Finding Friends in the Midst of Tyranny

 First, let us start with this.

 

 

The attack of the federal government on the citizens of Minnesota has made it impossible to concentrate on even the simplest of things. Taking out the garbage, cutting a tomato, brushing one's teeth -- all take an effort of steely will. Writing this summary of our book club discussion is no different. But as the lyric from The Minnesota Anthem (linked below) states:

 

We are the North Star blazing in the cold.  

We are the stories that the mountains told.  

From every tear we forge a flame.  

We call their names. We call their names.

Together we rise. 

Together we cry.

 

We gathered at Steve's to discuss Backman's book, but it was clear from the start that we would not be able to separate our analysis of the book from what we were experiencing in our community. When we met on January 19, circumstances were already dire. Masked gunmen were going door to door, without warrants, taking people into custody for the crime of not being white. We had no inkling of how much worse it would get. We shared with each other stories of what we knew personally, who we had talked to who seemed unaware, news coverage being sparse, and shifts in what we were seeing on social media, comments like "Usually, I'm not political, but..." and a sudden presence on LinkedIn, heretofore focused on business connections, of concern about federal over-reach.

 

So, apologies to Backman for what will be a less-than in-depth analysis of his book.

 

Getting Back to the Book

Title:  My Friends

Author: Fredrik Backman 

 

First, a brief description from the publisher:

 

"Most people don’t even notice them—three tiny figures sitting at the end of a long pier in the corner of one of the most famous paintings in the world. Most people think it’s just a depiction of the sea. But Louisa, an aspiring artist herself, knows otherwise, and she is determined to find out the story of these three enigmatic figures.

"Twenty-five years earlier, in a distant seaside town, a group of teenagers find refuge from their bruising home lives by spending long summer days on an abandoned pier, telling silly jokes, sharing secrets, and committing small acts of rebellion. These lost souls find in each other a reason to get up each morning, a reason to dream, a reason to love. 

 

"Out of that summer emerges a transcendent work of art, a painting that will unexpectedly be placed into eighteen-year-old Louisa’s care. She embarks on a surprise-filled cross-country journey to learn how the painting came to be and to decide what to do with it. The closer she gets to the painting’s birthplace, the more nervous she becomes about what she’ll find. Louisa is proof that happy endings don’t always take the form we expect in this stunning testament to the transformative, timeless power of friendship and art." 

 

Insights and Opinions

+ Steve brought us back to the book, which he characterized as a paean to art and to the poet, quoting this line from the text: "Art has the power to make you care about strangers."

 

+ Backman's main characters are rich and many-layered. "I cared about each of these people. Each of them is endearing in their own, odd way." Each of them is a misfit, which is a common theme in Backman's writing. Shirley pointed out, however, that the characterizations of "rich people" were thin caricatures, and Liz agreed, providing Backman some leeway here as these were Louisa's opinions.

 

+ The book cycles back and forth between the past and the present. The friendship formed by this group of thirteen-year-olds is unbreakable and relatable. Lois said: "Everybody feels odd at 13 and it's hard to find friends. If you connect with someone, that connection becomes really crucial to who you become."

 

+ Young Louisa, whose life has been a hard one, is expert at comic/sad awareness. On the train watching Ted try to laugh and fail, she thinks "When you get old, gravity pulls the corners of your mouth down. The road to a smile grows longer."

 

+ Backman's young characters survive their desperate lives because they have faith in each other. He writes "The world is full of miracles, but none greater than how far a young person can be carried by someone else's belief in them."

 

+ Linda pointed out the importance of the book's dedication. "To anyone who is young and wants to create something. Do it." What follows this dedication is a quote from Anton Ego: "The world is often unkind to new talent, new creations. The new needs friends." Backman has stated that these two thoughts are the reason for this book. 

 

+ Linda was stopped along the way by "some terrible metaphors," such as "Ted blushes so hard that you could have cooked waffles in his wrinkles." Liz agreed, saying "he's great with metaphors, but he just uses too many. Most of them are hilarious." As Chris noted, even the best writers need a good editor.

 

+ A few of us felt the ending was a bit too neat. Per Margy: "To me, it felt like the ending had been changed to give a happy resolution to these kids. I thought it was preposterous, but heart-warming." 

 

+ Overall, our group gave a hearty thumbs up to this novel and feel like it's a worthy addition to the Backman canon. 

 

Our Next Digression

Unable to continue having a meaningful conversation about this book, we were each asked to answer this question: Between your volunteer work and activism, how are you taking care of yourself during this difficult time? Our answers:

 

Jocey: "Reading like crazy. Lying on the couch reading reading reading. Novels. And watching movies. Escapism. 

 

Shirley: Listening to Mexican music, especially Alejandro Fernandez.

 

Steve: Hanging out with friends, exercising a lot, Nordic skiing, news blackouts.

 

Linda: Reading for distraction and exercising. I decided yesterday to stop watching CNN and the evening news. My phone is in the other room so I'm not constantly checking the alerts.

 

Lois: Losing myself in book after book. I almost don't judge them. I just go down my stack.

 

Liz: Painting tiny paintings and writing. Trying for chunks of news blackouts, but failing. 

 

Chris: I wish I were doing better. I travel, spend time with friends, don't look at the phone right away in the morning. No news until night. 

 

Margy: The solace of nature. It's just wonderful to be out here (in California). I go out first thing in the morning in my sandals and look at the mountains, and bike riding.

 

What We Will Read Next

Our book club selection for February is:

 

Title: Buckeye

Author: Patrick Ryan

Location: TBD 

 

The Minnesota Anthem 

 

 

 

 

A Wedding Where Nothing Is As It Seems

Title: Wedding People

Author: Alison Espach 

 

First, a brief summary from the publisher:

 

"It’s a beautiful day in Newport, Rhode Island, when Phoebe Stone arrives at the grand Cornwall Inn wearing a green dress and gold heels, not a bag in sight, alone. She’s immediately mistaken by everyone in the lobby for one of the wedding people, but she’s actually the only guest at the Cornwall who isn’t here for the big event. Phoebe is here because she’s dreamed of coming for years―she hoped to shuck oysters and take sunset sails with her husband, only now she’s here without him, at rock bottom, and determined to have one last decadent splurge on herself.

 

Meanwhile, the bride has accounted for every detail and every possible disaster the weekend might yield except for, well, Phoebe and Phoebe's plan―which makes it that much more surprising when the two women can’t stop confiding in each other." 

 

Insights and Opinions

This post should have been written much closer to the actual event in November when I still had my wits about me. But the holidays and current events intruded and so here we are. Better late than not at all.

 

A small group for this session, we gathered in the deluxe party room at Chris's new digs downtown. Chris graciously provided thematic wedding bites and champagne to usher in the conversation. After an aborted attempt to reach the meeting, Lois joined us late in the conversation by phone.

 

Please note: Spoilers abound in what follows, so if you haven't read the book yet, stop here and come back later.

 

+ As is our wont, we began with immediate disagreement. Was the plot entirely predictable? Chris thinks yes. Steve, on the other hand, was surprised at every step. Is this a romance novel? Margy thinks "sort of," but in the best sense. Liz then asked "what makes a romance novel? If there's romance, does that make it a romance novel?" Lois admitted to thinking "Oh, why do we have to read this. This isn't literature" and then kept reading and changed her mind entirely. Ultimately, we decided that this is a deeply thoughtful book masquerading as a light read. 

 

+ With every predictable beach-read trope, just as the reader is lulled into a false sense of assurance as to what comes next, Espach delivers a surprise. Phoebe, whose life is falling apart, is splurging with an unplanned getaway to her dream locale, unaware that everyone else is there for an over-the-top wedding. Lulled into a false sense of security, we readers assume hilarity will ensue. But then she meets and inadvertently injures the bride in an elevator and we find out her plan is to commit suicide there in the hotel. Surprise number one. The bride, horrified that a suicide will ruin her dream wedding, can't leave Phoebe alone, setting off the most unlikely of relationships. Surprise number two of many more to come.

 

+ Steve was taken by the way, as readers, we are led to believe we know a character, and then the author changes the game. "She introduces us to a one-dimensional person, and then flips the card. We meet the bride as a mindless twit and Phoebe as the intellectual, and then we see Phoebe as shallow. They move back and forth. How many times does she introduce a character who seems flat and now, suddenly, there's depth?"

 

+ Because everything in Phoebe's life has gone south and she is among strangers, she is, for the first time, able to be a truth-teller. Per Jocey: "Because of that, she grew and finally developed authentic relationships. Since reading this, I've thought of this deeply. If you weren't censoring yourself, how would you change?" Phoebe had always wanted to become more, and here, finally, she is able to become more. Steve, also an adjunct faculty member, related to Phoebe's professional life and found the book to be great academic satire. "This is a woman coming into her own under male domination. Ironically, she becomes that professor once she steps out of the ivory tower. Now she's in a place where people say 'Oh, you're the professor,' and they stop and listen." As Jocey stated, "Phoebe had started to feel stupid around her husband and friends. But in this new environment, everyone assumes she is brilliant."

 

+ Liz was struck by the power of the writing, as witnessed by simple, throw-away sentences, such as "her university is made of carpet," six words that say so much more and open a window into a stultifying academic life. Two of Espach's characters are named only High Bun and Neck Pillow for nearly half the book -- Phoebe's view of two of the wedding guests as she stands in line behind them waiting to check in at the hotel front desk.

 

+ Margy appreciated the less than tidy ending and loved the sub-plot about how apt a position as "winter keeper" at a 19th century mansion is for a 19th-century literature scholar.

 

+ Steve summed it all up for us: "This is a novel about surfaces and depth. Everything is a facade and a veneer and then you go deeper. Like Pauline (the front desk person), who is so attentive and warm until it's time for the next wedding and she flips the switch." 

 

How We Read This Book

Does one's experience of a book vary depending on how one reads it? I think yes, but that's a topic for a future post. For this read, our group was all over the map.

• Chris read it on her iPad in two sittings. 
• Margy read it in hardbound, starting slowly and then finishing in a marathon, which "I don't recommend because this is a book to savor." 
• Steve read about two-thirds of the book as an e-book, then finished it by listening on Audible, then went back and listened to the beginning. 
• Jocey read it on Kindle, twice. 
• Liz read a hard copy. 

Our Next Read

For January,  we will read My Friends by Fredrik Backman. Jocey will host.

Jocey, Chris and Liz enjoying the wedding spread.

 

 

Liz having some sort of spell.

 

 

 

 

A Wilderness Log and a Life in Letters

 So Much to Discuss, So Little Time

For this month's discussion, we chose to read two books -- one by an author who is one of us and missed the meeting at which we chose to read his book, and the other a current book club favorite much touted by the likes of writer Ann Patchett and The Washington Post. Why we thought we could "do right" by two books in one short session is a mystery, but we gave it a go. 

 

 

Title: Canoeing the Boundary Waters Wilderness

Author: Stephen Wilbers

 

Over his many years of canoe trips through the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, Stephen Wilbers kept a log. A book in layers, this is the result. Through notes in stolen moments, he recorded miles paddled, fish caught, swims taken, moose sighted, favored campsites revisited, and meals prepared and eaten. But upon this layer of facts, he places the stillness and solitude of the deep woods, the ethereal call of the loon, and the vast eternity of an ocean of stars in the night sky. Binding it all together are the warp and weft of family love, as we watch son Eddy grow from the age of four to 22 and Wilbers' father, still part of the journey, slow down as he ages. As he writes, Wilbers calls upon some of the greatest nature writers of our time to add their own voices to the poetry of this magical place.

 

Insights and Opinions

+ As we started, Wilbers admitted to a feeling of mild horror when he found out what we'd be reading and discussing. (Normally, I'd just refer to him as Steve, but since this is his book, he will remain Wilbers during this discussion). The book was published in 2012 and he had to fish it out of the bottom shelf and reread it before we met. In so doing, he found the million things he would change about it if he were writing it today. Too bad, though. That's not how these things work.

 

+ Throughout the book, which is subtitled A Sawbill Log, Wilbers adds passages from other writers who've written about the Boundary Waters: Paul Gruchow, Doug Wood, Greg Breining, Ernest Oberholtzer and Sigurd Olson. These quotes add depth, details, and a bit of poetry to the text, and serve to expose us to writers we may like to read ourselves. "I thought the ongoing conversation you were having with other writers was beautiful. As you brought them in, it seemed like they were old friends." Chris agreed, saying "It feels like you know these writers even though you don't." Turns out, though, some of them actually are Wilbers' friends.

 

+ While all of us appreciated the words of other writers, some of us (Linda and Liz) admitted to skipping over a few of them in later pages by which time we had become thoroughly invested in Wilbers' voice and wanted to hear more from him. Margy disagreed. "It's a journal of your trips and those writers informed your experience, so they have an important place here."

 

+ Two important themes stood out for Liz. The first is the relationship between grandfather, father and son. Through this simple log, we watch three generations at three separate stages of life bond and grow together, learn from each other, and share frustration and joy, building traditions and indelible memories. The second theme is the importance of reading. When young Eddy is four, being read a bedtime story is part of his nightly routine. So, that's what Wilbers' does. But soon, grandpa who is in the next tent, asks if he can read louder so he can hear, too. This then becomes the new norm, even as the number of people on each trip grows. Soon, Wilbers is out at the fire, reading to everyone before bed, a tradition all of them count on.

 

+ If you've never canoed in the Boundary Waters, you should do it. Barring that, reading Canoeing the Boundary Waters Wilderness is the next best thing. 

 

 

 

Title: The Correspondent

Author:  Virginia Evans

 

First, a brief description from the publisher: "Sybil Van Antwerp has throughout her life used letters to make sense of the world and her place in it. Most mornings, around half past ten, Sybil sits down to write letters -- to her brother, to her best friend, to the president of the university who will not allow her to audit a class she desperately wants to take, to Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry to tell them what she thinks of their latest books, and to one person to whom she writes often yet never sends the letter.

"Sybil expects her world to go on as it always has—a mother, grandmother, wife, divorcee, distinguished lawyer, she has lived a very full life. But when letters from someone in her past force her to examine one of the most painful periods of her life, she realizes that the letter she has been writing over the years needs to be read and that she cannot move forward until she finds it in her heart to offer forgiveness."

Insights and Opinions

+ We started discussion of The Correspondent by being annoyed with Audible's categorization of this title as "Best of epistolary, women's fiction, tear-jerking." Is it "women's fiction" because it's about a woman? Because it's written by a woman? Is it "tear-jerking" because it touches on emotional topics? Good lord. But then one of our number pointed out that roughly 85% of fiction these days is read by women. So, then we decided that ALL fiction is women's fiction and should just be categorized as fiction.

+ Linda read the first half of the book and then listened to the second half on Audible. She noted that the actress reading the part of Sybil in the Audible version presented her as a nastier version than appears on the page. This brings to mind Kurt Vonnegut's statement that literature is the only art in which the audience plays the score. The writer puts the words on the paper but the reader brings them to life. Audible users be warned. You may have a different reaction to the work depending on whether you read it quietly in your chair or someone delivers their interpretation to you rather than your own.

+ The story is told entirely in letters, which is an interesting method. Doing so allows time to elapse without the reader experiencing everything that's happened in the interim. To Shirley, this was an extremely difficult feat on the author's part. In some ways, the story is told and retold, and Evans handles it deftly. Liz felt this letter-writing was an important window into the central character -- a way inside. Per Chris: "Through the letters, you meet the characters in ways you don't normally. You feel like you are sitting right there with her while she writes."

+ Sybil is a fascinating character who could definitely come off as strident and unpleasant if we weren't inside her head. Her habits with young Harry, a teenager who's possibly autistic, can seem bossy, yet she is clearly an experienced mentor who is unafraid to call it the way she sees it.

+ As Sybil begins to receive poison pen letters from someone whose life she's clearly touched in a hard way, she begins to show us why the letters are no surprise. "The fact that she was in her own grief and turned her meanness onto someone else was both surprising and believable," Jocey said. This series of events makes clear how important it is not to make assumptions about what may be happening in someone else's life.

+ The resolution of the poison pen letters struck some as a bit too neat. Both Margy and Chris agreed that life doesn't resolve that neatly.

+ Linda expected more conflict between Sybil and her daughter about her projected move. Because she expresses her revulsion at being "put away" so early in the text, perhaps there should have been more to come on that specific topic.

+ Sybil's reasons for writing letters, with a pen and a piece of paper, make one stop and think. "Imagine the letters one has sent out into the world, the letters received back in turn, are like the pieces of a magnificent puzzle, or, a better metaphor, if dated, the links of a long chain, and even if those links are never put back together, which they will certainly never be, even if they remain for the rest of time dispersed across the earth like the fragile blown seeds of a dying dandelion, isn't there something wonderful in that, to think that a story of one's life is preserved in some way, that this very letter may one day mean something, even if it is a very small thing, to someone? 

Our Next Read

Earlier, we had decided to read The Bee Sting for our next meeting, but we've changed our minds. Instead, details for our November meeting are:

Title: The Wedding People, by Alison Espach

Location: Chris' new digs 

 

The author with original copy of Canoe Country by Frances Page Jaques.

A Boundary Waters tableau

Happy campers.

North woods classics: soon to be a novel?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trust: Tension Between Competing Narratives

Title: Trust

Author: Hernan Diaz

 

A Brief Summary from the Publisher

 

"Even through the roar and effervescence of the 1920s, everyone in New York has heard of Benjamin and Helen Rask. He is a legendary Wall Street tycoon; she is the daughter of eccentric aristocrats. Together, they have risen to the very top of a world of seemingly endless wealth—all as a decade of excess and speculation draws to an end. But at what cost have they acquired their immense fortune? This is the mystery at the center of Bonds, a successful 1937 novel that all of New York seems to have read. Yet there are other versions of this tale of privilege and deceit.

Hernan Diaz’s Trust elegantly puts these competing narratives into conversation with one another—and in tension with the perspective of one woman bent on disentangling fact from fiction. The result is a novel that spans over a century and becomes more exhilarating with each new revelation.
At once an immersive story and a brilliant literary puzzle, Trust engages the reader in a quest for the truth while confronting the deceptions that often live at the heart of personal relationships, the reality-warping force of capital, and the ease with which power can manipulate facts." 

 

The Initial Conversational Scrimmage

 

We started our session with a tour of our host Linda's new digs, admiring the view and trying to overcome our jealousy. Finally settled into our spots, we let the conversation take its natural course before digging in to the book. Topics during our Non-book-related Conversation Half Hour included the well-being of Shirley, who was unable to join us, the internet activity of young people, this blog and whether it should move to Substack, and cheerful things people have been reading that have lifted their spirits during a dark time. Warm cookies were involved. Finally, Linda threw down the Joanne Von Blon gauntlet, declaring "This is a book club," and after light resistance, we got down to business.

 

Alert: The Following Conversation is Made Up Entirely of Spoilers

 

If you have not yet read this book, stop reading now. Much of the pleasure inherent in reading this work lies in the surprises it holds. We would hate to be responsible for ruining anything for you, so just know you have been warned. 

 

Insights and Opinions

 

+  Trust opens with Bonds, a 124-page novel within a novel written by Harold Vanner. Vanner's work is an old-fashioned tale, with long descriptions of events and people and no dialogue. It's a style that's foreign to most modern fiction and takes a bit of patience. Here we meet financial wizard Benjamin Rask and his brilliant wife Helen, learning the story of their rise to incredible wealth and societal importance, Helen's slide into mental illness and eventual death, and Benjamin's subsequent fall from grace. It's a heartbreaking story of two mismatched people, committed to yet incapable of connecting to each other. 

 

+ The book is constructed of four parts, each of which disrupts what the reader thinks they've learned from the prior section. In section two, the fictional Benjamin and Helen Rask are revealed to be the real-life Andrew and Mildred Bevel by Andrew himself. We read Andrew's partial under-construction autobiography, filled with his notes and blanks to be filled in later. Through his writing, he is determined to undo what he believes to be the vicious lies about him in Vanner's thinly veiled portrait of the Bevels. What's most instructive is that his blanks and notes call for more description of what a brilliant financial mind he is and include dismissive, short calls for "something more here" about Mildred's life as his housekeeper and help meet.

 

+ In the third section, we meet Ida Partenza, the daughter of an Italian printer and anarchist, who comes to work as a typist for Andrew Bevel as he works on his autobiography. It is here that we start to piece together the reality of what has actually occurred. Ida's typing, under pressure from Bevel, transforms into the creation of original material as she is pressed into "filling in the little details" that require her to create facts out of whole cloth. Under pressure from Bevel, Ida creates his character on the page by stitching together ideas she gleans by reading the biographies of the titans of the time.

 

+ And finally, in the fourth section, Mildred is allowed to speak for herself. Taken as a whole, the novel is a puzzle box within a puzzle box and, ultimately, it's left to the reader to uncover the whole truth.

 

+ For our group, the book's structure posed a challenge. Several of us admitted to trying this book "awhile ago" and then setting it aside. For those readers, the first Vanner section was the stopper. They weren't drawn in. Those who stuck with it fully all agreed that the book is remarkable. Four of us have read it more than once and those who have all feel it's even better the second time around. One has to complete all sections and hear from Mildred before grasping that she is the financial genius and the sole reason for Andrew's success.

 

+ As Liz put it, "Reading the first section, I thought 'what is this?' It's kind of a tale. There's no dialogue. Then, in the second section, I thought 'oh, now I get it.' But then in the third section, I realized I didn't get it at all." Linda asked if any of us had guessed that Mildred was the financial genius rather than Andrew before all is revealed at the end, but most of us had not. 

 

+ Diaz's skill at allowing clues to intrude carefully is remarkable. Per Margy: "When you realize what he (Diaz) is doing, you realize how brilliant it is. "In section three, when Ida and Bevel are sharing a meal at the mansion, Bevel fondly relates his memories of Mildred summarizing for him over dinner the plot of the latest mystery she's read. But we know these are not his memories. They are Ida's memories of dinners with her father, shared with Bevel. Lois pointed out that the fact that he can so easily purloin someone else's story and claim it as his own opens a horrifying door into how little he knew or valued his wife. 

 

+ Vicky made a comparison between Bevel and Ida's anarchist father. Afraid to tell her father that's she's gone to work for a wealthy tycoon, she eventually confesses and then must sit through a long Marxist diatribe. Through this conversation, we see both men as equally hard-headed and stuck in their own positions.

 

+ Mildred's own words in the final section are ephemeral and a bit inscrutable. So much of the book is about her and yet she is not really there, until she has a chance to speak for herself. And when she does speak for herself, her sentences are mere moments and wisps. Hearing bells from her spot in a sanatorium turns into notes about short-selling folding back time and songs played in reverse. We don't understand. But we do find a bit about Andrew. "Finally had to tell Andrew about illness," she writes. "He seemed more concerned about his solitude than my absence. Still, he was a good companion." And, she tells us "Priest came with soggy offerings of comfort. God is the most uninteresting answer to the most interesting questions." Blanche noted that the novel is very womancentric, even though the primary woman is mostly missing from its pages. 

 

+ Reviews of Trust were not universally positive. Hillary Kelly pilloried it in the L.A. Times. To quote that review: "And in this house of blind spots, what is Diaz’s? He underestimates how many times we’ve seen this story before and how little it will surprise readers to discover that a woman is smarter and more complicated than men present her to be. We cannot keep locking madwomen in the attic just so we can free them to cheers and sighs of relief." Piffle, we say.

 

+ Overall, we agreed this is a brilliant book and a very worthwhile read. "This is the best book I've read in ten years," said Chris. 

 

Our Next Reads 

 

As you will recall, we had originally planned to read The Bee Sting for October. But we' decided to save that for a future meeting. For October, we will be reading two works:

 

The Correspondent, by Virginia Evans

 

Canoeing the Boundary Waters Wilderness, by Stephen Wilbers

 

Jocey will host our next session. 

 

Hanging out by the fireplace in Linda's new home.

 

 

 

 

 

Ocean Vuong Finds the Gladness on the Fringes of Society

Title: The Emperor of Gladness

Author: Ocean Vuong

First, a brief synopsis from the publisher:

"One late summer evening in the post-industrial town of East Gladness, Connecticut, nineteen-year-old Hai stands on the edge of a bridge in pelting rain, ready to jump, when he hears someone shout across the river. The voice belongs to Grazina, an elderly widow succumbing to dementia, who convinces him to take another path. Bereft and out of options, he quickly becomes her caretaker. Over the course of the year, the unlikely pair develops a life-altering bond, one built on empathy, spiritual reckoning, and heartbreak, with the power to transform Hai’s relationship to himself, his family, and a community on the brink.

Following the cycles of history, memory, and time, The Emperor of Gladness shows the profound ways in which love, labor, and loneliness form the bedrock of American life. At its heart is a brave epic about what it means to exist on the fringes of society and to reckon with the wounds that haunt our collective soul. Hallmarks of Ocean Vuong’s writing -- formal innovation, syntactic dexterity, and the ability to twin grit with grace through tenderness -- are on full display in this story of loss, hope, and how far we would go to possess one of life’s most fleeting mercies: a second chance."

An Authentic Minnesota Start to Our Meeting 

Although we have strict book club rules -- 20 minutes for general chitchat before digging in, mild punishment for anyone starting the discussion with either "I loved this book" or "I hated this book" -- sometimes we are more dithery (is that a word?). So, first we had to mill around in the driveway, greeting each other, hugging, asking questions about Blanche's peonies, looking at the yard. Then, we made it to the front steps where we hung out for a bit for no particular reason. Next, into the house but just inside the door for more random motion. Then into the kitchen for beverages and snacks while discussing the weather, the pottery, each other, and who was going to sit in which chair. 

 

Finally, we made it into the living room, but apparently at this point, everyone decided that the 20 minutes for chitchat was just starting. Topics covered included what to stream on TV and why isn't there anything good to watch that's not Hallmark or super violent or derivative, followed by a brief foray into the definition of objectivism and what was Ayn Rand's deal, anyway? Next was a philosophical discussion about the ethics of offering authors money to allow their books to be used for AI training. And then we had to pillory David Brooks for awhile for complaining in his recent New York Times editorial that there are no good novels anymore after which we watched an Anne Patchett video in which she gives him a good pasting.

 

Finally, somebody was able to get us on track, although only slightly.

 

Insights and Opinions 

+ The opening chapter of The Emperor of Gladness is both poetic and grim. Vuong introduces us to "wide stretches of thumb-sized buds shooting lucent through April mud" and tells us about how "In spring the cherry blossoms foam across the country from every patch of green unclaimed by farms or strip malls." He tells us "Look how the birches, blackened all night by starlings, shatter when dawn's first sparks touch their beaks." He surrounds the reader with nature's beauty before introducing us to East Gladness, which he does by wielding a devastating, slashing prose. Witness: "Our lawns are overrun with ragweed and quack grass, one of them offering a row of red and pink tulips each spring, heads snared through the chain-link they lean on. The nearby porch overflows with rideable plastic toys, a wagon, tricycles, a fire truck, their primary colors now faded to Easter hues. A milk crate with a flap of old tire nailed across its opening is a mailbox set on a rotted sideboard, Ramierz 47 written on the rubber in Wite-Out. Beside this is a tin bird feeder in the shape of Bill Clinton's head." This is the scene he sets for Hai, our protagonist, as he readies himself to jump off a bridge.

 

+ Lois noted that Vuong is writing about people who are on the very fringe of the fringe -- people who are barely hanging on and none of whom fit the definition of what would "make America great again." All of the characters, from the elderly Grazina who is losing herself to dementia, to Sony, Hai's autistic cousin, to Hai's fast-food-restaurant workmates, are barely hanging on. "They're all hurting, but they may not be aware that they aren't making it, as they are all hanging on," she said. Vuong finds what's working for each of them and shows it to us.

 

+ Several of us confessed to starting the book and putting it down several times before picking it up again, perhaps overwhelmed by the unrelenting sadness. Per Margy: "It was definitely not Hollywood, and it was pretty gritty. I'd have to think hard between going back to this book."  And from Liz: "Is there nothing in a ruined town that isn't grim or depressing or requires the saddest possible metaphor?" We all agreed that the slaughterhouse section was more than any of us could handle and would have been better served by a more brief treatment. Briefly drawn, we would still have grasped the horror of it.

 

+ On the other hand, we all agreed that the quality of writing is very high. The characters are rich, the prose is lyrical, and we care very much about all of these people, which is, perhaps, why reading about their circumstances is so painful. The one exception, we felt, was Grazina's family, who seemed cartoon-like in their despicableness. Grazina, on the other hand, is richly drawn and, in many ways, the heart of the book. Through her as well as through Hai, we have the story of ancestry, immigration, and the failure of dreams. As Grazina is being hauled off to a nursing home by her son, she wonders where she is going and then realizes "She was heading to America after all. The truest version of it. The one where everyone pays to be here."

 

+ Linda felt there were many ways to interpret the book. "There were parts of it I loved and parts I was totally confused by. But the community that was formed in that kitchen, and the relationship between Hai and Sony, and the wonderful example of showing real autism -- these were great details that brought the whole thing to life." 

 

+ Surprisingly, there is a great deal of humor in this book. Vuong's careful eye finds the ludicrous in the painful, and the joy in sadness.  

 

+ What happens with Hai at the end is ambiguous. In fact, there is much ambiguity throughout. "The hardest thing in the world is to live only once" is the first line in the book. Vuong loops back to this theme at the very end, when he closes with "Soft, simple people, who live only once." None of us were entirely certain what he means. Linda felt Vuong's intention was not to write a happy ending. Both she and Blanche agreed the ambiguous ending was intentional. Linda said "This book is so much about memory. Grazina, at the end, asks 'if I'm still me if I don't remember who I am." Is this part of what Vuong means about living only once?

 

+ We also wondered, during the final pages, why the slaughtered pigs reappeared. Steve's theory is that Hai's mother had told him that his role in their deaths was all right, but he needed to pray for them. He hadn't prayed for them, so he was carrying that guilt." Steve admitted to loving books that keep him off balance, and this one fell into that category for him.

 

Our Next Read

There will be no meeting in August due to people's schedules. We will group up again in September at Linda's house. Our next selections are:

 

September meeting

Title: Trust

Author: Hernan Diaz

Host: Linda 

 

October meeting

Title: The Bee Sting

Author: Paul Murray

Host: TBD

 

Blanche and our photographer Margy

 

The brainiacs among us

Listening and note-taking happening

 

As I said, can we get back to the book now?

 

Laurie Frankel Questions What Makes a Family Family

Title: Family Family

Author: Laurie Frankel

 

First, a brief synopsis from the publisher:

"India Allwood grew up wanting to be an actor. Armed with a stack of index cards (for research/line memorization/make-shift confetti), she goes from awkward sixteen-year-old to Broadway ingenue to TV superhero.

Her new movie is a prestige picture about adoption, but its spin is the same old tired story of tragedy. India is an adoptive mom in real life, though. She wants everyone to know there’s more to her family than pain and regret. So she does something you should never do ― she tells a journalist the truth: it’s a bad movie.

Soon, she’s at the center of a media storm, battling accusations from the press and the paparazzi, from protesters on the right and advocates on the left. Her twin ten-year-olds know they need help – and who better to call than family? But that’s where it gets really messy because India’s not just an adoptive mother…

The one thing she knows for sure is what makes a family isn’t blood. And it isn’t love. No matter how they’re formed, the truth about family is this: it's complicated."

 

Insights and Opinions

 

+ From page one, it was easy for each of us to think we'd inadvertently chosen a cozy beach read for our book club selection. The prose is snappy and breezy, Ten-year-old Fig is entirely too precocious, the banter between their mother India and the children Fig and Jack is clever but maybe a bit too Aaron Sorkin in its rapid-fire back and forth. Chapters are short, and zip between present day and scenes from India's childhood and formative years with a speed that made some of us dizzy. But, being us, we all stuck with it and were entirely glad we did. As Steve pointed out, "the more you get into it, the deeper it is." And, Linda said "I went back and forth between thinking this book is great and this book is cheesy, but ultimately, I liked it a lot." This is definitely a story that sticks with one after the last page, making you consider what you know about abortion, about adoption, about what it means to be a family, and about being one's authentic self.

 

+ To prove this point, witness what happened to the discussion that followed. After dipping our toes briefly into our usual habit of thoughtful lit crit, our group members began to tell their own stories. Some stories were personal. Others were stories about relatives or close friends. All of these stories were examples of how people define family as opposed to "family family." Eventually, we got back to discussing the book, having to admit that our "cozy beach read" was not that at all.

 

+ It's hard to say much about this book without introducing spoilers, so we will avoid that in this summary. Frankel is an expert at the slow reveal, and part of the pleasure in reading this book is discovering important facts along the way. Some of these facts are explosive and wholly unexpected, but all are well-earned.

 

+ This is a book of contrasts. It's laugh-out-loud funny and heartbreaking at the same time, if that's possible. Somehow, Frankel pulls it off. 

 

+ Liz felt that, during sections of dialogue, some of the characters sounded too much like each other -- the children too adult, the adults too childish, the dialogue too similar in tone. Yet, as one reads on, each character molds into a discrete individual with his or her own recognizable bent. India emerges as someone uniquely herself. Unerringly honest, she is unable to dissemble, even when it would be the wise thing to do. Over time and circumstance, her edges are softened by experience, but her commitment to honesty never wavers. It's what she's honest about that shifts.

 

+ Frankel is dealing with many themes, and every one of them is a big one. She tackles celebrity, internet trolling, abortion, adoption, childhood trauma and loss, all within 384 pages, and manages it expertly. Although we may not be able to relate to the choices India makes, we believe them, which is no small feat for an author. Because there are so many important themes, some get a bit of short shrift. Lois, for instance, felt there should be more focus on the struggles of the children who'd been given up for adoption. Everyone seems remarkably untroubled and healthy, despite their backgrounds.

 

+ One of the main themes in the book is that not all stories of adoption are tragic. This is certainly India's point of view and the personal petard on which she is hoist. She is adamant that some of these are sad stories and some are not. Somehow, India manages to be pro-choice and pro-life, pro-adoption, and pro-family, all at the same time. If one has taken a specific position on any of these topics, Family Family will question it and make you stop and think. Per Blanche: "There is no black and white here, only gradations. That's what this book is about."

 

+ Both Steve and Blanche were taken with the details about the life of a performer, both on Broadway and in the movies, and wondered how Frankel was able to write about both with authority, opening doors to the industry a reader wouldn't otherwise have.

 

+ Bottom line: We all thoroughly enjoyed this book, despite the fact that at some point along the way, each of us didn't want to. Linda loved the humor, the quirky characters, the inside look into the entertainment industry, and felt it was a page-turner. Chris loved the book and said the fact that India was an entertainer made her particular character all the more believable. Steve summarized, "I thought it was brilliant in its execution. She pontificated sometimes, but the fact that she turned a book with so much depth into a page-turner was impressive." 

 

Our Next Read

 

For July, we will read the following:

 

Title: The Emperor of Gladness

Author: Ocean Vuong

Location: Blanche's house 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finding Your Way Through the Dark via Crimes of a Lesser Degree

Title: How to Find Your Way in the Dark

Author: Derek B. Miller

 

A finalist for the National Jewish Book Award and winner of the Jewish Fiction Award from the Association of Jewish Libraries, this book has received high praise from the likes of the New York Times and the author Richard Russo, among others.

 

As the story opens, 12-year-old Sheldon Horowitz is still recovering from his mother's death the prior year when his father is killed in a suspicious traffic accident near their home in rural Massachusetts. As the publisher's blurb states "It is 1938, and Sheldon, who was in the truck, emerges from the crash an orphan hell-bent on revenge. He takes that fire with him to Hartford, where he embarks on a new life under the roof of his buttoned-up Uncle Nate.

 

"Sheldon, his teenage cousins Abe and Mirabelle, and his best friend, Lenny, will contend with tradition and orthodoxy, appeasement and patriotism, Mafia hitmen and angry accordion players, all while World War II takes center stage alongside a hurricane in New England and comedians in the Catskills. With his eye always on vengeance for his father’s murder, Sheldon stakes out his place in a world he now understands is comprised largely of crimes: right and wrong, big and small."

 

Insights and Opinions

Some of us had already read two earlier works by Miller, Norwegian by Night and American by Day, two satisfying Nordic mysteries. So it was with some surprise that we approached this work, which is not a mystery but does include an element of mystery and the same propulsive forward motion one finds in a good mystery.

 

Spoilers ahead. Be forewarned!

 

+ Miller has peopled this book with a cast of fascinating, well-wrought characters. Sheldon, the protagonist, is brilliant, damaged, and still an unformed teenager, fiercely clutching a burning rage and unformed plan for ultimate revenge against those he blames for his father's death. We come to know his father Joseph, even though he dies in the first few pages, as a kind, steady, gentle soul who has a profound impact on his son. Uncle Nate is the quintessential "keep quiet and get ahead" guy until subsequent events transform him into a shadow. Several years older than Sheldon, cousin Abe is fierce, idealistic and angry, appalled by injustice, anti-Semitism, and the gathering pre-War cloud in Europe. Abe's sister Mirabelle hides in plain sight, presenting herself as brash and practical while hiding her own deep wounds.

 

+ One of our first questions for each other was genre. Where should one slot this book? It's not a classic mystery, but there is a central mystery. Some sections include all the elements of a caper. There is humor, but it's not a comedy. Nor does it fall cleanly into the category of historical fiction, although the Nazis, anti-Semitism, and Jewish resorts in the Catskills all play an important role. Ultimately, we decided, it's a coming of age story and wondered if the way this book slides across multiple genres is the reason it hasn't received more of the attention it deserves.

 

+ Margy suggested that if the book had been titled Twilight Crimes, which are defined on the opening page of the novel as "a. crimes of a lesser degree b. crimes of a questionable moral nature c. crimes of possible moral virtue (controversial)," the book would have been slotted squarely in the crime fiction genre.

 

+ Vicky quoted Miller as calling this work an epic and a project for which he is very proud. "And he should be. This book reflects a lot of effort in term of complexity, coming of age, history. I applaud him," she said.

 

+ We wondered about the title of the book and its meaning and ultimately decided to take it quite literally -- that the story is about Sheldon finding his way out of the dark. Lois noted that the scene in which Sheldon and his friend Lenny are stumbling around in the dark in the Catskills, looking for their way back, is a direct metaphor. Sheldon is in the dark and needs to find his way.

 

+ Our reactions to the book varied with the methods that we used to read it. Those of us who were able to read it more or less uninterrupted enjoyed it thoroughly. Those who, through the busyness of life, read it in fits and starts, were less ardent in our praise. The book holds a big cast of characters, and unless you are taking notes along the way, it's easy to lose track of who is who and why they are important. On the up side, Miller is careful to insert brief recaps from time to time to remind the reader of what's occurred in the past.

 

+ Linda felt that Sheldon's conversations with himself in the mirror were an effective and creative way of letting the reader inside his head. The Sheldon in the mirror, as Lois pointed out, could read Sheldon's mind. Sheldon used his mirror self to argue, to talk through options, to figure out his next move, often with unexpected and delightful humor.

 

Example: "What do you think?" Sheldon asked the idiot in the mirror. "Shoot Lorenzo and join Abe in Canada? I could leave a note for Lenny saying I had to run. " 

"You'll never feel Miriam's breasts in your palms if you do," came the reply.

 

Strictly speaking, this should not have been a consideration. He shouldn't be weighing vengeance for his father's death against the chance to feel up Miriam in a broom closet.

 

Still: Once you get an idea like that in your head, it's hard to shake." 

+ We wondered about the source of cousin Abe's burning anger at such a young age, especially without a specific motivating incident. Margy proposed the possibility that it was due to the fact his father was willing to do anything to get ahead. Liz offered that his mother's death in a tragic fire would have left a terrible mark. Chris noted that he was well-read and up on current events, seeing anti-Semitism both from a distance as well as near at hand.

 

+ A few things struck us as either a bit jarring or perhaps under-developed. Liz felt the section in the Catskills with the moving of jewelry back and forth was suddenly very comic and a bit of a tonal shift veering toward Keystone Kops. We all felt that what happens to Abe is sudden and perhaps gratuitous, and that the end of the book is perhaps a bit too tidy.

 

+ Linda asked whether others had a hard time with Sheldon's actual age versus the adult manner in which he spoke and functioned. Is this believeable? But the story takes places in the 1930s and 40s, when people grew up faster and a teenager was as likely as not to emancipate at an early age. Linda also was quite taken with Sheldon's method of turning things over in his mind, imagining three or four scenarios in great detail before making a decision.

 

+ Overall, while we found some things to criticize (we always do) we were all impressed with Miller's writing and his ability to wrestle a really huge plot into 351 pages. If Miller makes good on his promise to write more Sheldon in the future, we'll be there to read it.

 

Our Next Read

 

For June, we'll be reading this:

 

Title: Family, Family

Author: Laurie Frankel

Location: Liz's house 

 

 

 

 

Gathered round for chat and chewing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vicky provided the lovely cake. Margy provided the lovely venue.