The White Woman on The Green Bicycle - July 2012

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.