Time's Arrow by Martin Amis

Discussion on Zoom, 7th January 2021 – all present.

Richard, whose choice this was, had never read a Martin Amis and had wanted to for a long time. Although he’d heard the titles of many of Amis’s books – London Fields, Money, the Rachel Papers - he chose this one as he is very interested in time and books on time.

Overall opinion

Most of the BBBC were looking forward to reading this – some had read other Amis books and has been impressed with them; others had not but had wished to. And most knew that the reviews of Times’ Arrow had been ‘extravagant in their praise’. Rose Tremain said: "Time's Arrow turns the bored, banjaxed, broken-hearted old reader into a breathless, bedazzled young reader for whom the novel becomes once again a source of illumination and an act of hope." James Wood described the book as "a stunning achievement, perilous and daring". It was even nominated for the Booker prize.

But there has rarely been a BBBC book which was so disliked or by which people were so unimpressed, and there has never been a book which was so unexpectedly disliked (out of the 187 books read so far since May 2005, the only books to score lower than this book were a very bad Robert Ludlum and an equally bad Victoria Hislop! Many did not expect to like either of those and therefore were not disappointed; whereas people DID expect this to be good, so the disappointment was all the greater. For example, MarkT reported that he had been looking forward to reading another Amis, as the Rachel Papers was one of his youthful greats, and he has read it many times.)

In sum, overall opinions were that:

• it was a slight, trivial, and fundamentally boring book (R);
• arduous, gimmicky, irritating and gruelling. This was a contrived structure to challenge the writing skills of Amis rather than do anything useful for the reader. Pandering to his conceit (ChW);
• Overall, I could not find any point to this book, other than an intellectual exercise for the author (W);
• I felt I was reading a jumble of words – therefore unintelligible and irritating – a dreadful waste of paper (J);
• The main character is an uninspiring and immoral person who seems just swept along by events, including loveless childhood, a failed marriage, medical duties in concentration camps and then escape to the US and a series of jobs at a hospital and a voracious sex life and failed relationships, including with the desperate sounding Irene. Is there a point to the book part from the reversal challenge: maintaining a story and characters in reverse time order? (ChB)

One or two opinions were not so wholeheartedly negative:

• Weighty, serious themes of domestic abuse and violence, torture, murder and genocide (given an odd perspective through being reversed); and humorous at times, mostly because of the inversion of events. Overall, a brilliant idea with some great imagination and some nice sentences, but neither an easy read nor an enjoyable experience, and although there was enough to make me interested to read a novel of his not written backwards, it didn’t endear me to the author (A). 
• I like an experimental art form, one where the artist tries to push the boundaries of their art form. Like being taken on a journey without knowing where it is going. It was unsuccessful, but one should respect the attempt (S).

There were four main areas to the discussion: the topic, the reversal of time, the style and the experimental nature of the book.

1. The topic

There was again a clear consensus that “As the story of the Holocaust, concentration camps and medical experiments was well known to me and generally all readers (one would assume) there was no surprise in anything that came through the story because we knew from the outset what Amis was going to be writing about.” (ChW)

 

There are two elements here.

First, did Amis have anything new to say about the Holocaust? Again the consensus was not: 

• “Does this add to our understanding of the Holocaust or of immigrants to the US? I feel not.” (ChB) 
• “I do not feel that this book has anything to offer or to add about those awful events. I got no new perspective, no new knowledge, about the Holocaust – although some of the descriptions were very distressing, about removing “Clothes, spectacles, hair (“Freightcars full of it. Freightcar after freightcar.”), teeth” and the gold fillings, which the main character then used to live off for the rest of his life. And the awful ways that people were killed - not just the gas chambers or the vans full of exhaust fumes or the shootings - for example “Enlightenment was urged on me the day I saw the old Jew float to the surface of the deep latrine, how he splashed and struggled into life, and was hoisted out by the jubilant guards, his clothes cleansed by the mire. Then they put his beard back on.” And somehow the time-going-backwards element and the jaunty way that he wrote about this death made it even worse. And for me, there were no new perspectives on the fact that some awful characters did escape justice and lived full lives under new names – although I do know that many more escaped to South America then did to the Northern continent. ” (R)

Second, maybe it was simply the wrong topic for the book:

• “Maybe if the story had been one which had dealt with a completely unknown subject it might have been more interesting and compelling for the reader to work with the book. Instead I nearly gave up twice.” (ChW)

Again, some were (slightly) less damning:

• “Perhaps the reversal of the obscenity done to the Jews does bring it home again, ensure we respond with horror, anger and grief at what was done.” (ChB)

2. The time-flowing-backwards

A number of people liked this IDEA: 

• “great idea of a life in reverse, reverse chronology, including the narrative, dialogue and explanations” (A)

Andrew thought that the execution of the idea also created some interesting juxtapositions:

• his terrible crimes against people and his abusive treatment of Herta made almost matter of fact by being told in reverse eg. as he brings people back to life and reunites them with family
• which for me heightened the impact of the atrocities as it made me think about them more while trying to make sense of the narrative – though at the same time the author risks being highly offensive.

Although others disagreed:

• “While, the reverse actions of the death camp did have the effect of presenting the horrors in an even more horrifying way, we already know what happened there.” (W)

There were other positive things for some: although “it was not easy to read as I needed to spend time reversing the dialogue and narrative to check what is/was happening, but fascinating with every event in reverse - eg.

• shopping, having a meal, washing up,
• damaging and mending things,
• · babies being born,
• buying presents for people
• restrictions getting less and less for Jews,
• having a dump,
• performing an operation – putting on messy bloodstained scrubs and taking bloody swabs out of the bin after suturing the skin

And some of these reversals provide some amusement:” 

• “Rounding it off with a cocktail, we finish our meal and sit there doggedly describing it to the waiter, with the menus there to jog our memory.”
• “One of her duties is to replenish Hamilton’s chamber pot each morning.”
• “Something ails the ship’s engines. How they cough and choke and retch. The smoke that feeds our funnels is much too thick and black.”

And ChrisB agreed: 

“the reversal provided some funny, almost slapstick moments with reverse bodily functions, reverse medical procedures.”
And a number of people thought that there were times, using this idea, when the writing provided a pause for thought, and a deeper underlining of some important ideas, for example: 

• “On the ramp he cut a frankly glamorous figure, where he moved like a series of elegant decisions."
• “Everything is familiar but not at all reassuring.”
• “Human beings want to be alive. They are dying to be alive.”

Nevertheless, the overall consensus was that this was a gimmick, and that it did not work, certainly over the length of even a short book:

• “Why was it necessary for the book to be written backwards. In the epilogue to the book it says that Amis decided to write a book backwards and having played tennis with a friend one day who gave him a book about the “Nazi doctors“ he decided that this would be the subject of his reverse book. No explanation why he felt it was necessary to write the book backwards or what he felt it would achieve. PLUS I also felt that the details given were too shocking to be played with in this reverse manner.” (ChrisW).
• “Generally, I found the reversal of time a distraction from the story though there were lots of clever descriptions. Taking on reverse medical procedures and processes or love scenes, for example was a challenge, handled well. I am not sure it always worked consistently and there is an inherent conflict between a flowing narrative going forwards with the action going backwards. The text goes forward but we are to believe that all speech and movement were backwards.” (ChrisB) “The reverse time seemed interesting to me for the first few pages (and as I say, very occasionally that element reinforced a point in the writing), but very quickly it became nothing more than a gimmick. It was a gimmick that he tried and generally succeeded in maintaining, but one where there were huge holes in the concept – after all, people still TALKED forwards, and hence although each paragraph or event went backwards, all of the words and all of the sentences still moved forwards, and there were other holes in the concept as well. So – it is clever, in its way, but for me, completely ‘so what’. Amis has nothing to add about time to the many very interesting books, both fact and fiction, that have been written about our experience of time.” (R)

3. Style

There were some positive aspects to Amis’s style.

• “The narrator was an interesting concept – his conscience? If so surely Amis missed the opportunity for the conscience to have a more moral view on the activities of the doctor and to express these when instead all the conscience did was crack jokes and repeatedly refer to the inability to quite understand what was going on because everything was being recounted backwards.! Too long. Didn’t gain anything from this book.” (ChrisW)
• “The first few pages were interesting, but as I read on interest began to wane. There were a few cleverly constructed, quotable, descriptive sentences!” (W)

And ChrisB provided a few examples of these: “Some nice observations about relationships”:

• “I have noticed in the past, of course, that most conversations would make much better sense if you ran them backwards. But with this man-woman stuff, you could run them any way you liked – and still get no further forward.”.

“A nice description of desperation and anger”:

• “Tod’s hidden mind insists, in dream form, that Tod feels pain. The dreams tell us this in their miserable iteration. And fear. Tod is a big depositor in the bank where fear is kept. Around midnight, sometimes, Tod Friendly will create things. Wildly he will mend and heal. Taking hold of the woodwork and the webbing, with a single blow to the floor, with a single impact, he will create a kitchen chair. With one fierce and skilful kick of his aching foot he will mend a deep concavity in the refrigerator’s flank. With a butt of his head, he will heal the fissured bathroom mirror, heal also the worsening welt in his own tarnished brow, and then stand there staring at himself with his eyes flickering.”

“Observations on life”:

• “I’m being immature. I’ve got to get over it. I keep expecting the world to make sense. It doesn’t. It won’t. Ever.”  

“And suicide”:

• “But you can’t end yourself, not here. I am familiar with the idea of suicide. But once life is running, you can’t end it. You’re not at liberty to do that. We’re all here for the duration. Life will end. I know exactly how long I’ve got. It looks like for ever. I feel unique and eternal. Immortality consumes me – and me only.”

“And sexual frustration”:

• “Herta’s nightdress is childish. It is patterned with genies and sprites. I begged of them, these sprites and genies. Deliriously, all night, in bed, I begged – oh, the bedbug of nightbeg …”

And some ChrisB just liked:

• “It was November. The humans had grown their winter coats, and the high buildings trembled in the tight grip of their stress equations.”
• “Europe churned in the night like the seas of human forms round the stoves of station waiting rooms.”

Andrew thought that “Herta – sounds like hurt her” which was very apposite about the wife of this man. 

 

And even Richard, who scored the book the lowest, found some positives: “I do think that generally Amis writes well, and initially there was quite a lot to like. On page 1 I thought he made a lovely start: “I sensed their vigour, scarcely held in check, like the profusion of their body hair”. I also thought the idea of him being solely an observer of this person, who was not him, was potentially interesting. And I liked this observer’s grammatical pedantry – very like me – for example, also early on, he is taken aback by people’s lack of observance of grammatical rules: “The apostrophe in ‘Please Respect Owner’s Rights’ isn’t where it ought to be. (Nor is the one on the placard on Route 6 which locates and praises ‘Rogers’ Liquor Locker’.)” And there was some nice writing in relation to the ‘time-flowing-backwards’ gimmick – “A child’s breathless wailing calmed by the firm slap of the father’s hand, a dead ant revived by the careless press of a passing sole, a wounded finger healed and sealed by the knife’s blade”.  

 

And yet, almost everyone agreed that these positives could not outweigh the general negatives, and even the occasional humour from the reversal of time palled. As Richard put it, “by the time I had got only a few more ages in, I had written to myself “I’m getting tired of this gimmick” for example when he wrote “The little children on the street, they get littler and littler. At some point it is thought necessary to confine them to pushchairs, later to backpacks. Or they are held in the arms and quietly soothed – of course they’re sad to be going. In the very last months they cry more than ever. And they no longer smile.” And Andrew was especially scathing over Amis’s “disappointingly sloppy dog’s breakfast when Amis shows off to the reader his grasp of clinical examination”

• “Auscultation would reveal dyspnoea, rich in rales, also tachypnoea, suggesting mediastinal crunch. Eyes show strabismus and nystagmus, also arteriovenous nicking and silver-wiring. In the mouth the buccal muscosa (sic) are lesioned, the oropharynx inflamed.”

As Andrew put it, “lazy writing, full of inaccuracies and errors - and irritating”.

4. The IDEA – Experimental fiction

Andrew thought the idea of a book “narrated by a sort of conscience of the protagonist who is constantly baffled and misinterprets the reversed events and situations” was interesting, as did Willm: “The narrator being intrinsically part of while being consciously separated from the protagonist Tod was an interesting idea: I have at times found a part of myself observing what I have done and wondering why I did it”. And Steve was “struck by MarkW’s reference to Jazz – the book reminded me of Jazz – an art form that I don’t like especially, but one where I can recognise the artists’ skill, and the fact that s/he / they are trying to do something NEW. I like an experimental art form, one where the artist tries to push the boundaries of their art form. I like being taken on a journey without knowing where it is going. Therefore I liked bits – which were often amusing – for the first 20 pages!”

But again here, most felt that the book failed:

• “However, the narrator seemed to be simply a passenger, and the role was not developed, either as a ‘conscience’ or a ‘soul’ (whatever this could be)” (W).
• “It was inconsistent, with a narrator who sometimes was the observer, sometimes speaking for the man himself” (S)
• John “Felt sorry for the dedicatee – the authors sister” and “did not think this book a “valiant effort” or “interesting experiment” - more a conceit, an indulgence by a “too clever by half” author – a sad reflection on Amis as I have enjoyed some of his other work such as London Field or Night Train. Understood what the author trying to achieve but it didn’t work – therefore a failure of a book”.
• And ChrisB thought that “although the premise of a soul experiencing a person’s life backwards was intriguing, it felt at times as if the author was more concerned with the technicalities of this than the story.”

As MW put it: “I like books where one forgets that it is a book at all – here it was hard work – here the technique was ALL.”

Conclusion

So fundamentally, most found the book boring, a technical exercise, a failure - maybe a clever book, but as Richard said at the outset, a slight, trivial, and fundamentally so boring book. ChrisB asked “Really what the book is about? I’ve come to the conclusion that Odilo Unverdorben, as a moral being, is absolutely unexceptional, liable to do what everybody else does, good or bad, with no limit, once under the cover of numbers.”

Richard Velleman

January 2021

The Shipping News, by Annie Proulx

Met by Zoom, 3rd December 2020. Apologies from Steve.

This is the 2nd novel of Annie Proulx who published her first in her 50s. Since then she has published a number of novels and also short stories – Brokeback Mountain being a well-known one of the latter.  She is inspired by landscapes and the way in which geography/topography fashions people and language. She has a house on Newfoundland and spends part of the year there – presumably the summer part!

There was general agreement that this was an interesting, very well written, very unusual book, full of well-drawn characters, evocative descriptions of Newfoundland lifestyle, landscape, seascape, weather, the Gammy Bird newspaper, and food.  

Examples include:
Rock ledges like black metal straps held the sea to the land.

The Heavy Weather was a log room with a filthy linoleum floor and the smell of a backed-up toilet, vomit, stale smoke and liquor.

…the children rushed at Quoyle, gripping him as a falling man clutches at a window ledge, as a stream of electric particles arcs a gap and completes a circuit. The fog against the window like milk, dense as cotton waste, carried a coldness that ate into ones bones

…a yellow day on Monday – the sky cast was an ugly yellow like a jar of piss.

An amazing beginning with the description of Quoyle’s tormented childhood, body and life:
And brother Dick, the father’s favourite, pretended to throw up when Quoyle came into the room, hissed Lardass, Snotface, Ugly Pig, Warthog, Stupid, Stinkbomb, Fart-tub, Greasebag… pummelled and kicked until Quoyle curled, hands over head, snivelling, on the linoleum. All stemmed from Quoyle’s chief failure, a failure of normal appearance.

The reader has to catch the rhythm of the writing – many short sentences lacking verbs or other grammatical normalities as well as all the local vocabulary, and cadences which well conveyed the quirky speech patterns of the locals: Leave me take that saw boy.

The isolated communities are buffeted by nature and change which inevitably leads to decay of local industry and migration of the population in search of employment and a better life. And all the details of boats and boat-building which, while they may be lost on non-boat-people. add detail and believability to description of activities which have always been central to the lives of ‘Newfies’, but which are now in terminal decline.

The place names: Lost all Hope, Bad Fortune, Never Once, No Name; and the names of many of the characters: Partridge, Pretty, Nutbeem, Tert Card, Alvin Yark, and Benny Fudge whose face seemed made of leftover flesh squeezed roughly together. Another character had a face like cottage cheese clawed with a fork.

There is quite a shocking amount of abuse vying for space in the Gammy Bird, but the story also has instances of wry and self-deprecating humour from Quoyle. And in many ways this is a story of both obsessive destructive love and and a slowly developing life-affirming love that is without pain or misery.  The affection between Quoyle and Wavey is very beautifully and touchingly described, with an occasional small glance or touch building slowly.  Also Quoyle’s unreserved love for his children, and the activities and interruptions of the children all rang true, as well as the traumas, fears and misunderstandings which can be part of many young lives.

It was agreed that Proulx had undertaken a lot of research to write this book, with detailed interviewing of many local people, so that many of her stories seemed to ring true, or to at least have a ring of truth to them.
 

Drive Your Plow Over The Bones Of The Dead, by Olga Tokarczuk (2009)

[November 5th 2020 - Zoom]

A compelling and elegantly subversive novel.  That this novel caused such a stir in Poland is no surprise. The main character, Janina Duszejko, is an ageing woman who lives in a remote rural Polish village. She was a successful bridge engineer, but now spends most of her time studying astrology as well as translating the poetry of William Blake. Janina is deeply troubled about the world, her place in it and the hierarchy of humans among their fellow animals.

As JH pointed out this novel is almost impossible to categorise.  On the surface it appears a murder mystery, but can also be read as an eco-narrative, a dark feminist comedy, an existentialist fable, a paeon to William Blake, or a psychological commentary.  It is a provocative exploration of the murky borderland between sanity and madness, justice and tradition, autonomy and fate.  

Positive perspectives

The majority of BBBC members enjoyed this novel.  For example, CW enjoyed it so much he reread some of it again and wanted to read more by the author. It was well expressed with  loads of atmosphere and very good descriptions. He thought it was a fascinating and weird book that allowed the reader to see things from a very different angle. Janina’s approach to nature really made you think about how we all do and should see nature. WM also enjoyed the story and her writing style, specifically the innocent, childlike way in which Janina experiences the world - “The sun had only just risen and, still red from the effort, was casting long sleepy shadows.”

SC thought it was an absorbing read and certainly not what he expected.  Started off as a who-done-it, but then developed layer by layer of different themes and issues as the story progressed – but which she managed to successfully connect together as the narrative developed.

SC also commented that the novel raised some interesting issues about astrology – particularly for those who believe in it. Did it mean Janina could foretell her own future and even death, and so allow her to commit these murders in the knowledge /hope that she wouldn’t be caught?  Similarly, WM noted that underpinning the story was the belief that all events and behaviours are predestined by the configuration of stars and planets at the hour of birth, which also pre-sets the time and cause of death. Thus, in this system of understanding, Janine is not really culpable for her actions. Though, of course she can still be punished for them, and hence her fear of being arrested and imprisoned.  

MW found the book interesting and enjoyable with some great descriptive writing – for example her description of the near-blind dentist who could only work in the summer when it was light enough to see into patients’ mouth.  While easy to see Janina as a batty old lady, certainly didn’t expect her to be the murderer. Shift from her being a harmless biddy to serial killer. She got away with it – all the people she murdered seemed to deserve it.

RV thought that it was a very good book - full of very many lovely and interesting observations. It was beautifully written and translated. The book was not a Whodunit, it was a tour-de-force of writing of about both character and ideas, in a rather exceptional style.  RV loved the way that the ideas came think and fast, throughout the book – “We have this body of ours, a troublesome piece of luggage…..Fancy being given a body and not knowing anything about it. There’s no instruction manual.”  Or “Perhaps that’s the whole point of prayer – to think to yourself in peace, to want nothing, to ask for nothing, but simply to sort out your own mind.”

AA also enjoyed the book - felt it was refreshing, wacky and written with great imagination.  A book about the place on earth of humans and animals, with its dreamy, mythical feel and much oddness.  He liked its clarity and succinctness and the author’s turn of phrase, and particularly liked the offhand narrator with her thinking-aloud, matter-of-fact style and lots of humour, mainly in the delivery – for example: "And the flowers in his garden are neat and tidy, standing straight and slender, as if they’d been to the gym."  AA noted the casual way she drops in revelations, big and small, including about herself – such as having the tv on all day – on the weather channel.  Or the way she rails against how older women are invisible, and Janina seemed a little harsh on herself when she says how people see her as a mad old woman - until it becomes increasingly clear that she is.

MT thought it was a different sort of book, quite quirky, quite funny in parts. He liked it and kept him absorbed to the end. He liked I liked the description of the small community, and her strange life. Some of the terms were lovely, such as “testosterone autism”, or "I was a weak as a potato sprout grown in the darkness in the cellar". I laughed at the concept of the dentist with powerful glasses, with one of the lenses taped into place. I thought the church scene was good, and the huge hypocrisy of the vicar, in promoting animal sports. I liked her anger, but I was surprised that she cleverly murdered all the animal 'murderers' .

Most members commented on the quality of the translation by Antonia Lloyd-Jones. For example, SC thought it was a terrific translation, and felt it was one of the best translated books we had read. Specifically members commented on the translators skill when Janina and her companion repeatedly attempt to translate a passage of Blake: several versions of a particular verse are rendered in English, which has been translated from the Polish, which in turn has been translated from English. It is difficult to imagine a trickier task for a translator, or one undertaken with more skill.

More questioning perspectives

Not all members were as effusive in their praise.  CB saw it as a curious book which he did not get into, though it was easy enough to read. Only the big reveal at the end helped me understand what was happening in the rest of the book. Maybe others saw it coming. None of the characters are appealing which perhaps fits the harsh and limited life they mainly led. It was hard to remember that the protagonist was a woman and in her sixties. CB started to reread it and came to appreciate the language and descriptions more, for example: “with age, many men come down with testosterone autism, the symptoms of which are a gradual decline in social intelligence and capacity for interpersonal communication, as well as a reduced ability to formulate thoughts”. He also like the descriptions of life on the Plateau, her reactions to her neighbours, the use of nicknames, her appreciation of the animals and forest around her, and her affectionate relationship with her Ailments.

AA noted he didn’t care strongly about any of the characters – less so as the book went on, and felt the story rather petered out until the end part – and lost interest and although he enjoyed reading it wasn’t desperate to keep picking it up.  This novel didn’t engage him deeply or teach me anything. He felt it was deceptive in many ways – more complex than it appears, leaving much to the reader, and understating its themes of destructive people and forces going unchallenged.  

Janina & William Blake

WM appreciated the construction of the writing, and the way it expressed the complementarity between Janina and Blake with deeply held beliefs and morality expressed in simple words and childlike concepts of right and wrong, as well as retribution. JH noted that the book is imbued with the Blakean conviction of the cleansing power of rage: the vengeance of the weak when justice is denied. “What a good thing death can be,” Janina reflects, contemplating Big Foot’s dead, once so cruel and destructive, now harmless. “How just and fair, like a disinfectant or a vacuum cleaner.”

There is lots anger in this book – some called it righteous anger or that it even reflected a divine wrath.  It captures some of Blake’s ideas of retribution and the need to strike back, because if something is wrong you need to do something about it.  In this case Janina felt very strongly about what happened to her dogs and to other animals, and that she was treated as either deranged old women, and as such invisible and ignored.  Her sense of justice empowered her to get her own back on those who had status and power.

Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams

The meeting was held on Thursday September 10th  at MT’s home, with six members present (MT, CW, WM, RV, SC, AA). It was held in an extremely large kitchen, around a very big table, to make social distancing easy and possible all times. Three members sent their apologies, but they all sent long reviews (JH, MW, CB). The meeting started at 8:30 and ended late.

One of the published reviews described Queenie, the debut novel by the author, as an important political tome of black womanhood and black British life, a rare perspective from the margins. It is often a very moving story about one young woman’s life as affected – in fact, almost destroyed – by her love life, with the politics of blackness permeating the pages. It is set in South London where a millennial and budding journalist Queenie is, as she herself admits, a “catastrophist”: someone who worries about worst-case scenarios, unbearable outcomes, general humiliations and the perpetual lead weight of anxiety.  Predictably enough, the novel has been hailed as the black Bridget Jones, and it does bear loose similarities in its portrayal of the conventional female quest for the love of a good man and the realisation that self-acceptance and self-sufficiency are more important. But it goes much deeper than that, casting a full glare on the damaging reductive stereotypes, born of slavery and colonialism, that surround black women’s bodies, sexuality and psychology. The sexual frankness throughout is refreshing, smartly and accurately rendered by a voice fully in command of its own narrative and intent on setting the record straight. 

The book was chosen by MT because it was one of the “in the week” recommendations. His son went on the BM march in Bristol and was impressed by this book, and the book had mostly very good reviews, apart from one single bad review on Amazon.  The majority the group said it was their first choice of the three books offered by MT.

The book promoted lengthy, heated discussions, and this occurred even before the main meeting started, as half the group arrived early, egger to start the conversations.  RV commented it was one of the most interesting discussions and debates of any book club evening. The book generated passionate discussions on race issues, discrimination, women, young people’s sexuality, pollical correctness, being a minority in society, to name just a few of the  themes that came up. There were lively conversations and one example was about the “black sheep” of a family, and how this can be seen as racist when using the term black not as a colour.

The book was an excellent example of a marmite book, but unusually the like/dislike was completely discriminated by age. The younger set, mean age 63, liked the book, or really liked the book with a mean score of 70%. The older set, mean age 69, did not like the book, or hated it, with a mean score of 34%. It was interesting that the two populations had a complete separation between the top and bottom of the groups of 2 years.  The younger set were 64 and under, whilst the older men were 66 and over. This is unusual in statistical comparisons for the two groups to be so completely separated, with a p value of 0.000000000000000000000000000

CB did not enjoy the book. He found that even though the book dealt  with some important issues, it read like stories from a magazine. He found the writing fairly unsubtle and predictable, facile at times. He did like the description of the therapy process, and liked some of the comments made such as ‘The road to recovery is not linear. It’s not straight. It’s a bumpy path, with lots of twists and turns. But you’re on the right track.’ But he found that most of the characters were not memorable, except Tom and the three women friends. He liked the portrayal of British Jamaican women (grandmother and aunt) and the complicated dynamics for them of dealing with generational differences and the failings of children and grandchildren. He did feel the book dealt with important issues of race, gender and mental health in the workplace and family relationships. So some good reminders of micro-aggression, racism, and sexism from Asian as well as white men plus sense of not fitting in with white friends.

JH did not enjoy the book, even though it was a provocative and at times funny, but rather a relentless read. He commented that Queenie as a novel seems to be part of that long line of boisterous romps that include Henry Fielding’s, Tom Jones, and Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones Diaries, that seem to be a particular niche of British literature.  But he found that as he got older he finds these books less appealing – maybe a product of wisdom and hindsight or maybe he has lost what little sense of humour he had.  It has a fluent, evocative narrative style that draws on a range of contemporary themes – race, gender, sex, mental health, tribulations of urban life and assorted vulnerabilities.  Queenie, herself, comes over as fragile and damaged (the apparent consequence of an erratic childhood and a very vulnerable mum), yet she is also clearly very bright and capable (getting to university and a good job despite everything).  He felt that the story described the mid-20’s London woman well, with all the trials and tribulations of that ilk - transient relationships, on-line dating, sexual health hassles, psycho-therapy, miscarriages, et al. In particular Queenie suffered from a rotten choice in blokes – Ted, Guy, and that literary tour de force, Addie, with his “destroyer” in the back of his Beemer.  It was a useful reminder, as a father of daughters, that JH really don’t want to know too much about the detail of their lives.  The novel also reminded him of the important role of grandparents as a final safety net – they maybe a pain and a bore at times but provide solace and support to all generations.  He felt it was a novel to reflect on, and maybe to refer to burnish his cool credentials to his children, but not one he will treasure.  

MW did not like the book and felt he did not have a lot to say about it, but he was very interested in hearing if anyone found any redeeming features in it. His main feeling reading the book was one of detachment from what was going on, with the main problem being Queenie. He found her exasperating, annoying, frustrating, superficial and just stupid. And he found the other male  characters bastards or wimps. The female mates were more supportive, understanding apart from Cassandra. He didn’t find the book in any way sexy, thought provoking, insightful or funny. But he actually, strangely didn’t mind picking it up to read it and had no problem finishing it. His only favourite quote from the book was “They’re Jamaican Darcy. Doctors are the only people they trust. If he’d told them the alcohol was going to kill them they’d have jumped in a cab to the cemetery”. MW had insight into this, and felt it to be very true. 

RV really disliked the book and declared it one of the worst he had read in the club, and found very little to commend it. In fact he found it so bad he could not actually write a review of his own but had to quote from the only poor review on Amazon, as most of those other review were very positive. He was extremely passionate about it being such as terrible book, but he did admit that the author had touched on some really important topics, but he felt it was so badly written. He thought all the characters were unlikeable, and the book was actually quite racist. He did comment though that the book did bring out lots of memories for him, when he was at school, being the only Jewish person in the class and the racism and isolation he experienced then. RV initially gave the book zero, but admitted that the discussion was so fruitful, that he did increase it a bit. He did finish the book though.

WM really hated the book, but agreed that the issues raised were very important. He really did not like the writing style, and felt it was a very bad first novel, as produced by a teenager. He found the text boxes irritating all the way through. He could not empathise with Queenie or even find symphony for her. He did finish the book though. 

MT found the book hard to like at the beginning as certain things really annoyed him, such as the jumping in time, and context, and the mobile phone text in boxes. Initially he found this ‘young’ and unnecessary. But once he got involved in the story, he got used to these things and started liking it, and then really liked the rest of the story. He liked her extended family, especially her grandparents. He felt the book gave a good sense what being a young black women must be like, as sometimes a unique person in a predominately white society. It reminded him of his experience in Zimbabwe in the 80s, being the only white person in a township. He felt the therapy part was well done, and through that he felt he got to know Queenie, and what she must be experiencing. But he felt all her choosing really awful nasty men was the result of her break up with Tom (who seemed OK) coupled with the worthlessness she felt in her childhood.  He liked her group of women friends, and the fact their group was called the Corgis, named after one of his young person favourite local bands. But he felt her sadness. He found some of the book very funny, such as the water rates OCD from the Grandfather, and the Welsh junior doctor, and Cassandra and her prudish boyfriend which turned out the same. He liked the church on Sunday bit where her aunt commented she can go, even though she has a coil fitted! He found the dating stuff very interesting and how different it was now compared to his younger days when he lived in South London near many of the places mentioned in the book, when mobile phones, or dating apps, did not exist. 

CW enjoyed the book, and found it easy to read. He thought it was so up to date, with all the Text boxes, and the BLM movement being involved. He thought it described the disrespect for black women well, but thought that overweight white women might equally suffer Queenie’s fate. He really liked her, and felt sorry for her. He thought the relationship with Tom was not well described. He initially found the text boxes irritating, but then liked them. He enjoyed the discussion the book promoted, before and during the meeting. 

AA liked the book, and was pleased to read it. He commented that Queenie was the same age as his daughter, which was thought-provoking. He liked that the themes of lack of self esteem and female friendship which ran through the book. He thought that child neglect and abuse was well set out, and the healing that also went on later. He liked the start and laughed out loud. He found the middle section a bit boring, and found bits of it ‘clunky’. But after that he found it really took off, and discussed some really serious themes. He really liked some sections, such as her prayers to God, and the therapy parts. He thought the writing about the mother was excellent, and found the section on naming Queenie very moving. He found the abuse of Queenie by the various men upsetting, and her mum’s relationship with Roy and the abuse well-written and moving. He said the intersectional feminism raised by the author was hard for privileged white professional middle-class men to understand. For example, men constantly touched Queenie, but not her white peers, and it was Ted who was believed at work, not her. In AA style, he ended by quoting some of his favourite phrases:  “ignore her, she is just being old”, and “I guess I don’t matter. Nobody has ever wanted me, not properly”

SC agreed with AA comments, and enjoyed the book very much, although this surprised him, as he did not expect to like it, or enjoy it. He did not like the first chapter, which he felt was overplayed, especially the gynaecological bits. But after that, he really got into it, and thought it was very much a modern novel, and unusual for the club. He thought the book got much better after half way. He liked the kitchen sink dramas, and how the book developed. He thought it was a good first novel. He thought the dialogue was good. He liked Queenie, and the description of her being black, her disadvantaged life, but also the fact that she was very intelligent. He enjoyed the pace of the book, but admitted it was not the greatest work of fiction, but a brave book.

The Shadow King by Maaza Mengiste

 

The Shadow King by Maaza Mengiste

Introducing the book Mark W noted that this was another book set within a historical event with a mixture of real and fictional characters. Past experience is that this can work well (e.g. Apeirogon) or can be a disaster (The Sunrise). This book deals with the Italian invasion of Ethiopia in 1935, an event which has a relatively low profile in the UK, very much overshadowed by the Second World War. It’s not until one reads about such wars, (one sided as they tend to be), from the point of view of the nation that has been invaded, that one realises how catastrophic they can be, particularly as those on the losing side tend to be  ‘less developed’ from the military and economic point of view if not from the social and intellectual point of view.

The book itself is a great mix of an interesting narrative, a number of strong characters and an original lyrical style which is one that Mark felt would be either loved or hated. The two main characters of Hirut and Ettore in particular were beautifully developed but the supporting cast as well, in particular Aster, Kidane, Fucelli and the cook, (always known as cook), were also memorable.

Mark identified three scenes in particular that were particularly memorable, all horrific: firstly the scene near the beginning where there is a graphic description of Aster whipping Hirut after she found that she had stolen some items from the house. Secondly the scene where the Italian planes dropped poison gas on the retreating Ethiopian fighters and thirdly the final part of the book set against the construction of the ‘prison’ which consisted of a small building and a cliff between two large rocks where prisoners were thrown to their deaths, being photographed by Ettore during their descent. The scenes where Aster and Hirut were held and abused in the prison were full of tension although we know that Hirut, at least, must have survived.

Finally, the Epilogue, which Mark felt to be a well-crafted bringing together  of Hirut and Ettore, continuing the Prologue, and bringing Haile Selasse into the mix at the Station. It was interesting to go back to the Prologue having read the book, just to get a different perspective having got to know the characters.

There was even a bit of local colour, in that Haile Selasse fled to the UK and was domiciled in Fairfield House in Bath for a number of years. Worth going to see the house which is tucked around the back of Kelston Rd!

Willm struggled to get into the book at the beginning. He thought it was going to be a ‘fall in love with your enemy’ story but maybe it was from Ettore’s side.  However, as the plot moved on to preparations for, and engagement in, the war, he found it very interesting and something of a page-turner. There were some beautiful descriptions, though somewhat overblown and florid, in places, and some good characters. The idea of shadows - the light and dark - displayed within the characters and exemplified by the photos was quite clever. As was the mythic quality of the king - be this symbolic figure ‘real’ or ‘fake’, and the illustration that under the robes and the pomp is a rather small creature - like the Wizard of Oz. He was surprised by the ending but overall found the book to be very well written.

Chris W opened by providing us with some background To Fairfield House. Apparently it reopened in 2015 after 15 years of closure. Regarding the book itself, he wasn’t sure if he enjoyed it. He felt it was too long and found he had to re-read paragraphs several times because of the over cinematic style. Some of the descriptions were to florid (second use of the term (Mark W comment)). He found the educational and historical side of the book interesting, particularly regarding Mussolini wanting to create an Empire. He was aware that the Italians had used all sorts of illegal methods against the Ethiopians. He found the characters to be very well explained but rather over-exaggerated. He got a bit fed up with the continuous repetition of all Haile Selassie’s names. It was interesting that the photographer was Jewish. Overall he that the book was ok but far from excellent.

Steve was a bit conflicted by this book. Overall he thought it was good and enjoyed reading it. Some bits were brilliant, particularly some of the descriptions of combat. It was a very person based description and very powerful in places. Although he was gripped by some sections but he was also frustrated. Some of the bits of prose were over written. He found himself frequently stalled by some of the passages, and was a bit confused by some of the characters. Although it was slow going, he still enjoyed it. Like Chris W, he found some of the historical aspects interesting. He did add that he hadn’t finished it and would let us know whether he had any changes of view!

Later, on finishing it, he added: it’s a good book, covering a (to Steve) little-known aspect of 20th Century history. The part played by women in the Ethiopian struggle was fascinating, shocking and deserves wider recognition. However there were aspects of the writing that grated. The permanent present tense is always tricky, and here, where the timeframe jumps around a bit (not much but a bit), it added a strange sense of aimlessness. Some of the text had a style of of almost biblical portentousness that inflated the sense if its own importance. It’s good but not great.

Mark T was unable to get into the book and gave up at around page 100. He was disappointed that he didn’t get into the flow at all.The one bit that kindled his interest was the wedding scene. Overall disappointed.

Chris B thought it was an incredibly powerful book, beautifully and originally written about the power of women and the violence of both war and men. He loved the language, poetic and full of new juxtapositions of words and phrases, full of colour and action as well as reflection and personality. It conjured up the place, the individuals, the action and the deep conflicting feelings of the protagonists. It brought to life the way of life, the politics and the course of history.

He liked the structure with interludes getting inside the head of the emperor, the chorus commenting poetically on what was happening to individual characters, the photos and their meaning. He found the story to be full of real characters doing real things, living real and harsh lives, especially for women and for the poor within a culture that embraced terrible violence to women, making it impossible for men to be soft and yet also creating huge pride in its people, its institutions and its customs and set piece events.

 

It appeared to be meticulous in its telling of history, the Italian invasion of Ethiopia in 1935, a generation on from the last time when they were defeated. This was something he was barely aware of. It captured well the distended connection between Il Duce’s high command and the local action of their army under individual commanders. It highlighted the long reach of the fascist machine for the elimination of Jewish people, including those fighting in the army.

 

The characters were very full and complex, Hirut, Kidane, Aster, Carlo, Ettore, alongside the important but smaller roles. Ibrahim, the cook, Ferres/Fife, Haile Salassie. There was a very strong focus on family relationships, especially fathers with daughters and sons with the long arm of childhood experience affecting the characters along with the betrayals of children by parents.

 

It was full of action which made it exciting and tense, including the terrible arguments and hostility between characters e.g. Aster and Hirut, egged on by pride, class and jealousy. The scenes leading into and during battles were at once exhilarating and frightening. The scenes of cruelty towards prisoners and even to people on one’s own side were told realistically and full of horror and yet with beauty in the descriptive language e.g. the flights of people thrown off the rock.

 

He liked the careful, restrained and recurring use of cultural references e.g. Aida, Ethiopian folk songs recalling heroism.

 

The book left him with two questions: firstly, was there too much violence, especially the violence towards women and people considered inferior? It did not feel unreal or excessive for the sake of it. It seemed to reflect what actually happened in families, between people and in war. Secondly, was it all bad, leaving people scarred, angry and bitter? There was some kind of redemption in the final pages as Hirut was able to leave her rage and disrespect of Ettore behind. It seemed that Aster and Hirut became friends and neighbours. Even Haile Salassie found a modicum of peace in Hirut’s protection. Even Carlo showed humanity to Ettore and his men before he was killed.

Richard, on the other hand, didn’t enjoy the book, finding it hard going. He thought that the history was very interesting, as was the colonial material, the longer history of Ethiopia, and the contrasting cultures between Italy and Ethiopia. But, he also found the writing style not at all to his liking, the characters not very interesting and the overall effect of the book being like seeing things through a fog. He thought it was very long-winded, with weak, scared characters, most things seeming to be  very unsubstantial. One sentence was “Since the photographs were taken weeks ago, a thick fog surrounds her every thought” - and that was his feeling all through the book. He thought  both Hirut and Aster seemed weak, scared, damaged, ignorant – was Ethiopia really so awful? The writer seemed to hold Ethiopia in great contempt, full of ignorant and insubstantial people! Hirut was described: “She is a feeble light slanting into the room through a crack in the wall”. And in fact, Hirut did not appear to inhabit this story. She seemed almost throughout to be just a passive onlooker.

This seemed to be the same with all the characters, especially the Emperor! “Time has collapsed and there is only this: an invasion. Haile Selassie reads the telegram again and stares into the stunned face of his adviser. He doesn’t want to ask, How? He cannot bring himself to say, Like this?” So Haile Selassie is the same as Hirut – a paralysed observer. And later: “Emperor Haile Selassie sits rooted in place, afraid to move, afraid” - Again!? And yet later: “Haile Selassie sets the bag on the floor then walks out of his bedroom into the hallway and down the stairs, uncertain of where he is going.” He always IS uncertain, in this version of him.

And then people have all sorts of ill-described emotions: arrogance, and especially anger, where both the cause of the anger, and what they might do about that anger, are badly explained. “she has inherited the arrogance of those born into noble households and it is a fire that burns inside of her, illuminating every feature. It is something the poor are not born with: that way of gliding into large homes and expansive fields as if the ground begged for their footsteps.” (In the UK this is something that education at private schools confers!!) “What are you? Kidane asks. What have you done? Beneath his anguish, beneath the defeat and fatigue, glows a bright and curdling rage.” What is this even about? Why would he be so angry?

About half-way through the book, Hirut shows a few signs of being a more interesting figure. She says “the dead are stronger. That they know no physical boundaries. They reside in the corners of every memory and rise up, again and again, to resist all our efforts to leave them behind and let them rest.” This is an interesting thought, but not a thought that the person so far described in this book would have had!

Richard did admit that it was not all bad - there were a few interesting themes, but he felt that they were all badly developed. One was ‘How difficult it is for women to be taken seriously’. “You’ll follow behind us and tend to the wounded. Pack bandages and medicines, he says. Tell your women this is their way to fight.”

Another was how women seem to get blamed (often by other women) for men’s bad behaviour: “I’ll kill him, Hirut says softly. Though her voice is steady, the words deflate her. She is speaking against a current. The problem is you think you’re the only one, Aster says quietly. You don’t know how common you are. Then she wipes her eyes with the back of her hand. If you do anything to hurt my husband, I will kill you myself.” - It is always the woman’s fault.

And there were a few short passages where he thought the writing was good, scattered throughout the book – examples are:

· “a fist of sunlight” which I thought caught the heat in such hot countries;

· “the familiar scars of village life: the poorly grafted broken bone, the cratered marks of childhood disease, the raised knot of an old burn” again good and capturing the reality of life in such physically impoverished countries.

· “Hirut cannot see past the shifting paleness of his skin to really look at him” which catches the difficulty of different races really seeing each other-

· “Every day, he will grow back into himself until he can be who he is: a man who was once everything to everyone, then was reborn again to be nothing” which was I thought a rather lyrical description of Minim’s movement back to being who he once was.

· “A drop of sun zigzags through the valley to skid along the grass.” The occasional felicitous phrasing.

John interestingly had spent some time in Ethiopia and made the point that this was a very Ethiopian book, and she captured the sense and style very well. The fogginess and lyricism, that some of the book club had difficulty with, was very indicative of their writing style.

The message of the book was that war is deeply unpleasant (s**t), particularly these small colonial wars, of which there are a whole raft of overlooked ones such as the British in Aden. In the end Nationalism overrides Feudalism. At the time of the invasion, the country was run by a pretty nasty top-heavy regime but this was almost forgotten by most of the people when asked to defend their country. As always, however, there were exceptions. In fact the book also touches on the early stages of the overthrow of Haile Selasse in 1974 and his eventual replacement with Mengistu Haile Mariam in 1977 (Good illustration of ‘Be careful what you wish for’ (Mark W comment).

John felt that the book did capture the role of women and captured relationships, particularly the tensions where people are thrown together, very well. For John, the stand out character was Ettore, who was portrayed very sympathetically. It illustrated the great importance of war photographers . Although he recognised some of the flaws in the book he felt that overall, it captured the themes very well.

Andrew, on the other hand, wasn’t sure. It was interesting to read a book about women soldiers usually written out of history, and about female power. Every character was damaged or had suffered trauma, but seemingly these made the women stronger and better leaders, while the men descended into shows of power which diminished them.

He read that the author spent 9 years writing this book and nearly gave up after 4 years when the novel was strictly historical and dull. She then delved into mythology, and rewrote it completely, finding out at some stage that her great-grandmother had taken her father’s gun and gone to war herself.

He liked its themes of shadows and light, echoes and memories, and belonging – to ancestors and land. There was physical and psychological violence everywhere, both from the invaders and the feudal system, particularly towards women and the poor.

The rather ethereal start wasn’t a strong hook for Andrew but immediately after that, the glorious writing made him want to get to know Hirut in a hurry. There were numerous tremendous descriptions – battle scenes, Seifu attacking Fucelli, whippings, and wedding nights – and some beautiful writing:

“They have crept behind dozing guards and sleepy administrators and left nothing but slumped figures. They are everywhere and nowhere, men and women of a shadow world where a different king rules.”

“Hirut, he repeats. It is a name and a call for forgiveness, a sound falling at his feet to clear a path for him to walk.”

“The two of them stare into each other’s faces, gazing into what the years have done”.

However, he felt that quite a few other passages were a bit florid, (again, Mark W comment),and overwritten. He also didn’t like all the colons at the start of sentences and found these distracted from the beautiful prose – they’d have been less obtrusive had the prose been ordinary. They disrupted the flow - and worked against the atmosphere and magic that the words by themselves were creating.

Andrew really enjoyed the story and thought the plot was strong, with Hirut as a prisoner of Fucelli and the cook plus Fifi, sister of Seigu, in the centre. Also, Ettore being Jewish made him vulnerable despite being one of the invaders. Hirut and Aster ending up as neighbours happily ever after seemed a bit weak, and the ending at the train station meant the story lost some intensity, but he wasn’t sure how Mengiste could have ended it better, and it did link nicely with the start. It also seemed odd how Ettore was able to remain in Addis. However,  he found Hirut’s journey compelling, the cook too, and Fifi’s intrigue, and the internal dialogue of Fucelli, Ettore and Kidane was excellent.

He liked the way Minim went from Nothing to Emperor, and it seemed the author wanted to the reader to see Haile Selassie as a similar construct, going from Emperor to Nothing. Perhaps the shadow king of the title is in fact the absent Haile Selassie.

Overall, he felt it to be a great story, beautifully written with some compelling characters – and some detracting colons.

Two favourite quotes to end with:

“what do girls like her know about resistance, what do girls like her know but how to live and obey and keep quiet until it is time to die?”

“She is Hirut, daughter of Fasil and Getey, feared guard of the Shadow King and she is no longer afraid of what men can do to women like her”.

Mark W Post Discussion Summary: overall, a book that resulted in a very interesting discussion, particularly as there were so many different views. The main difference seemed to be the reaction to the writing style of the book; many found the style to be over florid, whereas others really enjoyed the style. Most felt that the subject matter was interesting, but there were differing views on how the book dealt with the treatment of women and how the characters developed through the book.

One other interesting fact was that three of the Book Club members actually read some of the book while in holiday in Sicily at the same time!

Scores: Mark W: 9.0, Willm: 7.25, Chris W: 6.0, Steve 7.0, Chris B: 8.5, Mark T: 3.0, Richard: 4.5, John: 6.75, Andrew: 7.0

A Pilgrimage to Eternity by Tim Egan

 A Pilgrimage to Eternity  by Tim Egan

Discussion venue: Chris's garden in Wellow, suitably socially distanced. 6th August 2020. A lovely evening.

Although this book scored no more than average results from the bookclub all agreed that the subsequent debate about Faith and Religion was one of the most wide ranging and interesting for several months.

Timothy Egan is an American journalist, a lapsed Catholic with Irish family,educated by Jesuits who sets out on the Via Francigena seeking faith and spiritualism in his life.
He plans to “Find God in Europe before God is gone” however, most of the 40,000 pilgrims who walk the route each year are simply,according to the body which maintains the VF “seeking space to learn how to waste time“. Early on he tells that his sister-in-law is dying of cancer and also that his brother suffered badly In his childhood having been molested by a local priest. He sets out on the twelve hundred mile journey from Canterbury to Rome writing about the history of Christianity up to the present day. He finds that in this cradle of Christianity religion is almost dead which he finds unsurprising since  “God seems to ignore suffering whilst presiding over the slaughter of countless millions in the Wars of Religion , the slave trade, the great war, Stalins mass executions and genocides in Germany, Uganda and Cambodia.

Whilst walking, driving and taking buses and trains he is accompanied by his son, daughter and wife on stretches of the route with whom he discusses their beliefs or lack of them whilst at the same time offering up prayers for a miracle to help his dying sister-in-law.

He is also joined by a long line of the most important figures in Christian history, Saints Augustine and Jerome, Joan of Arc, Martin Luther, Calvin, Henry VIII and current personalities - the Archbishop of Canterbury, Pope John Paul and Pope Francis with whom he unsuccessfully tries to arrange a meeting  to discuss some of his questions and doubts.

He has a particular respect for Pope Francis who he believes is doing much to turn around the Catholic Church and atone for the many generations of sexual exploitation in the past within the priesthood. He respects Pope Francis for his modesty and simplicity and lack of pomp and ceremony.

Early Christians and the early monasteries that were established through Europe taught enlightenment, skills and everything that was progressive and humane. By the Middle Ages this code of living had become more a means of dictating authority and control as the monasteries became corrupted. The upper echelons of the monastic hierarchy were often the most corrupt sinners in need of the religion that they preached.
Although his journey is  gruelling at times particularly crossing the Alps he passes through some staggeringly beautiful scenery and untouched villages which seemingly have stood still since the Middle Ages when more than  2 million pilgrims walked  this route yearly.

Mark W
Quite a pleasant and easy read, interesting in the description of the places on the way and a bit of European history thrown in and a bit of self discovery which he didn’t actually find particularly enlightening or engaging. The middle was ok, through France and Switzerland, and over the Alps, with some interesting places but he thought the Italian section a bit weak, and was starting to be irritated by the end. The book was obviously written for an American audience.
The most profound line in the whole book was the opening line ‘The passage to eternity begins in the Piccadilly line to Cockfosters’.??
The observation at the end when he got his certificate that he felt ‘like the scarecrow when he got his brain’ was just a bit of a disappointing end to the journey, which made him feel that this was, after all, a bit of a travelogue with some historical bits thrown in. He felt the author was running out of steam, both physically and inspirationally by the time he got to Rome. 

Willm
Better than expected because there wasn’t much “spiritual stuff“ He questioned whether we are spiritual beings-in his view we are more like animals. The book was a very decent travellogue. The descriptions of the authors struggle with the weather and the mountains was very real as was his description of the horrors of religion. At the end of the book he didn’t understand why the author still clings to the Catholic Church and his desire to believe. This was beyond Williams comprehension given the level of religious corruption over history. He could not understand why one would wish to grasp for religious belief!
A decent informative reading experience. 

John
To his surprise enjoyed the book much more than expected. He assumed it would be just another voyage of personal discovery by a “lost” American – as so many have written about their Compostela walk.  This was a much more nuanced and thought-provoking story of a pilgrimage/walk/journey through time. The author surfaced many of the confusions and contradictions that those who struggle with formal Christian teaching face. He well-captured the complicated relationship with the Christian (particularly Catholic) church as an institution/faith – with its spiritual strengths, ability to provide comfort and inspire hope, yet also the source of so much suffering and bloodshed.
As a story he found it took time to get into and felt that it petered out towards the end but he particularly enjoyed the time in France and Switzerland not only by capturing the drudgery of such a long walk, but also the way he explored some “big” issues such as Christian-driven slaughters or using St Joan to highlight the uncertain attitude of the Catholic church to women (a church in which there are 50% more nuns than priests???). He also warmed to his positive take on the present Pope’s fraught balancing act between the forces of the past and the needs of the future.  
Maybe not a travel masterpiece, but certainly readable and provocative 

Steve
Struggled significantly with this book. because the author was an American. He liked the breezy style.The book was easy to read. He liked the fact that this was a walk with a purpose and all the interesting facts connected with the VF. He knew nothing of Joan of Arc or the massacre of Wassy. The author was good at descriptions but the book contained so much cliche and self indulgent writing. He struggled again and again with the American style. It was as if the book was being written for a National Geographic audience. Steve commented that the major problem with religions have been the “dumbed down“ institutions created around those religions and not necessarily the religion itself.
He was thankful that the author had flagged up various questions but he had not given Steve any answers nor did he care about the authors quest. 

Chris B
Well researched but somewhat haphazard book. A lot of fascinating facts and musings about the places and people encountered. Sometimes felt more like a guidebook. He had hoped for more about Faith And the author never seemed to resolve his uncertainties and doubts about God. In that sense was the book and the authors pilgrimage a failure? He liked the authors admiration for Pope Francis – an even more radical figure than he had suspected but will he be able to make a difference in the long term? It confirmed for Chris the sense that the church is fundamentally a human institution subject to the same prejudices, deceptions and cruelties but at the same time compassion of any human institution. Like other organisations it closes ranks to try and hide its errors as with sexual abuse of priests. At the same time it has compassionate leaders who try to do the best for their communities.
The author said  he owed his belief in the resurrection to the VF. Because it sums up the power of love?He also forgives the church for what it did to his family and his brother particularly. He accepts that some faith quandary is irresolvable. His main lesson seems to be to keep walking, looking and thinking along the way.
One of Chris‘s chosen quotes :
When the Pope was asked about his secret to happiness he said: “Slow down. Take time off. Live and let live. Work for peace. Don’t keep negative feelings bottled up. Enjoy art. Enjoy books. Play”. And one more suggestion, another reason to join the queue of travellers getting ready to leave Britain in the harbour at Dover(For the VF): “Please don’t see life from afar“.

Mark T
Mark enjoyed this book from the start. He liked the style , the spiritual  search and journey and he liked the playfulness of the author.
He referred to the interview by the chief Abbot as to the suitability of the author to stay overnight in his monastery. The clinch question was whether he supported Donald Trump!
The book was full of facts which Mark liked, comments on sex, the corruption of the church, war, the Sunni/Shia divisions mirroring those between catholic and Protestant, Sexual abuse, and his perception that French were unfriendly, Religious relics and the fact that 25% of Italians are over 60 years old.
Finally he enjoyed the authors reunion with his wife. He found this description beautiful.

Richard
Richard has developed his spirituality over 20 years particularly since suffering with chronic fatigue syndrome 20 years ago. Are we all spiritual beings? The Maoris for example connect their spirituality with the land. From Richard‘s point of view he is confused by spirituality and doesn’t really understand it. He felt that the author became more and more repetitive on his journey and was disappointed that he didn’t learn anything new about God or religion in the book. Of course, the philosophy of goodness doesn’t need God. We cannot prove that God exists or doesn’t. However, the author was searching for Faith. Richard hasn’t found Faith. He liked the authors writing touches. Belief motivated projects over generations. Religion created time to think.
Inspired by the book Richard however tabled several topics for possible discussion.
The joy of walking
Religious certainty – how do some people have this?
The nature of pilgrimage - In this case the author didn’t walk the whole route but used several means of transport.
The difference between fiction and non-fiction. Non-fiction is essentially either biography or travelogue whereas fiction comprises many different varieties and themes.
Religion that preaches peace but commits war. Only now at the end of the 20th century when large parts of the world have disposed of religion are we at Peace.
There is nothing in the Bible that sets out the complex legislation that is followed by many people who follow Jesus.The book for example correctly gives the church a hard time on such a good initial message.
Richard concluded by highlighting Victor Hugo‘s edifying view of a unified Europe as predicted over 100 years ago. 

Andrew
Enjoyed the start and found the history of Christianity interestingly written, pointing out the inconsistencies between philosophy and actions. He had no idea of the proportions of national populations which were killed in religious wars.
Christianity changed nothing. No sooner had the kingdoms converted to a God known as the Prince of Peace than they took up nearly nonstop war for a thousand years.
He thought Diderot was a “dude”, Calvin wasn't. He enjoyed the Franciscans’ explanation of their life in the fraternity, and thought Egan held Pope Francis in much higher. regard than he did the Archbishop of Canterbury. In fact, he was most irreverent about Welby although he came in for some redemption later on.
Diderot  didn’t mince his words:
Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest.
But although he found the facts interesting and the writing good, and at times humorous, it  began to feel like reading a textbook. although I suspect it will get more personal, I’m not sure I’ll finish it – partly as it’s so long and feels a chore.
He did however enjoy some of the observations eg:
My hotel is an easy walk from anything I need for short-term happiness.
He’s full of graduate school enthusiasms, his mind alive with the questions that many people stop asking after forty - hour weeks of study are replaced by forty - hour weeks of work.
And particularly this description of his dinner:
Dinner outside at a small bistro is duck with cherry tomatoes on top. It is perfectly presented, burnished in buttery twilight 

Chris W.
This was a book that he  enjoyed because it covered  a topic that would normally not have been of interest to him.
The book was  informative and interwove the present with history making it very readable. He was impressed by the bibliography and the fact that this was not just a collection of the author’s own opinions but a synthesis of an extensive number of articles written about religion which he had collected to accompany his pilgrimage.
Initially he didn’t take to him as a character. He felt he was a bit “full of himself” with a chip on his shoulder particularly against the French and British  but after a while came to like him as relatively modest and as a good parent. He liked the description of his daughter walking in front of him seeing her at different stages of her youth which every father has experienced at some stage and he described his feelings very well.
A good read, informative and entertaining.
Quotes:
An interesting commentary on the church view of sex and how rules were written by repressed monks: “The Catholic Church is still trying to legislate the rules of the bedroom yet their biggest problem are priests who molest children“

The Invisible Crowd by Ellen Wiles

Another book with a wide range of views and scores for the Club. Some really enjoyed it as a novel and looked forward to picking it up to read, others emitted an audible groan! For some, reading it was like wading through treacle, others through flour, light and easy.

For some, the structure of Yonas’ story interspersed with the perspectives of other characters in the story worked well, with Yonas told in the third person, Jude, the barrister in the second and the others in the first (as if in an interview). At first, Chris B (blonde beer please, in a straight glass) wondered if it was more a documentary than a novel but Richard (the ordinary in a jug please) liked the book because it was a novel with a plot and good characters (in contrast to the more factually based books read recently). Willm (a large glass of red please) saw the value of separating out the main character, the barrister and the other characters but wondered if it was necessary and found the use of “you” in Jude’s sections aggravating.

Richard liked the range of voices and felt that Ellen had ‘got’ most of them very clearly, and that many were very different to each other. Some were less convinced, for example with Joe the Binman: Andrew was not convinced by his voice, Willm by the singing of “Like a Rolling Stone”. And Steve thought it odd that there was no attempt to tell us how Yonas spoke, no accent, no use of English as a second language.

The book certainly tells the story of both the individual character, Yonas and many other illegal immigrants and asylum seekers. The fear, the likelihood of being driven into the hands of gang masters, the impossible choices of evading arrest or voluntarily submitting to a hostile system that will wilfully disbelieve your story, the choice of starving or stealing food, the miserable experience in a detention centre, the inability to work whilst waiting (often years) for a decision. The immigration official was all too believable in his prejudice and resentment and raises the issue not only of recruitment practices and training but also low pay and the risk that they will feel they are worse off than the successful asylum seeker. Some of us had just watched Sitting in Limbo, the BBC Windrush play which showed similar experiences with immigration officers and detention centres.

Richard felt that there was a fundamental ‘truth’ to this story – that Ellen got how it was, for people coming here as refugees, and the awfulness of having to prove all of the time that their lives had been so shitty and terrifying.

Richard found it quite gripping from the start.  Ellen got the conflict between work and home very well:

“You were all set to leave chambers at 6 p.m., for once, when your clerk phoned. You so nearly didn’t pick up, but the receiver tugged at your hand like a magnet.”

And also, the problem with being a barrister rather than a solicitor:

“At least solicitors get to spend time with their clients, taking statements. Barristers barely get to meet them, usually.”

Andrew (yes, another pint of ordinary would be lovely) liked the themes of survival and sacrifice and bravery, destitution and hope, kindness and unkindness, groups and groupings, power and powerlessness, ordinary people doing extraordinary things - and human rights and human wrongs.

Willm saw that the author wanted to give a broad, or rounded, account of a refugee's, or more generally, refugees' experience, He found the chapters telling Yonas' personal story quite effective: the forced labour in the seafood factory, the wandering through London with no money or food, the work and living with the gang in Canning Town. The use of real newspaper headings at the beginning of each chapter illustrates the constant barrage of bad press refugees, asylum seekers and immigrants have to contend with.

The book tells the story very much from the viewpoint of Yonas and his friend, Gebre. The reasons for their escape from Eritrea are clear and persuasive, the horrors of the journey show what risks they are prepared to take and how tough it is to get to the UK. It is explicitly critical of the hostile environment created by Theresa May at the Home Office (“driven by UKIP”, observed John) and reflects the hostility in the clippings that Yonas collects from the right-wing press and which crown each chapter.

As such it does not try to offer how we should run our immigration policy, though the implication is that we should be more open and sympathetic to asylum seekers and refugees. Nor does it talk about wider attempts to support the countries from whom asylum seekers come. But then it is a novel not a policy report. It does highlight that those who represent asylum seekers and refugees are doing so out of huge commitment. They certainly do not earn the rewards of lawyers in other parts of the law.

The defence of a repressive regime chimed for Richard with our last book (about Israel and Palestine) This is the exact same narrative: “‘Hey hey, listen,’ I said, putting my hand onto his shoulder. ‘Melahaye, it sounds like you have had a hard time. I get that. I am sorry about your family. My father died in the struggle as well. And your girlfriend as well – that is really bad luck. But you have to remember the bigger picture. We would not even have our country if it was not for our President. He has been protecting it, despite all the strongest countries in the world being set against us.” This is the common narrative, that we should accept repression and crappy Government because as a country we are at risk and ‘they’ are protecting us.

Several of us were less engaged by the book. Chris W (a ginger beer, please, I’m driving) found it stereotypical, lacking in depth or credibility. For example, Yonas and Nina fall in love too easily. But he still found it good at showing the system and overall was a good yarn. John (a couple of pints of your special brew if you are ordering) felt it needed more editing, finding it too dense. The sentiments were right but he felt it didn’t work as a novel, perhaps due to the inexperience of the writer. But again, he found it a good insight into the system. Steve (another top up? Yes please) recognised the story as treating an important issue but “it didn’t carry me through”. He didn’t like the writing (not pithy, too many words and dialogue) or the characters (caricatured, ciphers Yonas has to overcome rather than characters in a novel). Andrew thought perhaps the contrasts between good and bad were too stark, too simplistic and some of the characters too black and white – Molly and Nina seemed too good and saintly, and Gavin too much of a stereotype. And the plot seemed contrived at times, with too many coincidences and Molly and Nina seeming to be too trusting and uncritical.

Similarly, Willm felt there were just too many stereotypical side-characters and coffee shop meetings with different 'types' having different coffees whereas Andrew enjoyed the series of monologues and the way the story was layered with each new voice adding background, but also their own perspective and advancing the story.

Willm found some sections badly written with amateurish chapter links and endings. Mark W (just a small one, I am off early in the morning) liked the prologue the best! He felt there was nothing new in the book, the characters were caricatured and the writing irritating and obvious, naïve. Like Mark T (a large dry white, please), he found the coffee intros worked at first, but became annoying. He found the book amateurish in style and content.

Mark T did like the book: the characters, Yonas’ friendships, his love with his first girlfriend, terrible treatment meted out by the system (well researched). He liked the humour (like the exploding microwave chicken) and the description of post-natal depression was well done. It was interesting to hear the different views of Eritreans about their government. Some bits were less convincing: Gebre’s escape from the detention centre was unbelievable. Yonas seeing the suicide in paper so soon afterwards was unlikely. Nina’s arrival in Newcastle was too quick (or she was a super speedy driver). But it moved him, made him sad.

Chris B liked the development of the characters, especially Yonas. Ellen had perhaps made it easier for herself by making him a university educated, decent person, who we were more likely to sympathise with. But it made for a good story as Yonas can talk eloquently about his experience, his reflections on it and his relationships with family back home and the people he meets in the UK. Chris B found him a full character, convincing in his frailties and warmth and concern for others in the midst of his struggles. Richard and Andrew empathised with him. Even those who did not like the book liked the Yonas chapters.

There were good dramatic tensions in for example, Yonas’ attempts to escape the gang master, develop his relationship with Nina, escape with Gebre and run away to Newcastle. The relationship with Nina as both come to appreciate each other is well developed with the added tension of the Tory candidate, ex-husband. Andrew liked the Increasing drama and tension in the second half of the book – “a real page turner”.

Particularly vivid scenes for Andrew were

• the awful voucher experience in the supermarket which you could see coming but was still awful
• and the Yonas’ overcrowded accommodation, which some landlord was charging the government rent for
• and the pregnant client of Veata with morning sickness vomiting out of her shared bedroom window,
• And Gavin the disgruntled immigration worker who saw claimants as cases and not people
• And the kindness of Molly and Tesfay, and others in contrast

Chris B thought some of the minor characters were a little caricatured. But lots of nice touches: friendship and humour with his gay friend, Emil, the gradual unveiling of the tragic family history and its struggles in Eritrea, the development of the characters and lives of Nina, Jude and the one-time interviewees.

Richard liked lots of lovely touches in the writing:

·      She captured very well the difficulties that doing anything raises under these circumstances – simply using a public library for example: “But the screen instructed him to enter his library pass number.”.

·      There were some heartfelt thoughts about the sort of UK that (we at least) want to be living in: “The library came to seem to him like a beacon, like a symbol of all the different ways people could feel, live and think about the world, how everybody could be welcomed for free into a space, whoever they were, whatever they were interested in, however educated they were – just how the UK was supposed to be.”

·      And the extended ‘cows’ joke was really very funny! – 3 pages, ranging from UK to Eritrea to Somalia to China to Italy to India to Russia

There was also a lovely section where Nina talked about art and described the very essence of art therapy – “And more practically, in terms of my anxiety, that series turned out to be a brilliant way of reconciling myself with randomness and uncertainty. You know? It was comforting to contain these little objects, to contextualize them, and give them a home in a piece of art.”

Andrew liked the terrific start with the migrants on the small boat crossing the channel, and then the pressured barrister-mum. And a moving end with the letter from Melat, Yonas’ flight to Newcastle and Bamburgh, the hearing - and the rooster.

Those who really enjoyed the book agreed that this had the signs of a first novel. Some things were not believable enough. Richard again: maybe too many good things happened to Yonas! Being so welcomed by Molly and then Nina changing her views so strongly and falling for him. The writing wasn’t as beautiful as some of the authors we’ve read recently, said Andrew but improved throughout the book, for example:

"It was not like prison back in Eritrea. I mean, you did not get tortured, and the food was okay, and you could drink as much water as you wanted – but it was still a prison. And so grey. Living there was like slowly drowning in greyness. Grey walls, grey sky outside, grey faces.

"Proper sunlight, I mean, the kind that puts out heat as well as light, that warms your bones, that transforms the sky into a blanket of blue and palm trees into emerald butterflies, and makes skin glow like honey, makes women’s clothes dance like flocks of parrots and bee-eaters in the urban jungle."

And some humour, here from Emil:

"so today we go to bank where all guys working there sniff coke in toilets, then later we go to gym where guys pump truckloads of iron and grunt like pigs, then tomorrow we have solicitor’s company where they work all hours in clock, and PR company with brainstorming area like pre-school art room for kids who need to roll on beanbags and draw with crayons."

Like the best books, the group had very different experiences of reading The Invisible Crowd but all appreciated the value of highlighting the plight of so many immigrants coming to settle in the UK.