The mysteries of god, the meaning of life - and lunch

 

Table trier

The flowers were blooming as we gathered at Hindmarsh Valley for our spring lunch, the last FnB Club meeting for 2021.  Missing blooms were Megan, Margie and McLassie - yes, all starting with 'M' but with good apologies all.

Mystery bounded out to greet everyone and continued to make merry mischief throughout the afternoon.  We were intrigued and amused by Cherrie's story about 'clackers', steam boats and holely jackets as we sat down to lunch of Spanikopita and salad.  (And for those interested here is the link to the recipe - https://www.goodfood.com.au/recipes/haloumi-spanakopita-20210601-h1w7mq).

After the Spanikopita went down Julie introduced her choice, 'Lapsed' by Monica Dux -  a reverie of Monica's take on Catholicism, and how and why Dux now 'blows raspberries' at the church.  And its at this point that your correspondent confesses her mind wasn't focussed enough on the task at hand - any mental acuity was sadly directed to the lunch table rather than the main book game.   But here goes with a quick summary of the chatter.

Moggies natives

It all starts with baptism - and once that's done, there is no escaping the Catholics - no matter what spiritual revelations you have during your lifetime.   In short, you're hooked, and you're part of the 'cult' - like it or not.  There were various personal reflections on dancing with religion during our youth around the table - some humorous and some lifechanging - which added to the way we each read the book and to discussion.

Some of us took the view that the book was cathartic and centred around Monica's view de monde - because in a way it was her autobiography coupled with her interaction with the Catholic church.  From this perspective it would have been good for the book to have a broader discussion on religion and bring in other viewpoints -  and yet we all agreed there was revelation for most of us within the pages of the book.  From an editorial point of view, the other main point of discussion was around how the book could have benefited from more use of the red marker pen - most thought the first third and last section of the book well worth reading, but the middle bit not so much.  

Sue's home bunch

Having dragged those short paras from my clouded grey matter, you may prefer to follow Julie's pre-recorded overview - 

Cherrie's sweet peas

Monica Dux - was a founding board member of the Stella Prize and the Feminist Writers Festival.  In a former life, she researched history at the University of Melbourne and worked at Melbourne Uni Publishing, and on the Monthly magazine.  She has authored Lapsed, Things I didn't Expect (when I was expecting), co-authored The Great Feminist Denial and editor of Mothermorphosis.   Dux's mother is Catholic and her father is Anglican (and a former Freemason) who were almost not allowed to be married.  She grew up a devout catholic and was raised to believe that the Jesus story was 100% true.  She was sold stories as truth - like the fact that rosary beads turned into gold; water healed the sick; and statues of the Virgin Mary bled or wept real tears.  (Ed note:  REALLY?)

While she found Mass "crushingly boring" for a time she regarded not being Catholic as "an abnormality that some people were burdened with, not to mention a terrible danger to their immortal souls".  By the time she reached University things had changed.  Dux had facial piercings, rode a motorbike and had a 'sinful sexual life'.  today, Dux says she blows 'figurative raspberries at the Church'.  

Her latest dilemma has settled in the form of her 6 year old daughter, who despite growing up in a secular household, comes home one day and announces that she wants to be a Catholic, and is desperate to be baptised.   Despite the devastating conundrum she finds herself confronting Dux admits there remain residual forces of the lived-in stories that accompanied her through her own childhood.  'The Jesus spells continue to have a kind of power over me" she explains.  "The story of Christ can still move me in a way that defies the cynical atheism I claim to embrace".  The wondrous and devoted good Catholic girl has morphed into an adult cynical atheist, yet she remains appreciative of what her religion gave her as a child - "tremendous certainty and reassurance....the sense of order, of community and comfort".

In Lapsed Dux explores the various forms of modern day Catholic bigotry that have plagued her own family and community, weaving in a deft survey of Catholic theology, 'cultic segregation' and the day to day impact of sectarianism.  Dux scrutinises the vast wave of interpretations of Catholic morality with a tone of clarity and humour - "Everyone is seeking truth and goodness and beauty, each in their own way". 
Dux shows compassion, curiosity and care towards the religion that had shaped her youth.  Watching her extend those qualities towards those closest to her felt like a mini-revelation on why writers write.  

"Jesus is a f...wit" says her six year old daughter towards the end of the book.  "He was a boy and all boys are idiots" she concluded - and that was the end of her Catholic odyssey.  

I found the book a challenge to the Catholic Church.  It was a humourous lookat the ruituals, magical thinking of saints - but a challenge to the horrific legacy questions surrounding abuse.  Dux conceded that Baptism counts you 'in', so there is no getting completely away.  Many still participate but don't believe.  The rituals and moral upbringing from childhood are never quite expnunged and leave an indelible mark on lapsed or non-lapsed Catholics.  While in other forms of Christian belief, the rituals are not as robust or magnified.  Dux concludes there are 2 groups - the Team Homonious - the old group - and Team Authentic - new group.  But there is no doubting once a Catholic, always a Catholic. 

After some deep breaths and dessert, we moved on to Klara and the Sun, by Kazuo Ishiguro.  It was full tilt charge into discussion about the book which was narrated by Klara, the Artificial Friend (AF) of Josie.  There was broad consensus that Klara was an engaging narrator - simple, naive and dignified - always wanting to understand the humans in her 'life', while observing everything through 'grids'.   Looking for the positive was Klara's MO - and we reflected on her trip through the field with Rick's help to the shed; her obsession with how the Sun was going to save Josie, and how she was going to save everyone from the pollution caused by the Cootings' machine.   Relentless was a word thrown around about the writing - there was restraint as it unpretentiously moved onwards, keeping us in suspense in a disquieting kind of way.  As we discussed the various characters and the storyline (Josie's 'illness' from being 'lifted', her departed sister, and her mother's 'fix' through the portrait/Klara,) we reflected on the depth of the themes in the book -

• the nature of love (eg comparing the actions of Josie's mother with her father - how far should a parent go?); the youthful connection between Rick and Josie compared with the 'interaction' scene
  
• what is it to be 'human' - so why did we relate to Klara? (answer - because she was so gentle and lovely!)
  
• what will technology do in the future - the 'post employed' life of Josie's father + being 'lifted' and not 'lifted  = the potential for social dysfunction.  And the big question posed by Stephen Hawking and channelled through Cherrie - will AI take over humans in the end?
  
• sacrifice -  Klara's offering to the Sun, which lead to her ending up on the scrapheap of AF (and here was a moment to reflect on the meaning of life).
  

The short biographical sketch of K Ishiguro revealed he was born in Nagasaki in 1954, moved to England with his family at the age of 5, studied Arts and Philosphy at Kent University, then did a Masters in
Creative Writing (probably after his stint as a grouse beater for the Queen Mother at Balmoral).  And from there he never looked back.  Other KI books that were mentioned included Remains of the Day (1989) and Never Let Me Go (2005) - and you can find the film Remains of the Day on Netflix and yes there was a film made of Never Let Me Go (with Kierah Knightly) but I'm not sure where you'll find it (but I have the book if anyone wants to borrow it).

And finally we talked about 2022 and decided to set the second Wednesday of alternate months, so based on the order last year, it looks like this (first name is host unless everything changes or I've got something wrong).

9 March 2022 at Barb's place.  Books are

•     Barb - The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles
  
•     Cherilyn - Devotion by Hannah Kent
  

11 May 2022: Mog and Cherrie

13 July 2022: Megan and Kathy

14 September 2022: Margie and McLassie

9 November 2022: Julie and Sue

Happy reading - and if you're interested the Australia Reads National Reading Survey report has just come out:

75 per cent of us have read at least one book in the past 18 months or so. According to the report, the pandemic didn’t have a great impact on reading habits. A tad more than 50 per cent of respondents said they were reading the same amount and buying the same number of books as before it emerged, which is interesting because last year, according to NielsenBookScan, which collects data from booksellers around the country, sales of books in Australia increased by 9 per cent compared with 2019, giving a revenue boost of 8 per cent. About 66 million books were sold with a total value of $1.2 billion.

Not surprisingly there was a slight increase in buying online, according to the Australia Reads survey, as bookshops were closed to physical shoppers at times throughout the period and many consequently cranked up their online operations.

So, what are we reading? Well, 68 per cent of us like to read Australian authors, and 35 per cent also like to read the classics. More than half of us wish for more reading time