Evan finally sees the Chasers for what they really are. A group of gay followers who willing infect themselves with HIV in the belief that it is a “gift” and means they are in control of their own lives. As the day of Davis’ induction into this group draws near, all of Evan's lies and secrets with Erik reach boiling point and everything he has worked so hard to keep separate collides. As Evan and Erik race to New York to rescue Davis they are forced to look at their relationship and where it is going and Evan is forced finally to look at himself and examine why he has kept so much hidden from everyone around him.
This is a beautifully written book that feels incredibly honest. At times confronting, particularly when the story moves to New York, it is also sweet and so very romantic. While it features numerous gay characters, it is not a coming-out story but rather a dealing with life story. What happens when you reveal to the people around you who you are, but you can’t work out for yourself who that person is supposed to really be? The art that Evan creates throughout the book is hugely symbolic of his life, not just in his mimicry of famous painters as a means to hide who he truly is, but also in the objects he chooses to paint. Forced to examine why he is doing this and the notion that he isn’t being true to himself, Evan gives up his talent believing instead that he is a follower and a fake, the very things he doesn’t want to be. But when he sees the horrible path that Davis has chosen, as well as the lengths Erik goes and has gone to help him, he gradually begins to grow. Finally revealing all of himself to both Erik and his family, Evan starts to let go of his fears and insecurities. The ending, in particular is very beautiful and moving and while some might think a little open-ended in regards to Evan’s decision on whether to move to San Diego, the description of his final piece of art, where he finally paints from within, I believe that provides the answer. An incredible book that looks at what it means to be honest with yourself and those around you.
A Common Loss by Kirsten Tranter
Read by Natalie February 2012
Natalie recommends as a book that had great potential, but didn’t quite meet my expectations
I really wanted to like this book because I thought the premise was really interesting and had a lot of potential. I have previously read and reviewed Kirsten’s first book The Legacy, finishing it with very mixed feelings and it’s safe to say I finished this one feeling the exact same way.
Elliot, Brian, Cameron, Tallis and Dylan have been friends since college. Different in personality, background, politics and everything else, they somehow work as a group, a bond that was made closer after a shared car accident when they were students. Since graduating college they have met once a year in Las Vegas, coming from all over the world in their annual pilgrimage to reconnect with one another. Only this year there will be four of them, Dylan having been tragically killed in a car accident several months prior. While somewhat ambivalent over whether they should continue their tradition without him, particularly in light of Brian and Cameron’s falling out and the obvious distance that seems to be growing between the rest of them, they agree to meet up, if only to honour the memory of their dead friend. However, upon arrival in Vegas, something entirely unexpected awaits them when they each receive a mysterious package. Contained in each of their envelopes is evidence of their deepest, darkest secret, something they have told no one else except Dylan. The former leader, mediator and go-to man of their group, Dylan was the one person each of them relied on, the one person they thought they could trust to help them out when things got really bad, the one person who knew all of their secrets. Only now, Dylan seems to be sending them messages from beyond the grave and someone holds the key to exposing all of their past transgressions. From a crime, a cover-up, a fraud and an affair, the remaining four wonder not only who is behind it all and what it will take to silence them, but also whether they ever really knew their friend after all? As they finally meet the mysterious sender, they learn that Dylan was adopted and his half-brother Colin who is living in Vegas has not only been privy to all of their secrets, but is now using them to extort money and connections in a bid to get out of Vegas. Dylan had been meeting up with Colin for years and following his death, Colin has acquired the evidence that Dylan kept on everyone. Friendships are tested as Elliot, Brian, Cameron and Tallis argue over how to handle Colin’s blackmail and new feelings surface as each of them learns the other’s secrets and discovers that all of them have something to hide.
The storyline was such a great idea and although I do find I have to take a minute to get used to Kirsten’s writing style (not entirely sure why), once the group hit Vegas and received their packages I was intrigued, turning the pages in a bid to find out what was going on. Sadly, I was a little disappointed as the reason behind it all seemed very anti-climactic. Although they do discover that their so-called friend was actually a bit of a manipulative bastard, the actual blackmail itself just felt a little weak. My other big problem was the story being told first POV from Elliot. Not only is he a complete wet blanket who tends to excuse himself from discussions on their friend Dylan and how to deal with Colin, preferring instead to go dancing with Brian’s girlfriend, I also felt it didn’t allow us to connect with the remaining three players who were also being blackmailed. There were clearly some interesting group dynamics going on and it would have been good to read about each of their feelings towards both Dylan and each other, particularly given the hostilities and secrets that were brought up. All in all, I found this to be a good book which unfortunately didn’t quite live up to my expectations.
This book was generously provided to me by Harper Collins, although this did not influence my review
The Fault in our Stars by John Green
Read by Natalie in January 2012
Natalie recommends as a moving look at life and death
First off let me just say that John Green is an amazing writer. Having recently read and loved Looking for Alaska, I was very keen to get my hands on his latest book The Fault in our Stars and it didn't disappoint. John has taken the ugly subject of cancer and made it funny, insightful, moving and memorable.
Hazel was diagnosed with stage IV thyroid cancer at 13, which by 14 had spread to her lungs and was deemed terminal. However a medical miracle has somehow kept her alive and although at 16 she remains tethered to an oxygen cylinder just so she can breathe, for now her terminal diagnosis has been delayed. What she doesn't know is how long she has got and as she spends her days reading and watching TV marathons with her mum, Hazel feels like she is just waiting to die. That is until Augustus Waters appears at her Cancer Support Group meeting and completely changes her life. Outgoing, charismatic and currently in remission, Augustus pulls Hazel from her funk and gives her back her life. Drawn to him and undeniably attracted to him, Hazel starts to live again, although still restrained, held back by the knowledge that he has a future and she does not. After witnessing their friend Isaac get dumped by his girlfriend on the eve of his eye surgery which will leave him blind and reading the messages left to Augustus’ ex-girlfriend after she died, Hazel doesn’t want to let him completely in. Feeling like a grenade just waiting to explode, she is trying to minimise the hurt that her inevitable death will cause and so keeps Augustus at arm’s length.
Augustus however, is determined and when Hazel shares her favourite book with him, An Imperial Affliction which tells the story of Anna, a young girl with cancer who dies mid-way through the story, leaving the reader in the dark as to what happened to everyone else, Augustus starts to work his magic. Tracking down the elusive author who Hazel has so far been unable to reach, Augustus finally makes contact and in doing so, scores them a sit down with the author should they ever find themselves in Amsterdam. While Hazel is ecstatic at finally getting a response from the author, she knows there is no chance of her ever being able to go, her family’s funds having been spent just keeping her alive. But then Augustus steps in again, using his saved “wish” granted to all kids with cancer to take her to Amsterdam. However the author turns out to be a complete arsehole, drowning in alcohol and his own misery and refusing to give Hazel answers to any of her questions, because of course his characters are not real. While this puts a dampener on their trip it does of course pave the way for Augustus and Hazel to finally get together. Realising that Augustus too can make choices and that just being friends with him is not going to limit the damage her death will cause, Hazel finally lets them in and finally allows herself to fall in love.
Of course the path of true love never runs smoothly and particularly so when cancer is involved. While Hazel thought she was sparing Augustus the emotional shrapnel, what she never expected was to find herself in love with the grenade, which is exactly what happens when Augustus’ cancer returns. Having kept from her the fact that his body “lit up like a Christmas tree” on his last PET scan, Augustus worries that he has conned Hazel into falling in love with a healthy guy. But Hazel isn’t angry with him because she knows that the damage was always there, that they were always going to hurt and despite them talking about new treatment options and possibilities, they both know that time is now running out for them.
The last few chapters are heartbreakingly sad as the once effervescent Augustus is slowly pulled from the world. Once admitting to fearing oblivion, to leaving this world without having left his mark, Augustus desperately wants to have meant something. Promising to write her the sequel to her book with the answers she needs, he unfortunately runs out of time. Faced with his funeral and all the false grief from people who never really knew him, Hazel starts to imagine her own death and the impact this will have on her parents. Demanding they have a life when she is gone, she also learns of the existence of some final pages Augustus wrote. Believing them to be his sequel, she goes to great lengths to track them down. Finally locating them Hazel discovers Augustus' final words and both she and the reader learn that he did leave his mark in the world, he left it with her.
This is an incredibly moving and beautiful book. At times it had me laughing out loud and at other times, crying. It is raw and doesn’t shy away from the ugly nature of cancer and the effect this has on its victims. But it’s also a look at first love, at life and what it means to be alive. While some might think real teenagers don’t speak the way Hazel and Augustus do, I think it’s safe to say they aren’t real teenagers. Faced with your impending death and the knowledge that it is coming far too soon and there is nothing you can do about it would probably change all of us.
The Fault in Our Stars has just been optioned by Fox 2000 and Entertainment Weekly is already imagining a cast which could star Shailene Woodley (The Descendents), Hailee Steinfeld (Secret Life) or even Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine) as Hazel. As Augustus, Logan Lerman (Percy Jackson fame), Freddie Highmore or Joel Courtney have been suggested.
The Descendants by Kaui Hart Hemmings
Read by Tracy in January 2012
Tracy recommends as an emotional look at life, family and love
The Descendants is Kaui Hart Hemmings first book and has also been made into a hugely successful film (starring the fantastic George Clooney) that is currently scooping the awards in 2012 and to be honest I wouldn't have picked up the book if it hadn't been for the film.
Matt King (Clooney in the film adaptation) is the descendant of Hawaiian royalty and with his extended family are one of the largest landowners in the area. On the outside he has a happy family life, gorgeous outgoing and gregarious wife (Joanie), two beautiful daughters (Alex and Scottie) and a career as an attorney, however, all is not well in paradise. Alex has issues with drugs and has been sent to a boarding school; Scottie is still at home but starting to get out of control. The tragedy that brings the family together is a horrific boating accident which sees Joanie in a vegetative coma. Her condition worsens and he starts to gather his family and friends to say their goodbyes. His daughter delivers the blow that his wife had been having an affair and as he tracks down Joanie's lover, the family works through their issues and he starts to accept that he had become a shadow in their lives. On the periphery of the story is the desire of the remaining descendants to sell their land for redevelopment and luckily saner heads intervene and all is not lost. This is a sad and poignant look at how families can start to drift apart and forget the reasons they are together in the first place. I was drawn into Matt's thoughts on how he had not seen things slip away, he loved to come home and have a life that was quiet and simple, not realising the other members in his family felt differently. Hemmings also kept the storyline from running into the expected schmaltz by introducing the fiery and wonderful character of Sid and the horrible slimy character of Brian, who I wanted to slap especially as you know deep down he possibly only continued with their affair as she was able to possibly control the sale of the family lands to his own family. In addition the storyline gave us a variety of wonderfully eccentric various family members. For me the story was particularly moving as my mother also passed away after being removed from support and care and it was interesting to read how everybody deals with the issues, grief and saying goodbye. It is a very difficult subject to broach and even to write.
I did laugh out loud when Scottie and Matt are walking down the hospital corridor and she is wearing a t-shirt that says "Mrs Clooney", how perfect was the casting for that part. At the end of the book as the family are coming to grips with Joanie's death there are several comments about the Oscars ceremony which is also apt at this time of year with the Oscars due soon and the nominations that the Descendants has garnered.
Looking for Alaska by John Green
Read by Natalie in January 2012
Natalie recommends for all fans of Holden Caufield and if you don't know who that is, then you should find out!
Miles is tired of his safe life, so inspired by the last words of the dying poet Francois Rabelais he decides to chuck it all in and head to the exclusive boarding school his father once attended, in search of the Great Perhaps. Arriving at Culver Creek, Miles is immediately christened Pudge by his roommate Chip (aka The Colonel) and introduced to all the wonders that can be found at The Creek which may help Miles discover his Great Perhaps. Not least of which is the beautiful, sexy, intelligent, gorgeous and completely screwed up Alaska Young. When Miles meets Alaska, he is instantly obsessed and although she has a boyfriend, Miles starts to ask himself how he can make Alaska love him. After a prank on Miles during his first weekend at the school is taken further than The Colonel and his friends expected, they immediately plan their retaliation and in doing so, Miles learns the fine art of pranking and the golden rule behind it – don’t rat if you get caught, The book is told in two parts, separated by a death that affects them all.
In Before, Miles settles into school life, tries to work out how to make Alaska love him and discovers his first real friendship with The Colonel. He also takes up smoking and drinking, gets his first blowjob and is introduced to the different forms of religion and the questions they ask by his favourite teacher Dr Hyde. He also tries to learn more about the enigmatic Alaska, who is flirty, withdrawn, fun and extremely moody. Despite having a boyfriend, there are times when she acts otherwise towards Miles and while he struggles to work out exactly what he means to her, he also wants to answer her life question How do we get out of this labyrinth?. Alaska on the other hand, remains committed to her boyfriend Jake and instead makes it her mission to find Miles a girlfriend. As Miles and his group of friends (The Colonel, Alaska, Lara and Takumi) organise their retaliatory prank, carried out in three stages and which promises to be the perfect come back, they also discuss the best and worst days of their lives so far, learning more about each other in the process.
In After, nothing is ever the same for them again. As Miles finds himself struggling to work out why Alaska made the promises she did and whether she really felt anything for him at all, The Colonel is determined to find out what really happened to her. Was it an accident or suicide? Takumi and Lara are both cast aside by their friends, partly due to the guilt felt by Miles and The Colonel over their role in Alaska’s final moments and partly because of Miles’ selfish belief that he was the only one who truly loved Alaska. Mourning her death, he is in denial at the idea that any of his other friends or even her boyfriend truly loved or knew her, but as The Colonel pushes with his investigation, Miles slowly starts to realise that he didn’t really know her either. Angry at Alaska for leaving him and angry at himself for his role in it, Miles and the others are desperate to remember Alaska. Planning a final prank, which was previously organised by Alaska and was to be saved for their final year, Miles comes to the realisation that he can forgive Alaska, just as he knows she forgives him. Pulling off the best prank of all time and ending their school year, both Miles and The Colonel learn they weren’t the only ones who let Alaska down and while no one will ever really know what happened to her that night, thanks to their prank she will never truly be forgotten. And finally Miles finds his answer to Alaska’s question.
This is a fantastically written coming of age story that is a must read for anyone who is a fan of the brilliant book The Catcher in the Rye. Narrated to us by Miles, as the reader you are both drawn into their (seriously fun) life at boarding school and Miles’ quest to better understand the mysterious Alaska Young. Posing numerous life questions, more than anything this book examines how one life can impact another’s and how we are all searching for something, for our own Great Perhaps. A really great read, I will definitely be picking up more of John’s books.
The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes
Read by Tracy in January 2012
Tracy recommends as beautiful look at memories
Okay I have to admit I wasn’t really looking forward to reading this book, there have been so many glowing comments and reviews and of course it did win the 2011 Booker Prize against some very stiff competition. There haven’t been many books I have read that have flowed, the language interesting but perfectly written to capture the views and feelings of someone’s mind whilst conveying their deepest thoughts. As we age, we also are under pressure to buckle under and fall in with society’s strict rules which can suffocate our memories, make them plain and unimaginative without you cringing. However, in The Sense of an Ending had me gripped and I fell in love with Julian Barnes style of writing, he didn’t become bogged down in details, but has a light touch that is almost dashing. I have not read any of Julian Barnes’ previous works, and The Sense of an Ending is his 14th work.
The Sense of an Ending discusses how memory fades and reworks itself over time and whether decisions we make earlier become missed opportunities as we age. The hero? Of the book is Tony Webster, he has lived his life as dictated by society, amiably married, child, amiably divorced, works voluntarily to help others less fortunate and someone who doesn’t want to become a burden. However, into this ordered life comes a letter – a bequest from the mother of a university girlfriend. This letter brings back the past and he is soon focused on what happened to Veronica and their relationship which was always a large unresolved part of his life.
As Tony tries to piece together the puzzle surrounding the bequest and subsequent diary that has been left, it opens his past and his past friendships, particularly with the brainy idealistic boy called Adrian Finn. Tony and Adrian became friends at school where Adrian slotted into their group in a cool way soon becoming the one they aspired to follow, but didn’t. Of course the tragedy that starts a sequence of events continually spiral into unanswered questions. There were some personal similarities with Tony, I too wasn’t interested in my schooldays, and don’t feel any nostalgia for them (pg 4), I have never kept in touch with anybody and never felt inclined too. However, as Tony’s life progressed he buckled under the pressure of the times where it was the human and filial duty to study, pass exams, use those qualifications to find a job and then put together a way of life unthreateningly fuller than that of our parents, who would approve, while privately comparing it to their own earlier lives, which had been simpler and therefore superior (pg 8). This is a sad indictment of the times, which in some ways have not necessarily changed. For me one of the most beautifully crafted sentences was the parallels of life and literature - the great fear is that life wouldn’t turn out to be like literature which is all about love, sex, morality, friendship, happiness, suffering, betrayal, adultery, good and evil, heroes and villains, guilt and innocence, ambition, power, justice, revolution, war, fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, the individual against society, success and failure, murder, suicide, death, God (pg 15), although life is focused on those parts, for most people they are not all felt in the space of a novel. As Tony continues to reflect his high school friendships, he realised that he had lost touch and as it so often happens you only get together to commemorate something annually but soon life gets in the way and soon we find ourselves with nothing in common and not enough to hold together a friendship (pg 54). For me I loved the way that Julian described Tony’s veracity and his perseverance to get an answer, his description of the letter writing campaign with the insurance company regarding a lime tree, fantastically descriptive (pg 89). Barnes also writes in the current time, his descriptions of London, from the wobbly bridge to the tube stations were realistic and even today the wobbly bridge linking St Pauls to the Tate Modern is still slightly wobbly, but is very connected between the two riverbanks and draws you across the river with magnificent vistas (pg 54) which I could visualise. The ending of the story is sad, but as Tony has convinced himself that there was a child between Adrian and Veronica (pg 139) and the child had become psychologically damaged because of the letter he had sent in his frustration at hearing of Veronica and Adrian becoming a couple he is faced with the remainder of his life being studded with grief and a desire to have changed the past. Of course when the truth is unravelled for him (pg 148) he doesn’t seem too shocked, in fact is probably more at peace with the outcome.
OurBookClub have provided some Book Club Discussion Questions to be your book club discussions started.
Torn by Cat Clarke
Read by Natalie in January 2012
Natalie recommends as compelling and unexpected
I have previously read and loved Cat's first novel Entangled and so was looking forward to her second novel which came with the blurb Four girls, one dead body. A whole lot of guilt. Told by Alice King, this is the story of an all girl's school trip to the Scottish wilderness which goes horribly wrong and comes back minus one student. Alice was not looking forward to the trip, but she certainly wasn't expecting the nightmare that it became. Sharing a cabin with her best friend Cass, they are also forced to room with Polly, the social outcast, Rae the moody emo-girl and Tara, the popular queen of mean. Beautiful, powerful and cruel, Tara loves nothing more than putting people down or using them to get herself ahead. So when a caving mishap means Tara makes fun of Polly, Cass decides it's time someone taught her a lesson. Eagerly aided by Polly and reluctantly helped by Alice and Rae, Cass plans a prank that will definitely take Tara down a peg or two. However when a series of events means the prank goes horribly wrong, the girls are left with one dead body and a secret they must all keep in order to survive. As Alice struggles to cope with daily life, visited by visions of a dead Tara asking her for help, she is also forced to confront the pain of her own mother's death and the blossoming relationship she starts to have with Tara's brother Jack. As Jack struggles to cope with the death of his sister and how it could have happened, Alice fights her attraction to the brother of a girl whose death she was partly responsible for. Plagued by guilt and increasingly haunted by visions of Tara, Alice is torn by what she should do. Tell Jack, tell her father, go to the police or keep the secret. Rae's subsequent suicide, Polly's increased social standing brought on by her calculated grieving for the girl who made her life hell, her detoriating friendship with Cass and her evolving feelings for Jack finally force Alice to take action and admit her role in Tara's death and the secret they kept. There were times when I really felt sorry for Alice. Yes she took part in the prank, but it wasn't her idea and she certainly didn't agree with where it was going. Yes she seemed to feel incredibly guilty and had already been through the pain of her mother's death from cancer. But at the same time, she kept so many secrets from people, secrets she should have told from the start which would have changed everything. Her involvment with Jack, a boy mourning the unexplained death of his sister was very sweet and genuine, despite what he thought when the truth was revealed, but the history of Alice and Tara's friendship and the possibility that Alice created the monster they all destroyed made it a little hard for you to keep feeling sorry for her in the end. Although she eventually owned up to her role in the crime, it took her a long time to get there and the people I ended up feeling sorry for were her father and Jack, both of whom when through hell and walked out scarred more than they should have been.
I will say, this book was nothing like what I thought it would be. Completely different to Entangled, it is nonetheless a compelling look at bullying and peer pressure and the destructive nature of keeping secrets. While it might be a little hard to believe these girls would really act the way they did when their prank went so horribly wrong, the portayal of their guilt and the different ways they each tried to deal with it were very credible. Although the ending does leave you wondering a little and the story itself was about both guilty secrets and falling in love, it was still a very compelling read that I knocked off in a day or two. A talented writer, I will certainly be reading her future books.
The Understudy by David Nicholls
Read by Tracy in January 2012
Tracy recommends as some light reading, but not as enjoyable as previous books
I am a huge fan of David Nicholls and his novels Starter for Ten and One Day which has recently been showing at the movies (starring Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess). Both these books have previously been Our Book Club book picks of the month. So it was with much excitement that I saw this book whilst recently browsing in Waterstones, London.
The Understudy follows Stephen C McQueen (yes the middle initial is important) and Josh Harper who are both at different ends of the show business scale. Josh is the world's 12th most sexy man, has money, fame and a beautiful life, whereas Stephen has not been able to create a career without resorting to playing dead people or a giant squirrel for children. He now plays Josh's understudy in a hit London play. Stephen is a long-suffering actor who is always on the brink of his big break which sees him plod through life always wondering what might have been. Stephen and Josh have an unusual friendship which eventually sees Stephen fall in love with Nora, Josh's long suffering wife which brings about some laughs as he tries to juggle both his friendship with Josh and his lust for Nora. The relationships between the two main characters draw paralells with Dexter and Emma in One Day and I just felt that both characters were relatively shallow and in the end the storyline was just too fairytale to be believable. However, it is a light reading book and perfect for those wanting to laze by the pool (I am back in Australia) or for those in the northern hemisphere to cozy up in front of the fire.
Check out David Nicholl's website for The Understudy.