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Monday, December 26, 2011
Saturday, December 17, 2011
A Visit from the Goon Squad: Discussion Notes
One member summed it up this way... forgive me for paraphrasing...A friend came to me and said he was reading a really great book...a few days later--he said...well I am not so sure it is so great and a few days later... he came back to say that he now felt that it was a great book.
I give that anecdote because...
Book Group discussion was predominantly about whether or not A Visit From the Goon Squad was a collection of some great and some not so great short stories or a series of creative pieces that built to a connected exploration of the devastating and inexorable passage of time.
I would say that the majority agreed with the latter...the different narrating styles, the power point chapter, the non-chronological story telling may have been disconcerting at first. But they all built to a moving exploration of the terrible toll of time--the squad of goons or thugs who both steal our youth and defile the very music that reflects our youthful passions.
Sounds grim...but the book is filled with darkly funny situations and insights...kleptomania, public relations and a brutal dictator are explored--honestly it is humorous.
Even the members who felt this was not successful as a novel enjoyed some of the chapters. A favorite: The Safari Chapter. One big knock: The writer does not show how characters like Sasha the kleptomaniac evolved--instead she reappears reformed.
BTW: You can't enlarge graphics on the Kindle...just the print making the PowerPoint chapter hard to read. And if you listened to the book on tape...you heard the clicking sound of a PowerPoint advancing frame by frame. Audio vs. visual!
I give that anecdote because...
Book Group discussion was predominantly about whether or not A Visit From the Goon Squad was a collection of some great and some not so great short stories or a series of creative pieces that built to a connected exploration of the devastating and inexorable passage of time.
I would say that the majority agreed with the latter...the different narrating styles, the power point chapter, the non-chronological story telling may have been disconcerting at first. But they all built to a moving exploration of the terrible toll of time--the squad of goons or thugs who both steal our youth and defile the very music that reflects our youthful passions.
Sounds grim...but the book is filled with darkly funny situations and insights...kleptomania, public relations and a brutal dictator are explored--honestly it is humorous.
Even the members who felt this was not successful as a novel enjoyed some of the chapters. A favorite: The Safari Chapter. One big knock: The writer does not show how characters like Sasha the kleptomaniac evolved--instead she reappears reformed.
BTW: You can't enlarge graphics on the Kindle...just the print making the PowerPoint chapter hard to read. And if you listened to the book on tape...you heard the clicking sound of a PowerPoint advancing frame by frame. Audio vs. visual!
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Friday, December 2, 2011
Brooklyn: A Novel--Comments
The blogger admits to having read the book and deciding not to recommend it to the Book Group. Why? She was sure it wasn't a great discussion book. How wrong! Wednesday's discussion was rich and focused on the book. Although most members felt Toibin's book had serious flaws, there was enough in the novel to move readers and provoke some deep thinking and awaken some poignant memories....about family, Brooklyn of the '50s, first loves, mentors, rifts between generations.
Let's get the flaws over with first: The main character seems out of character with her times--the 50's--, culture--Irish Catholic, and youth when she had guilt-free sex. An odd coincidence that moves the plot seem implausible. Some of the characters are one-dimensional.
What was strong about the novel? The author creates a portrait of an impoverished, simple, strong, and loving Irish family faced with a diaspora...its children must emigrate to survive. The relationships among the members are simple and true. Their sacrifices touching. Their bonds feel right to the reader. And the things left unsaid--as in real life--well up in the readers' throat. Other characters add humor and a sense of time and place to the novel.
I accidentally deleted one member's question. If she resends it, we can try to answer it.
Let's get the flaws over with first: The main character seems out of character with her times--the 50's--, culture--Irish Catholic, and youth when she had guilt-free sex. An odd coincidence that moves the plot seem implausible. Some of the characters are one-dimensional.
What was strong about the novel? The author creates a portrait of an impoverished, simple, strong, and loving Irish family faced with a diaspora...its children must emigrate to survive. The relationships among the members are simple and true. Their sacrifices touching. Their bonds feel right to the reader. And the things left unsaid--as in real life--well up in the readers' throat. Other characters add humor and a sense of time and place to the novel.
I accidentally deleted one member's question. If she resends it, we can try to answer it.
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