DISCUSSION notes by BB: Best Short Stories of the Twentieth Century

Eight members gathered on Wednesday, February 29--a once-in-four-years eventuality--to discuss a once-in-a-century production, namely "Best Short Stories of the Twentieth Century," edited by John Updike.  The book's sponsor had selected from the tome's cornucopia five faves.  The first, published in 1916, was "Little Selves," in which a dying old woman immerses herself in her rich memories, briefly bringing back to life all those little selves that will die with her.  We were struck by the biographical note on the author: "Mary Lerner published several short stories in national magazines.  Nothing more is known about her."  Nothing, not even the dates of her birth and death!

We all knew Richard Wright from his novels but his 1939 short story "Bright and Morning Star" was new to us.  We were intrigued by the dialogue, the imagery and the connection between Southern blacks and the Communist Party.  One of our group had seen--and been moved by--a play based on the story.

We were all moved by Bernard Malamud's 1964 "The German Refugee."  Some found this portrait of an immigrant who's lost everything almost too much to bear.  We disagreed over what exactly causes the refugee to lose hope and just what his Jewishness means to him and how much his thinking has been distorted by the persecution he has suffered.

Thom Jones's 1993 "I Want to Live" also divided the group into those who chuckled over the dark humor and those who couldn't bear to get so close to the main character's journey through cancer.  (Basically, wicked funny as Jones is, those who had seen a loved one through the ravages of disease made this writer feel somewhat callow.)  We all admired the author's skill writing from a woman's point of view.

In discussing Pam Houston's 1999 "The Best Girlfriend I Never Had," we departed from the subject of death.  This contemporary, gritty, dark, funny piece is no feel-good, however.  The hope that sustains three of the previous four stories is lacking here, and Houston's plucky thirty-something young woman is as adrift as Malamud's refugee.

At the end of the evening, the hostess, in keeping with the theme, distributed copies of a short story of her own--one in which death is no stranger.

Even though this collection of short stories is too unwieldy for reading on the subway or in bed, we thought it just right for people leading fragmented lives and/or "losing it."  The five we read represented different time periods and were just the right number for lively discussion.  We concluded the meeting intending to read more of the stories on our own.

In a postscript to last month’s entry, Wallace Shawn, according to the February 29 NY Times, is planning a filmed version of Ibsen's "Master Builder."

Next Book: Best American Short Stories of the Century February 29, 2012

Review of Collection by New York Observer

http://www.powells.com/biblio/2-9780395843673-8

Stories to Discuss:
Bright and Morning Star by Richard Wright
The German Refugee by Bernard Malamud
Little Selves by Mary Lerner
I Want to Live by Thom Jones
The Best Girlfriend You Never Had by Pam Houston

Look for discussion notes in the next few days....

The FEVER...meeting notes

Got to the meeting late.  And got to writing this too many days after the meeting.
Since I rely on my memory...not good.
I am hoping that my shy book group colleagues will correct and/or add to this entry...Come on! Write up! Or...email me and I will post...

Here goes my best attempt to reflect the ideas expressed...

It seems that this play was liked by the majority of members.
Although the ones that didn't like it, really didn't like it.  They seemed to be really turned off by the circular, somewhat disjointed, stream of consciousness.  And they stopped reading.

However, during the meeting, we played  the audio of Wallace Shawn reading The Fever.  Just the first 8-minute segment, anyway.  As a result, (and most likely hearing the discussion motivated her as well) one member who stopped reading...wants to listen instead. And someone will be giving the CD to her husband instead of the book.

BUT, not everyone was converted in favor.  One member, who couldn't get a copy of The Fever electronically, was not going to pick it up after the discussion and even after listening to Shawn.  She said (paraphrased of course) she disliked intellectual rich upper class folks who bash intellectual rich upper class folks and got richer from doing so.

By the way...,
After listening to Shawn,  members felt hearing his voice revealed new insights into The Fever. When you hear his tone, you realize that he  is conscious of the absurdity of trying to escape one's  values, life, culture...to sacrifice everything...in order to save all humanity.  The narrator isn't going to do this...Saints are few.  And he isn't one.

We talked about what can be done to better the world--and we agreed that political action such as that of the Anti War Movement of the '60s can. Actions taking by people like Rachel Lloyd...Girls Like Us...can help save the world...girl by girl, woman by woman.


More ...

Members enjoyed Shawn's anecdotes...we assume he is the narrator who grew  up in Manhattan in the rarefied artistic and intellectual circle of his parents' world...but some of us are not sure we are supposed to take his getting stuck  in the middle of a revolution literally...Was Shawn ever in  Nicaragua?

Some examples of anecdotes:  we liked the wrapping paper and description of good and bad neighborhoods.

We also explored connections between Shawn's work and Woody Allen's exploration of class differences. Memory fails...Does anyone want to deepen this link?

The Fever by Wallace Shawn: Meeting January 25, 2012

http://www.wischik.com/lu/senses/fever.html

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!

A Visit from THE GOON SQUAD: Meeting December 14, 2011

A Visit From the Goon Squad Reviews, etc.

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.