Things Change and Are Ever the Same

Title: Fahrenheit 451  

Author: Ray Bradbury 

 

Given our current dystopian times and the re-emergence of book banning, we dug into what may be the ultimate story about the burning of books to destroy ideas and free thought.  Originally published in 1953, Fahrenheit 451 is Ray Bradbury's dystopian take on what could happen if book-banning were taken to its ultimate conclusion.

Written during the McCarthy era, the book led to its own spate of book-banning. The novel follows Guy Montag, a fireman whose role is to root out books, all of which have been banned, and burn down the homes of those who've been keeping them. During one such mission, he is overwhelmed with the choice of a book owner to burn along with her books. Secretly, he pockets one of her books, takes it home, and hides it, setting into motion a series of events that lead to the destruction of far more than one woman's library.

 

Insights and Opinions

Although our group was small and we missed our temporarily lost ones dearly, we had what may be one of the best and most in-depth discussions ever. Chris joined via Zoom and, while being only a disembodied head, added plenty to the discussion.

+ Several members of our exceptionally studious group had boned up by watching old movie versions of Bradbury's story. Super-achiever Linda watched both the 1967 Francois Truffaut version and the latest version filmed in 2018. Both departed from the book in significant ways. Truffaut's journal, which he kept during filming, includes this: "...The subjects of films influence the crews that make them. During Jules et Jim, everybody started to play dominoes; during La Peau Douce, everyone was deceiving his wife or her husband; and right from the start of Fahrenheit 451, everybody on the unit has begun to read. There are often hundreds of books on the set, each member of the unit chooses one, and sometimes you can hear nothing but the sound of turning pages."

+ What struck many of us about this work is that, as early as 1953, the urge to turn away from technology -- to fear it -- was already taking root. Bradbury holds up technology as the enemy of thought, building a world in which people are mindlessly staring at the moving pictures on their living room walls and no longer able to carry on a conversation. Yet, as Margy pointed out, the belief that TV would ruin us all is just an old chestnut that hasn't stood the test of time. Per Chris, if the percentage of today's world population that reads were compared to the percentage that were readers when this book was written, you'd find them to be about the same.

+ In the same way that Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek foretold technological advances that eventually came to pass, Bradbury invents technology that did not exist in his day. His characters wear Seashell-brand ear microphones well before ear buds were invented. His living-room screen walls predate today's giant flat-screen TVs by 60 years.

+ Bradbury's prose can be thrilling and poetic. But it can also be a bit of a word salad. Sometimes, his verbal pyrotechnics get the better of him and the reader is left wondering what the heck. But to write it, he would go to the UCLA library and work in the basement with coin-operated typewriters. So, as Margy pointed out, given that method, "you might have a tendency to say "well, good enough."

+ Other elements of the story are most likely products of their time, such as his portrayal of all of the women, with the exception of Clarisse, as ditzes. Were the women more susceptible to mind control than people like Faber and Beatty?

+ Liz felt there were perhaps two themes at play here -- book-burning as a method of mind control and Bradbury's own fear of technology and where it would lead. Bradbury is quoted as saying he was "a preventer of futures, not a predictor of them."

+ Overall, Fahrenheit 451 is a quick read well worth your time, both as historical social commentary and the work of a deeply experimental story-teller.

Smarty-pants Department

The Bradbury letter - click to view

+ Margy produced a letter from Bradbury, which has been hiding in her archive since her days as Director of Education at Walker Art Center. Despite being a foremost writer of future-focused literature, Bradbury was apparently unwilling to fly. (Now we are all rooting through our archives to see if we have any letters from famous people so we can compete.)

 

 

 

 

Lunch in the Garden Room

+ Thank you to our gracious hostess for a lovely chili lunch, which has now raised the bar for the rest of us. 

+ And to our waiter, Larry, for hot coffee when it was needed most.

Look how pretty this is

Our Next Books

• January: Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr (at Liz's house)
• February: The Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
• March: War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (you know you've always wanted to read it and now's your chance)
  

The Beauty of Cabbages in the Eye of One Beholder

Title: So Big

Author: Edna Ferber

 

After deciding that we wanted to read a classic, but unable to agree on the precise meaning of "classic," we decided that anything qualifies as long as it was written "awhile ago." Enter Edna Ferber. A bestselling novelist, short story writer and playwright of her day, Edna Ferber won the Pulitzer Prize for So Big in 1924. A member of the Algonquin Round Table, she was known for her strong female protagonists, a feature atypical of her contemporaries.

 

So Big is the story of Selena Dejong, a young woman determined to make her own way in the world, and her son Dirk, nicknamed "So Big" as a child. A devotee of beauty in all of its forms, Selena moves from a life of excitement and ideas with a ne're-do-well father to a hardscrabble life as the wife of a Dutch truck farmer southwest of a growing Chicago. Throughout, she embraces the beauty of life as she attempts to instill this same passion into her son.

Insight and Opinions

A few of our number who prefer contemporary fiction grumbled their way into the book only to discover a wholly satisfying reading experience. Both Ann Patchett and Charles Baxter are strong proponents of reading and reviving "lost" books like this one, and having read it, we have to agree.

+ Liz said that a book like this, written at the time of its story, contains a richness not possible to achieve by even the most talented writer of historical fiction, however well it's researched. There is an offhand nature to the simple details of the protagonist -- what she wears, how she bathes, how she moves from place to place, what she cooks and eats -- that anchors the reader solidly in another time.

Chris Zooming while zooming

+ Ferber has the habit of writing about the present moment and its consequences for the future, all within the same sentence -- something not seen in the works of contemporary authors. Margy rightly pointed out that a careful read of the first chapter gives the reader the entire story. It's worth going back to reread the first chapter after finishing the book to witness Ferber's mastery.

+ Linda pointed out a key moment in the text, when Selena first sees the vast fields of cabbages and tells the stoic Dutch farmer who is driving her to the farm "the cabbages are beautiful." It's clear he thinks this is ridiculous and it's a comment that will be repeated back to her for many years by the locals, as if it's her name. But Ferber writes "Life has no weapons against a woman like that."

 

Nothing better than a cozy fire.

+ Ferber writes with humor and insight, capturing the stern and sober nature of the Dutch farmers at the time and playing with images. In her hand-carved shoes, Selena's "feet were as large as minnows in a rowboat." Mr. Hempl's advice: "About mistakes, you got to make your own. If you try to keep people from making theirs, they get mad."

+ We wondered about the name of the book. On the one hand, "So Big" is Dirk's nickname, so should this not be his story and not Selena's? Jocey's view is that it's a commentary on great aspirations (Selena's) but also a commentary on Dirk. Yes, he does become "big" as one of the wealthiest young men in Chicago, but his bigness is ultimately hollow and small while it's his mother who is "big."

 

+ Reading a book written long ago teaches us much about daily life, but can also be jarring when certain words no longer considered acceptable pop up on the page. Be duly warned.

+ The ending was a bit controversial to our group as some felt the book has no real ending, turning the page to find out "oops, wait, what?" But others felt that, despite the lack of resolution, the reader knows what will happen to Dirk, Selena and Rolfe.

Other Things Unrelated to this Book

 + There was a hopeless kerfuffle about a series of greeting cards we were attempting to sign as a group, but we won't go into that here as it would spoil the surprise for those who will be receiving the cards. At least theoretically.

 + We did veer from the topic a bit and spent some time talking about trophy wives and what that's all about. 

Charming hostess with book nerds.

 

+ We all agreed we like to read books that don't make us nervous and we wondered if it's possible for books to sneak into your house at night because sometimes you find one that you have no idea where it came from since YOU certainly wouldn't have bought such a thing.

Next Up

For our November book, we will read Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.

Encircling the Globe and the Century

Title: The Great Circle

Author: Maggie Shipstead

 

From the Publisher

"After being rescued as infants from a sinking ocean liner in 1914, Marian and Jamie Graves are raised by their dissolute uncle in Missoula, Montana. There--after encountering a pair of barnstorming pilots passing through town in beat-up biplanes--Marian commences her lifelong love affair with flight. At fourteen she drops out of school and finds an unexpected and dangerous patron in a wealthy bootlegger who provides a plane and subsidizes her lessons, an arrangement that will haunt her for the rest of her life, even as it allows her to fulfill her destiny: circumnavigating the globe by flying over the North and South Poles.

A century later, Hadley Baxter is cast to play Marian in a film that centers on Marian's disappearance in Antarctica. Vibrant, canny, disgusted with the claustrophobia of Hollywood, Hadley is eager to redefine herself after a romantic film franchise has imprisoned her in the grip of cult celebrity. Her immersion into the character of Marian unfolds, thrillingly, alongside Marian's own story, as the two women's fates--and their hunger for self-determination in vastly different geographies and times--collide." 

 

Insights and Opinions

A small but mighty group of book nerds assembled at Blanche's beautiful lakeside home to take our monthly stab at literary criticism. Opening comments took a surprising turn, centering on the size of Shipstead's work and the sensory experiences of our readers that resulted from its sheer mass. 

This is a big book, running to 673 pages in hardbound. Shirley and Steve both read hard copies, a typical preference of book lovers. But the small typeface makes it a hard slog, even with the aid of a magnifying glass. Big books are heavy, Blanche noted, and can hurt when they fall on your face if you are reading in bed. Listening on audio is painless and pleasant and can be combined with a stroll outside. Those who read it via e-reader had no complaints.  (None of this would have even come up in an 1850s conversation about a book, but I digress. Just think about it).

But We Aren't Complaining About the Length

+ Clearly, this work is a labor of love. This is one of those books you love to read because it holds a long story arc, includes fascinating details about a whole panoply of fields, including aviation, art-making and collection, the film industry, bootlegging, and shipping, and brings the reader into the minds and motives of a host of fascinating characters.

+ As Margy pointed out, "It has to be long. It covers the entire 20th century." Liz agreed, but also felt that a good editor might have been able to convince Shipstead to let some things go. As Steve pointed out in reference to the mushroom scene, "just because you can write when you're high doesn't mean you should."

+ The characters in this book are rich, varied, and well-developed. So much so that there is much fodder here for a set of sequels or prequels, a la Kate Atkinson. Did we really get to spend enough time with movie star Hadley to make us care about her? Not really. Would we have benefited from greater insight into Addison Graves' reasons for abandoning his children after ruining his own life to save theirs? Absolutely.

+ The circle is the metaphor that ties together all of the threads of this story -- Marian's dream of circumnavigating the globe is the most obvious. But all of the disparate stories of the characters in this story, and their effects on the subsequent generation, form great circles of their own, starting in one place, looping forward, and connecting in satisfying ways at the end.

Passion in the Details

+ Shirley noted Shipstead's facility at writing about passion and what it's like to be passionate about something. Jamie's experience as a military artist, sent to capture the essence of war, shows perhaps the most compelling example. In the midst of a fire fight, he sketches furiously, intending to capture the moment. Then, when he later looks at what he had created, he sees it's nothing but slashes and furious lines, shapes and shadows. There is nothing, but at the same time, everything to see.

+ When asked if we felt that some parts of this story could have been eliminated to make room for the rest, we all said yes. But we also disagreed on what could have been eliminated. So that's the best indication that everything on these pages should stay right where it is. 

+ Astonishing to all of us is the amount of research Shipstead would have had to have completed to write what she has written. We've all experienced how great writers dive in to a topic -- be it a period of time or a type of work or a cultural system -- and teach us while they are entertaining us. But, Shipstead has written deeply and convincingly about aviation, World War II, painting, bootlegging, ocean navigation, and the film industry with staggering knowledge and a truly deft hand.

+ Ultimately, this book hits you on the head in more ways than one, and is well worth the read. Also worthwhile will be seeking out Shipstead's other novels, knowing this is a writer we admire.

Book nerds at lunch

 

Next Up

After some discussion about the desire to read a classic and then a somewhat failed chat about how to define a classic, we decided that for our next meeting, we will discuss So Big by Edna Ferber.

It's 2 a.m. Someplace, but Where?

Title: 2 A.M. in Little America

Author: Ken Kalfus

From the publisher (our own Milkweed Editions):

"From “an important writer in every sense” (David Foster Wallace), a novel that imagines a future in which sweeping civil conflict has forced America’s young people to flee its borders, into an unwelcoming world.

One such American is Ron Patterson, who finds himself on distant shores, working as a repairman and sharing a room with other refugees. In an unnamed city wedged between ocean and lush mountainous forest, Ron can almost imagine a stable life for himself. Especially when he makes the first friend he has had in years—a mysterious migrant named Marlise, who bears a striking resemblance to a onetime classmate.

 

Brimming with mystery, suspense, and Kalfus’s distinctive comic irony, 2 A.M. in Little America poses several questions vital to the current moment: What happens when privilege is reversed? Who is watching and why? How do tribalized politics disrupt our ability to distinguish what is true and what is not? This is a story for our time—gripping, unsettling, prescient—by one of our most acclaimed novelists."

This book has garnered a wealth of accolades, including:

An Esquire “Best Book of Spring 2022”
A Publishers Weekly “Best Book of Summer 2022”
A Kirkus “Best Book of May 2022”
A San Francisco Chronicle “Most Anticipated Novel of 2022”
A Literary Hub “Most Anticipated Book of 2022”

Insight and Opinions

So who are we to disagree with all of those accolades? Although we must admit, we do like to argue and quibble whenever a good book is in the hot seat.

+ Kalfus is disturbingly successful at capturing the prevailing disquietude of our times, posing the question "how do tribalized politics disrupt our ability to distinguish what is true and what is not? (Milkweed)." To Lois, reading this book while also watching the Congressional hearings about the January 6 insurrection made her question "where am I now?" This book, in combination with the hearings, was more than she could take.

+ As a group, our initial, energetic "blurting" focused on our confusion -- the way the book refuses to name places or provide anything as an actual event or fact that doesn't shift. Who are these people? Where are we? Is that woman the same as that woman? Who is that detective?

+ But to Jocey and Linda, that's the genius of the book. The confusion is purposeful. It's exactly how we are feeling right now in our world. We don't know what's true or not true. Everyone is confused.

+ The main character's memories of his science teacher explaining the workings of the camera obscura is crucial to understanding what Kalfus is about. Everyone sees something different. The way the camera obscura works is the same way this book works as well as the experiences of the people in it.

+ Kalfus has turned the tables on us, sending Americans out into the world as unwanted immigrants. His imagining of how this feels, how disturbing and rootless and fear-inducing it is, is masterful. To Linda, what he has done here is entirely present while also being prescient.

+ Steve vacillated between fascination and frustration, asking "how far should you push a concept novel?" While reading, what he wanted more than anything was a proper noun someplace in the narrative, any place.

+ All agreed that, while reading, they grew more and more anxious. Liz stated her appreciation for what Kalfus is about and his deft hand at doing it, but ultimately succumbed to overwhelming anxiety. "This is not why I read."

Upcoming

We will not be meeting in August as people are busy doing their various fancy things. So, we will group up again in September, when our read will be The Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead. Margy assures us that this is a weighty saga with a beginning, middle, and end and plenty of proper nouns to go around.

 

 

The Empty Chair

 

There is a hole in our book club now.

 

Our friend, mentor, and book club arguer Gail See died last week and now each of us is struggling with accepting that fact.

 

As a long-term force in the world of literature and the book, Gail could boast a CV miles long. That is, if she ever boasted.

 

She was a former president of the American Bookseller’s Association and a board member for the National Center for the Book at the Library of Congress. She was a much-sought-after leader of literary arts organizations in Minneapolis, including The Loft Literary Center, Graywolf Press, and the Minnesota Center for Book Arts. She was instrumental in creating Open Book, the home for literature in Minneapolis. She was the long-term owner of The Bookcase, a prominent independent bookstore in Wayzata, Minnesota, that set the tone for others to follow.

 

She was all of these things. But to us, she was just Gail.

 

When we convened the first meeting of our fledgling book club – made up of former board members and executive directors of the Loft Literary Center – Gail was there, brightening the room with her shock of white hair and incandescent personality. For the next 14 years, she read voraciously, shared what she’d read, made recommendations, offered insights, argued with us, and enriched every meeting.

Margy Ligon, Chris Mahai, and Gail See

 

Sometimes, she came with a stack of books. Sometimes she came with a dog. Then later, she came with a cane. And finally, she came virtually with an email filled with regret that she could not join us in person. But a chair for Gail was always there.

 

Now that chair is empty, and our hearts are broken. But what we are, more than anything, is grateful.

 

Her generosity of spirit, her intelligence and wit were a continual source of inspiration to us.

 

Along the way, she suggested we read Oliver Sack’s Gratitude and, in particular, she loved this quote from the book:

 

“My predominant feeling is one of gratitude. I have loved and been loved, I have been given much and I have given something in return, I have read and traveled. Above all, I have been a sentient being, a thinking animal on this beautiful planet, and that in itself has been an enormous privilege and adventure.”

 

Gail See and Vickie Lettman

To us, sharing books and life with Gail has been an enormous privilege and adventure.

We will miss her forever.

 

 

 

 

 

The Gail See staircase at Open Book

 

 

 

Watch this video interview with Gail

https://vimeo.com/164717549

Giving Form to Emptiness

Title: The Book of Form and Emptiness

Author: Ruth Ozeki

Just when it seemed we were safe to come out of the basement and join the world again, COVID-19 paid a new visit in the form of the Omicron variant so we are back to BCZ (Book Club Zooming). This was not all bad, however, as it allowed us to fold in those who are vacationing or living in warmer, sunnier places.

To orient ourselves, let's start with the publisher's description:

"One year after the death of his beloved musician father, thirteen-year-old Benny Oh begins to hear voices. The voices belong to the things in his house—a sneaker, a broken Christmas ornament, a piece of wilted lettuce. Although Benny doesn't understand what these things are saying, he can sense their emotional tone; some are pleasant, a gentle hum or coo, but others are snide, angry and full of pain. When his mother, Annabelle, develops a hoarding problem, the voices grow more clamorous.

At first, Benny tries to ignore them, but soon the voices follow him outside the house, onto the street and at school, driving him at last to seek refuge in the silence of a large public library, where objects are well-behaved and know to speak in whispers. There, Benny discovers a strange new world. He falls in love with a mesmerizing street artist with a smug pet ferret, who uses the library as her performance space. He meets a homeless philosopher-poet, who encourages him to ask important questions and find his own voice amongst the many.
 
And he meets his very own Book—a talking thing—who narrates Benny’s life and teaches him to listen to the things that truly matter."

Insights and Opinions

+ Once discussion started, our group drew immediate comparisons between this book and Ozeki's earlier work, A Tale for the Time Being, which we read years ago, discussed and loved. Steve and Linda pointed to the themes and devices common to both books -- grief and loss, the animating power of the written word and its ability to change one's life, the sentience of all things.

+ Lois highlighted the theme of reality and how it is experienced differently by each character, leading to the ultimate question with which Benny has to grapple -- what is real? There is Benny's reality, and his mother Annabelle's reality, the reality of the therapist, and the librarian. All profoundly different yet all profoundly real to the person.

+ To Steve, the objects themselves also became important characters -- the voices, the books, the snow globes, the teapots, Benny's Coping Cards, The Aleph's hand-written notes tucked away for others to find and follow or not -- even the precipitous bridge in the library addition.

+ As someone who spent time working in libraries, Margy appreciated the accuracy of the library as a character. Librarians do form relationships with their regular homeless occupants and libraries are also faced with the current-day challenges of deaccession and bindery closure as technology takes over.

+ There was some disagreement about whether the ending wrapped up too precipitously but then Steve rightly pointed out that everything that occurs in the closing pages is introduced as a possibility earlier on and, as a result, the book reaches its logical conclusion. To Steve, Kenji was there all along, perhaps nudging things toward a better place.

+ To Liz, Ozeki's treatment of every character was compassionate. As a result, despite the oppressive force overtaking Benny and Annabelle, a reader is led to understand everyone's point of view -- each player's reality. There are no good guys or bad guys. Just flawed people trying to make it through the day.

+ Ozeki is a superlative writer. As is our way, we brought our favorite passages to read aloud. There are too many to share here. But consider this quote from The Bottleman: "Ze truth about stories is that is all we are. A famous Cherokee writer named Thomas King once said this. We are ze stories we tell ourselves, Benny-boy. We meck ourselves."

+ Margy admitted to having actually read Walter Benjamin's Unpacking My Library, which amazed us all.

+ This is a perfect pandemic book and, as Lois suggested, should be kept on one's shelf, taken down regularly, opened to any page, and read until you are calm.

The best way to enjoy our book discussion.

The Stuff of Legends Delivered with Grace

Title: Sharks in the Time of Saviors

Author: Kawai Strong Washburn

 

Summer was waning, COVID was waxing, and it seemed a perfect time to sit outside and discuss this magical book. But the combo of aggressively falling leaves, bird droppings and a work crew next door sawing through concrete drove us inside almost immediately. Ours is a hearty group of diehard book-discussers and we'll talk anywhere, so next stop -- the living room. 

 

Our book club rules are strict. First, general exchange of news, not to exceed 30 minutes. Then get down to the serious business of critique and opinion exchange. No one is allowed to state whether or not they liked the book until the end of the discussion although there are some regular sinners who will launch the conversation with "I know I'm not supposed to say whether I like it, but I loved/hated this book." We spent our first 30 minutes talking about The Loft, which is how we all came to know each other in the first place. Then we sequed into who died of COVID, which is how all conversations turn at this moment.

 

About the Book

From the publisher:

"In 1995 Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, on a rare family vacation, seven-year-old Nainoa Flores falls overboard a cruise ship into the Pacific Ocean. When a shiver of sharks appears in the water, everyone fears for the worst. But instead, Noa is gingerly delivered to his mother in the jaws of a shark, marking his story as the stuff of legends.

Nainoa’s family, struggling amidst the collapse of the sugarcane industry, hails his rescue as a sign of favor from ancient Hawaiian gods—a belief that appears validated after he exhibits puzzling new abilities. But as time passes, this supposed divine favor begins to drive the family apart: Nainoa, working now as a paramedic on the streets of Portland, struggles to fathom the full measure of his expanding abilities; further north in Washington, his older brother Dean hurtles into the world of elite college athletics, obsessed with wealth and fame; while in California, risk-obsessed younger sister Kaui navigates an unforgiving academic workload in an attempt to forge her independence from the family’s legacy."

 

Insights and Opinions

+ Linda found the book compelling and thought-provoking. Although she found parts of the book gritty and sad, each character is fascinating, including the character of Hawaii itself. To quote a passage: "The kingdom of Hawaii had long been broken -- the breathing rainforests and singing green reefs crushed under the haole fists of beach resorts and skyscrapers." She agreed with the critic who described the book as "a hula of modern prose, like the gods have chosen Washburn as a vessel to cram all the glory and sadness of these islands into the story of one family." 

 

+ Overall, our group had mixed reactions to the book. We were uniformly awed by the quality of the writing, but some expressed confusion about what they saw as the unresolved message and ending. Several of those who felt this way recommended watching interviews with the author, such as this one, which is available on Facebook. (This will open in a new window, just so you know).

 

+ While Margy felt there was no real resolution, she found the changing perspectives of the four main voices to be strong and involving. All three children were extraordinary. She found herself pulling for each of them to live up to their potential, but that doesn't happen for anyone in this book.

 

+ Steve, on the other hand, expressed some discomfort with the "turbulence and disorientation of skipping from person to person. I kept thinking, this is a great novel, and then, or is it?" In many ways, Steve felt the book is a closer look at the American dream, which we have all been examining recently, and some of the fallacies surrounding that concept. He felt educated by the book.

 

+ Because of the strong opening revolving around Noa's rescue by the sharks, Liz expected this to be Noa's story. But when he disappears midway through the book, she was left wondering and kept waiting for him to come back somehow in a powerful way at the end.

 

+ Others felt differently. That Noa was personifying Hawaii itself (Lois) or that the book is more about the eco-system of the family rather than Noa as an individual (Jocey).  

+ Bottom line: This is a book well worth reading if you haven't for everything it has to offer and for introducing you to the pain and cultural uprooting of the indigenous people of Hawaii.

A Look Out of Doors

We didn't take pictures at this event due to our initial flurry of relocating, so here is a random picture of what the garden was doing at the time we met.

Marigolds, salvia and rosemary

 

 

 

 

The Journey to Getting Back to Where You Started

 

Title: Turbulence

Author: David Szalay

For scene-setting, let's start with the promotional blurb touting this novel: "From the acclaimed Man Booker Prize-short-listed author of All That Man Is, a stunning, virtuosic novel about twelve people, mostly strangers, and the surprising ripple effect each one has on the life of the next as they cross paths while in transit around the world."

At just 160 pages, our choice of book-club reads was a suitable pick, especially for those of us suffering from COVID-19 cognitive and emotional fatigue. We also stuck with the transportation theme, piling into car-pooling clusters and then driving back and forth randomly until we were able to find Lois' house. After touring her beautiful garden, loading our plates, and loosely discussing the topic of "who is meaner -- writers or academics?" we got down to the business at hand.

Insights and Opinions

+ Core to this novel is its structure. Each chapter opens with the letter codes of the departure and arrival airports relevant to the character in the chapter. And each character is linked with a character in the next chapter. The reader is invited into the mind of each character along the journey and, as Lois noted, becomes privy to the internal assumptions they make about each other.

+ Szalay writes with profound empathy for his characters. Jocey was struck by how these interior conversations reveal their hardships and heartaches, which aren't visible to their fellow passengers. Szalay's hand at writing the human condition is deft. For example, Steve noted that, when seen from his wife's point of view, Shamgar is clearly an angry, abusive spouse. Yet Shamgar's chapter shows us a softer side and gives the reader a window into his pain. In many ways, he is a reprehensible character who also has a softer side -- not entirely rare in the world.

+ We were all struck by the way the stories circle the world. Some, like Linda, felt it was a fun game -- like being on a train platform and catching snippets of conversation. Linda expressed a note of personal pride at having figured out the system. Liz, on the other hand, felt that this structure was merely a gimmick. She had been drawn into and was fully engaged with each set of characters and felt cheated when the set-up amounted to nothing in particular. Margy, on the other hand, disagreed, stating that "it was so skillful, it took you by surprise in a delightful way."

Margy explains the geography of the novel to Liz.

 

+ In Margy's opinion, this line, which appears in the chapter about a baby being born blind, is the theme that holds the book together: "...was one of those events that makes us what we are, for ourselves and for other people. They just seem to happen, and then forever, and slowly we understand that we're stuck with them, that nothing will ever be the same again."

+ Shirley pointed out this Kennedy quote from the last chapter as her take on the true meaning of the book: "For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal."

+ Ultimately, Steve was mesmerized and entertained by not fully satisfied. "I enjoyed it as an exercise, but don't we expect more of a center to a book?" As Linda pointed out, "everybody is traveling and no one is really home."

Back to Where We Were Before

+ Maybe it was because Turbulence is so short or maybe it was because the group is still so in love with last months' book, but at least half of our time was spent talking about After Francesco by Brian Malloy -- last months' read. Everyone committed to recommending this book to friends. And the big question: why hasn't it been reviewed?

+ Other things people have been reading and recommend we do the same include Deacon King Kong, The Great Circle,  and The Good Lord Bird.

Next Months' Read

Our next session will be at Liz's house and we will read Sharks In the Time of Saviors by Kawai Strong Washburn.

"Be curious first, judgmental a distant second."

Title: After Francesco 

Author: Brian Malloy

The Set-up

 “From acclaimed author Brian Malloy comes a stunning novel of love, friendship, and surviving the deepest loss, set in New York City and Minneapolis in 1988, at the peak of the AIDS crisis.” 

More than a decade ago, the organizing principle of our book club was to create a way for us, all former Board Members, to continue gathering on the third Monday of the month to share our mutual love of literature and The Loft.  So, when Linda suggested we read Brian Malloy’s fourth novel, After Francesco, it was an easy, unanimous decision.  

Brian had served as both Director of Development and, later, Director of Education at the Loft before he embarked on a successful writing career. We all remember him fondly, as Steve put it, as “just a fundamentally nice guy and good person, as well as a talented writer.”  With the promise of a “mystery guest,” we were a big, boisterous group including Blanche and Faith, who we’ve been missing, and Chris, who flew in from New York. Liz, Gail, and Joanne unfortunately couldn’t attend and Steve joined by phone to spare us from his bad summer cold.  

From the moment Brian walked into the room to our spontaneous applause, our discussion was off to a raucous start. For a conversation about a novel dealing with grief, guilt, heartbreak, and anger, we still managed to laugh. A lot! 

 

Insights and Opinions

+ Never shy, we dove right into the debate over cultural appropriation in literature. We asked Brian his thoughts about Rebecca Makkai’s novel, Great Believers.  Born in 1978, Makkai is a straight woman who was still a child at the peak of the AIDS crisis. Yet her book on the topic received a $1M advance and was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. Brian explained that, in his opinion, anyone can write outside their personal experience if they’re writing fiction. At the same time, he thinks it’s fair game to skewer authors who opportunistically write their “emotional truth” in fabricated memoirs like the fictitious bestseller by Francesco’s “sister-in-love.”

 

+ Linda expressed her appreciation for the “gallows humor” that balances the sadness that could have rendered the story unbearable. She read the final paragraph of Brian’s author’s note asking him to elaborate on its final sentence: “Neither man has the self-pitying look of the bitter.”  Brian told us that he realized that he is still angry 40 years later about the cruel mismanagement of the AIDS crisis.  Writing this book helped him come to terms with that anger because, as he said, he doesn’t want to be a “bitter old man”:  “Bitterness is judgmental and narcissistic. It means you’ve given up on other people.”  

 

+ When Brian gave Francesco the memorable line “Be curious first, judgmental a distant second,” he didn’t realize he was channeling Walt Whitman.

 

+ Steve admired how all the characters in the book are fully developed – a skill Brian shares with Faith. It enabled him to care not only about the main characters, Kevin and Francesco, but all the secondary characters because they are so clearly and cleanly delineated. Faith agreed and acknowledged what hard work it is to create such memorable minor characters. When she finishes a novel, she said, she feels like she’s “had a long, long session with a psychologist.”

 

+ A good example of this was our affection for Kevin’s loyal friend Tommy. Brian explained that he was based on a real life-long friend from high school. Brian specifically wanted to include a sympathetic straight character in the book to counter the current demonization of straight, white males. “We’re so into identity politics these days, it’s preventing us from thinking and seeing others.” 

Author Brian Malloy amid the booksters

+ We also all loved Kevin’s eccentric Irish Catholic Aunt Nora. Her continuing outrage at the British government’s involvement in the Irish potato famine created a unique parallel to lingering anger over the US government’s political mishandling of AIDS.

+ Margy found the way in which the details of Kevin’s involvement in Francesco’s death were gradually revealed throughout the book was a powerful way to explain his debilitating and self-destructive behavior.

 

+ Lois commented that Brian has managed to capture the details of everyday life in the 1980s so authentically that it brought the emotional era back to life for her. And, Jocey appreciated his ability to write natural dialogue that “just flows.” 

+ While Kevin Doyle isn’t an autobiographical character, Brian feels he’s done his best writing about him and isn’t ready to let him go. Also a character in his first book, The Year of Ice, Brian is currently planning a third novel tentatively titled Minneapolis is Burning, that will pick up when Kevin is in his 60s (Brian’s current age). Having all loved After Francesco, we can’t wait to return to Kevin’s story and to resume our conversation with Brian as soon as it’s published.

Next Up

Our next meeting is set for Monday, August 16, at 12:30 pm to discuss Turbulence by David Szalay. The author of five books, Szalay was short-listed for the Man Booker in 2016 for his novel All That Man Is. At just 145 pages, Turbulence is “a stunning novel about twelve people and the ripple effect each one has on the life of the next as they cross paths in their journeys around the world." Happy travels!

 

And finally

Many thanks to Margy for writing this post and supplying the pix. And, many apologies to the booksters for the delay in posting because, you know, COVID.

 

Fresh Water to Bring Us Back to Life

Title: Fresh Water for Flowers 

Author: Valerie Perrin

 

Placing Us in Time and Circumstance

So, it's June, 2021, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and we are just emerging from a year and a half of hiding in the basement. (A bit like the cicadas, although their tenure underground was quite a bit longer than ours). As we stumble out, blinking in the sun and hobbling in actual shoes that feel foreign, we find that we can actually meet IN PERSON for book club.

For some of us, reading during this time of trauma was a balm. For others, it was impossible, concentration being just out of reach. But, our first reunion demonstrated that our readers are back in business. So, let's get started.

The Set-up

Translated from the French, this story is told from the perspective of Violette Toussaint, the caretaker at a cemetery in a small town in Bourgogne. From the publisher: "Her daily life is lived to the rhythms of the hilarious and touching confidences of random visitors and her colleagues -- three gravediggers, three groundskeepers, and a priest.

Violette's routine is disrupted one day by the arrival of police chief Julien Seul wishing to deposit his mother's ashes on the gravesite of a complete stranger. Julien is not the only one to guard a painful secret: his mother's story of clandestine love breaks through Violette's carefully constructed defenses to reveal the ...." and I'm just going to stop there as this next bit is a spoiler. Plus, the above description is really not very good or even accurate.

Insights and Opinions

+ Chris, who was unable to complete any book during quarantine, couldn’t put this one down, perhaps because of its three-page chapters, or perhaps because her own childhood friend’s father was a cemetery keeper. “It resonated with me by reminding me what a happy place a cemetery can be,” she said.

+ Steve noted that there is so much love in this book, but much of it is frustrated. The writer does a masterful job of writing human characters, each interesting in their own oddities and eccentricities and, as a result, you feel real affection for each character. None of them are there as plot devices and they all play an important role.

+ Liz appreciated the quiet pace of the book – Violette’s knowledge of every grave, her journal in which she keeps a careful record of services and gatherings, the chats in her “public” room where she listens, the creepy dolls on her staircase. On the other hand, she felt that the book’s conclusion was out of keeping with the rest of the writing. No more can be said about that, though, as it would be a spoiler if you haven’t read the book.

+ Margy pointed out that this book is about love and redemption, but that no one seems to be in love with the person they are with. Instead, they are all having affairs with someone else. There followed some discussion about whether this is a “French thing” and that we just don’t get it as Americans. Or maybe we’re just prudes.

+ The many references to French culture and events left Linda a bit in the dark, so she just moved on. “Maybe I’m just not the ideal reader for this book,” she said. Liz Googled a few things along the way, which helped. But the story still stands without a complete understanding of these elements.

+ Lois was moved by the scenes in a cemetery room where Violette meets with the gravediggers, the men from the funeral home, the priest, and the mourners. These scenes brought her into each of these characters and demonstrated Violette’s wisdom and quiet but wise spirit.

+ One of our favorite exercises is reading aloud favorite passages. Linda points to these: “There is too much ‘just in case’ in my luggage.” And “It is the words they didn’t say that make the dead so heavy in their coffins.” 

 

Oddments and Telling Details

Our hostess, plus aftermath

+ In person, we were able to count Linda, Jocey, Liz, Steve, Shirley, Lois, and Margy, which was pretty amazing given current circumstances. Chris joined us via Zoom due to being skunked in her effort to get on a plane, the aviation industry being in the same muddle as everything else right now.

+ Jocey was semi-bleary-eyed, having just flown in from a “last-minute” camping trip to Iceland (who does that?). 

 

+ Margy’s John stayed downstairs guarding the door and keeping the creeps and weirdos out, and for that we are grateful.

 

+ Steve brought out an old book from days of yore and impressed us with his fluent French, which made us all feel insecure.

 

Where Has This Blog Been?

Also emerging from the basement is this blog, which has been dormant since 2017 for many reasons, but mostly the laziness of the writer.

 

The Walls We Build and How We Lose

Title: The Tortilla Curtain
Author: T. Coraghessan Boyle

First, a brief summary from the publisher to center everyone in the work: "Topanga Canyon is home to two couples on a collision course. Los Angeles liberals Delaney and Kyra Mossbacher lead an ordered sushi-and-recycling existence in a newly gated hilltop community: he a sensitive nature writer, she an obsessive realtor. Mexican illegals Candido and America Rincon desperately cling to their vision of the American Dream as they fight off starvation in a makeshift camps deep in the ravine. And from the moment a freak accident brings Candido and Delaney into intimate contact, these four and their opposing worlds gradually intersect in what becomes a tragicomedy of error and misunderstanding."

First published in 1995, this book was our choice because of the timeliness of the subject matter. Some 22 years after this book was written, we are still facing the same unbearable choices.

The run-up to discussion

With a good crowd -- Lois, Steve, Margy, Vicky, Shirley, Linda, Liz and Gail -- we started by doing what you'd expect: all talking at once. Steve accompanied on the piano, displaying yet another of his many talents. Once we'd reassured ourselves that Vicky's Florida home had survived the hurricane, we got down to the serious business of agreeing and disagreeing with each other.

Insights and Opinions

+ In the interest of full disclosure, two of us hadn't read the book at all. Both Margy and Lois had a hard time getting into the book. Linda tried three times before she was able to make it all the way through, but was careful to point out that, by the time she'd reached the halfway mark, she couldn't put it down. Steve had no trouble diving in and finishing, but couldn't sleep easily afterward. And, his ultimate opinion was that he admires the book very much.

+ Time and again in the novel, however, it is hinted at that the real perpetrators can be found inside rather than outside the projected wall: well-to-do people insensitive to the plight of the have-nots."

And, thank you, Wikipedia, for this apt observation. Many in our group felt this theme -- how the writer treats his "Los Angeles liberals" -- is less of a hint and more of a bludgeon. In Margy's opinion, Boyle looks down on this couple throughout. Lois stated that they "annoyed the hell out of me. I don't expect to like every character in a book, but I do expect them to have some redeeming qualities." In Shirley's view, Boyle treats these characters with contempt, which diminishes the power of the narrative.

+ Gail asked this question: "Are we all as thinly committed as they are? I had the sense that everything they did was about appearances." All agreed that Boyle does a masterful job of making white, middle-class to affluent people cringe. And the question becomes, what is a white liberal to do in a situation like this?

+ Jocey, who wasn't able to attend but sent her notes, ranks this book as one of her all-time favorites. She writes: "Tortilla Curtain was one of those books that made me uncomfortable as a white liberal, which is why I loved it so much. It still haunts me -- the opening with the self-satisfied white liberal environmentalist suddenly having to confront his own hypocrisy. His beloved forest preserve is a refuge to desperate Latinos. It is easy to be incensed liberals in the comfort of our own homes, but what happens when some of our ideals get in the way of our nice lifestyles? All of TC Boyle's books drive me crazy. I sort of hate them, but I can't stop thinking about them. I love being a lefty when it's easy, but what if all of those African refugees I feel sorry for moved into my neighborhood...? Tortilla Curtain made me uncomfortable and think about my values from a variety of perspectives. What's not to love?"

+ Linda agreed with some of Jocey's comments, pointing out that it's easy to be a liberal until someone is camping out in your backyard.

+ Margy felt, while reading, that she was being manipulated by the author -- that the cliffhangers at the end of each chapter had become formulaic -- that the flood at the end was too pat, too contrived.

+ To Steve, the best writing takes place in the immigrants' story and Lois proposed that this is because the non-immigrant characters are caricatures whereas the immigrant characters ring true.

+ To Vicky, TC Boyle is an over-the-top writer. "The things he writes are intense and cutting. I don't think he wants you to take it as reality. He exaggerates, kind of like George Sanders, but not like George Sanders, who has a big heart. I think we need voices like this, but I don't want to spend a lot of time with him."

Other Things to Ponder

At the close of every session, we share ideas on what to read and what we have been reading. Here are a few of the group's book suggestions, should you be looking for something new to read.

• Never Coming Back, by Allison McGhee
• Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking, by Anya Von Bremzen (a memoir)
• The Nix, by Nathan Hill
• Unbelievable: My Front-Row Seat to the Craziest Campaign in American History, by Katy Tur
• Thank You for Being Late, by Thomas Friedman
• The Purple Swamp Hen and Other Stories, by Penelope Lively