Alice to Prague was our first book for the meeting on 18 September 2019. McLassie made everyone welcome with wine, cheese and general bonhomie, and we settled in for the discussion on McLassie's selection. Billed as 'The charming true story of an outback girl who finds adventure - and love - on the other side of the world", it was written by Tanya Heaslip who was raised on a station near Alice Springs. Some astute minds turned their neurons to where Tanya had gone to school in Adelaide, and MLC came up as the most likely (could be confirmed or not by Lanie who would have been around the same time - which gives truth to the legend that there's always a school connection in this town!)
The book was Tanya's story, a well grounded girl who decided to venture into womanhood by taking an adventurous and risky sojourn in life by jetting off alone to Europe. This was in the late eighties/nineties and at a time of some political upheaval. After seeing the Berlin wall come down; our writer travelled to the Czech Republic and spent time as an English teacher in an unpronounceable little village. Some of us wondered how in Prague, where she spent most time, she had become an English translator of dense legal briefs without knowing a word of Czech - though we didn't dwell on this but rather amazed at her skill. From the lightness of the language, it seems she sailed through these challenges, and her relationships, whether they were successful or not. Charismatic Karel was the focus of her love in the romantic city of Prague, and though she found it with him for a while, she lost it later on - but still came out on top. You go girl!! Those who read the book found it a pleasant light holiday read, written by a clever woman who had her feet well planted in her sense of 'fitting in' - wherever she found herself. Well if thats not an Australian outback trait, I don't know what is!
Our second book was The Electric Hotel, by Dominic Smith (author of 'The last painting of Sarah de Vos' and other books of a similar genre - ie social history smudged with a good dose of the arts). It was the story of Claude Ballard, a follower of the Lumiere Brothers in the 1890's, and the making of his silent film masterpiece, The Electric Hotel. The context used to draw out this story was the PhD student trying to find and save the masterpiece as part of his dissertation, in LA, in 1962. The main part of the book was set at the time when the silent film industry was born, and Thomas Edison was flexing his legal muscles to make sure his invention reined supreme. Which it did! But back to Claude. Sabine was his French muse, was the centrepiece of his film, and in many ways the centre of this book. Some of us thought she was a strong woman; others thought she was selfish and off with the fairies. Claude was besotted with her, but she rejected his advances - choosing instead to immerse herself in the travails of the TB ravaged widow, Dorothy and her 2 children. (Are you still with me? In case you're not, Sabine used Dorothy as her method acting model in Claude's masterpiece, which was the dramatic story of a widow with consumption trying to avenge her lodgers at the Electric Hotel.) At this point, Marg did well to remind us that this was set at a time when Vaudeville was the mainstay of entertainment - which is good timing on Marg's part because the description of the filming of The Electric Hotel was something else again. The film flopped at the box office mainly because of Thomas Edison's patent wars, and all the main characters lost their dosh in the production. From there, the book moved to World War 1 and Claude's clever use of photography - which was clearly his talent and really, he should have immersed himself in that, rather than being obsessed with the fickle Sabine. There was broad agreement that the second part of the book (during World War 1) was much more interesting than the first part, and that the first part could have done with a good edit.
As you can see from the above, I have taken some editorial license with the discussion of the books. Feel free to comment if you disagree or have other views to add.
It was then on to Marg's fabulous Blueberry and Lemon Cake, cups of tea, and general gossip, and a welcome to McLassie's travel companions to Lake Eyre. Hope the weather shines, the road is smooth(ish), and the tyres hold up.
NOW TO SOME IMPORTANT NEWS:
The next FnB meeting has been changed to Wednesday 20th November 2019. Venue will be 1 Fox Street, Goodwood. The books are
Julie: First Person by Richard Flanagan
Sue: Desperation Road by Michael Farris Smith
