skip to main |
skip to sidebar
This book, by Maggie O'Farrell, was the new choice for my library reading group. I thought I would write about here while it is fresh in my mind. Then I might write about it again, either here or in a new post after we have discussed it next month.
From the back cover blurb it appears that the story is set in two periods, Edinburgh in the 1930's and 'years later'. I was expecting some kind of two act play. I was wrong. The story is told in chunks, for want of a better word - there are no chapters, each told from the point of view of Esme Lennox and Iris Lockhart, the two main characters, and in a few places from the point of view of Esme's senile sister Kitty.
The writing was very readable and both the historical and present day settings were well drawn. Although billed as 'women's fiction' and very different from my usual reading choices I found that I read the whole book in less than a week.
At first I found some of Iris Lockhart's sections a little frustrating. I couldn't see how they connected with the main story about Esme. Towards the end it became obvious why they were relevant.
The alternation between the different periods and points of view was extremely effective. It meant that Esme's tragedy came to light quite slowly as we came to know her in her later days. Much of the power of the book would have been lost had the story been told more chronologically.
The conclusion to the story was, to me, quite unexpected. It aslo left me feeling slightly disatisfied. I wanted to know what happened next. It seemed that there were some major questions left unanswered about what direction would be taken by the lives of the two central characters.
SPOILER
Esme kills her sister Kitty. I am still undecided about the motive. Kitty was centrally involved in taking Esme's son from her when she was institutionalised as a young woman after being raped by a suitor at a New Year's Ball. It is clear from Kitty's rambling recollections that she feels a great deal of remorse for the fact that Esme spent the whole of her adult life in an institution. However Esme and Kitty are not able to talk about this due to Kitty's dementia, at least if they do talk about it the conversation is not recorded. I imagine that we are supposed to believe that Esme murders her sister in an act of revenge. This may well be the case but there is nothing that made it clear to me that Esme had such an intent when she asked to visit Kitty. The other obvious possibility is that Esme believes she is relieving her sister of her suffering. Again there is nothing that really points to this conclusion in the book. Perhaps I just feel so sorry for Esme that I want to look for excuses for her.
I should imagine that the ending of the book will provoke quite a discussion at the reading group. In fact I will be disapointed if it doesn't.
Group Discussion Notes
Well there were quite a few more people at the group this morning and that in itself made for a better discussion. Not least because some of the people there today where both more talkative and better at expressing their opinions than on of the two women who had been present last month.
As expected there was much discussion of the reasons why Esme had killed her sister. Also there was a wide ranging discussion of the motivations of the the other major characters. Other people's views of Kitty were quite damning. They saw her as being very selfish and manipulative which hadn't been my impression although I could understand their point of view.
There was also quite a discussion of several other books that people had read recently which was also quite interesting.
My notes on the discussion are somehwat vague as I had a late night and several beers yesterday. Perhaps next month I will be able to report in more detail.
My only previous experience of reading groups was listening to Radio 4's Book Club with James Naughtie. As could be expected of a Radio4 programme this tends to be a relatively high-brow, and certainly in depth discussion, of the month's chosen book - and with the author involved in the discussion as well.
The reading group at my local library was a slightly different experience.
I've thought of joining reading groups before but have never gotten round to it for various reasons, one being that I wasn't sure I wanted to commit to reading a book chosen by somebody else that I might not be interested in. I have to say that Book Crossing has widened my horizons somewhat and so, after discussing the group with a colleague, I decided to join.
Looking forward to reading something new I was, I have to admit, slightly disappointed to find that this months book was one that I had already read. Still it is a good book so it was no hardship top read it again. As is always the way I noticed things this time that I didn't remember from my previous reading. Perhaps because I didn't notice them then, or maybe simply because I had forgotten about them.
Northern Lights is a gripping adventure story set in a very believable alternate universe. Although it is often described as being an older children's, or young adult's, book it contains many themes that I am sure would go over the head of the average teen. It plays with questions of innocence and original sin, the tension between predestination and free choice, and relationships between adolescents and their parents. I was looking forward to discussing these issues.
When I got to the group there were, beside myself, just three other people present - the librarian, and two women in their 50's and 70's respectively (I think). The older woman was keen to tell us that she had found many of the unfamiliar names confusing and that she thought that there was quite a lot of violence and visciousness in the story. In her opinion it wasn't at all suitable for children. That seemede to be about the extent of her insight, although she did say she had enjoyed reading the book and would like to see the film. The librarian was obviously a fan of the Dark Materials trilogy and talked quite a bit about how the themes were developed in the other two books. The 'younger' woman joined in to a limited extent with some of the discussion.
Over all I have to say it was a pleasant enough way to while away half an hour or so. It may be that there would be a better discussion with more people present. The fact that today was Mother's Day may have prevented some people from attending. I have come away with another book to read for next month - The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox, by Maggie O'Farrell. Certainly not a book that I would have picked up myself but it looks as if it might be interesting; more next month.
One of my adolescent hobbies was fantasy role-playing. From the age of 12 to 18 I played Tunnles and Trolls and then later Runequest II with friends at school and at home. Then I went to university, re-invented myself and stopped playing FRP. I don't know why I re-invented myself in that way and to be honest I regret now that I did. Still, regret is rather a waste of time so enough of that.
Despite giving up no FRP I think I had my Runequest gear with me all those years and still have it now. A little while back I even discovered I still had my Tunnels and Trolls rulebook.
I tried to teach my sons how to play Tunnels and Trolls with limited success. They understood the basics but rolling and adding up tons of combat dice took longer than I had the patience for. In fact it reminded me in part of why I stopped playing T&T.
Then somebody gave us a Dungeons and Dragons box set thinking that the boys would like to play. I had a little look at it but not terribly seriously. I was obviously still enough of a T&T player to have a irrational dislike of D&D, despite knowing virtually nothing about it. So the Red Box sat on a shelf for a couple of months.
Then my wife brought home a different D&D box set that she had picked up in a charity shop for £2. This one had little card figures and a map to move the figures round on. Somebody seemed to be telling me that I really should give D&D a try. And as the somebody was my wife and son I could hardly say no.
So I read through the rules and got ready to DM my first D&D adventure. At the weekend my son had two of his friends round and we played part of the introductory adventure form the black box. To start with they were a bit silly, but then they are 10, but they soon got into the spirit of the adventure and quickly learned how to do basic combat.
My 6 year old daughter was hanging around at the time and wanted to join in but the boys weren't keen so she just watched. Later on I was browsing on the internet and discovering that there is a thriving OD&D community with loads of stuff available to download for free, even more so than T&T. As I was flicking through some adventures I found one that somebody had written to get his 6 year old daughter started. So obviously I helped Uncruliar Junior 3 to roll up a character and we got stuck in. Later she told her mum that she had enjoyed it 'but it was bit spooky' - result. Looks like I might be playing D&D for a while.
