A Relationship, Mid-life Questions, and a Rental House

Title: Rental House

Author: Weike Wang 

 

We vanquished the doldrums of a Minnesota February by gathering at Shirley's new digs downtown, where the winter sun cheered us despite the fact that it was -7° F. outside. We were greeted by an uncharacteristically lavish spread provided by Shirley's daughter Celia and the lovely Elizabeth. After the requisite tours and general chitchat, we got down to the serious business at hand.

 

First, from the publisher, a short refresher on what this book is about:

 

From the award-winning author of Chemistry, a sharp-witted, insightful novel about a marriage as seen through the lens of two family vacations.

Keru and Nate are college sweethearts who marry despite their family differences. Keru’s strict, Chinese, immigrant parents demand perfection (“To use a dishwasher is to admit defeat,” says her father), while Nate’s rural, white, working-class family distrusts his intellectual ambitions and his “foreign” wife.
 
Some years into their marriage, the couple invites their families on vacation. At a Cape Cod beach house, and later at a luxury Catskills bungalow, Keru, Nate, and their giant sheepdog navigate visits from in-laws and unexpected guests, all while wondering if they have what it takes to answer the big questions: How do you cope when your spouse and your family of origin clash? How many people (and dogs) make a family? And when the pack starts to disintegrate, what can you do to shepherd everyone back together?

 

Insights and Opinions

 

+ Overall, our reactions to this book were mixed. Some questioned the voice of Keru, the main character in the book, finding it flat and cold. Liz wondered why Keru and Nate were even together as they didn't seem to enjoy each other's company and most of their interactions were uncomfortable and strained. Others felt that Keru's insights into human motives, especially when seen through the eyes of immigrants or those who live in solidly conservative states in the U.S., were both profound and educational. Margy had read all three of Wang's novels, including Chemistry and Joan is Okay, and suggested we would all benefit from doing the same. "I wondered how we would react to this one after having read the other two," she said. "Keru is much harder and far less vulnerable in this one than she is in the others."

 

+ The central device used in this novel is the rental house, a place where Keru and Nate can go to vacation, to be together since they work in separate cities, and to spend time with each set of parents separately. In one section, Keru's parents visit. In another section, Nate's parents come to stay. Then, Nate and Keru attempt to vacation together but are invaded first by pushy neighbors who intrude in every possible way and then, unexpectedly, by Nate's ne'er-do-well brother looking for money. The cultural differences between the two sets of parents, along with their parental expectations of their children, are vast. Seeing our two protagonists in the company of their respective parents gives the reader tremendous insight into how each of these young adults have turned into the people that they are. Similarly, seeing Nate with his brother, who is clearly the family favorite despite his obvious shortcomings, is a window into Nate's viewpoint on life.

 

+ Lois pointed out what she saw as the turning point in the book -- the point close to the end of the story where Keru is finally able to explain to herself who her husband is and who she is and what each of them wants. 

+ One of Keru's odd habits is, when she is most uncomfortable, to throw things. This is how she and Nate first come together. When they first meet and are having their first interaction, she picks up objects close at hand and pitches them into the crowd. Later, on one of their vacations, she throws a rock at a woman who's upset that they're dog isn't leashed. Even later, at one of the rental houses, she throws a log. There's no explanation of this behavior and the reader is left to puzzle it out. Steve wondered what our reaction was to her "throwing things" habit. Liz felt it was an important fact that was abandoned partway through. Jocey found it troubling and wondered: was this rage? Discomfort? Uncertainty over what to do?

 

+ All parties found Nate's brother to be repellent and a con artist, but Steve admitted he admired his altruistic ideals and that he probably would have fallen for the con because of them. He found the relationship between the brothers interesting and caused him to ponder, now that he's older, if he would do things differently. "I think you can make amends," he said.

+ Steve wondered if the relationship between Keru and Nate was warmer at the beginning of the book as opposed to later in the text. Margy felt that everything in both of their lives was obligation, including their relationship. "I felt like she was committing to the marriage out of obligation because that's what you do."

 

And In Other News

+ Shirley shared with us excerpts from what she is currently reading: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life by Mark Manson, recommending that we all do likewise.

 

+ Steve recommended Big Jim and the White Boy, a graphic novel he feels is an excellent companion to Huckleberry Finn and James. 

+ Jocey then bundled up in about 2,000 pounds of clothes to walk to her next destination. All we could see were her eyes.

 

Our Next Reads

First of all, there will be NO MEETING IN MARCH. Instead, we will read two books for our April meeting:

 

Sipsworth by Simon Van Booy

 

The Time of the Child by Niall Williams

Celia monitors Jocey's tech support activities

Time for discussion while Elizabeth toils in the kitchen.

 

 

Everything looks more beautiful with a lime.

 

Just some of our lovely repast.

 

The Struggle Betweem Hereness and Thereness

Title: The Ministry of Time

Author: Kaliane Bradley

 

We chose this book, at least in part, because it was listed as one of Barack Obama's favorite books of summer 2024 and also was dubbed "utterly winning" by the Washington Post. 

First, a brief summary from the publisher:

 

"In the near future, a civil servant is offered the salary of her dreams and is, shortly afterward, told what project she’ll be working on. A recently established government ministry is gathering “expats” from across history to establish whether time travel is feasible—for the body, but also for the fabric of space-time.

 

She is tasked with working as a “bridge”: living with, assisting, and monitoring the expat known as “1847” or Commander Graham Gore. As far as history is concerned, Commander Gore died on Sir John Franklin’s doomed 1845 expedition to the Arctic, so he’s a little disoriented to be living with an unmarried woman who regularly shows her calves, surrounded by outlandish concepts such as “washing machines,” “Spotify,” and “the collapse of the British Empire.” But with an appetite for discovery, a seven-a-day cigarette habit, and the support of a charming and chaotic cast of fellow expats, he soon adjusts.

Over the next year, what the bridge initially thought would be, at best, a horrifically uncomfortable roommate dynamic, evolves into something much deeper." 

 

Insights and Opinions

For a variety of reasons, including medical procedures and snowbird-ism, our meeting took place via Zoom. While we all missed snacks provided by someone other than ourselves, we were grateful to be able to gather anyway and share our analyses.

 

The novel is constructed of two stories. One follows the "bridge," whose role is to live with, teach, mentor, and safeguard Commander Graham Gore as he comes to grips with finding himself some 175 years into a wholly foreign future. This main narrative is interrupted by short chapters that focus on Gore as he and his fellow shipmates struggle to survive Sir John Franklin's 1847 Arctic expedition. In search of the Northwest Passage, they had reached as far as the Canadian Arctic when their ships were trapped in ice, a capture that lasted almost two years. None survived.

A secret time travel program of the British government extracts Commander Gore as he is about to die, and transports him to present day. In his review for The Washington Post, Ron Charles writes "Some of what you've just read is historical fact, some is archaeological speculation, and a bit is wacky fantasy."

Given the fact that some of our group is never up for "a bit of wacky fantasy," our discussion was unsurprising.

+ Chris, Jocey and Liz were all fully on board with the novel's creative play on the question "what would happen if...," appreciating Bradley's creativity and ability to spin an entirely new story. They marveled at her deft weaving together themes of dislocation, loss, corporate politics, first-generation immigrant pain, and British adventurism into an engaging tapestry that kept them reading.

+ In contrast, Margy and Lois found the novel to be confusing and were frequently lost. Chris also suffered some confusion, but solved it by rereading just the Graham Gore chapters after completing her first read.

+ Steve was silent throughout, so we were all pretty sure he was in the "I hated it" camp, although none of us ever say we hate or love anything, much preferring to state specifics rather than generalities. Graham's story was the piece that resonated with him. "I vacillated between being fascinated with her inventiveness and being annoyed." What he did appreciate were what, to him, were the three main themes: culture and society's role in shaping who we are, how we adapt to the future, and can we control the future and change the past.

+ All agreed that Graham Gore was both a fascinating character and the heart of the book --- his sense of honor, his love for adventure, his British stiff upper lip, his disinterest in television and his love for Spotify.

+The group was universally ambivalent about the romantic relationship between the main character and Gore. Lois found it odd that the Ministry would pair each bridge with a member of the opposite sex. Jocey felt that Graham never seemed like he really wanted it, but just fell into it. Steve found it adolescent and superficial.

+ Jocey pointed out that this is Bradley's first novel, which can account for some of her lapses. Liz was bothered by a host of what she characterized as "bizarre metaphors," pointing out that if we still had some of the great editors today that worked in the past, some of these would have been nipped in the bud. Examples: "...and we'd find her sitting at the top of a long table like a mannequin awaiting the gift of demonic possession," and "when Graham got online...and learned to peck at the keyboard with the elegance and speed of a badly burned amphibian," and "I must have looked like a demented bowling ball." These and more, Liz said, stop the reader and should have been made to disappear before publication. 

+ Nobody was entirely certain what happened at the end, but that's not the first time that's happened to us. Margy loved the optimism of the last paragraph: "Forgiveness, which takes you back to the person you were and lets you reset them. Hope, which exists in a future in which you are new. Forgiveness and hope are miracles. They let you change your life. They are time travel."

+ For those who would like more details about the Franklin Expedition, this video offers an excellent summary.

 

Other Important Things

+ Much to our surprise and pleasure, our long lost Vickie Zoomed in mid-meeting. It was a real boost for us all during a crappy January.

 

Our Next Book

We will be reading Rental House by Weike Wang on February 17. Shirley will be our host.

The Zoomies

 

What Margy was drinking in secret

Monotony and Glory in Space

Title: Orbital

Author: Samantha Harvey

From the publisher:

"A slender novel of epic power and the winner of the Booker Prize 2024, Orbital deftly snapshots one day in the lives of six women and men traveling through space. Selected for one of the last space station missions of its kind before the program is dismantled, these astronauts and cosmonauts—from America, Russia, Italy, Britain, and Japan—have left their lives behind to travel at a speed of over seventeen thousand miles an hour as the earth reels below. 

 

Treats not allowed on the space station.

We glimpse moments of their earthly lives through brief communications with family, their photos and talismans; we watch them whip up dehydrated meals, float in gravity-free sleep, and exercise in regimented routines to prevent atrophying muscles; we witness them form bonds that will stand between them and utter solitude. Most of all, we are with them as they behold and record their silent blue planet. Their experiences of sixteen sunrises and sunsets and the bright, blinking constellations of the galaxy are at once breathtakingly awesome and surprisingly intimate."

 

Insights and Opinions

In a departure from the norm, we met in December both to celebrate the holidays and to continue cheering each other up after national circumstances too dire to mention. Of course we needed to start with a round robin on who was doing what for the holidays, then segue to tech support as Jocey expertly captured Chris and Steve via remote connection and a TV tray, then engage in general munching and appreciation of Lois' contribution of liquor-soaked chocolates, after which we ran up against our 30-minutes for general chitchat rule, and started discussing the book.

 

+ Shirley got us rolling with her observations. She found the initial pages, which described in detail what each of the astronauts was doing as part of their work, boring, and was eager to move past it. But later, when Pietro recalls his teenage daughter asking him if he thinks progress is beautiful, his answer made her sit up and pay attention. He says "...you didn't ask if progress is good, and a person is not beautiful because they're good, they're beautiful because they're alive, like a child. Alive and curious and restless. Never mind good...Sometimes destructive, sometimes hurtful, sometimes selfish, but beautiful because alive. And progress is like that, by its nature alive."

 

+ Chie's mother makes a similar point later in the book when she says "...you might regard in wonder these men walking on the moon but you must never forget the price humanity pays for its moments of glory, because humanity doesn't know when to stop, it doesn't know when to call it a day, so be wary is what I mean though I say nothing, be wary."

 

+ Margy also was struck by that passage. The astronauts are "so aware of where they are, and also realize the beauty of things until humans get there. But what they are able to see trumps all of that."

+ Jocey read the book as a eulogy, feeling that the author is balancing the beauty of what the astronauts see from their windows every day with what's happening to people on the ground. From space, the view is astonishing and beautiful and without borders while on the ground, a powerful global-warming-fueled typhoon is pummeling the Philippines.

+ Chris didn't think of it as a eulogy and was fascinated by the science, the number of transits around the earth in one Earth day, the experiments taking place on board, the daily routine of people in a small space orbiting the planet. On the other hand, she said, "I found it to be a fascinating book in many ways, with many great passages, but then I also wondered how the author could take something that is so magical and make it so monotonous." Margy agreed, saying "A little plot would have gone a long way."

+ Steve couldn't tell if he found it monotonous or not as he was listening on audio, which is a very different experience from reading off the page. He was struck by the author's gift with metaphor and her extraordinary insights into human nature and also science. "I learned so much that I have never been exposed to before. I've never read a book like this before in my life." Chris and Liz, both space nerds, agreed.

+ There was some discussion as to whether this book is really a novel. Liz, for instance, decided that Orbital is not a novel, but a really long poem because of the beauty and rhythm of the language, the long sentences strung together in unusual ways, the cadence one would hear if reading it aloud. "I would have hated this book if I continued to think of it as a novel. But about three-quarters of the way through, I decided it was a poem and just sat back to enjoy the beauty of the sentences."

+ Linda referenced the New Yorker review which states that Orbital is unlike any other novel ever but that it does what only a novel can do. "My husband loved this book, but he's a scientist. I wanted to love it. Then, about two-thirds of the way through, I thought 'Oh! This is just like The Waves, with six characters who never merge, and then I read later that the author's favorite author is Virginia Wolff.'"

+ Did any of us come to care about any of the characters? Not really, with the possible exception of Chie, who is interesting because of her quirky list-making and because we know more of her history. The rest of them are too distant and only part the scenery.

 

+ Each of us had favorite passages to share, and we were all taken with the moment when the caller from Vancouver asks Roman if he ever feels crestfallen. This opens a four-page analysis of the meaning of the word, Steve's favorite passage in the book. "I loved her careful nuanced definition of crestfallen. Harvey has a hard-fisted command of the English language -- a scientific precision."

+ Linda wondered if our group felt this book deserved to win the Booker Prize. Lois felt honors should have gone to Percival Everett's James instead, which "gives us a whole new perspective on a classic we accept as the story of its time, takes it inside out, stands it on its head, and says okay now what do you think?"

 

+ While it doesn't have the traditional structure and story arc of the typical novel, Orbital is a book from which we all learned a great deal and is definitely worth the read.

 

 

 

The earthlings

Those we patched in from the space station.

 

What's Next on Our Docket

 

For January, we will read The Ministry of Time by Kailene Bradley. If enough of us are in town, Steve will host. Otherwise we will meet via Zoom. In either case, we will Zoom in those who are out of town.

Original Fairy Tales that Beg to Be Read Aloud

Titles: The Puppets of Spelhorst and Hotel Balzaar

Author: Kate DiCamillo

 

Kate DiCamillo occupies a special place in our hearts for a host of reasons, not the least of which is that she calls Minnesota home. With both Newbery Medal and National Book Award honors, DiCamillo is a master at crafting prose both simple and profound, challenging young readers with stories that invite them to embrace the darkness while following it through to a better place. 

 

To celebrate the publication of her newest work, Hotel Balzaar, we chose it as our monthly selection along with the first book in this series, The Puppets of Spelhorst. On the slim chance she'd be available to join us, we dispatched Margy Ligon, our charge d'affaires, to make the invitation. (Oxford Languages defines charge d'affaires as "a state's diplomatic representative in a minor country.) She was kind enough to answer us, but the answer was no. Our country is way too minor.

DeCamillo's kind refusal.

The Puppets of Spelhorst is an original fairy tale that tells the story of five puppets, shut up in an old sea captain's trunk, where they bicker and brag and keep each other company in the dark, imagining a future in which they will all play an important role. Their day comes when they find themselves on the mantel in the home of two little girls. The black and white illustrations by Julie Morstad add dimension and magic to these pages that demand to be real aloud.

 

While Hotel Balzaar is marketed as the second work in a trilogy, it bears little connection to the first other than in mood and place. There are no shared characters or story elements. 

 

In the Hotel Balzaar, Marta's mother arises every day, puts on her maid's uniform, and tells Marta she's free to wander around the hotel, but must be quiet and invisible. She spends her days chatting with a dozing bellman, watching a cat chase a mouse around the face of the clock, and studying a painting over the fireplace. She dreams that her soldier father, who is missing, will return. Then, an elderly countess with a parrot checks in, promising seven stories, told one at a time. As she listens, Marta hopes the stories will lead to the answer of her missing father.

Insights and Opinions

+ In acknowledgement of the fact that these two parts of a purported trilogy bear little connection to each other, Margy observed that both are about the power of story. The play written by Emma in Puppets creates a starring role for each of the puppets and finally bring their world to life after endless years of yearning. The stories told to Marta by the countess in Hotel Balzaar fill her boring life with wonder and lead to her father's return.

+ We posed the question: are these two stories about choosing home and love over seeking greatness out in the world? Or are they about following your dreams? Steve believes they are about both, and Chris pointed out that the two are not mutually exclusive.

+ Our readers universally loved the puppet characters in The Puppets of Spelhorst. Each has a finely drawn personality with quirks that are equal parts endearing and annoying. The king is obsessed with doing king things, the wolf can't stop talking about her teeth, the owl dreams of flying, the boy and the girl yearn to see the world outside the box.

+ We spent some time trying to decide the appropriate age for readers of these two books. Each is too long to be a bedtime story and Liz felt both would be difficult for an anxious child unless the resolution could be reached in one sitting. We decided that both would be best for a child of 10. DiCamillo herself says she writes for children and their parents.

+ Overall, we agree these are lovely stories that hold your attention to the end, delight with engaging illustrations that support and illuminate the text, and introduce us to characters whose lives, while difficult, can teach us about the value of hope, yearning, humor, and belief.

Now, On to a Different Topic Altogether

The second half of our meeting was spent sharing our answers to the question "what are your favorite three books from our many years of book clubs?" Without preamble, here are the choices.

 

Chris: The Sentence, Let the Great World Spin, The Golum and the Jinni

 

Jocey: Bel Canto, A Gentleman in Moscow, The Night Watchman

 

Margy: The Overstory, The Hare with the Amber Eye, This Is Happiness

 

Steve: The Covenant of Water, The Overstory, The Sentence

 

Linda: The Overstory, The Covenant of Water, A Tale for the Time Being

 

Liz: The Overstory, The Covenant of Water, Matrix

 

Lois: Bel Canto, On Sal Mal Lane, The Great Circle 

 

Blanche:  Being Mortal, The Overstory, The Night Watchman (tied with The Sentence)

Our Next Book

In a departure from the usual, we will meet in December to continue our ongoing attempt to cheer ourselves up.

Title: Orbital: A Novel (Booker Prize Winner)

Author: Samantha Harvey

Date/Time: 1 pm, December 16

Location: Liz's house

 

Richard Powers Messes with Our Heads. Plus SPOILERS.

Title: Playground

Author: Richard Powers

First things first. If you have not yet read this book or are in the middle of it, stop reading this post right now as it's filled with spoilers.

Now, on to the book. Here's what the publisher has to say about Playground:

 

"Four lives are drawn together in a sweeping, panoramic new novel from Richard Powers, showcasing the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Overstory at the height of his skills. Twelve-year-old Evie Beaulieu sinks to the bottom of a swimming pool in Montreal strapped to one of the world’s first aqualungs. Ina Aroita grows up on naval bases across the Pacific with art as her only home. Two polar opposites at an elite Chicago high school bond over a three-thousand-year-old board game; Rafi Young will get lost in literature, while Todd Keane’s work will lead to a startling AI breakthrough.

 

They meet on the history-scarred island of Makatea in French Polynesia, whose deposits of phosphorus once helped to feed the world. Now the tiny atoll has been chosen for humanity’s next adventure: a plan to send floating, autonomous cities out onto the open sea. But first, the island’s residents must vote to greenlight the project or turn the seasteaders away.

Set in the world’s largest ocean, this awe-filled book explores that last wild place we have yet to colonize in a still-unfolding oceanic game, and interweaves beautiful writing, rich characterization, profound themes of technology and the environment, and a deep exploration of our shared humanity in a way only Richard Powers can."

Insights and Opinions

Have you ever had one of those dreams where you wake up mad at your mate because of something they didn’t do in real life? Or, maybe you had a testy conversation with someone you thought might be a little crazy but then you went home and thought maybe you were the crazy one? If yes, put yourself back in that state for the moment and you’ll experience what this month’s book club session was like.

 

For the first time in the 15 years we’ve been meeting, we found a book for which we could absolutely NOT agree at all on what takes place within its pages. 

 

We'll start with those things on which we did agree. 

 

Epic in what it attempts to cover, Playground weaves together the profound mysteries of life underwater, the climate crisis, the promise and threat of generative AI, the pain of Polynesian history, and the human themes of loss and regeneration. There is perhaps more here than one book can hold, but that doesn’t keep Powers from trying.

 

As he did so successfully in his masterwork The Overstory, Powers spends the first two-thirds of the book providing back story on each of his main characters. As readers, we know he’ll tie together all of these threads eventually, but impatience starts to set in about page 150. Not to worry. His loose threads form a complete, wondrous tapestry in the final pages, but you really do have to wait until the last 15 pages to get there.

Powers' prose is both clean and magical at the same time. He'll give us the simple: 

 

"The island rose like a hatbox floating on the waves." 

 

And then the sublime, as Evie watches a cuttlefish dance:  

 

"She thought of a violinist she had seen once, decades ago, on a summer's day in the open plaza in front of Saint Joseph's Oratory in Montreal, wrestling with Bach's massive Chaconne the way Jacob wrestled with the angel, as if the fate of the world depended on it. The cuttlefish concert unfolded in the same profound way. Sequences shifted in both series and parallel. Melodies built up in virtuosic counterpoint. Chords of color shot forth in profound progressions -- stabs of sharp yellow, a suite of brownish purples fading toward a deep and muted blue."  

 

The dude knows his way around a metaphor.

 

Another example is the story of the symbiotic relationship between the shrimp and the goby. The goby sits at the entrance of the shrimp's burrow, maintaining a constant vigil against predators while the shrimp clears gravel from the burrow. Powers uses this as a delightful metaphor for the relationship between Evie and her husband, the rare man who is able to make a meaningful life for himself and the children while his wife pursues her important work someplace else in the world.

His powers as a writer are formidable. Although this work is clearly built upon a massive amount of research, the research never intrudes. He puts the reader squarely on the mine-scarred island catching crabs, under the sea exploring the reefs threatened by rising sea temperatures, into the "infinite game" of the social world of Playground, and deep into the complex relationship between childhood friends Todd and Rafi. He describes the indescribable.

Todd's realization in the final pages is one we should all pay attention to. Standing on a high ridge on the island of Makatea and looking out over the endless sea, even within his dementia ravaged mind, he sees it for what it really is. "It's a great discovery, one that eluded him until this moment. The people here do not live on a tiny, isolated island. They live on a road-crossed, crop-filled ocean bigger than all the continents combined." 

 

Now we get to the sticky part, the place where it all fell apart. (Important side note: the file containing my session notes is corrupt so I have to do this from memory). We did not agree at all about what actually happened in this book. 

 

Jocey: What does everybody think about the ending? Who was Todd talking to?

 

Liz: He was talking to the fourth generation AI.

 

Steve: I feel like Powers was playing a trick on the reader. That most of this story was told by the AI.

 

Margy: Was he able to realize Rafi's dream that we would be able to bring people back from the dead?

 

Lois: Or has he conquered death by having AI finish the story?

 

Blanche: There's no way Todd could have reached the island on his own. 

 

Several people: Rafi died in Urbana, Evie died in a freak diving accident, AI brought them all back to life as a story.

Liz: No. Rafi is alive and is on the island with Ina and the kids. Evie faked her own death and is alive on the island. Todd dies on the island after arriving on a self-piloting yacht. Todd is writing to the grandson AI of his original invention. All the main characters are alive to participate in Todd's funeral.

 

Then, everyone got all confused and the discussion went bananas.

 

Both Linda and Steve referenced reviews they'd read in which the reviewers had drawn their own mixed-up conclusions.

 

Bottom Line

This is clearly a book that deserves to be read twice. Read it the first time for the prose and the wonder and the surprises. Read it again to find the clues that are all there and then decide for yourself what really happened.

 

What We'll Read Next Time

For next month, we have both a reading selection and an assignment. 

 

We will read The Puppets of Spelhorst and The Hotel Balzaar by Kate DiCamillo. These are both books for young readers and are quick reads.

 

In addition, please come prepared with a list of your three most favorite books of all time. If we have time, we will share our lists with each other. There will be no fighting.

 

Special thanks to Steve for serenading us in.

The group just before we came to blows.

 

What Jocey did after she left, even though it's late October.

 

 

Centuries of Secrets

Title: The Cliffs 

Author: J. Courtney Sullivan 

 

A big best seller due to its selection as a Reese's Book Club pick, The Cliffs is blurbed by Ann Napolitano, author of Hello Beautiful, as "J.Courtney Sullivan's best book yet." This is what the publisher has to say about it:

 

"On a secluded bluff overlooking the ocean sits a Victorian house, lavender with gingerbread trim, a home that contains a century’s worth of secrets. By the time Jane Flanagan discovers the house as a teenager, it has long been abandoned. The place is an irresistible mystery to Jane. There are still clothes in the closets, marbles rolling across the floors, and dishes in the cupboards, even though no one has set foot there in decades. The house becomes a hideaway for Jane, a place to escape her volatile mother.

Twenty years later, now a Harvard archivist, she returns home to Maine following a terrible mistake that threatens both her career and her marriage. Jane is horrified to find the Victorian is now barely recognizable. The new owner, Genevieve, a summer person from Beacon Hill, has gutted it, transforming the house into a glossy white monstrosity straight out of a shelter magazine. Strangely, Genevieve is convinced that the house is haunted—perhaps the product of something troubling Genevieve herself has done. She hires Jane to research the history of the place and the women who lived there. The story Jane uncovers—of lovers lost at sea, romantic longing, shattering loss, artistic awakening, historical artifacts stolen and sold, and the long shadow of colonialism—is even older than Maine itself.

Enthralling, richly imagined, filled with psychic mediums and charlatans, spirits and past lives, mothers, marriage, and the legacy of alcoholism, this is a deeply moving novel about the land we inhabit, the women who came before us, and the ways in which none of us will ever truly leave this earth."

 

Before We Begin

We started the meeting with some important housekeeping, which is The Matter of Blanche's Email. Please make sure to use her AOL address for all future communications as she has not been receiving most of what we've been sending. We, the Management, are not publishing said address here to avoid its being scooped up by robots or other nefarious actors and because you already have it.

 

Insights and Opinions

With Margy as our host and surrounded by her garden dahlias, we settled into a robust discussion despite missing so many of our group who were off doing other supposedly more important things.

 

+ Steve got us rolling with his first question: Is it possible to do too much research? What followed was an interesting back and forth surrounding the gruesome history of the indigenous tribes in Maine that appears around page 137 in the hard copy book. Some felt this section interrupted the flow of the story, Margy finding it "a bit preachy." Linda disagreed, finding it instructive and eye-opening. "For some of the dates mentioned, I remember reading in my high school history books the headline 'white man tames savage Indians.'" Steve, on the other hand, felt that this section is interesting and important in and of itself, but is a long back story that stops the reader. Because the book starts with a bang and moves along swiftly, he found this change of pace to be jarring.

+ Liz was struck by the richness of the book and the many topics and stories the author weaves together. "It feels like two books to me. One is the story of Jane and her life and what she's grappling with. The other is Genevieve and the ghost and the disturbed graveyard and the terrors and evils of the ancient history with the native population. A great editor might have said 'I think you have two books here.'" Blanche agreed that two books would have given the many threads in this novel more room to breathe. Steve pointed out that books like this that cover a span of time invite the reader to take the long view.

+ In searching for the central theme of the book, we doubled back to the book's inherent richness. Is this a book of place? Yes. Maine and its history are central characters. Is this a book of abode? Yes. A historic house is an obvious device used well in the story of Genevieve as well as the house's prior occupants. Is this a book about addiction and the generational wreckage it leaves behind? Yes. Jane's comparison of addiction while visiting a demented Betty is one example: "There were versions of death that existed inside of life, Jane thought. Her drunken blackouts, that time unaccounted for. The state Betty and the other patients here were in, almost the opposite of being ghosts -- a body with no awareness, no memory. The shadows of past lives all around in graveyards in old houses, in Jane's work as an archivist. In stories." In some measure, the author pulls together all of the strands of her story in this one passage.

+ Then, there was a brief uprising of chat about aging and how we're all falling apart, interrupted by Linda who got us back to the book.

 

+ Another beautiful element in the story is the portrayal of the lesbian relationship. Sullivan's telling is delicate, as it would have been at that time in history. It starts with just a kiss and moves forward with tender love that can't be acknowledged.

 

+ The long set piece about the kidnapped native close to the end of the book stopped us all. It's a compelling story and beautifully written. But its placement so close to the end of the work, when the reader wants to find out what will happen to our main character and to the other present-day themes, disrupts the flow and tosses the reader out of the flow. Maybe this is the theme in which Sullivan was most interested and felt should be given pride of place, but as readers, we felt that it was misplaced.

+ Our bottom line: Sullivan is a serious writer who engaged us all. There are many riches in this book, but we all wanted more of each "rich." Several of us plan to seek out Sullivan's other titles.

Our Next Read

For our October 21 meeting, we will read The Playground by Richard Powers. He's all over the place right now promoting the book, which was just published, so you should be able to find his interviews out there if you're of a mind. Linda will host.

This good-looking group.

 

Swedes in Love with Crying Americans

Title: Big in Sweden

Author:  Sally Franson

 

First, a brief summary from the publisher:

"Paulie Johansson has never put much stock in the idea of family: she has her long-term boyfriend Declan and beloved best friend Jemma, and that’s more than enough for her. Yet one night on a lark, she lets Jemma convince her to audition for Sverige och Mig, a show on Swedish television where Swedish-Americans compete to win the ultimate prize: a reunion with their Swedish relatives. Much to her shock, her drunken submission video wins her a spot on the show, and against Declan’s advice Paulie decides to go for it.

 

Armed with her Polaroid camera, a beat-up copy of Pippi Longstocking, and an unquenchable sense of possibility, Paulie hops on a plane to Sweden and launches into the contest with seven other Americans, all under the watchful eye of a camera crew. At first, Paulie is certain that she and her competitors have nothing in common besides their passports and views their bloodthirsty ambitions with suspicion. Yet amid the increasingly absurd challenges—rowing from Denmark to Sweden in the freezing rain, battling through obstacle courses, competing in a pickled herring eating contest—Paulie finds herself rethinking her snap judgments about her fellow countrymen, while her growing attachment to her Swedish roots increases her resolve to win the competition herself."

 

Insights and Opinions

One of our goals, in this long-term ever more venerable book club, has been to read more works by local authors and, where possible, invite them to join us for the discussion. Franson is both local and a friend to The Loft Literary Center (the genesis of our book club), so her new book was an easy choice for us.

 

Laurie Hertzl's review in the Minneapolis Star Tribune is a good match for our discussion, so rather than do a lesser job, I'll just post some of her review here:

"And then along comes a chance at “Sverige och Mig” — “Sweden and Me.” In Sweden, the show is known as “Crying Americans,” and with good reason. There is a lot of crying in this book. Paulie “bursts into tears” every few pages, which might make the reader roll their eyes, but which also makes, apparently, good TV.

The show’s producers encourage this behavior, asking questions such as, “Talk about how far you have come since you first arrived in Sweden. … If you cry, that is okay.” And “Talk about what you love about Sweden. … Consider crying as you say this.” And “Talk about your friends who have already left the show … If you cry, that is great!”

Paulie obliges. She cannot help herself. She is an emotional basket case, vulnerable and insecure while also deeply competitive and sometimes mean. (“You have too many feelings,” one of the other competitors tells her.) Her parents — a homophobic closeted gay minister and an alcoholic mother — have left her with a yearning for a traditional, loving family.

Anyone who has traveled alone to an unfamiliar place will understand the heightened state of awareness that Paulie experiences during her five weeks in Sweden. Everything there is so different, so clean, so beautiful! The people are so kind! The producers are so sexy — well, one of them is.

Franson’s writing is smooth, filled with apt metaphors and zingy one-liners. Watching a burly Swedish man cry was like “watching a bear use a fork and knife.” A meek woman’s posture was “as bent as a hanger.” A breeze swept through an open window “like a burst of laughter.”

The book shifts so quickly from one scene to the next that the reader begins to crave a bit of summary — does everything have to be shown? The narrative is so detailed it starts to feel as though the five weeks in Sweden unfurl in real time.

Franson is skilled at mixing slapstick with serious. There are pratfalls and belches, fisticuffs and stolen kisses and so much drinking. Everything is exaggerated. But at the same time, Paulie’s desire for a family connection is deep-seated and moving.

Big in Sweden is funny and mostly satisfying, certain to be big here, and a worthy successor to Franson's A Lady's Guide to Selling Out, which is being developed for Netflix by Meg Ryan."

Because we can't help ourselves, and because we love to read works we can really dig into, we did agree that we would have liked to see the characters more deeply developed. But the humor in this book, and Franson's deft hand at storytelling carried us all easily to the end. 

Our Next Read

For September, we will read The Cliffs by J. Courtney Sullivan. Margy will host.

The usual suspects (minus the photographer)

 

Us in a holy glow, and our photog is in the shot!

Liz showing off an eyeball she painted.