Off Shore by Penelope Fitzgerald: Discussion Notes

A tragic farce whose dark humor found fans among the book club members.  The book didn't engage some readers at first; it took a while to be drawn into the various characters' stories,  And sometimes unlabeled dialogue required some rereading to figure out who said what to whom.  The implausibly precocious children--could they really have the insights that they did--was another flaw for some. But overall, the  story of the dysfunctional group of Thames houseboat dwellers in the early 1960s appealed to readers.

 Other books by Fitzgerald were recommended even more highly by the sponsor and others.

Two mentioned include:

The Blue Flower 

Human Voices  

Why Off Shore then?  The sponsor picked it because it won The Booker Prize!  Shouldn't the prize givers know best???  Will be checking out her other work!

What struck me and (perhaps others) was that the author didn't start writing until she was in her 60's. Giving hope to me (and others?) that it wasn't too late to write a novel or in one member's case--a second novel? (Although, I'm closer to 70 than 60.)  Is all of that critical thinking about books a way to channel that writing bug?   Stop blogging and start novelizing.  Now.