The Secret Scripture Sebastian Barry

The Secret Scripture Sebastian Barry

This book interweaves the sad history of Ireland, its civil war and independence with the prejudices of religion and the tragic consequences for Roseanne about whom the story is written.

It attracted a great many positive comments e.g. : fantastic; really enjoyed; very good; beautifully crafted descriptions; most beautiful prose, lyrical at times; perfectly crafted phrases; a work of great imagination; wonderful description of Roseanne’s childhood and home life; a beautifully written book. 

A couple of examples of the author Barry’s, turn of phrase are: … my mother’s wits were now in an attic of her head which had neither door nor stair, or at least none that I could find;

… in a country of cupboards every one with a skeleton in it, especially after the civil war, no one was exempt;

These positives were tempered by other comments, often from same readers, e.g.: I have forgotten a lot of the plot; the story didn’t really stick; absolutely a case where the sum is less than the parts; ephemeral; felt distanced from the characters; wanted to be incensed by the horrible events, but wasn’t; it did not appear realistic that as a modern trained psychiatrist Dr Grene did not come down more in favour of the “truth“ that Roseanne recounted rather than accepting that the “truth” as seen from Father Gaunt’s account. 

Roseanne suffered tragically from the misogynistic and prejudiced Father Gaunt, and It seemed surprising that she had accepted her lot so easily and had not done more to fight her committal. She was simply forgiving of all that had gone on in the past which gave an added sadness to her story with the loneliness that she had experienced in her long incarceration. However other comments recognised Roseanne’s remarkable resilience and that, despite the cruelties and tragic loss, the human spirit’s ability to accept and survive shone through.

The dual diarists format generally was seen as working quite well. The voices of Roseanne and of Dr Grene were both powerful. Although Roseanne appeared accepting of her life, she may have been deliberately or unconsciously mis-remembering some crucial parts of it.  Roseanne seem to gain clarity and fulfilment from setting down her memories on paper whereas Dr Grene found more and more confusion examining his  past relationship with his wife and guilt for his alleged single sexual misdemeanour. Although Dr Grene seemed more feeble and incompetent (especially as a trained psychiatrist), he too was trying to understand his own character. 

All readers were impressed by the many strata disclosed within the basic story e.g. the complexity of family and societal relationships; the dead hand of religion at that time; the complicated politics; the ubiquity of betrayal; how perceived infidelity destroyed relationships and lives; passionate hatreds; extreme, cruel and violent behaviours generated by social and political beliefs; the degree to which an individual or society considers its extreme beliefs or behaviours to be simply normal; the unreliability of memory; how we mis-remember as a self-protective mechanism; the covering-up of mistakes or misdeeds, and the difficulty of resisting the urge to do so.  The story illustrates how there is no definite truth - only the experiences of different people about the same event - “nobody has a monopoly on truth”

As so many layers were exposed, also, so many were easily overlooked.  Several readers found it difficult to grasp who was who in the civil war, and why they were fighting and killing each other.  Also the closeness of Irish familial ties and the destructive consequences of these ties being shattered. 

The group having just finished ‘Milkman’ about the complexities of near contemporary Catholic/Protestant  relationships in Belfast it was very interesting to read about the history of this earlier time in the same century. Another comment was made as to the degree Ireland had changed within a few years e.g in the treatment of unmarried pregnant women and orphans; the lessening power of the church; the move towards a middle ground in politics, although of course there remain many unresolved political differences within the Republic of Ireland as well as between the Republic and Northern Ireland.

In some parts, the plot seemed highly unlikely or verging on magic realism by the serendipitous occurrence of events. Readers were not expecting the ending. Some thought however, whether this denouement was really necessary, and did it add anything to the story? Nevertheless, if one applied the ‘So, what?’ question to the whole novel, it would have to be agreed that the exposition of personal and social history, tragedy, survival, as well as the psychological insights, and some wonderful prose, would serve as examples of the learning as well as enjoyment that this book provides. 

It was noted that this is a book that would sustain a second reading, and several members of the group had done so, at least in part.

The Constant Gardener, by John le Carré

29th April, Forester & Flower, Combe Down, Bath.

The Constant Gardener is a 2001 novel which is provocative and challenging. It is Le Carre’s take on the different dynamics and influence of governments, aid agencies, politicians and multinationals in the developing world. In a review in the Observer, Nigel Williams described the book as “a work of fierce political intelligence, tackling the key question of the failure of the West to deal with all those things that the collapse of communism should have made easier to confront - Third World poverty, corporate greed and political cynicism”.

The novel tells the story of Justin Quayle, a British diplomat whose activist wife is murdered. Believing there is something behind the murder, he seeks to uncover the truth and finds an international conspiracy of corrupt bureaucracy and pharmaceutical money. A large pharmaceutical company working under the cover of AIDS tests and treatments, is testing a tuberculosis drug that has severe side effects. Rather than help the trial subjects and begin again with a new drug, the company covered up the side effects and continued to develop the drug. The plot was vaguely based on a real-life case in Kano, Nigeria. Le Carré writes in the book's afterword: "by comparison with the reality, my story [is] as tame as a holiday postcard". The book was later adapted into a feature film in 2005.

JH: saw the novel as a fable – a story of good and evil, the weak versus the powerful (in the tradition of David & Goliath, Robin Hood, or the Lord of the Rings). As in the tradition of all good fables it is rather improbable, for example, the way that Justin travels on a false passport to Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Canada and back to Kenya. But is a great story of individual commitment & personal passion in contrast to the cynicism & pragmatic amorality.  It can also be read as a historical novel reflecting the values and experience of the late 20th Century. - a world on the cusp of arrival of the internet and computer security, higher levels of corporate scrutiny, governance & accountability.  Could it happen today?  Are multinationals, particularly big-pharma, as unethical, manipulative & venal as described in the book? The context of Kenya rings true – the government at the time was notoriously corrupt, and certain individuals and companies had significant influence.

Chris B:  enjoyed the book, liked the way the tension and the drama kept up through the book. Felt Le Carre good at creating scenes and characters – particularly the way that characters emerged, for example, how Justin’s character evolved and was developed through the book. He noted that you get to know Tess much more after her death.  Some of characters may appear stereotypical and rather old fashioned, but drawing on his experience working in government and internationally such people do exist. He recognised that diplomats have a difficult role balancing their own personal values with government’s different agendas – a state of constant tension which often means they appear indecisive. He also noted that it would be interesting to see how other authors, like Graham Greene, would have handled this issue and explored the resulting personal conflicts and tensions.

Chris W: a good and exciting read.  He enjoyed some of the characters involved and good descriptions of the Kenyan setting and events like the funeral. Concerned it may have been a rather superficial commentary on some highly complex issues – for example the characterisation of diplomats and their role., or the negative portrayal of pharmaceutical companies and the way they work in Africa. Felt the level of malfeasance portrayed was not plausible – as no company would risk the legal repercussions and potential consequences. This led to a discussion, based on past and recent experience, of the way big pharmaceuticals currently behave and what they have been accused of. 

WM:  enjoyed individual bits of the novel and some of the characterisation, such as Gloria, but generally found story improbable and felt the style was exaggerated and overly stereotypical. In general the book did not work for him and lost interest in it.

RV:  found story not terrible satisfactory – not sure Le Carre writes very well about some of the internal conflicts and potential contradictions.  Felt characters in this book rather two-dimensional characters (good or bad) and feels that in some of his earlier novels he was more successful at portraying characters struggling with moral and personal conflicts - complex characters who were internally conflicted. He was not sure these internal conflicts brought out or explored sufficiently in this novel. For example, how UK diplomats are expected to represent, and so appear to condone, UK government policies etc. – policies that might be at odds with their own values and moral compass. RV also raised a concern that the author appears to takes sides on some issues – this raised a debate as to whether authors should take sides in writing novels that touch on sensitive political issues or personal behaviour.

SC:  not normally comfortable with spy fiction and in the past had found many of Le Carre’s novels hard work and so was surprised how much he enjoyed this novel. He found the subject matter interesting, and liked the characterisation of some those involved.  But was concerned that at times it read like a rather tedious exposition of some of the issues involved, and at times the discussion around some of the issues was rather clunky.  He wondered if spelling out the issues involved in this way was a device to move the story along. Different characters were introduced to develop such expositions, for example, the way the pilot McKenzie was used to explain the particular context of what was happening in the North of Kenya and Southern Sudan. 

MW:  the Constant Gardner feels like a book written by an author who knows his skills and his limitations; I have read the Smiley novels and this one has similar characteristics, for example the plot is well thought through, and it’s a good read.  It’s a political thriller with a sympathetic but rather boring hero, (definitely not James Bond), a number of Bond villains, both foreign and closer to home and, best of all, sexy Bond women all over the place. The only other thing I would like to say is about the ending, which, for such a long book, I found rather abrupt and disappointing, and depressing, with the baddies seemingly getting away with it but Justin being blown away. Yes I know that is how it would have gone in real life, actually he probably would have been blown away sooner in real life, but it would have been nice if Justin could have lived happily ever after with Ghita or Lara or Brigit from Hippo, and the baddies could have gone to jail. 

MT:  mostly enjoyed the book and it thought it was easy to read - I used to look forward to reading it. There were some confusing bits; however the book was easier to follow than the film. The telling the story from different people’s perspective and in different time zones was a bit confusing at times. But I did sort out the plot in the end. It was mostly told from Justin’s view point, so I felt I got to know him a bit, and liked him. It is a fascinating insight to this world. Is it really as corrupt as the story makes out? I have had some experience with the generosity of Pharma and medical device industry, but never as bad as the story - just flash flights and expensive dinners to try and buy your allegiance, not more than that - no killings at all?  Whilst reading the book, he had been watching the Widow on the TV; thought there was lots of overlap between the stories. I liked the way everyone fancied Tessa, especially the scoundrel Sandy. The interplay between Sandy and Tessa was well done. Certain parts I remember and liked -the lunch scene with Pellegrin, not listening at all was good. I suspected the Doctor was gay long before it came out, and knew he was not having an affair with Tessa. It was a strange coincidence that we have another book about TB. I would like to know what the connection is between TB and Aids, mentioned in the book, for example. There were lots of mention about clinical trials, and some things were not correct, so maybe the author had not researched that properly, or maybe things were very different in the past? The ending was a bit frustrating -at one point I thought he was going to commit suicide, but I wanted to know more how the end came. 

AA:  Le Carre is a great storyteller and he tells a great story here. He keeps the narrative moving along at a good speed without skimping on atmosphere or description.  And his concise way of writing is compact with elegant turns of phrase without being dense or knotty.  He has a fluent, easy-to-read, clear writing style. I really enjoyed the development of Woodrow, Justin, and particularly Tessa who is gradually being constructed from the eyes and words of other characters. 
Quotes that I particularly enjoyed were:
“The High Commission stood on a slope, and its continuing subsidence was enough to tilt pictures out of true after a weekend on their own.”
“Bluhm when the party’s nearly over, slumped in a chair and looking lost and empty, with everything worth knowing about him hidden five miles down.”
“He advanced on her, and said, ‘Good evening, Gloria, how very good of you to have me,’ in a voice so bravely mustered that she could have wept and later did.”

AA, as a doctor with experience of working with TB patients and in light of the book’s focus on TB (and the group’s interest in the disease), pointed out that:
* •    One-third of the people in the world are infected with TB, but most don't develop disease as their immune systems contain it. The waning of the immune system with old age may result in reactivation with the bacteria no longer being contained so they start to cause disease. There are two main groups in the UK who have TB - elderly indigenous people with reactivation and immigrants infected overseas who come with disease.
* •    TB used to be endemic in UK - Tom Jones and Ringo Starr had it and my dad’s chest X-ray showed he’d been infected with TB as a child in the 20s which had stayed contained. TB, what was called “consumption", lead to the death of millions including illustrious individuals such as Orwell, Burns, DH Lawrence, Florence Nightingale, Dylan Thomas, Alan Sillitoe, Somerset Maugham and various Brontë’s, plus Eleanor Roosevelt, Stravinsky, Camus, Chekhov and Kafka.
* •    Given that development of disease is a fine balance between immune containment and bacterial challenge, AIDS (which suppresses/destroys the immune system) unmasks latent TB. It also makes each disease harder to treat, and the patient ends up on two separate cocktails of nasty drugs which often interact and cause further trouble in an already weakened individual without a functioning immune system to assist in the battle against the bugs - that is if you are lucky enough to have access to medical care and the correct drugs. Not to mention the funds.
* •    When HIV took off in Africa transmission was mainly heterosexual, so it was young adults who were the main victims of the epidemic. As TB was (and still is) endemic and effective treatments were elusive, the results were devastating with huge numbers of children orphaned – many who had been infected with HIV through maternal-child transmission.


Constant Gardner BBBC Scores:  CW-7.1, CB-7,  AA–7,  MT-7,  JH-7,  MW-6.7,  SC-6,  RV-5.5, WM-3,   

Transcription, by Kate Atkinson

March 7th 2019. The Packhorse, Southstoke, Bath. 

Set during three time periods in the 1940s working for MI5 as a secretary, the 1950s working in the BBC and the 1980s looking back on life this story builds into a spy thriller set during a  time when allies, enemies and allegiances changed and it was difficult to know who to trust…
General consensus of an easy read by all with some finding  rather irritating and shallow and others enjoying the details of postwar England and the activities of M16.

Richard
Easy to read but irritating-too many problems. No character development in the main character with the denouement extremely irritating -absolutely no hint at all that Juliet had any political convictions at all never mind that she might be working for the communist party.
Juliet was a non person-the world passed her by -she was SO dumb.
There were good bits the author’s ability to deal with prejudice rang very true “it must be awfully handy to have a scapegoat for the worlds ills. (Women and the Jews tend to be first in line, unfortunately)“ some of the quotes ring very true for the current debate about Europe and foreigners.
A Very forgettable book.

Chris B
Easy to read but extremely light. The characters were mildly interesting but no real detailed explanations or sophistication in Juliet’s character. The book rather trivialised the war and the Cold War - a bit of a caricature. The British Secret Service for example- that there would be the inevitable closet gay.

Willm
Enjoyed good quality writing, light but unbelievable. Implausible that Juliet could be the sleuth whilst being a typist. Many too many chance coincidences. Meeting in the fog, being found on Paddington Station, everybody knew where she was all the time-totally unbelievable. The twist at the end was “cute“ but there was no substantiation for why this should happen at all leading up to her having Communist leanings.

Andrew 
A dull start with the description of her childhood but the writing crisp and entertaining with an easy “floaty“ style. The mundanities of life are well described in the book. The book lost it pace in the middle section with way too many coincidences. Farcical meetings. And then suddenly at the end Juliet becomes a Communist! Andrew enjoyed the story and the writing. But didn’t fully engage him. It was nice to read but “thin”.

Mark T
Mark read the book in India and enjoyed it as a light-hearted read but the fact that he can’t remember it now is a reflection of his thoughts of the book. He felt that there were many parts that were tedious. The description of Juliets mother dying was well described and he enjoyed the tension when Juliet is hiding in Mrs Skaifes’s house hanging off the creeper outside the window!

John
This was a book following in the great tradition of “derring do“spy stories about M15 typical of the spy thrillers written by CJ Samson. It was not pretending to be more. Captured the era well particularly the description of life at the BBC.
Prejudices at the time against women, Jews and race were done well by the author and the issue of trust-who do we trust was well questioned. It was an easy read a “warm bath“ and touched on some very relevant issues for example appeasement- the fact  that prior to the Second World War Lord Halifax and others nearly did a deal with the Nazis.………

Mark W
An easy read but not very much happened during the first hundred pages and the last 50 went mad! The central character isn’t the “shaper” of the story. This is a novel written by a female author about a female without that individual being the lead role. He found the plot “clunky“ and that it was full of irritating asides expressed by Juliet in parentheses.
At the end the author decided she needed to cram in some exciting stuff so the last 50 pages are inexplicably full of plot.

Steve
There are numerous irritating errors the first being the reference to North Utsire which only came into the shipping forecast in the 1980s! However, he felt that he was drawn into the story and enjoyed it.He felt that it was cunningly written and he liked the character of Juliet- an abandoned orphan.
He particularly liked Juliet’s asides and felt that this was a persuasive account of how things would have been in post war MI5. With the basic logistics of one room next to the next filled with a typist and technician.
He found the story where later Juliet went on to become a double agent as being plausible and thought-provoking.
Well researched and believable book.
Terrific.

Chris W
Enjoyed the atmospheric writing bringing to life 40s and 50s England and details about MI5 work with Nazi sympathisers during the war. The book was good in that it raised questions about truth, patriotism, identity and self. There were numerous good quotes.
However on the downside there were very predictable stereotypical characters-public schoolboy spies with the standard closet homosexual. The book had large sections that were slow moving with little action. Difficult to connect with Juliet‘s character particularly with her irritating asides in parentheses. Very little justification at the end to explain Juliet becoming a double agent.


Scores

Richard 3.5
Steve 8.5
Andrew 6.5
Mark T 6 .8
Mark W 6 .5
Willm 6.0
John 7.0
Chris B 5 .5
Chris W 6 .6

Milkman by Anna Burns

Milkman by Anna Burns

Date of Meeting: Thursday 4^th April 2019

This book was picked because of its interesting first chapter, and was described by the Guardian as ‘original, funny, disarmingly oblique and unique: different’. It was also the Booker Prize winner for 2018, not usually a selling point for me, but it seemed the sort of book that would not be described as ‘an easy read’ and so it transpired.

The discussion was an interesting one: there were three camps: ‘the enjoyed it’ camp, the ‘hated it camp’ and the Richard camp.

Dealing with the ‘hated it’ camp first of all, (Mark T and John), it seemed that Mark T, who was the first to comment, ‘passionately hated it’ and it was ‘one of the worst books I’ve ever read’, and he gave up at the end of the second chapter (roughly 20% of the book). However, after listening to the next four reviews, was heard to say ‘well perhaps I should have persevered a bit longer’, until sustained by John, who ‘found it unreadable’ and felt ‘angry and disenfranchised’, and gave up at roughly the same time as Mark T.

Mark W, in his brief introduction to the book, was struck by the style of the writing, strange at first but quite soon didn’t notice and was able to ‘go with the flow’. And what a flow it was, written entirely from the perspective of the narrator, whose name we never learn. According to the author herself, ‘This is a book about rumours, gossip, the power of gossip, the power of history and also the power of fabricated history, when rumours become the history’. Among the many quotes that could have been pulled out, two in particular were nominated, illustrating the dark humour of the book.

 Firstly, when describing an encounter with the ‘Wee Sisters’ (aged 8, 9 and 10 and never named, like all of the characters and places in the book):

‘I came in that day and we found them, no longer deep in Joan but now at those papers. ‘Wee sisters!’ we cried. ‘Where’d you get these? What on earth is going on?’ ‘Hush, older sisters,’ they said. ‘We’re busy. We’re trying to understand their viewpoint.’ After that they returned to poring over their broadsheets and tabloids while we, their elder sisters, disbelievingly looked on. Then we looked at each other –me, third sister, second sister and first sister. Trying to understand their viewpoint! What obscurity would wee sisters utter next? As for their remark, it was of the type that instantly could taint any person in our area.’

The second quote follows a difficult conversation with ‘Longest Friend’:

‘After this our meeting in the lounge ended, and after that I had three further encounters with longest friend from primary school. One was at her wedding in the countryside four months on where I was the only one – bar the holy man officiating – not wearing dark glasses. Even the groom, and longest friend in her simple white gown, each had a pair on. Then I met her a year after her wedding, this time at the funeral of her husband. Three months further on from that I went to her own funeral when they buried her with her husband. This was in the renouncers’ plot of the graveyard just up from the ten minute area, also known as ‘the no-town cemetery’, ‘the no-time cemetery’, ‘the busy cemetery’ or just simply, the usual place’.

Overall, Mark W ranked this book alongside Olive Ketteridge and The Handmaid’s tale, in terms of originality and enjoyment.

Next was Andrew, who was pleased this book about The Troubles was chosen, particularly against the backdrop of the Brexit backstop and watching Derry Girls on TV, and, up to a point he really enjoyed it. He thought it gave a real flavour of enclave life, with all its unspoken rituals and conventions and subtexts and rules and un-named people and things, its obfuscation and shadows, its expectations and resilience and fear and its pressure to conform and tensions and suspicions. Also, its ways of doing things and ways of not doing things, its constraints and strictures, its avoidance of hospitals, and telephones, and authorities, its use of rumour as a weapon, like with the Bentley supercharger and Middle Sister’s association with Milkman. The inescapable interconnectedness of everyone and everything, between as well as within communities, and all this from the perspective of an 18-year old woman who was doing all the things 18-year olds do anywhere, but in the confines of this enclave.

The start was excellent with its immediate hints of sinister things afoot, and was straight into the rhythm of the language. He listened to a section on Audible in the car but he had already got the voice and the rhythm from the writing. He liked the way characters were given descriptive names e.g. Maybe Boyfriend and Real Milkman, as well as places e.g. the Ten-Minute Area and the dot-dot-dot places. And he liked the characters, particularly Middle Sister, Ma, Real Milkman and the Wee Sisters. He also liked the way Burns introduced characters e.g. Chef and Real Milkman, and quickly got a real feel of how he became known as the man who didn’t love anybody. He enjoyed the way the story moved seamlessly between topics e.g. from hoarding to how Maybe-Boyfriend’s parents left four children without warning or note to live abroad and become world-famous ballroom dancers. He enjoyed the language e.g’ reading-while-walking, romance-advancement plan, hedge-disparagement, not going to hospital, guardians of the names, my mother, one of the Top Five pious women of the district, and Faithful Terror Of Other People And Not Just On Difficult Days.

While he enjoyed the language, that and the long sentences didn’t make it easy to read, and it was a long book. He found that trying to read it fast didn’t work and it was hard to keep the thread if he skimmed it and at times like walking across a ploughed field, until he slowed down and went with the flow, and enjoyed the language again.

Overall, he liked the story, its plot, its rhythm, its language, its characters, but it wasn’t an easy read unless you allowed yourself to fall into its rhythm.

Two quotes:

‘The only time you’d call the police in my area would be if you were going to shoot them, and naturally they would know this and so wouldn’t come’.

‘Three times in my life I’ve wanted to slap faces and once in my life I’ve wanted to hit someone in the face with a gun. I did do the gun but I have never slapped anybody’.

Steve, our resident Irish expert, was next, and, as expected found the book very interesting, but hadn’t quite finished it. He had highlighted so many things: firstly the book was very much in the tradition of Irish literature with its stream of consciousness from the head of the 18 year old girl. It was important to buy in to the narrative and the long sentences in order get something out of the book. It was a very different and gave a feeling about how extraordinary it must have been to grow up in Belfast during the Troubles. It’s still affected even nowadays. One of the issues he found interesting was about the place of women in the society. He also learned lots of phrases and particularly enjoyed the etiquette of getting off the phone. He was really enjoying it but it was not an easy read. He was certainly intending to finish it.

Subsequent to the meeting, after finishing the book, Steve added that, having finished it, he expected it to stay with him for much longer than some efforts by more established authors that we have read in the past.

Willm was next and found it to be a very original book, a stream of consciousness, all her experiences, thoughts, feelings, pouring out in a tense and impassioned manner. It was a powerful evocation of a whole community dominated by often unspoken rules, deliberate blindness and bounded rationality. The way everyone’s life is curtailed, scripted by their cognitive limitations and the structures of the environment (as is our own of course, but theirs is extreme).

She illustrates their bounded mental state throughout - ‘le ciel est bleu’ or black or white; no sunsets; no trees; semtex is normal, reading while walking is not. The district appears to be very working-class and yet, very strangely, she writes the speech of others with a form of words only available to highly educated, highly expressive, emotionally balanced people. He asked himself, throughout, why has she done this? Why not report in the vernacular, the voice of the people? This was, obviously, a deliberate choice. Was it because she wanted to get across to us, the readers, the complications, the complexity, the fractal-like nature of this societal structure, created by repeating a simple process over and over in an ongoing feedback loop? And that this would not have been available to us, at least not fully, in what he imagined to be the sparse and spare, emotionally-charged, language of the local population.

She told us parts of the future from the start, Milkman being killed, Somebody McSomebody threatening her with a gun; then a bit later that she breaks up with Maybe-Boyfriend, so obviously he survives. However these disclosures do not interfere with the experience of tension and threat that follows. A couple of times he felt ‘this is going on a bit too much’, with its sense of repetition, but he decided that this also reflected her experience of the never-ending harassment, the rumours, the blame, the cruelty. As a reader he needed to also experience the boredom of constant curtailment. Overall he was very impressed by its originality, descriptive power, and language.

Chris W started by thinking that there was no way he was going to be able to cope with the book. Like others, he found the first 15-20 pages quite hard, but, like others, he gradually got into it. He found himself reading it with his own Irish accent and just became addicted to it because, once he got into it, found it easy to follow and understand. It was a very convincing portrayal of the mind of an 18 year old girl, with the undercurrent of fear, and the feeling of somebody always watching what you were doing. Her life was torn apart by being stalked by someone, against whom she was unable to defend herself, resulting in a state of permanent fear. He found himself wanting to keep reading. He enjoyed the portrayal of the Wee Sisters, and the contrast between their intellect on the one hand and their more down to earth craving for chips on the other. He also loved the Blower Bentley scene, with its sudden change of mood from the feeling of enthusiasm and pride of Maybe Boyfriend having acquired the supercharger of the old car to the fear when one of the neighbours says :

‘It’s all very well, neighbour, having this so-called classic bit and all, and it’s not like I’m trying to be funny or anything but, which among you at the garage then drew the bit with that flag on’

Like others, Chris W noted that he couldn’t read this book quickly, but really enjoyed the depth in the main character.

Chris B liked the book. He thought that it was inventive and different but disagreed with some of the others in that he thought it was cleverer than a standard stream of consciousness. The author allowed the narrator to be extremely clever, with many variations, and layers of what’s actually going on. The style of the book lent itself so well to the locked-in community in which her only escape was in her reading of 19^th century novels, because she ‘didn’t like the 20^th century’ and to her French class which didn’t actually do much French.

He felt that, although the setting was clearly in Northern Ireland, the society could have been applied to many places, even an English village. He likes how the author defined the characters through the views of other people, for example the person who had become known as the ‘Man Who Didn’t Love Anybody’, aka the Real Milkman, turned out to be one of the kindest people about.

Chris B also hadn’t finished the book, but was very keen to finish it as he was looking forward to the denoument. He wondered whether a bit more context would have added more to the book, but he loved the psychology in which, in this closed society, what you really think is kept hidden.

Finally to Richard, who lulled us into a false sense of security with his opening statement that it was interesting to listen to the different perspectives, and that there were a lot of very good things about the book but that, for him, the book was much less than the sum of its parts. He compared it to ‘The Sellout’ in that it was erudite, interesting stuff.

He thought that the book had a very good beginning but he went off it. He thought it captured the Northern Irish turn of phrase although some of it sounded like Yoda from Star Wars! It was written in a very self-assured way, particularly the scenes with Maybe Boyfriend and the Blower Bentley and the French Class. He found the discussion about names very interesting, where there is a committee keeping a list of disallowed names. He also found it interesting that the Milkman surname doesn’t seem to be very common compared to many other trades.

He got the gender politics really well (as I type I am hearing Richard’s voice saying the words!), for example, the fact that women are not allowed to buy drinks. He thought that the book got the politics of the oppressed really well, the feeling of being browbeaten by the British armed forces, (something that it is difficult for us to appreciate on ‘our side of the water).

As well as ‘The Sellout’ Richard was also reminded of ‘The File’, where it seemed that everyone had a file on them, as in Eastern Germany. He appreciated the humour, the style and the enlightenment, but he really hated it. He didn’t enjoy the flow of words and he felt it went on and on, like a tsunami. It left him feeling exhausted. In the end, he had to really force himself to finish the book.

So, overall, an interesting discussion, and my reflection is that of feeling satisfied that no one described the book as ‘an easy read’ so one objective was achieved! Apologies to the three of you that really didn’t like it, more because two out of the three in particular didn’t get very far and so were unable to make the most of this discussion. I am pleased that most of the Book Club enjoyed the book, as I did; it was certainly not a foregone conclusion from the first few pages!

Scores as follows:

Mark W 8.5, Mark T 2.0, Andrew 8.0, Steve 8.5, Willm 9.5, Chris W 8.7, John 2.0, Richard 3.0, Chris B 8.2.

The Book of Strange New Things by Michael Faber

This book elicited one of the widest range of views and scores of any we have read. And this, despite escaping to the less than atmospheric upper room of The Ram due to a Liverpool - Man City football match being shown in the pub below.

In attendance: Chris B (book chooser), Andrew, Chris W, Mark T, Mark W., John Apologies: Willm, Richard and Steve

CB found it a very readable book and an engaging story. A satisfying book that hangs together as a convincing story despite the sci-fi context. SC really liked the book. It almost always passed the ‘do I want to pick it up and read it tonight’ test. It feels like an original, ambitious and absorbing creation. Overall, a big, interesting and readable book with thought-provoking ideas and some entertainingly sexy bits. A bit long but he liked it.

RV though unfinished, was enjoying the book.  It is very well written, with a very interesting protagonist, and is a book which raises a host of interesting ideas and issues, interleaved with a good sense of humour, good characters, interesting premise, and some good dialogue. MW found it easy to read, enjoyable, interesting. CW was happy to pick book up: it had enough new ideas and took different directions. MT was devouring it!

AA thought it terrific, beautifully written and Conradesque; a story of love and belonging, faith and fidelity; humanity and inhumanity, elevation and destruction, responsibility and deceit; individual and groups; fragility of everything; collapse of our planet as expected; suspense eg at the airport and carried on to the end. It progressed slowly; but he was keen to read on.

But JH found it a chore, an interesting idea made dreary. And for Willm, this wasn’t about strange new things but a rehash of tired old things. He found the language and structure exceedingly simplistic, which had the virtue, probably unintended, of making it a very rapid read.

CB liked the imagination and level of detail in the journey and on Oasis. It made a rich context for the story. Plenty of drama with the Jump (the way the spacecraft gets to the planet), the risks Peter, the protagonist faces on the strange planet and the guarded and somewhat one dimensional relationships on the base. Nice touches:  layers of detail: language, form, houses, sleeping etc of the Oasans; gradual engagement with Grainger, chapter headings as the last phrase in the chapter; plants, animals and landscape on the planet; rain and atmosphere; humour of misunderstandings e.g. passing water.

MW thought the Sci Fi ideas showed good imagination; but it was not such a big idea as Faber’s Under The Skin. CW thought some elements such as the building of the church and living with Oasans lacked interest: the Oasans were already converted. But he liked the imagery of the planet and the Brassiere and the mix of settings and detail eg cars. It raised questions: Why did the Oasans make crops in exchange for the drugs? Can you really screen out human characteristics so people can live in a sterile environment.  But made you think. SC too liked the sci-fi flavour - in a way this helps to unshackle the narrative from everyday distractions of earth-bound living, gives the author a chance to really fly with his ideas

For JH, the highpoint was Tesco going bankrupt. What was this book? Space exploration, colonisation, collapsing love story, faith collapsing? Interesting about how an ex-pat works in relation to people at home. But we should focus on solving our planet’s issues not spending money on space exploration.

MT found the religion interesting: related to his experience in a religious family.

AA thought it disappointing that Oasans spoke English and have a quasi human form. But liked the idea of faith as Peter’s latest addiction; the Eulogy for Severin; the proposal to Bea; the birth and death amongst the Oasans, the rain, alternation of earth and planet; the difficulty of communication when the “shoot” is less personal; humans being dependent on vulnerable people. Backstory was clear and consistent. Interesting: USIC staff keeping separate from their past; Tartaglione’s rant was good. Faber rejected his parents beliefs. Is this book about religion or human beings?

RV highlighted a passage from the very start (page 3) which shows both ideas and humour.

“Of course, everybody on earth had the power to reshape reality. It was one of the things Peter and Beatrice talked about a lot. The challenge of getting people to grasp that life was only as grim and confining as you perceived it to be. The challenge of getting people to see that the immutable facts of existence were not so immutable after all. The challenge of finding a simpler word for ‘immutable’ than ‘immutable’.”

He was struck by at least 50 different paragraphs or sentences, for example, when Peter looks through the Visitor’s Book in the Heathrow Prayer Room; his rather amazing sermon for Severin’s funeral; his interesting discussion of translations (“once it dawned on you that everyone who wasn’t a native speaker of Canaanite Hebrew, Koine Greek or Galilean Aramaic was at an equal disadvantage, you could relax and feel that Scripture in your own tongue was as good as Scripture in anyone else’s”); his lovely use of arcane English: “frankly barmy / he pointed out, with stonkingly obvious good sense”.

RV found Peter’s voice very authentic, and extremely different to the protagonist in Under the Skin – he clearly can write in very different ways. In some ways the book reminded RV of a science fiction novella he read 40+ years ago – A Case of Conscience, James Blish - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Case_of_Conscience (a book that was very powerful at the time and one that has clearly stayed with him) also about a missionary to an alien race.

The book is by no means perfect (why does Peter not ask more questions of the Oasans, and the M6 does not go south of Birmingham!).  But it captures someone’s clear faith very well, and his ability to describe and discuss faith is extremely good.

For WM, the social references at the Base were all curiously anachronistic: posters depicting Rosie the Riveter, and the men eating lunch on a skyscraper girder; the music of Bing Crosby, Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra; and odd turns-of-phrase. All this from before the author was born and as the novel was set in the future, even if ever-so-slightly, most peculiar.  And, why on earth (literally) would they choose Peter of all available Christians? Why is everyone at Base (apart Grainger) so unbelievably passive? Why do two people go awol? Something in the white flower foodstuffs?

Many quotations from the Bible, as might be expected, but is this really the way evangelical spouses communicate with each other?  And, do they feel the need to explain the ‘real’ meaning  of the citations?  E.g. ‘Philippians 4:6 reassures us “be careful for nothing (i.e. don’t be anxious about anything)” ‘. On page 162  our hero writes to his wife that John said “Love not the world nor the things of the world. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, etc.etc.”  Although she is the one who converted him, and probably just as familiar with this quote as he is, he then goes on to ‘mansplain’ that John was being too harsh and that Jesus understood, and God understands, that people have a whole life to live before they die. ‘Mansplaining’ apart, I would have that thought that being cognisant of what Jesus understood and God understands is quite possibly a little above his pay grade.

Now, the author may just have been illustrating that this type of evangelical fervour is somewhat self-absorbed, or self-referential, and that Peter was hiding any real understanding, feelings or empathy behind a cloak of quotations. However, it seems to me that the author is fundamentally in sympathy with our Father Peter and that the whole ‘novel’ is really Saint Michel’s epistle to the converted, to the ignorant, and to naive 13 year olds who are seeking the ‘meaning of life’ and the answers that religion might provide. The medium is the message.            

SC agreed. He could have done without the detailed discussion of specific Bible passages, particularly as ‘translated’ by Peter. Was the author preaching, maybe trying to show off the depth of his Bible studies knowledge, or simply trowelling it on more thickly than the narrative really required? SC’s money’s on the latter. What was the author really trying to do here- was he coming up with a strong critique of Christian theology (which would have been ambitious), or making a more focused and barbed point about the innate flimsiness of any belief structure based on a single book, no matter how well it’s been parroted?

SC thought perhaps it’s a great love story. From quite early on,  he was hoping Grainger and Peter would get it on. The finale, which is not necessarily as expected, is sad and reminds him a bit of A Clockwork Orange, where Alex becomes a tool of the establishment.

SC thought the book is not without problems. The idea that Peter, a former criminal drug addict, has been selected to come and minister to an alien race which has ‘discovered’ God through a predecessor, purely to ‘keep them sweet’ and continue the trade in whiteflower products, is tenuous to say the least. Any such discovery of alien life would have triggered the most intricately analytical and complex project to learn as much as possible about these beings. Instead they are regarded as freaks and a hindrance to the aims of the colony. Really difficult to relate to this particular angle.

However, if somehow one lets that go, the idea of a drug-addict religious zealot (and his hornily zealous wife) arriving to build a church and adopt the missionary position somehow fits the plot, as does his gradual progress to ‘going native’ - a touch of Heart of Darkness here? SC liked the descriptions of the alien world and its inhabitants, though felt that it was rather lacking in detail, perhaps deliberately so.

CB liked the way Peter as a human being comes through the beliefs, whether his sexual urges, his doubts, his difficulty in communicating with his wife, his enjoyment of the calmness of the Oasan community, his despair at the sterile life of the base. In the end, his human experience overtakes his faith. CB really liked the description of faith: a strong belief but could equally be a human construct plus confusion of when God is responding or whether it is just a human reaction (eg when he wants to talk to his wife in the car on his first journey to the Oasans.

CB liked the development of the effect of being apart in a relationship and having very different experiences is well developed over time with a backdrop of disasters back on earth contrasting with Peter’s positive experience of his ministry and mainly calm life amongst the Oasans. By contrast, the community of people at the base are happy to leave their old lives behind and are self sufficient and work focussed which makes the times when people break out of this more full of tension and pathos (Grainger, Tartaglione, Kurtzberg).

SC agreed Bea’s bulletins from home kept ringing uncannily true, and all the more unsettling for that. Her growing anger with him and his lack of empathy with real world problems was believable, as was her increasingly dicey predicament. MW thought the relationship with three “women” the most interesting including deteriorating relationship with his wife, development of relationship with Grainger; weak character, end not satisfactory, lacked something.

For MT, the letters felt real and like his own experience, including the drifting apart. The Grainger relationship was interesting; the tension was good as they didn’t develop the relationship; felt the ending was left unresolved but liked the tension of this. AA asked has the relationship ended because it was based on faith which is lost? He liked the summing up of Peter’s dependency as being more on a woman than on Jesus.

For CB, the context at home feels like a very real threat as society slowly then more quickly starts to break down. And serves to alienate the couple further. Bea’s reactions are well developed even via the medium of letters. And the asserted purpose of the base as a base for the rich to escape to eventually comes out along with the reasons Peter is asked to minister to the Oasans.

So we found lots to like and be interested in as well as things to really dislike. An average score of 6.82 with a range of 2 - 8.5.

Scores: John 3.5; Mark T 8.5; Andrew 8.5; Chris 7.4; Mark W 7.2; Chris 7.75; Willlm 2; Steve: 8.5
Richard: 8

Down to the Sea in Ships – of Ageless Oceans and Modern Men
by Horatio Clare

Rose and Crown, Larkhall, 6th December 2018

Present: Steve (this choice), John, Chris B, Chris W, Mark T (later), Willm.

Apologies from Mark W, Andrew and Richard.

The book was selected partly because this month’s reading director, Steve, particularly likes travel books and hadn’t read a good one for a while. Having met a relative of Clare’s at a dinner party, and having as a result found that he hadn't read as widely in the genre as he thought, Steve decided to inflict him upon the rest of the BBC. So how did it go?

This is a good journalist’s account of modern global shipping at work. Through the offices of Danish giant Maersk, Clare tagged a ride on two container ships, one heading to east Asia from Harwich, the other crossing the Atlantic from Antwerp to Montreal. His intention was to reveal something of the way these massive craft influence global trade, and, more interestingly one suspects for Clare, to find out more about the kind of men (mostly men) who make their living and their lives on board.

It was soon revealed that the club contains a number of frustrated seamen, as well as some who remain resolute in their determination to have as little as possible to do with it.

John was at one point in life going to go to sea but it didn’t happen – and this book popped a lot of dreams for him. It was interesting to see how introverted many of the crew were – retiring, not really mixing, just getting the hours in until their next leave or promotion.  He enjoyed the details about the crew – skipper Petrus Koop’s father was a bishop in Brazil… He saw moments of genius in the writing , such a Larson peering over his glasses in the playground as a fat little kid – a very evocative description.

So for John, a good read, enjoyable, though interspersed with moments when it was frankly a bit of a slog. Rather like the voyages.

Steve was another frustrated mariner. For him it was a sporadically fascinating window onto a rarely written-about world. Some of the statistics were extraordinary – although how Maersk could be making millions of pounds sterling a day, as claimed earlier in the book, when it cost more to ship the containers than the goods inside them, was unclear. For Steve the biggest stumbling block was the writing. Strangely unformed sentences got in the way of a clear description, as though the author imagined himself driven in some way by a kind of poetic muse that forced him to change the order of words around simply to make it sound more interesting. Some passages were great – the frozen run in to Montreal for example, or the description of finding the Pembroke in Antwerp. But others just didn’t work and paled in comparison with Nicolas Monserrat, Robin Knox-Johnson etc etc.

Chris B enjoyed the basic premise of demonstrating how the stuff we use gets to be where it is in the world and how vital these precise schedules are. It’s the most polluting industry in the world – though right now steps are being taken to improve that – which is a conundrum in itself. His initial momentum on pollution rather faded, but the descriptions of the ships in rough weather were evocative and vivid. He’d have liked to know more about navigation, how they were taught, what happened when it went wrong… and historical references , particularly the WW2 convoys, lent depth and context – travelling over peoples’ graves. He found the book a powerful case for doing more about the pollution issued by the industry and wished the author had been a bit more dogged in this respect – but on the other hand it was good that the book didn’t preach, leaving the reader to make up their own mind.

Chris W wondered what our review would have been like if the group was made up of women instead of men. In which event, it was pointed out, we probably wouldn’t have chosen it. But the point was well made – it is a very male dominated society, and the appearance of the one female (Annabel the cook) wasn’t enough to counterpoint the very ‘heavy metal’ engineering focus. How amazing to change a cylinder casing while still travelling along. The ships couldn’t hide from bad weather, they had to choose their route carefully to minimise risk while losing as little time as possible. It was the human aspects that Chris felt were missing – more detail about the families left at home, the hardships endured on the other side of the equation – but interesting and enjoyable.

Willm declared himself not a sea person., and initially he found the book fairly uninteresting and uninvolving. But as the voyages developed, he found himself increasingly drawn in. The emphasis on the everyday dangers, the hardships of the crew, particularly the Filipinos, and the pay differential between them and the Europeans. Willm was amused by the descriptions of the Filipino expertise at getting massive suitcases through airline security at the last possible moment, as they took spoils home to their families. He liked the writer’s own admission of the difficulty of capturing the motion of a big ship across the waves in writing. Though ‘snippety’, he enjoyed the book once he was into it.

Mark T found it interesting to read this book describing a world about which he knew little. He found some episodes fascinating – the description of Vietnam; the sheer magnitude of the ship (particularly the Gerd); the sad sad barbecue scene where no one really wanted to be there but everyone dutifully went – in a storm. There was possibly too much about storms. In the final analysis for Mark it didn’t have enough about it to really make the experience fulfilling – interesting in parts but ultimately a bit boring.

Mark W found the premise of the book interesting and original.The mis of narrative and reflections worked for a while but lost momentum after a while. There’s a limit to the number of observations about whales, diesel engines, the weather etc. that a non-mariner can take on. In exception to this was the section from Chapters 17-19, including the build-up to the storm and the storm itself. Perhaps another gear was engaged for this section? And augmented very effectively by the choice of extracts from Eugene O’Neill and Nicolas Monserrat. Unfortunately the extracts sometimes pointed up the shortcomings of the author’s own prose, but it did turn out to be a little better than at one point feared.

Richard enjoyed the book and found himself enjoying it more, the more he read. Lots to like but not a great book. We learned a great deal about the importance of shipping to global trade, both now and throughout history (who knew that Bristol’s favourite John Cabot was in fact a Venetian?) The passages on the WW2 convoys were very effective. The descriptions of wildlife were also helpful in bringing life to the narrative – the birds that join the ship for long periods and then disappear. Richard enjoyed the lists of cargos and the people who would benefit from them, his political motivations as well and agonising over the unfairness even to this day of the way these huge shipping lines are run. So there was plenty to like, a really wide range of information and some very descriptive prose. But despite this, Richard found the momentum slowing occasionally, and the style rather lost its power when the author wasn’t up on his soapbox. But not a bad book at all and am interesting alternative (and in Richard’s view an improvement upon) the last book about the sea that we read – Sea of Poppies.

Andrew was another who was looking forward to the mix of wind, waves, steel and men doing what me do… and found the author gifted at putting thoughts on the page and conjuring up the extremes of weather and the occasional dramas that occur throughout the voyages he describes. Nonetheless the journey was a tough one. Mostly because of the way the book was constructed. Some crew members’ stories were presented as anecdotes by other sailors – their introductions felt clunky and contrived, they were often too brief to make meaningful contributions and sometimes felt like wrong turns. Perhaps a little more editing of the material he’d collected would have made Clare’s book a more coherent whole?

So a broadly favourable response, for a range of reasons, although no-one found that it really set the world on fire.

Scores:
John 6.75
Steve 6.5
Chris B 7.0
Chris W 6.4
Willm 8.0
Mark T 4.5
Mark W 6.0
Richard 7.5
Andrew 4.0

Average 6.294

The Power– Naomi Alderman

BBBC Meeting, 1 November 2018, The Hop Pole, Bath

Present: Andrew (this book choice), MarkW, MarkT, Willm, Richard, ChrisW, ChrisB, Steve

Apols: John

I chose this novel for several reasons: its terrific central idea; its similarities and differences with The Handmaid’s Tale the book club had read a few months earlier; the current spotlight on the abuse of power by men, how the patriarchy has maintained its stranglehold on power, and how boys and men may go through life unaware of the privileges. As a bloke, I thought I could, and should, learn from this story. I was particularly interested to see how the author would put flesh on the bones of her brilliant idea, and to listen to the resulting discussion of the book with my fellow blokes.

The Power is feminist speculative fiction and explores how reversal of the gender power imbalance might affect society. The overall view was that while the central premise was fascinating, the execution of the story was disappointing. While JH enjoyed it far more than he expected not being a sci-fi/dystopia fan and having been put off by the cover and its blurb, everyone else felt it didn’t live up to its promise. MW thought the first chapter was terrific, but struggled with the violence, feeling much of it was gratuitous, and that the pendulum had currently swung too far against men. He did not enjoy the book. 

Neither did MT despite liking the beginning, the end and the Roxy character, mainly because the implausible physics of skeins annoyed him. Although he appreciated the reworking of the biblical references and was moved when Roxy’s skein was removed, he also struggled with the story in general and the violence in particular, and didn’t enjoy it. CW, who enjoys sci-fi and books which stimulate his imagination, felt this was written as an action drama, and while The Handmaid’s Tale explored the human condition, The Power was based solely on the power to electrocute. It didn’t live up its promise and he was pleased to finish it. 

WM was looking forward to reading it and watching how power can change, but after 30 pages became disappointed with the plot focus on sex, violence and gangsters, the simplistic situations and predictable plot devices, and how the transfer of power was not explored in any depth. SC was also looking forward to reading it but both his enjoyment and will to read faltered with the heavy-handed rather formulaic execution of the plot, which felt like a succession of situations of reversals of gender stereotypes. At times it had the feel of a pulp fiction novel, without the depth of thought or empathy of Atwood’s tale, and didn’t come together as a book.  CB found the plot a bit disjointed (as did JH and AA) and confusing such as Allie turning to religion and how characters ended up in Moldova where Tatiana’s court seemed rather pantomime. He commented that humans are nasty, particularly those with power, that corruption and violence are not limited to men, that not all men abuse power, and that power, the abuse of power, and revenge are part of the human condition, but felt many of these issues had not been worked through. 

RV enjoyed the book more than most but didn’t think it was a really good story like The Handmaid’s Tale. While it had many extremely interesting points, good adventures, and kept him up late reading a couple of nights, it was flawed. He also felt the style was filmic, perhaps with ITV in mind. He enjoyed the description of revolution – that the only way to change anything is a tsunami – and noted that Alderman had chosen to write about tsunami and not spray, in deciding on the power to electrocute rather than a more subtle way to transfer power.  He enjoyed the reframing of gender roles with men the nurturers looking after babies and women the protectors, using violence. 

JH said it was a really interesting and innovative premise with all sorts of ramifications and implications. He loved some of the different country vignettes such as reaction in India, Moldova and Saudi. AA thought the central idea was terrific and the story was full of brilliantly imagined ideas, though the sheer number of these meant that many were left undeveloped and unexplored. This meant that the story lacked the depth and intensity of The Handmaid’s Tale, even though the plot raced along in an exciting way. However, there was broad agreement that most stories would pale in comparison to The Handmaid’s Tale, though repeated comparisons are inevitable given their similarities, Atwood’s mentorship of Alderman during her writing of The Power, and reviews on the book’s cover, including one from Atwood. 

AA thought the skein idea was biologically a bit far-fetched but that there had to be some way of reversing the gender power imbalance so rapidly and decisively. He felt much of the focus of the book was on the abuse of power by women, and would have been interested to read more about less extreme societies than Bessapara, to see how everyday life in suburban Norwich or rural Idaho was affected. What was life like for ordinary men and women, rather than just the gangsters and politicians? What if power had been equalised rather than the imbalance simply reversed?

The characters came in for quite a lot of criticism with the exception of Roxy, and to a lesser extent, Tunde: shallow and disappointing (WM), over-exaggerated, lack of depth (CW), no empathy with them (SC), some overly stereotypical and so not always plausible or people I either felt for or wanted to be with (JH). 

The writing was good with some lovely passages while other situations were over-embellished (SC), the dialogue a bit simplistic (WM), some good descriptive writing particularly the vitriol in the chapter on chatrooms, and the accurate portrayal of how quickly outrage evaporates in India and nothing changes (RV), at times hard to follow, quite wordy with too many digressions and elaborations – not always an easy read (JH). Many people liked the ending with the male author being told his work will always be assessed as ‘men’s literature’ and being asked if he had considered publishing it under a woman’s name.

Perhaps expectations were just too high to be met, particularly in a single book, and particularly given the links to Atwood’s extraordinary tale, but overall this novel did not live up to its high promise, disappointing several of the group in a large way and the others in lesser ways. However, Alderman is to be congratulated for tackling such a fundamental, important and unresolved issue, for dreaming up such an extraordinary novel, and for working it through – even if some blokes in Bath found fault in some of its execution. Her book generated one of the best discussions for some time (RV) as well as making us think about uncomfortable things.

Andrew Alexander

November 2018