Blindness
Thanks everyone for such a great discussion about
Sweetness in the Belly. Despite some mixed reviews (among the book club), I'm quite happy to have read this story. I've learned a lot about Ethiopian history/politics, while also getting a sense for the everyday life of a culture very foreign to me. In the end, I think the book club has been fantastic for exposing me to novels/authors that I wouldn't have read on my own.
NEXT BOOKBlindness by
José Saramago.
PLOT SYNOPSISWinner of the 1998 Nobel Prize for Literature. A city is hit by an epidemic of 'white blindness.' The blindness spreads, sparing no one. Authorities confine the blind to a vacant mental hospital secured by armed guards. Inside, the criminal element among the blind hold the rest captive: food rations are stolen, women are raped. There is one eyewitness to this nightmare who guides seven strangers through the barren streets. The developments within this oddly anonymous group -- the first blind man, the old man with the black eye patch, the girl with dark glasses, the boy with no mother, and the dog of tears -- are as uncanny as the surrounding chaos is harrowing. --
Barnes & NobleTHE AUTHORJosé Saramago, born in Portugal in 1922, Saramago is one of the most acclaimed writers in the world today. In 1998 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Saramago lives in the Canary Islands.
Sweetness in the Belly
From Ms. Emma Wain:
I suggested Sweetness in the Belly by Camilla Gibb for our next book club selection because my sister told me that it is ‘the best book’ that she’s ever read! Many others have echoed these feelings, including Fiona, so I was very eager to read the book myself and understand why it had stolen so many hearts. Furthermore, the fact that this book includes many rich themes and ideas- multiple nations, cultures, religion, suffering, joy, love and history….who wouldn’t love it??!!!
I am now just past half-way through Sweetness in the Belly, and am really enjoying the novel. I find Lilly’s character very lovable and captivating- how she started out with such a unique and eclectic upbringing, and how relatively easily she seemed to take things as they came in her life. I find it amazing that while she is in Ethiopia, that she seems so open and accepting of her circumstances, and of the people around her and how she is treated poorly by many of them for being a ‘farenji’. She seems to embrace experiences and people as they are, and to be a vibrant, positive and hopeful soul.
So, when we jump to the years when she is living in England years later, and appears to have lost her vibrancy, and more importantly her sense of hope for the future, and perhaps even for humanity… this keeps me turning the pages in order to understand what has led to this stark and critical change in her outlook. Stay tuned!!!
Book Club Renaissance: The Glass Castle
A posting by May Zeibak:
I chose
The Glass Castle because of my fascination with other peoples’ lives. The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls, is a memoir. I only had to read the first paragraph to realize that I would not be able to put the book down. Jeannette Walls takes the reader behind closed doors and reveals with such vivid description the intimate details of her family life – with all the peculiarities and dysfunction included. The story unfolds from her childhood perspective, and is expressed with such sincerity and compassion that I felt immediately pulled into her life – as if I was standing there watching the events take place. Particularly amazing to me is that Jeannette Walls is a public personality, a regular contributor to MSNBC, who has completely opened up and revealed her private life to us in such a fascinating way."
The Inheritence of Loss
First off, sorry for major delay between posts. My enthusiasm for reading/bookclub (like lots of things in life) ebbs and flows. That said, I'm really happy to be reading
The Inheritance of Loss by
Kiran Desai.
I'm currently midway through the book and I'm intrigued. The backdrop of the story shifts from
New York City to
Kalimpong (a hillside town nestled at the foot of the
Himalayas). Desai uses these two perspectives show how lives interact between the West and the East. Given that Desai left India at 15 and has lived in England and the US since, she offers an authentic voice to the story. Also, once major theme explored in the novel is the lasting impact of British
Colonialism.
In addition to shifting geographically, the story maneuvers from past to present (set in the 1980s) to tell a rich family history of the characters (which I find quite reminiscent of Middlesex). I'm looking forward to finding out where Desai takes the story in the 2nd half.
About the Author
The Inheritance of Loss is
Kiran Desai's 2nd novel and has received widespread success, both commercial and critical. At the age of 35, Desai won the
Man Booker Prize for fiction (2006), for the
Inheritance of Loss, making her the
youngest woman to win the prize.
Another interesting fact about the author is that she is the daughter of
Anita Desai, a well-respected author who was short-listed for the Man Booker 3 times.
Anita Desai is probably best known for her novel
In Custody (short-listed for The Booker), which was later made into a
Merchant Ivory film.
On Beauty and Being Right
I managed to finish
On Beauty on December 31st, and I have to say this book was my favorite of 2006. It did take me a while to finish the novel, but not because it wasn't riveting. I think I was drawing out the experience of the Bellsley and Kipps families and when it was done I was truly sad to turn to the story's last page.
By examining 2 families, Zadie Smith has created a real dialogue and debate about art, politics, and honesty. There is so much in
On Beauty that has prompted me to stop reading and do research (e.g. on Rembrandt's work, on Haiti's history with the U.S.) Also Smith has created a balanced and compelling discourse on affirmative action, class differences and racial tension that was eye opening, without being preachy. All of this fascinating subject matter comes to life through the clashes between authentic and beautiful characters.
You may (or may not) know that the plot of
On Beauty was based on E.M. Forester's classic
Howards End. Zadie Smith refers to the
Howards End as her
'...first literary love' and clearly a source of great inspiration. The plots of
Howards End and
On Beauty are apparently quite similar, but Zadie Smith has successfully modernized this classic into something that is truly her own.
For the book club meeting (date tbd), I think we should do something different: watch the film version of
Howards End (1992) starring
Sir Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson and
Helena Bonham Carter (with Emma Thompson taking home the Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role). I think it would be a fantastic experience compare/contrast the film/original story of
Howards End with
On Beauty. Que pensez vous?
Interesting Links
o
Dialogue with Zadie Smith on
On Beauty o
Book Club Reading Guideo
ABC Local Radio Brisbane Book Club Discussion: scroll to the bottom of the page for the mp3
Zadie Smith's On Beauty
I have just started reading
On Beauty by
Zadie Smith, so I have little ground for forming an opinion. In the mean-time I will judge the book by its cover: I love it!
Zadie Smith is one of the literary world's most talked about authors. At the age of 25, her first novel
White Teeth was published and immediately achieved critical and commercial success. Since then, Smith has written
The Autograph Man (2002) and most recently
On Beauty (2005). She's a
Man Booker nominee and
Orange Prize winner.
SYNOPSISWhy do we fall in love with the people we do?
Why do we visit our mistakes on our children?
What makes life truly beautiful?
Set in New England mainly and London partly, On Beauty concerns a pair of feuding families—the Belseys and the Kippses—and a clutch of doomed affairs. It puts low morals among high ideals and asks some searching questions about what life does to love. For the Belseys and the Kippses, the confusions—both personal and political—of our uncertain age are about to be brought close to home: right to the heart of family.
ACCOLADES"...Ms. Smith possesses a captivating authorial voice - at once authoritative and nonchalant, and capacious enough to accommodate high moral seriousness, laid-back humor and virtually everything in between - and in these pages, she uses that voice to enormous effect, giving us that rare thing: a novel that is as affecting as it is entertaining, as provocative as it is humane." --
The New York Times
The Accidental
On Oct 29th we'll be meeting to discuss
The Accidental. I absolutely loved this book. The style of writing is bold, the characters are authentic (especially Astrid) and Smith's observations about life in the
new millennium are poignant without being heavy-handed.
The central character Amber is a surprise guest at the Smart family's summer cottage. Months after her arrival,Amber is forced to leave abruptly; but not before deeply affecting each family member. This character is not to be interpreted literally; Amber is a catalyst used to examine how each of the Smarts has begun to think outside of their own personal norm. Although widely acclaimed,
The Accidental has been criticized for being too much of a '
literary exercise'. I can see how this could turn-off readers, but I think this story is less about the plot and more so about grander themes and inventiveness of writing. Regardless, I am very much looking forward to discussing and hearing others' points of view.
In the mean-time, here are some interesting links:
o
The Guardian: Reviewo
The Guardian: Interview with Ali Smith
The Accidental
The first book of season 2 will be
The Accidental by
Ali Smith.
ABOUT ALI SMITH
o Scottish-born, now lives and writes in Cambridge
o Her novels explore grand themes using a shifting perspective between characters
o Smith's earlier novel
Hotel World was short-listed for both
The Booker and
The Orange Prize in 2001.
o In 2005, The Accidental won the
Whitbread Novel of the Year Award which is aimed at celebrating works that are enjoyable to read while having high literary merit.
o Also in 2005, The Accidental was short-listed for
The Booker aside authors Zadie Smith and Kazuo Ishaguro.
o Opening gay, Ali Smith has been with her partner for 17 years
THE ACCIDENTAL: SYNOPSISThe Smart family's lacklustre holiday in Norwich is turned upside down when a beguiling stranger called Amber appears, bringing with her love, joy, pain and upheaval. The Smarts try to make sense of their bewildering emotions as Amber tramples over family boundaries and forces them to think about their world and themselves in an entirely new way. The Accidental is at once a mysterious web of secret identities and a ruthlessly honest look at the silent cracks that can develop unnoticed in relationships over time.REVIEWS"
Ms. Smith is a wonderful ventriloquist, adept at throwing her voice into an astonishing array of characters....[S]he captures their thoughts, their dream lives, their sense of their place in the world with perfect and unwavering pitch."
Michiko Kakutani,
New York Times"
Smith captures the speech and thoughts of each character with a real, compassionate kind of virtuosity." San Francisco Chronicle
Book Club: Season 2
Welcome back!
I hope everyone is as excited as I am to kick-off the 2nd year of the
Read Rocks Book Club. Aside from needing a better name for the club, we have the task of choosing our first book of the season. Everyone is aware of the rules, so I'll simply list each member's choices below:
Fionao
Everything is Illuminated - Jonathan Safran Foer | this book was deemed 'a work of genius' by
The New York Timeso
Reading Lolita in Tehran - John Muthyala
o
In the Skin of the Lion - Michael Ondaatje | Acclaimed author of
The English Patient
Michaelo
The Accidental - Ali Smith | winner of the Whitbread Prize and short-listed for the Booker
o
The Namesake - Jumpha Lahari | check out the
film trailer being debuted at TIFF | Pulitzer-prize winning author of
The Interpreter of Maladies o
The Night Watch - Sarah Waters | lesbian author who has been short-listed for the Booker multiple times
Summer Hiatus
We've decided to take a break from the
book club. With everyone's active and conflicting schedules, its a challenge arranging to meet during the summer months.
The upside is: this will provide us all a chance to read books we have wanted to read individually. For me, my summer reading schedule is going to be:
*
Slow Man by
J.M. Coetzee*
Lolita by
Nabakov : currently 1/2 through, but had to postpone reading this one for Shadow of the Wind
*
Norwegian Wood by
Murakami: this one has been recommended to me by several people, and I'm intrigued.
I'm not 100% decided on
Norwegian Wood, but I'll definitely keep everyone posted. As soon as I'm done with
Slow Man, I'll post my comments. So far I love it. I've been pleasantly surprised at how different this story is from
Disgrace and I'm continually impressed by Coetzee's subtle observations and his consistent ability to incorporate broad themes into his specific stories.
Looking Ahead...
Well, I'm about 150 pages into
Shadow of the Wind and I think it's charming. The key to enjoying this book, I believe, is to suspend your disbelief and allow yourself to take pleasure in the journey.
As usual, I'm thinking ahead to our next book. Our choices so far have been male-dominated, so I suggest that we focus on a female author. What do you think of the following suggestions:
*
Into the Lighthouse by
Virginia Woolf: a modern classic that showcases Woolf's groundbreaking stream-of-consciousness narrative. Into the Lighthouse spans two days (separated by 10 years), of one family reflecting on tensions and familial dysfunction.
*
On Beauty by
Zadie Smith: from the award-winning author of
White Teeth,
On Beauty is an affecting and entertaining look at relationships, cultural differences and political correctness. Smith is considered one of Britain's most talented young authors.
*
Surfacing by
Margaret Atwood: This is the book that introduced the world to Atwood in the early 70s. According to the
New York Times Book Review, Surfacing is "
...one of the most important novels of the twentieth century". Not to mention, Surfacing will add some
Canadian Content to our repertoire.
Wrapping up Disgrace
I have to say, I absolutely loved
Disgrace. In a lot of ways, this book is about not understanding others. Opposition is everywhere; between men vs. women, blacks vs. whites, old vs. young and humans vs. animals. You can definitely tell that this subject matter is meaningful to Coetzee and that he is speaking from his personal experience living in South Africa. Coetzee's central theme is that history can not be escaped, whether it be personal mistakes or the atrocities of nation.
Comments on Coetzee and the Nobel Prize:
Not only is the Nobel Prize in Literature "the supreme acknowledgment of literary talent. It also recognizes the moral integrity and universal significance of one's work...Coetzee has been concerned with important moral issues . . ., including apartheid and race relations in his native South Africa, human rights, animal rights, and social and political injustice...He is also widely respected for his intellectual courage and honesty in posing such questions as, 'What do we do in the face of terror?'and for suggesting the devastating truth that lies in the possible answers to those questions."Below are some links, related to the book:
*
Lord Byron*
William Wordsworth*
South Africa* Reading Guides: click
here or
here Next up,
Shadow of the Wind.
Disgrace and Shadows
So we've agreed that our next novel will be
The Shadows of the Wind by
Carlos Ruiz Zafon. First off, I'm going to refer to the book as
La Sombra del Viento, its Spanish name (kidding). Secondly, I am totally looking forward to a page-turner that (no doubt) will prove a little more uplifting than
Disgrace,
Atonement or
Middlesex.
Let's not get ahead of ourselves.
Disgrace is our current focus. David Lurie is definitely not an enviable man, but he is engaging. I'm about 25 pages into the book, and I can not put it down.
I just found a profile-page at Barnes & Noble discussing J.M. Coetzee (click
here). I learned that Coetzee is so reclusive that he did not even fly to London to accept his 2 Booker prizes. Also on this webpage, there's a section entitled "If you like J.M. Coetzee, you'll definitely like...":
Salmon Rushdie. I think we need to, at some point, read some Rushdie; especially given that his name keeps coming up whenever we discuss future books to read.
We're especially lucky because there are several book club guides available for
Disgrace. I think there are going to be so many great ideas packed into this tiny novel.
Next Book: Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee
After much deliberation, our next book will be
J.M. Coetzee's 1999
Man Booker Prize winner
Disgrace.
Coetzee was born in South Africa, studied in the U.S. and then returned home to write and teach. His books reflect South African society, the impact of colonization and the on-going transformation of his home nation. His eloquent writing style has been compared to
Nabakov and
Kafka. In 2003, Coetzee won the
Nobel Prize for Literature.
"
—Disgrace is not a hard or obscure book—it is, among other things, compulsively readable—but what it may well be is an authentically spiritual document, a lament for the soul of a disgraced century."
—
The New Yorker "
—A subtly brilliant commentary on the nature and balance of power in his homeland...Disgrace is a mini-opera without music by a writer at the top of his form."
—
Time
PLOT SYNOPSIS
