Banjo didn't greet us all at Fox Street - he had already made his great escape to Port Elliot before the second lockdown of 2020 began at midnight. So it was a bold little group who met on lockdown eve to talk about our last two books of the year - Minimum of Two and The Erratics. Marg P and Barb W were absentees caught up in the pre-lockdown hassles - and we commented on what good genes Marg P must come from as we heard about her 90+ year old Aunt who drove from Keith to Adelaide and then in to the city, then on to Marg's place to stay. Wow!!
We started the evening with a big collective groan about the lockdown including how dogs were going to be walked, masks worn with which outfit, haircuts and other effects of the lockdown, and then moved to Julie's selection, Minimum of Two. It soon became evident that most readers found the book a struggle - just like the main theme that ran across the 14 short stories making up the book. The disjointed story of the Nilsam family, Jerra, Rachel and Sam, was told in 7 stories, and the other 7 stories sprinkled some light on life on struggle street anywhere, or maybe everywhere, near the WA coast.
The title, Minimum of Two, came from the gaol sentence handed down to Blakey in the very troubling story of the same title (about the rape of Greta and the narrator's response), and perhaps Tim Winton had a little play on words as most of the stories were connected by relationships between two people - breaking down, changing course, finding renewal, or not. (A subtextual comment here: but then again, maybe TW didn't play with words for the title because humour is something he seems to struggle with - just sayin'?)
'My favourite read/s' from the 14 stories were nominated and dissected by everyone, along with the way TW handled gender, being stuck (Jerra and other blokes), finding a way out (Rachel and Queenie), not finding a way out/denial (Jerra, the narrator of Minimum of Two), a sense of place (most of the stories), and mental health (The water was dark and it went forever down, and others). We all generally agreed TW's writing was spare though powerful, but in the end most readers were disappointed in the book and gave it a score of around 5, though some thought better of the book and tried to push up the count to at least 6 and maybe even a 7.
We turned our attention to The Erratics, Sue's choice recommended to her by that cultural beacon of the coast, South Seas Book Shop in Port Elliot. As notes for the meeting were left at home, little or no introduction to the book or author was offered - except to say that it was an achievement for an author to write her first book at 77 and win 2 prizes with it. Discussion of the book was launched into, and centred around
"It will grab you by the throat and not let you go" (remark by South Seas assistant) - well, not so much for Cherrie who found the book a troublesome and uneven read. Others agreed and wondered about the to-ing and fro-ing between Australia and Canada, and the sister/sister relationship, while some took the view that it gave insight into overcoming family dysfunction, and was a real page turner
"Why write a memoir, when you're 77, about your life with your mother who had a severe personality disorder?" was a question posed and many answers offered, including
answer 2: answer 1, plus the guilt associated with the author's reliance on her Canadian based sister to manage the ageing parents
answer 3: to explore a part of yourself and set yourself free
"Did the humour ring true or was it a cover for getting through the dark days" - probably a bit of both with some really liking the humour, and others finding it perhaps disingenuous, or non-existent
"And what about the ending" - some were glad to get there (finally at last), while the description and significance of the Erratic rocks fitted well as an ending for others.
It was certainly a book that divided opinion. And then there was the BIG discussion about living with a person with mental illness and how difficult it is - ending in the absolute agreement by all that bringing mental illness in to the open is really really important. And though the book was unequivocally liked by some, moderately liked by others and not liked by a few, perhaps this was the real value of the book, and the reason it was written. (Just a thought - all comments on this riff will be posted; and guess what? I just found my notes for last nights meeting! Too late now.)
As we turned our attention to cakes, cheese and activities for lockdown, and how to get through the next 6 (and possibly more) days of lockdown, some Netflix titles were suggested - The Crown, The Queens Gambit and Away. Other suggestions were to keep reading, and keep up the exercise regime - here is an image of me in my gym class on a good hair day(yeah right!)
As we were packing up to head off to our various lockdown boltholes, and making sure everyone was OK, a tentative plan was made by a few to start up 2021 Bookclub on Wednesday 24 February 2020 assuming there is some semblance of return to normality next year. Yes - this is the first most of you have heard about that little plan so let me know if it works - probably at Wildy's place with book selections yet to come from Wildy and Barb.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Keen to know your thoughts. Try making a comment here.