what we read: Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk -- to Russia

Title: Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk

Author: Kathleen Rooney

Title: War and Peace

Author: Leo Tolstoy

It's a "two-fer" this month. Our aggressively ambitious book club decided to tackle two books at once, so we will summarize discussion on both (with thanks to Jocey, who both hosted and wrote what follows).

First Things First

Steve, Linda, Chris, Margy, Lois, and Shirley gathered on April 17 at Jocey's house. We appreciated sun shining upon us after this cold and never-ending winter.

Notes from social hour:

+ Lois witnessed protests in Paris, reported gifts being received in Venice with exclamations of "mama mia!" She also discovered the delights of doctors who make house calls and enjoyed being the recipient of a bartender serving his first Bellini.

+ Margy endured (but did not hate) the cold and rain offered by Palm Springs this winter. The rain produced amazing spring blooms and the prettiest flowers were her visitors Chris and Vickie. Travel tip: Palm Spring's funky hotel named Twist.

+ Steve and Debbie jockeyed for book club audio book airtime on their epic road trip, which included Santa Fe, Bryce, Zion, and Grand Canyon. War and Peace may have lost that battle.

On to Lillian

+ We started our discussion with Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney. Those who listened were enchanted by the audio version and agreed the narrator impacts the book experience. We were impressed by the young author's insights into older years (what we assume older years to be). Margy thought this novel could be viewed as historical fiction.

+ Lillian lived life as she chose. She did not need to be married to be fulfilled. She would rather work and be the best paid person in the world.

+ Lillian was a writer and Chris loved how she stood up to the world. This book felt real -- a woman who feels out of synch with he time. Liz, Linda, and Chris all identified with what each of them had to deal with in their own young professional lives.

+ We were struck by a few lines: "I'm old, I have nothing but time. Free time. Time to kill before time kills me." "A mute rant, one of many." "Unproductive churring."

+ As we thought about Lillian Boxfish in comparison to War and Peace, we noted that books about war are considered important while books about domestic life are not.

Tostoy's Turn in the Spotlight

+ After showing off our versions of War and Peace, we decided the Penguin Book version might be the best. Chris wondered if War and Peace was worth the time it took to read. Lois nodded and Jocey busied herself with note-taking.

+ We felt Tolstoy's brilliance lies with telling you what the characters say and then what they are thinking. We wondered why War and Peace is considered a masterpiece -- not that we refute this designation, but rather than we wanted to get to the heart of it.

+ We marveled that Liz has read War and Peace three times and can't wait for her to come home from abroad, recover from COVID, and join our discussion. But she shared from afar that she loves how you are immersed in the culture from the standpoint of another time.

+ A theme that continues to resonate is how differently people are treated depending on how much money they have -- Pierre is ignored until he inherits money. "...they took off their fur coats without the help of servants." Jocey noted this is also a theme in Glenn's forthcoming novel, Doorman Wanted, to be released by Koehler Books in January, 2024.

+ Steve wondered if this is a novel of manners -- like Jane Austen's work. Other thoughts: Love stories, war, men are put into a box -- they go off to smoke. Men are portrayed as idiots. Woman are married to their rules and regulations.

+ Linda pointed out that Tolstoy is known for repetition, so the translation is important. Some translations avoid this repetition, yet repetition is key to the style. (Jocey is now hopeful she'll get some style kudos on this report).

+ Linda recommended watching the BBC eight-episode film version of the novel as a complement to help navigate the complexity of tracking the various characters.

+ Margy noted that War and Peace is the literary equivalent of running a marathon. We can all aspire to the intellectual athleticism of the Museum of Russian Art gift shop manager, who reads it every five years and understands it differently each time.

+ We marveled at the various translations (a conversation beween two languages) of a sentence and Linda shared examples of Tolstoy's gift for poetic brevity: "Drops dipped." "Quiet talk went on." "Someone snored."