The Hare and Hounds, Lansdown. Apologies from both Chris’s and Mark TH.
Mark TH’s email earlier in the day had
suggested that possibly we might be dealing with a Marmite book here and he was
definitely a hater not a lover, but as it turned out it was more of a peanut
butter book where most people quite liked it to some degree or other while one
person clearly had a very definite allergy!
Neil set out the stall with the fact that
he was pleasantly surprised by the format of the book which he hadn’t expected,
but the fact that the first third was the last part of the story
chronologically, followed by three sections which take you back over the
preceding 40 years worked well for him.
There was plenty going on in that first section with a reasonably
shocking conclusion, and then the next sections did a good job of explaining
why things in the first section might have happened. He was absorbed by the
characters, although it was not necessarily straight forward as to how you felt
about them, and he got a real sense of the place and the atmosphere, while
always happy to learn a little about an episode in history that he was
previously ignorant about.
He was also particularly interested in the
fact that much of this was about the feelings of an ex-pat trailing partner,
something a friend of his coaches people on and he felt great empathy with
Sabine’s feelings of being trapped on the island.
As the floor opened up, a number of these
themes were explored further with other parts being chipped in as well.
A number of people found the ex-pat nature
of the book appealing either because they had spent time as ex-pats (Chris W,
Ras) or because they knew and had visited people in that situation (Mark T,
Chris B, Neil). Mark T also enjoyed the passion in the book, both because the main
characters were “always at it” but also because the population of the island
were passionate about their freedom and independence.
Rob found it enjoyable, the characters
interesting, the story of independence worthwhile, but did feel he wanted to
hear more from George’s perspective and also that one or two episodes in the
book lacked credibility, such as the mad dash to catch the cruise ship.
Richard was the biggest detractor on the
night having had high expectations of the book after a positive review from
wife Gill. As part of book club lore it
is well known that Richard must feel able to empathise with characters in order
to enjoy reading about them and he found Sabine in particular to be irritating,
facile and pathetic. He also wanted to get to know George better. However, he
did enjoy many of the descriptive pieces in the book and found the relating of
the drinking culture, the first shopping trip, and the threatening looks from
locals to be especially well done. He
was also appalled at the level of domestic violence visited upon George by
Sabine, although several others felt he probably got no more than he deserved
for his poor behavior towards her.
Ras could also relate to the shopping trip
episode. To a lesser extent than Richard
he also felt Sabine could have done a better job of trying to adapt (clearly
she wouldn’t have made a very good naval wife
- my comment not Ras’s !) and in an unprecedented move he agreed with
Rob that the failed attempt to catch the boat off the island rang a bit
hollow. Nevertheless he enjoyed reading
about the island and the people and found the story raised feelings of
frustration about peoples’ apologetic attitude towards British colonialism when
this book illustrated another example of where the independent rule often had
the effect of making conditions worse, for a time at least. This instigated a
healthy debate on the subject.
Steve was reluctant to say too much on the
evening as he still has quite a bit to read, but his sense so far was that the
book was looking like an unexpected pleasure with a pleasingly simplistic form,
but he did add that he is finding the Creole accent to be a little irritating
to read and possibly a bit overdone.
Steve may yet have the final word on whether we are dealing with Marmite
or peanut butter here when he offers his final comments.
Via email we received comments from both
Chris’s and Mark TH. The Chris’s have
enjoyed the sense of place, relationships between Sabine and maids, insights
into ex-pat marital relationships in the 50’s and the transition out of
colonialism, but maybe the book was a bit too long and left too many loose
ends? Mark Th gave a pithy bit of feedback…he thought it was rubbish, dull and
predictable and wishes we had chosen Sense of an Ending which he thought was
“awesome”. Overall to date the average
score for the book is 6.28 pending Steve’s score.
Aside from this we drank nice beer outside
on the terrace admiring the handsome views on a warm summer’s evening, a rare
treat, whilst bemoaning the fact that the re-vamped H&H doesn’t sell
crisps, doesn’t have glasses with handles and doesn’t give great service at the
bar…but does have quite pretty waitresses apparently!
It was agreed that discussing Mark T’s book
will take place in September and that Neil, Richard, Mark T and Chris B will
aim to get together as a small group in August and select a separate book to
discuss via email.
