Reading Group - The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox

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.