SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS

Snow Falling on Cedars David Guterson  Meeting 050320 

Apologies from Chris B., Chris W., Richard V. all in exotic locations. elsewhere. This review currently lacks any comments from one of these readers, because of an inexplicable decision to drop his mobile device into a swimming pool.

San Piedro Island, north of Puget Sound, is a place so isolated that no one who lives there can afford to make enemies. But in 1954 a local fisherman is found suspiciously drowned, and a Japanese American is charged with his murder. In the course of the ensuing trial it becomes clear that, for a number of citizens, there is much more at stake than a man's guilt or innocence of the crime of which he is accused.

This novel attracted many very positive comments: ’fantastic’, ‘loved it’, ‘beautifully crafted’, ‘plot gripped me all the way through with the gradual revealing of layer after layer of people’s relationships and lives’, However, for two readers there were also some negative experiences : ‘clunky’, ‘too much detail’, ‘too many cedar trees!’.  Guterson’s attention to seemingly extraneous or irrelevant detail, while distracting for a couple of readers, was seen by others to humanise the town, the characters within it, and their intertwined, mutually-dependent relationships.

Even the readers who were least impressed by the author’s writing style recognised that certain sections were extremely evocative. The description of strawberry farming, gill-net fishing, aspects of Japanese culture and Kendo fighting, the confusion and tragedy of war, and the internment camp, were universally appreciated.  The courtroom scenes and the appearance of the people within it also brought into focus the characters of the protagonists as well as the spectators. 

Themes explored included racial prejudice which, in this case, was selectively focused on differences between Japanese and ‘white’ cultures; the overwhelming forces of nature, war, and chance events pitted against the physical, emotional, mental frailty of humans and their struggle to do the ‘do the right thing’.  

A good argument was made (special mention for Mark W) for ending the book with the penultimate chapter, which was emotionally dramatic, and would have left the story with an ambiguous conclusion, rather than being tidied-up.

Scores:

RV 9.5; SC 8.5; MT 6.5; JH 6.25; AA 8.5; MW 8.5; CB 8; WM 8.5; CW ?

Chronicle of a Death Foretold, by Gabriel García Márquez

[Forester & Flower, 6th Feb 2020. Scores: AA 7; CB 6; CW 6; JH 7; MT 5; MW 8.5; RV 6; SC 5.5; WM 7.5. Mean score 6.5]

A short novel by Gabriel García Márquez, a Colombian novelist who is considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th century and one of the best in the Spanish language. The novel was published in 1981, and a year later Márquez was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.

The narrator returns to a small town in Colombia where a baffling murder took place twenty-seven years earlier. Just hours after marrying the beautiful Angela Vicario, everyone agrees, Bayardo San Roman returned his bride in disgrace to her parents. Her distraught family forced her to name her first lover; and her twin brothers announced their intention to murder Santiago Nasar for dishonouring their sister. Yet if everyone knew the murder was going to happen, why did no one intervene to try and stop it? The central question at the core of the novella is how the death of Santiago was foreseen, yet no one tried to stop it. Unlike the traditional detective novel this book does not investigate the murder. Instead the narrator explores the circumstances surrounding his death by asking the villagers who were present during his murder and exploring the seeming contradiction of a murder that was predicted in advance. The more that is learned, the less is understood.

John H who introduced the book appreciated the way the author explored the mistakes, misunderstandings and assumptions that lead to the murder and the way warnings were misinterpreted, ignored or as in the victim’s case just not believed. For example, Colonel Aponte assumed that by taking knives off the Vicario Brothers and sending them to sleep it off would be the end of the matter, or the way that Father Amador tried to ignore the warnings because he didn’t know how to handle the situation. The situation wasn’t helped in that most of those involved were recovering from the wedding revelries, exhausted from lack of sleep or had dreadful hangovers – as the narrator noted even “my sister the nun had an 80% proof hangover”. John H liked the way the penultimate chapter explored what happened to Angela Vicario and the way that her “husband”, the fat, sweaty Bayardo San Roman finally returned to her life carrying a suitcase full of the two thousand letters she had written to him over the years since she had gone into “exile” after he had rejected her.

John H saw the book rather like a miniature painting with its meticulous detail. Beautiful, even forensic, descriptions of the town, the context, the people and the events. Wonderfully economical prose much of which became more apparent on a second reading once you got behind the description of the context and events. Sentences and phrases that said so much. He raised the question of whether such a short novel allows for enough character development or whether it is merely what it is – a look back at shocking events that happened over twenty-five years earlier. He also recognised that many questions also remained unanswered - this may have been the authors intent or just a product of brevity. The range of views shared below reflects how some reader’s enjoyment of the book was undermined by its brevity, its structure and lack of character development, while others valued its economical prose and the detail inherent in such a short narrative.

William M: Really appreciated the novel and enjoyed reading it, in fact felt it was well worth reading twice. It was very originally written with a great turn of phrase – for example, the way the bishop was described as “without malice or inspiration”. The different stories of those involved highlights how everyone has a different perspective on the same events, even different views on what the weather was like at the time. While there was limited character development the central characters were strong. Although we never really heard the story from the perspective of Angela around who the story revolves, particularly as to what happened to her – both before and on her wedding night. She found “the name of her deflowerer among the shadows – one among many to be found there”. But it was the detail that gave the book its added flavour, for example the great descriptions and detail of the wedding and the partying afterwards. Although it did seem to end rather abruptly in such a way that just left the reader hanging.

Chris B enjoyed the book more when read the second time with all the detail and the way the story is structured - particularly the way the tension builds to the murder and its consequences as well as the way the shocking detail of the murder came in the last chapter. He also liked the description of time and place, the array of characters and the way that relationships in the community were described – the jealousies and the descriptions of being an outsider (like the Arabs) in such a small isolated community. BUT this novel, for all its strengths, didn’t really resonate with him. It was all very coolly observed. It didn’t get to him and he wanted more emotional engagement, and as a result he questioned why it is seen as such a great book.

Mark T did not really enjoy it –didn’t get into it. He was disappointed by it and found reading it a bit too much like homework. He did not like the way he did not get to know any of the characters well. He also thought there were too many unresolved issues and unanswered questions. For example, there was no evidence that Angela had lost her virginity prior to the wedding night.

Steve C felt it well captured the town and the individuals. Good descriptions of a small town isolated on a riverbank somewhere in South America. But found it too short and was unable to “wallow” in the descriptions of the characters or communities involved. But recognised the quality of the writing – often quite terse and spare. Marquez uses language well and there is a great turn of phrase – particularly in the description of the wedding and the party afterwards. BUT he found the book too short, and as a result had not engaged with it in the same way as he might with a longer book

Andrew A did not see the length of this short novel as a problem. He saw it as perfectly formed and as satisfying as a much longer book. He loved the intricate structure – rather like a jigsaw, and the use of different people’s perspectives – rather like putting the shards of broken mirror together. The characters all remembered the day very clearly but what happened very differently. We learn so much about what happened but really don’t know what did happen – many questions were left unanswered particularly around Angela’s virginity or what happened on her wedding night. He also liked the themes that ran through the story – themes of honour and justice, religion and values. He thought it had a great opening chapter and a great ending – the way it started with disembowelling (rabbits) and ended with disembowelling (Santiago Nasar). He was not gripped by the plot, which was tightly woven, but found it a pleasure to read. He appreciated the sparse prose which he thought was beautifully crafted but recognised that there were possibly too many characters which became quite confusing after a while. The characters were well-drawn, but he didn’t really care for them or what happened to them.

Mark W saw this a brilliant little book, original, suspenseful, (even though you knew right from the first sentence what was going to happen) with a narrator who is like a ghost, having no real role or impact on the story other than collecting the memories of others. The build up to the final scene was masterful as he wasn’t expecting the two twists at the end, firstly that no one really believed it had been Santiago Nasar, and then the way that Angela got together with Bayardo in the end. The final scene was horrific in its build up and its detail. His only irritation (not the fault of this the book itself) was the abrupt ending when he was pacing himself for another 30 pages. He felt this book deserves all the accolades it has received.

Richard V started off liking the book. He thought that the first two sentences were wonderful! “On the day they were going to kill him, Santiago Nasar got up at five-thirty in the morning to wait for the boat the bishop was coming on. He’d dreamed he was going through a grove of timber trees where a gentle drizzle was falling , and for an instant he was happy in his dream, but when he awoke he felt completely spattered with bird shit.” There were several elements that he continued to like – it was short and extremely readable, and the author has a lovely smooth style and an excellent vocabulary. He also has great descriptive power – one can visualise much of what he writes, and many of the things he writes about resonated – “The fact is that Santiago Nasar went in through the main door, in full view of everyone, and without doing anything not to be seen” and yet no-one recalled seeing him. His description of the files in the Palace of Justice is an exact description of how files are ‘stored’ in India – in the law courts, in the police station, in fact, in everywhere that I have been to! “There was no classification of files whatever and more than a century of cases were piled up on the floor of the decrepit colonial building that had been Sir Francis Drake’s headquarters for two days.”

BUT – and it is a big but – he felt that something tremendously important was missing – there was no emotional contact with any of this host of characters. The book, the events, the culture, the descriptions, were all very interesting, and described in quite forensic detail, but the writer seemed to be (and as the reader Richard certainly was) completely removed from caring about any of these people. He concluded that that overall, this was a disappointing book despite all the positives. It reminded me a bit of the Truman Capote book ‘In Cold Blood’ which some of us read many years ago (May 2006), where again the idea and the execution of the idea were excellent, but where he managed to invest quite a lot more emotional depth into what was happening. Chris W felt he should have noted down characters as he went along because for a large part of the book he didn’t keep up with the names and roles of the numerous locals who turned up in the story and their different perspectives. He also felt it’s a story that he should have read in one sitting rather than over many evenings because the different nuances of the storyline told from different characters can only be appreciated when you were following the story through in detail. As a result that having read three-quarters of the book, rather than being attracted to get to the end and read the last pages, he begun to get bored of the same story being told over and over again (even though I knew that the whole point of the book was to have the story recounted from the perspective of different observers with all their minor differences. He recognised that the book conveyed a lot about religion, racism, collective responsibility, collective ignorance and the many other traits of the characters in the small Colombian town, and that it was beautifully written and very clear and readable prose. However, he began to become bored and had the feeling rather that it was a story that had been written for an A-level exam to be pulled apart page by page rather than to entertain the reader. So, in conclusion he thought perhaps he should read it again BUT unfortunately for him it was not an enjoyable read and more of a chore despite interesting themes it covered.

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

Introducing the book, Mark W explained that he initially had reservations about its length but was pleasantly surprised that he not only really enjoyed it and had no problem with the length. A great Christmas holiday read. He found the transformation into cloak and dagger fifty pages from the end a bit of a shock and was not completely convinced, but that didn’t really detract from overall enjoyment.

Of specific interest was the clash of cultures between the aristocratic Count and the post-Revolution new Russia, finding sympathy with the Count as a cultured gentlemen but also having sympathy with the socialist ideals of the Revolution in a Russia where there was terrible poverty among the peasants. Summed up in this quote from Osip:

‘The Bolsheviks are not Visigoths, Alexander. We are not the barbarian hordes descending upon Rome and destroying all that is fine out of ignorance or envy. It is the opposite. In 1916, Russia was a barbarian state. It was the most illiterate nation in Europe, with the majority of its population living in modified serfdom: tilling the fields with wooden plows, beating their wives by candlelight, collapsing on their benches drunk with vodka and then waking at dawn to humble themselves before their icons……….Is it not possible that our reverence for all the statues and cathedrals and ancient institutions was precisely what was holding us back.’

The book was also very moving in places, particularly in the relationships between the Count and the two girls, an example being the brilliant hospital chapter and the following chapter where the Count discovers Sofia’s prowess with the piano and explains to her that her Mother used to enjoy doing experiments in the same ballroom:

‘One day, I found her here testing the principles of Galileo and Newton by dropping various objects from the balcony and timing their descent with a sprinter’s watch’

‘Is that even possible?’

‘It was for your mother’

They were quiet for another moment, then Sofia turned and kissed the Count on the cheek.’

In the discussion that followed it was clear that, unusually, this book was universally enjoyed. It therefore had the potential of being a rather boring discussion; the fact that it wasn’t was down to everyone finding their own personal perspective, favourite anecdote or quote.

Steve really enjoyed the book, finding it a ‘right rollicking read’, flagging occasionally but with great turns of phrase. He also enjoyed the humour, although found the Count almost too good to be true. He though the book was written so eloquently, and bought into every twist and turn. It was a fantastic romance, Dr Zhivago without the vistas.

Steve also showed us a photo on his phone of the real Metropol Hotel and enlightened us with a bit of its history; the hotel was indeed nationalised by the Bolsheviks post revolution, housing living quarters and offices of the growing Soviet bureaucracy, but was reconverted back to a hotel in the 1930s.

Steve’s only reservations were the number of Americanisms in the dialogue (potential hazard where the author is American!) and the feasibility of some of the plot. Favourite quote:

..when the closet door opened and out popped the Count.

Andrey let out a gasp.

The Count drew in a breath.

Emile dropped the cake.

And the evening might have come to an end right then and there, but for Andrey’s instinctive inability to let an object fall to the floor. With the lightest of steps and his fingers outstretched, the onetime juggler caught the torte in midair.

Chris W found the book enjoyable on many levels, including the underlying mischievous dry humour. These were difficult periods of Russian history, but there was always amusement, fun and entertainment in the hotel. Chris was also worried by the author being American but noted that he had studied English and had had a European education. He loved some of the scenes, for example the games with Sofia. He found the ending interesting, particularly where the Count goes back to his village and an interesting twist right at the end.

Willm found the book whimsical and highly improbable, with the hero an uber-rich aristocrat who was feckless and charming. However, he found it fantastic and captivating. It was carefully constructed with a well plotted story containing 30 years of Russian history. A bit of an animal farm transition where the new rulers taking up that same privileges and behaviours as the previous rulers. As a minor criticism he felt that it glossed over some of the nastier episodes of this period of history, but conceded that it wouldn’t have been discussed much within the confines of the hotel. Willm also appreciated the great relationships that the Count had with both Nina and Sofia, but he felt a bit guilty identifying with the privileged aristocrat. He also noted some of the parallels with the Empire hotel in Bath, which was commandeered by the MoD  during World War II. Overall he found the book delightful, and, like Steve, a great romance. Favourite quote:

“Why, Manager Leplevsky, you look as if you’ve never seen a beautiful woman step from a closet before."

"I haven’t “ sputtered the Bishop.

“Of course” she said sympathetically.

Mark T thought it was a lovely book and enjoyed reading it, finding the humour particularly enjoyable. He loved the relationships between the Count and Nina and Sofia. He enjoyed the precision of the writing, for example ‘leaning forward at 70 degrees’. He loved the character of the actress Anna Urbanova, particularly after their first tryst:

‘As you go out can you draw the curtains’

Other favourite quotes:

“resting his forearm on his thighs and leaning forward at an angle of 70 degrees” . “but fate would not have the reputation if it simply did what it seemed it had to do.

Chris B felt it was a book to curl up to and managed to read it in large chunks enjoying the fact that the Count was totally positive about life despite the setbacks. He enjoyed the Count as a character and the relationships with the girls and the Soviet spy and the cook and the maître-d in the hotel. Chris also loved the Count for being so cultured, but found it interesting that he only escaped the firing squad  because of a poem written by his best friend and was basically living a lie. He felt that the author could have done a bit more with the huge events going on in the outside world, but basically enjoyed it and will always remember it. Favourite quote:

The first was that if one did not master one’s circumstances, one was bound to be mastered by them; and the second was Montaigne’s maxim that the surest sign of wisdom is constant cheerfulness.

Andrew found the book a comfortable read with a good combination of history and romance. For the Count this was a voyage of self-discovery. It felt like a play with a small cast and he found that he cared about most of the characters, in particular the triumvirate and the four central women. The small world of the hotel grew while he was learning about the world. There were a number of memorable scenes: the geese in the corridor, Anna coming out of the wardrobe, the architect sketching the chairs. He felt that the threads in the book were beautifully drawn together, with the mounting tension towards the end. Although the book was not as weighty as some but it was certainly a pleasure to read. One reservation was that it felt as if the history might have been added on at the end. Favourite quote:

“These are the greatest of conveniences, Anushka—and at one time, I had them all. But in the end, it has been the inconveniences that have mattered to me most.”

John, (from afar), found it a cheerful, life affirming story. He finished it feeling rejuvenated and pleased that he had read it. He found it a wonderful bit of storytelling, full of charm and humour, easy to read and follow (despite the complexity of all the Russian names and characters). It had the nostalgia and whimsy of Wes Anderson’s Grand Budapest Hotel.
He also found that it had a generosity of spirit that is all too rare in such aristo-based novels. The way that the hotel workers were transformed over the years into confidants and equals. Count Rostov, who had been charged with being a social parasite and was an unrepentant aristocrat, develops a wonderful circle of friends among the staff of the hotel. The real story seemed to be the Count’s relationships with such characters as: Chef Zhukovsky, Maitre d’Duras, Manager Leplevsky Anna, Sofia, Nina, et al.
If he had a caveat it would be the way the novel glossed over the awfulness of Stalin’s Russia, and all the pain and suffering of the time. But maybe it is the novelist’s prerogative to draw on the grotesque to give us new insights and hope…..

Richard, also from afar, enjoyed the book a great deal. He found it a bit of a ‘slow burn’ but after a while started to really look forward to reading it. He described it as a ‘tour de force’ as it sustained an entire book set within the walls of one hotel (apart from the end, where it moved out from the hotel), and focused almost entirely on one character; but he thought the author brought it off extremely well.

Like some of the others, he thought that the end pages were not as good, - once he left the Hotel, the writing was not as sharp – and he also thought that, although there was one mention of Sophia having attended school, it did seem as if she, too, was under house arrest with the Count. Favourite quote:

For all the varied concerns attendant to the raising of a child - over schoolwork, dress, and manners - in the end, a parent’s responsibility could not be more simple: To bring a child safely into adulthood so that she could have a chance to experience a life of purpose and, God willing, contentment.”

In summary, a book enjoyed by all, with some interesting things to say and observations on life and history as well.

Scores on the doors:

John 7.5, Richard 8.5, Mark W 8.5, Steve 8.0, Chris W 8.8, Willm 9.0, Mark T 8.2, Chris B 8.2, Andrew 8.5.

My Brilliant Friend - Elena Ferrante

Coeur de Lion, Bath, November 7th 2019

The coming-of-age story about two adolescent girls growing up in an impoverished neighbourhood in Naples in the 1950s/1960s. Lena who recounts the story in her retirement takes the path of education and hard academic work while Lila (whose parents do not support her education) uses her wits and beauty to prevail. There is a constant undertone of admiration/jealousy between the two main characters which inspires them throughout the story.

Andrew had already seen the story on Netflix and wondered whether this had influenced his perception of the book which he thought was very good. This was a compelling love story about two friends with their gritty background brilliantly presented. Lena- One of the two main protagonists was at times fearless, bold and impulsive and yet at others considered in her actions. She knew that she had power over others and particularly the men of the neighbourhood. The story depicted the lives of women in a neighbourhood who bottled up their anger and grudges. He liked the descriptions and felt the book had a dreamy quality running throughout. He planned to see the remaining three parts on Netflix.
 
Mark W who enjoyed this book started reading in Italian and then halfway reverted to English. He felt that the book lost a lot in translation. This was a book about relationships between two girls/women surviving in a male environment/culture. He highlighted the scene before the wedding when Lena is helping Lila bathe and who she has seen naked for the first time. The book tells of the anticipated “impregnation“ of Lila by Stefano who will later “sully“ her body in the anticipated brutal wedding night that all new brides have to expect.

Mark T enjoyed this book immensely and look forward to reading the next chapter. He highlighted the chapter about the girls leaving their neighbourhood through the tunnel and the terror they experienced when presented with life outside of their own environment.He felt the book was well described particularly Lila and the fact that she dropped everything for marriage.

Richard liked the book very much although initially confused with a large number of similar names he went with the flow-he felt that it didn’t really matter who was who as the characters fell into place. This book about two girls presents both girls views of the other and the respect and admiration they had for each other. Richard had spent months in Naples many years ago carrying out research so knew the localities and the descriptions which were evocative of the Italian lifestyles that he knew from that time. Sadly he commented that a lot of things have not changed. Men blame women for everything. The solution is education which together with parental support is vital to bring about change to the way of life depicted in the story.

Willm enjoyed this book immensely which “he could not fault“. The story about the sociological and psychological study of two relationships. He liked the directness in the style of writing- nothing overdramatic. Lena is always comparing herself with her friend Lila. who picks up on an idea and then moves on fast to the next. In direct contrast with Lena’s lifestyle of academic drudgery Lila confines herself to enjoying and living a wealthy lifestyle. She seems trapped by her socio-economic status and although she can imagine a more fulfilling life and is capable of attaining it ,she seems psychologically and emotionally unable to move beyond her community. She thus drops her education. Lila has an aggressive response to any problem. She is fearless. Willm liked the scene during the firework display when the competitive firework launches ended in the Solara Bros shooting back with pistols!

Chris B disagreed with the comment by two others that the girls were in love with each other. He felt that it was rather simply the intensity of an adolescent friendship that was being described. It didn’t bother him who the characters were - he just read on. He thought that there were similarities with the recently read book Educated by Tara Westover where the protagonist would have to accept the life that she was living and even though she knew that there was something else out there. 

Chris enjoyed the tension in the relationships between the girls and found the plot not over important. The book used shoes as a symbol of aspiration with Lila seeing herself at the top of the tree… In Educated it was interesting to note that the three kids who got an education then left home thus alienating themselves from their family. Elena is a “foil” in contrast to Lila. This was a well written depiction of life but with no key themes. It didn’t tell you more about society generally.

John struggled with this book particularly the middle part he felt there was too much teenage angst. He observed that the chapter about the girls leaving their neighbourhood through the tunnel was a metaphor for the 1950s creating a “pressure cooker“ and period of change. Lila was not a nice character - she had a dark side to her. The wedding created a focal point at the end of the story and offered a parents perspective looking down on the intense relationships of the girls.

Steve made connections between the wedding in the story and the film the DeerHunter. He liked this book with some very “powerful” scenes depicting the rites of passage of two young girls with each trying to work out what and why she feels about the other. He found the description about the storm and the girls leaving the neighbourhood through the tunnel very memorable as was Lenas stay in Ischia and her relief at being able to escape the entrapment of her neighbourhood. He found several parallels with Jane Austen but as ever criticised the translation of the book which had far too many Americanisms.

Chris W felt that this was a ”marmite“ book with good and bad facets. He disliked the numerous characters with similar names and found the first half of the book did not appeal and that the characters did not did not come alive. however he liked the gritty description of the impoverished Neapolitan neighbourhood and the detailed and precise writing style. The story constantly described the pressures imposed upon women by the macho men in the community and in particular the underlying fear and threat of the powerful Solara family.
There were similarities in this book with the underlying fear described in “The Milkman” which the group had read recently where the protagonist had been selected by the local leader of the IRA to be his woman.

In conclusion the majority really enjoyed this book with a sizeable minority who were less inspired.

Home Fire by Shamila Shamsie

Chris B reports:

This book began quietly and grew in pitch and intensity. On re-reading the first chapter I enjoyed the subtlety of it more. I also liked the structure where instead of flitting between chronological times with different characters, the action progresses through time but from the different perspectives of the actors. However some of us also felt that this prevented a free flowing story and meant Shamsie was unable to explore the characters in depth or over time. Steve took to it at the beginning; drawn into gentle relationship with Isma, the difficulties in getting out of UK, establishing life outside the UK, and references to the rest of the family. Lovely description of Isma calming Aneeka. A great writer with good character development. 

I liked the themes of love and betrayal in both individual relationships and in relation to country and religion. I liked the variety of attitudes to being a committed Muslim in the book from apostate to jihadi extremist and shades in between, especially between Isma and Aneeka. I liked too the portrayal of the challenge of integration. Do you leave your culture behind and spend effort on proving this to the Daily Mail? Do you maintain some aspects such as religious beliefs and practices and try to be an ordinary citizen of your country in the face of other people’s suspicion and prejudice (e.g. in the interrogation room). Do you take up the challenge of supporting your fellow faithful in different conflict zones? Do you take on the mantle of the jihadist to eradicate the western materialist and oppressive world? And despite my feeling that some of this was portrayed a little too obviously, in fact there were lots of shades of gray. Parvaiz is a reluctant jihadi more concerned with living up to his father and the father figure, Farooq than either political success or religious fanaticism, Eamon shifts from an establishment figure to one of siding with Aneeka against his father, albeit for love rather than for belief.

For Richard, there were lots of echoes of his own experience and hence a very personal read. He liked too the subtlety e.g. in Parvaiz’ grooming and the relationship between Eamon and Aneeka. And the issue of how far to assimilate and how far to remain the outsider e.g. Lone becoming Christian. He recognized Parvais’s feeling that “we are in the majority in the Caliphate” and an attitude of “we’ll do to you what you do to us” from his visits to Israel. 

There is a lot of personal betrayal in the book too; Eamon by his father, Karamat by his son, Aneeka and Isma by Parvaiz, the Pasha children by their father. And the results are a personal tragedy for them all as it is in the Antigone story that Shamsie based some of this story on.  A lot too about secrecy and its negative effects but also how hard it is for people in public life to be open about their attitudes and ambiguities. Isma’s professorial friend seems to sum up the risk of personal secrecy: ‘I’m driving at the fact that habits of secrecy are damaging things,’ Hira said in her most professorial voice. ‘And they underestimate other people’s willingness to accept the complicated truths of your life.’

Several of us admired the wonderful description of grief: rivals the one on love in Corinthians in the Bible I thought she brought out the inner life of the characters and the character descriptions (e.g. the contradictory nature of Aneeka) beautifully. I liked all the descriptions of the closeness of the siblings e.g. helping Aneeka go to sleep and the contradictory feelings Eamon and Karamat had for each other.

Good but not intrusive descriptions of places and houses, US, UK, Syria, Turkey. Gave a good context and sense of place for the human interactions. 

What didn’t I like? Were the characters’ attitudes a little caricatured? The story a bit too obvious? British Muslims, jihadi groomers, British politician of Pakistani origin? Family broken apart by the very different reactions to prejudice and the harsh actions of a hard man proving himself? True love for family and the beloved? Were the coincidences a bit too contrived? Isma meeting Eamon in a cafe in a small town in America where she happened to be at college and his Mum’s family came from? Richard found the book two dimensional and felt it deteriorated e.g. in the conversation between Karamat and Eamon.  He also thought it sloppy that despite her showing she knew the top British diplomat in Pakistan is a High Commissioner, she referred to them as ambassador.

Overall, I liked Shamsie’s telling of the story and the characters and thought she treated well the challenge of integration as a first, second or third generation after migration, of being in a minority religion around which there is plenty of prejudice and discrimination and of being a person of colour in a predominantly white society. 

But Mark T found it hard going, clunky and hard to read  (perhaps due to his long days in the saddle and his first ewxpereine of the Kindle). But he liked the relationship with Aneeka and the surprise of her sexuality. Also, the intriguing history of Islam and that the family thought P’s change of attitude was due to a love affair not grooming. And it rang true that he would want to come back. The life of the Home Secretary and coping with the media were good. 

Chris W enjoyed reading a book with contemporary issues; the Home Secretary in real life is doing what the character does. Some scenes in particular made him think e.g. the interrogation scene and grooming. Yet the characters were not quite right; e.g. the home secretary in his relationship with his son. 

Steve felt that despite a good start, he didn’t quite connect with the characters, though he enjoyed it and was gripped by the perilous situation of Parvais, as a young man. Was she trying too hard to follow the Antigone story? Apparently she took up a challenge to write a novel based on Antigone. Literary elitism? Did this constrain her too much? Overall, he was disappointed. 

Mark W too was disappointed. He enjoyed first chapter; full of mysteries; second chapter still held; but it felt contrived to keep changing character. He became more irritated and felt the book ended suddenly. He found Isma the most interesting character but most irritated him. Whereas the men were either well meaning but dim or bastards. Food for thought: moral dilemma of response to people who leave to fight your country. 

 Andrew (from afar) enjoyed this story of faith and family, identity, rights and belief, acceptance and extremism, religious vs. national law, with its clever reworking of Antigone. He liked the story and its structure with the succession of voices although He thought it lost its way in the third quarter. Its focus on the politics of terrorism (and otherism) rather than the mechanics of terror made it more interesting for me and more difficult for Shamsie who deserves credit for the plot. The tension increased once Parvaiz got to Raqqa but for me it wasn’t a real page-turner. The section on Raqqa gave a good feeling of what it was like it was like to live and work there. And he liked the description of how it feels to be a Muslim in contemporary Britain. And, although the beginning and the end were excellent, there were few other stand-out sentences, and quite a few were clunky. This novel took me to places and lives which were new to me and made me think, but overall felt a bit thin and didn’t have the impact it might have had.

John (also afar) found it an interesting and provocative novel that kept you reading – with a real echo of Antigone running through the story.  Not only did it have all the elements of a torrid family tragedy, but also offered an insightful description of a community and context that don’t you often read about in novels (Muslim North London, Islam and ISIS, the family dynamics of senior politicians, etc.). He liked the different perspectives format and this novel seems to have all the elements of one he would normally relish, yet he felt strangely disengaged from the story and the characters. He felt oddly unmoved by it. He had the feeling of being just a distant observer rather than an engaged reader. 

He struggled to explain why this?  Maybe it was because it was about a context and issues he have so little exposure to; maybe because the story was too much of an artifice – too engineered, too much trying to echo Antigone: maybe because he have become inured to some of the issues, particularly around ISIS and British jihadis, through too much media coverage or journalistic commentary.  There are clearly many possible explanations.  In hindsight he think it was because he never warmed to the twins as characters and felt little empathy for them or interest in them as individuals – they came over as merely a device to carry the story.  In contrast he warmed to the older sister, Isma, and felt her character was better developed and he felt more for the struggles she faced.  He was glad he read this novel and will remember it for the conundrums it threw up.

In the Antigone story as told by Sophocles, Antigone, the daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta, defies her uncle Creon, King of Thebes and is sentenced to death but takes her won life before she can be executed. Her fiancée and Creon’s son, Haemon, kills himself over Antigone’s body. Some people found Shamsie’s ending too abrupt. But we can be in no doubt about what happened.

Discussion: We all face the dilemmas of the personal, religious vs. national, legal which the book explores. But the author was constrained by the Antigone story, which is why it doesn’t fully work.

SCORES Willm: 7, Mark W:  6 Steve: 5.5 Richard: 7 Mark T: 5.5 Chris W: 6 Chris B: 7, Andrew: 6 John 6.5

Kitty held by CB: £3.10

The Shepherd’s Hut, by Tim Winton

The Shepherd’s Hut, by Tim Winton

5 September 2019, The Hop Pole: book choice AA, apols MT.

I chose this book because I am fond of the Australian outback and really enjoyed Cloudstreet and Dirt Music by Tim Winton. I think he writes beautifully about Australia with evocative prose which brings land and people to life - like his compatriot and Nobel Laureate Patrick White - but in a more lively and contemporary way.

He starts his books with a place – in this case the salt flats of Western Australia (WA) – and here gives us a tale of survival and self-discovery, trust and faith, penance and salvation, masculinity and the possibility of redemption.

Most of the group found it compelling stuff from the start with a great sense of place and suspense all the way through. 

RV wanted to keep reading, thought the characterisation was excellent, Jaxie’s voice authentic, Winton’s language wonderful, and that the book was full of interesting ideas and descriptions. He found Winton reminiscent of Cormac McCarthy in the way they capture place and people:

Just before a summer storm one time when the Cap was away shooting horses and sawing them up into prime Angus beef. The sky was black and the paddocks the colour of bread. 

However, the end was far too quick and disappointing. Overall, a little thin despite all the positives, and didn’t seem to live up to the high praise in the long list of review quotes at the end of the book.

WM, who grew up in rural NSW, found the prose evocative and Jaxie’s language perfectly apposite, enjoying the “whole immediacy of the book”. He found Jaxie’s character believable and the descriptions of the bush good. He wondered if commitment issues might explain Jaxie’s delay in ending Fintan’s torture and noted that Lee was probably also unstable in view of her behaviour including her shaved head. Overall, great, a striking book, really enjoyed it.

CW, who has an Australian brother and lived there for a year, including months camping crossing the Nullarbor Plain, enjoyed the vocabulary and thought the characters were fantastic – spot on, their voices real and natural and enjoyed the contrast between them. He found Jaxie clever with intuitive ideas and excellent survival skills – ironically something he had learnt from Captain Wankbag. He really enjoyed the tension and suspense throughout and also commented on how Jaxie was right to be so scared of the drugs culture. However, he felt disappointed as the book ended too quickly and would like to have seen Jaxie getting out with the priest so they could have survived together allowing the opportunity for confession. He thought the signposts towards the end of the book eg: “If I’d known now…” broke the suspense, but absolutely loved the characters and the atmosphere of the outback.

SC came to the book unaware of the author or the setting and with the title conjuring up for him the type of expensive garden office installed by David Cameron for writing his memoirs. Not until page ten was he in Australia and although he found the language a distraction at the start and thought it could have been a bit more nuanced, he then got thoroughly immersed in it and totally drawn into the plot. He had huge empathy for Jaxie and wondered if Fintan was more myth than character – a cypher for Jaxie. He thought the scene with the two of them sitting on the salt flat discussing the stones and the moon was fantastic, but lost interest after the sudden plot change with the drugs gang. The magic of the middle of the story was undermined by the need to wrap it up. Overall, thoroughly enjoyed it.

CB, arriving promptly from Manchester despite British Rail, smartly besuited and with suitcase, found it a satisfying read with fantastic energy, excitement and tension. He loved the way Jaxie’s character emerged through his vernacular language, and how his relationship with Fintan emerged subtly and sensitively despite the brutality of their outback environment. However, he felt cheated not knowing why Fintan had been exiled, and that the torture scene didn’t work other than as a plot vehicle. Overall, like a fine meal, the book was enjoyable at the time but didn’t stay with him. There was nothing important about it. Enjoyable but not enduring. 

MW, suitcase-free, but just off the plane from Glasgow, found it a compelling and enjoyable read and, like RV, disagreed with the reviews at the end of the book which called it a masterpiece. It gave him the flavour of the old road movies with not much plot – all about the experiences of the characters on the road. Like those characters whose backgrounds are hazy or absent, we don’t get to know Fintan’s crime. The relationship between Jaxie and Fintan was the dominant theme, and he found this original and enjoyed it. He didn’t like the intrusion of the real world when the gangsters turned up with their mull farm and torture. He didn’t find Jaxie particularly likeable or engaging and the style took a bit of getting used to, but the relationship between the two actually was interesting and well observed and developed. The priest’s big secret, hinted at rather than disclosed, formed a large part of the relationship, with Jaxie’s subtle character development the other main theme. Overall, enjoyable – good but not great. 

JH, bang on time despite having submitted himself to the vagaries of Britain’s mass transit system from the smoke of Shoreditch, and who had lived for three years in Australia, started by saying that this was not the Australia he knew. The only member of the group to have read some Winton before, he enjoyed Breathbut absolutely hated Cloudstreet, and this book didn’t start well for him. After twenty pages he though ‘sod it’ and only tried again after seeing SC’s email calling it a ‘right, rollicking read’. He then picked it up again and read it in one go, finding it hard to put down and really enjoying it. Some lovely use of language and imagery. He wondered who the book was about – was it a parable about Fintan with Jaxie as the centurion while Fintan was dying on his cross. Was the story about Fintan, who he found the more interesting character, rather than about Jaxie?

MT, heading southwest with his bicycle courtesy of Great Western Railway, emailed from his carriage to say he had initially hated the book passionately.  He didn’t like the bad language, the un-PC comments eg. ‘spastic’, the writing style and all the words he had no idea of e.g. roo, euro etc. He didn’t like the abrupt change of time, and after 20 pages found it agony but slowly kept going. He even started to enjoy it slightly and found bits actually enjoyable. He liked Jaxie’s growing relationship with his cousin Lee and the sadness about the last bits of that. The violent father reminded him of past violent fathers.  The wild camping perked up when he met the priest and he enjoyed that. The discussion about God was good as well. The tension at the end was well done as well. In the end, not a bad book and the strange words made sense in the end.

AA had wanted to introduce those who hadn’t read Winton before to his beautiful prose, but this story is narrated by Jaxie rather than Winton. However, I thought the narration by Jaxie worked well – and I enjoyed his often humorous phrasing and way of seeing things, and his raw style seemed to fit with the brutality of the landscape and life in the desert. And I liked the directness of Jaxie’s young voice – hearing exactly what he is thinking:

I tried to get me thoughts straight while I went. But there was too many of them. Then for a long time, hours it was, I had no thoughts at all. And when they come back it was like fuzzy radio.

And although we couldn’t have Winton as the narrator his style was still evident and there were bits of more lyrical prose and not just when Fintan was speaking:

The heat and salt and flies. A place so empty a fella’s thoughts come back from it as echoes.

I was so tired the swag felt like a sponge that soaked me up. I went to sleep like someone disappearing from the earth, like rain sopped into dust

I enjoyed the dialogue with its contrast of Jaxie’s teenage street slang with his aggressive jerky delivery, and the much older priest with his more formal language with its Irish and priestly tones:

I am in earnest, boy. Get fucked, I said still laughing.

I thought the two main characters and their relationship were fascinating.  Jaxie always on the alert, full of bravado, wanting to show how tough he is to scare people off, and tough, resourceful, and resilient with great intuition. And also impetuous - really still a child just wanting to be understood – and to be safe. I think Winton develops him really well as he learns to replace the suspicion and hostility which have protected him with trust, and to recognise and accept kindness. And he tells us about Lee, perhaps his only point of reference and a Quixotic quest, given that they are cousins and the size of the body count. And Fintan with his constant chatter, and his need to confess constantly thwarted in his dreams just as he is able to start.

Overall, the characters and place stayed with me, but not on a level with Cloudstreet or Dirt Music, as like CB, I didn’t find it an important book.

Many of us thought the creation of the priest and his hut worked well and the group was split on whether or not it would have been better to learn exactly how he had transgressed. And most were surprised by the intrusion of the outside world with the discovery of the mull factory and concerned by Jaxie’s delay in intervening to save Fintan. Like MT, RV and CB thought the discussions about religion worked well:

But I suspect that God is what you do, not what or who you believe in. Well. Whatever.

Scores: RV 7.25, WM 8.3, CW 7.5, SC 5.5, CB 6.5, MW 7.3, JH 7.3, MT 6, AA 7.5

English Journey, by J. B. Priestley

The Pulteney Arms, August 8th 2019. Apologies from MW, JH, CW.

I (Steve) chose this book because I'm confused and puzzled by this country’s decision-making in the last few years. I wanted to read and discuss a book that provided a context against which to make more sense of where this country seems to be headed in 2019.

This report is longer than I usually like to post, but people had a lot to say! We'd recommend this book to anyone interested in the history and the future of England.

Priestley was not well-known to many members, though some knew his plays. The book is an account of a journey Priestley takes around England in 1933 – to a fairly random selection of locations which seem partly to be chosen on the basis that he’s put a play on there, some family connection, or friends have recommend contacts.

To me, the book was full of observations that reverberated, either in the way they underlined a massive contrast with our lives today, or echoed things that are still prevalent. In the first few pages he meets a travelling salesman who talks of:

“I was in the wireless trade one time, about six years ago, in Birmingham. But mind you, wireless then and wireless now–oh!” and he gave a short laugh– “different thing altogether. Look at the developments. Look at the way prices have come down and quality’s gone up.” Precisely how we talk of consumer technology today.

Priestley writes in quite a modern idiom – personally, conversationally and often  humorously (such as his beautifully-written description of his hero fantasy, which we all succumb to from time to time but few would care to admit to, least of all in print), which makes him very readable. He carries you with him even when you are perhaps a bit stunned by what seems to us to be shocking political incorrectness. His splendidly grumpy comments about hotels are mixed in with what now appear to be unguarded and downright offensive observations and generalisations about regional types and in particular the Liverpool Irish. And how dismissive his comments seem today, about women and their (in his eyes) predilection for boring unchallenging work, not to mention their physical appearance. One hopes this says more about the times than the man.

His humanity, his recollections from the not very distant past of his wartime service and experiences, made one realise that this man had seen some things. His socialist colours take a while to fully unfurl and only do so as he travels North to the areas most fully hit by the post-war depression. His passions seem to rise as he sees more, but he manages to remain for the most part informative, entertaining and engaging. Shotton Colliery does for him though.

These industries are now more or less gone, yet the tribulations affecting the populations of these often quite short-lived communities mirror the problems facing many today – no work, little support, and not enough entertainment. How astonished he would be by the internet though, and perhaps amazed that the creative arts have survived as well as they have, given the changes in society, industry and commerce.

Andrew enjoyed the way Priestley ate, drank and smoked his way round the country – just as austerity was approaching: a Socialist commentator being chauffeured around in a big Daimler. There was passionate detail in there: the Liverpool prostitutes and their mixed -race children; the boy tobogganing down the slag heap. Something of a ‘no filter’ splurge of opinion, and the old-fashioned views which were often based on ‘traditional’ assumptions rather than hard evidence (eg ‘travelling salesmen are generally good fellows’) meant he could sound patronising and condescending.

Priestley was very interesting on Bournville village, initially very in favour, but he wasn’t afraid to show his own opinions changing when describing how Australia had responded when the model was attempted over there: rather than spend all that money on facilities that keep us ‘on the premises’, why not give us the money and let us decide how to spend it?

Andrew noted that Priestley spoke to very few women, and that the end of the book, as his homeward journey is thwarted by a pea-souper, perhaps presages environmental chaos to come.

Willm was struck by the feeling that Priestley was describing this in order to get something done about it – but what could he do? Does the responsibility lie with the rest of us, and if so, how do we make something happen? Somewhat stereotypical views for the 1930s – it’s grim up north. In places rather boring, and though leavened by a cunning use of phrase, each town seemed to get worse than the last. Orwell’s Road to Wigan Pier was mentioned in comparison – perhaps a more focused job as a socialist manifesto.

Chris B enjoyed the book but found it a bit wordy, with a slightly hectoring tone. His views on women, the blues and the Irish were negative and the worse for it. But the descriptions of the effect of industrialisation, and the way the working class continued to be the fodder to provide wealth for others were powerful.

Chris particularly enjoyed the description of working in the theatre – what motivated people then seems very close to what encourages them nowadays: it can’t be the money… The club was new to the concept of civic theatres. The football descriptions could have been written today: it’s like a weekly drug. No mention other than references to ‘Mr Hitler’ of the coming war (still 5 or 6 years away of course).

A strong sense of conflict between the improvements in working conditions and the invention of ‘diggers that can do the work of 800 men’ – absorbed and concerned by the prospect of change.

Despite the fact that Mark T generally doesn’t like non-fiction he got stuck in and found himself enjoying the book. He felt compassionate about some of the passages described, although it often made him feel like a soft Southerner. He commented on the fact that for Priestley Bristol was a prosperous and successful city – whereas in the 1970s it was a huge wasteland. The passages on the Cotswolds are easily forgotten as the author gets into his stride northwards, but they were full of relevance and interest. The description of Coventry before WW2 were affecting. And there was a lot in the book about ‘mating’ – how it was gone about through the rituals of the time, and there were resonant words about the desolation of Sundays. Possibly rather rushed final chapter – as though he just wanted to get through the fog and put his feet up by the fire.

Richard found a lot to like in the book: the style, the detailed observation of individuals, a woman who looked as though she was ‘busy hating somebody’, the way he used small but meaningful details to differentiate characters. In writing about the Cotswolds he made on ask ‘why have they remained so unchanged’? Because of the influx on moneyed outsiders, who Priestley already identified as being the reason for their preservation.

Priestley wrote of a society in which class was slowly being eradicated: the advent of the classless society. The book was illuminated by passionate descriptions of simple features of life: local papers; the way a waiter talks to ‘sir’ about his steak in a completely different way to the way they would talk about any other foodstuff.

Priestley shows the effects of war still resonating, as he sees the army still deployed around the countryside. His reunion evening was very descriptive and underlined how relatively little time had passed since the Armistice. ‘All the good people had been killed’ and thus he had taken up his career in their absence. The way he wrote about the Quaker movement, valuing their contribution and yet questioning was it too interventionist? Richard also raised the point that Priestley makes about world religions: why our god? Why do middle eastern religions work and inspire people to follow without question?

Mark W went through ‘a bit of a journey’ with the book and particularly with JB himself.

To start with he found him rather tiresome, patronising and a bit of a prig. It took him a while to get used to this view of the comfortably off successful author and playwright doing a tour of the great unwashed.

This attitude continued through Birmingham and the Black Country but by the Leicester chapter Mark was starting to warm to him. It was a particular description of the hunting, shooting and fishing class: ‘Men and women whose whole lives are organised in order that they may ride in pursuit of stray foxes two or three days a week, who risk their necks for a vermin’s brush, who will deny themselves this and that to spend money on packs of hounds, who spare no pains to turn themselves into twelfth century oafs, are past my comprehension’. He forgave JB his patronising comments as the main theme of the book settled into his outrage and anger at the treatment of the (Northern) working classes during the depression years, following the failure of the Victorian expansion.

For John, Priestley’s English Journey is very much a book of its time – as a commentator on England and the English he holds that space between Dickens and Bryson. Initially put off by his rather wordy and somewhat pompous style, he warmed to him and the rhythm of his style.

Among the pleasures of the book were his narrative observations such as the description of the Black Country as a “smouldering carpet” and “immense hollow of smoke”… his descriptions of a world much changed by wars including Bristol and Coventry… his pithier comments – for example that Bradford “was a city entirely without charm”… his bouts of anger at the injustice and inequality of the society of the 30’s.  He particularly liked JB’s comments about kids throwing stones on the roof of a warehouse in the Black Country and that “who could blame them” and enjoyed his little rant about the wretchedness of Sunday evenings in the big industrial cities

At the same time JB was full of self-awareness, including the impact of his own status and personality. His reminder of how awful English hotels and food were made one give quiet thanks for Premier Inns

And for Chris W, he read part of it while travelling around Yorkshire. It really makes you glad to be alive now and not then, and also to be a southerner and not northerner (though his parents were born in Liverpool and Leeds). This book has so many good features: Priestley‘s prose is very easy to read and the subjects that he’s chosen on his journey are fascinating. His description of the poverty of the many northern cities is heart rending , particularly  the scenes he describes when leaving the Adelphi hotel in Liverpool and being conducted around an old seamans’ hostel and the decaying Regency terraces filled with prostitutes.

Like a number of members Chris said that he’d made a great number of notes while reading this book – more than usual. It seems to have proved to be very effective as a touchstone to the past. Perhaps these were innocent days in comparison with 2019, but clearly they were not necessarily better. And yet – arguably the issues are just the same: the rich getting richer at the expense of the poor – it’s just a global phenomenon rather than a national one nowadays. The far right rear their heads at regular intervals (much like Hitler in 1933) and while some member of the club are confident that we have learned enough to be able to manage our destinies in a more peaceful and less confrontational way in the future, others feel strongly that the evidence so far simply doesn’t support this.