Leonard and Hungry Paul was elected for One Dublin One Read and is Hession's first novel. The Chicago Review of Books reported "The narrative is cheerful and funny, and a meditation on loneliness and fear. In more than one way, it is a coming-of-age of the already aged." This is the first novel by Hession, who is an Irish blues musician known as Mumblin' Deaf Ro.
Gleanings from Our Discussion
+ Our group felt the novel was a nice portrait of men as platonic friends, enjoying their rituals of board-game-playing and buying matching day-of-the week socks.
+ Liz, who wasn't there for the discussion, but has opinions anyway, appreciated the way the quiet lives of invisible people can sustain the reader's interest in the deft hands of a good writer. Leonard and Paul are two people to whom not much happens, yet we care about them and root for them. As the NPR reviewer states "It's a testament to the author's skill that this book, so lacking in the traditional trappings of drama, is somehow a total page turner."
+ Jocey wondered if she had missed the explanation for why Paul is called Hungry Paul. No explanation appears anywhere in the text. Lois' theory was that it may be ironic "because he was not hungry for more." (FYI, this is a commonly asked search term on Google and the answer appears to be "nobody knows").
+ Linda read a favorite passage: "Hungry Paul was good at just sitting...He never minded time...He always felt in time, just here and just around." We discussed Paul's ability to be happily in the moment, but acknowledged that he, no doubt, navigated his life with autism.
+ The satire delighted us, including a small town writing competition garnering hushed excitement and a $10,000 prize, and Paul (of few words) becoming a spokesperson for the mimes.
+ Although we enjoyed Paul's lecture to his sister Grace to drop her need for control (a few of us may even have related), we found Leonard's soliliquy to Shelley a bit contrived.
+ Margy characterized the work as "a lovely novel. I'd never heard of it, despite it being a cult hit in Ireland. It was just what I needed to read right now."
Other Fun Things and Whatnot
+ Our thanks to Margy for hosting a book club meeting for the ages! Linda, Lois, Blanche and Jocey enjoyed the delicious pasta salad and cookies, causing the note-taker (Jocey) to start late due to gluttony.
Yum.
+ At 1:11, Margy called us to order. She had taken Liz's homework assignment seriously and distributed an impressive (if we do say so ourselves) list of 150 books our club has read and discussed. And before we had finished gasping, Margy delighted us with a 15th Anniversary Slide Show. We loved seeing pictures of our friends who will always be with us in spirit -- Gail, Joanne, Faith, and Vicky.
+ Linda note "for the unfortunates who were not able to be with us, Margy has promised to share her photo show again at our September 18 meeting at Jocey's. You'll see highlights including cupcakes, Winnie the Pooh, Joanne's 90th, Faith's book launch, treats, Graywolf authors, Gail's 90th, Zoom COVID meetings, pet portraits, Palm Springs, Ray Bradbury, War and Peace, and our book and flower portraits. Thank you, Margy!
The small but mighty crew.
+ Margy's accounting of our reading achievements reminded us how much we've enjoyed the discussions led by our books' authors, including Jim Moore, Patricia Kirkpatrick, Ru Freeman, Brian Malloy, and our own Faith Sullivan. We therefore decided to invite Julie Schumacher sometime after her new novel The English Experience is released in the fall. Some of the over-achievers among us may want to read Dear Committee Members and The Shakespeare Requirement before Julie joins us to lead the discussion of this third work in the trilogy.
Next Up
August: No meeting
September 18: The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese at Jocey's house
October 16: The Romanov Bride by Robert Alexander (our own RD Zimmerman, who will join us in person to discuss his work.)
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