We went on a few journeys over the Christmas/New Year break with our first book selections for 2022. There was an American odessey along the Lincoln Highway in the 1950's; and then the big 'bound for South Australia' ship trip in the 1830's. So what did we find out at our first FnB club meeting for 2022?
- The Lincoln Highway was very readable but there was uncertainty in the group about where it was really going? (Yes, we now know the Lincoln Highway was the first main road to trans-America but think metaphoric rather than geographic).
- Thanks to Barb, we found out Amor Towles is quite good looking and speaks well.
- He was educated at Yale and chose to set his book during 10 days in 1954 for reasons that he explained on Youtube (it was before the pill; just after the release of the Kinsey Report/s; before the Beatles; before the Cold War; between the Korean War and the war in Vietnam) - but for some of us at least the reasons he gave didn't really get to the nub of why he chose 1954.
- The main characters were interesting - and out of the 8, Billy was probably the favourite.
- Some bookclubbers felt sorry for Duchess's ending; others not so much. Everyone liked Sally too - what was there not to like about her free spirit and sensible approach to life
- Most liked the voices in the book and the perspectives each brought - but some found the structure off-putting - it left you hanging on the characters' telling of the tale as it went along. And why were the chapters numbered backwards? (So the BIG Question for Mog was; did you, as usual, read the last chapter first and if so was it the the first last, or the last first?)
- Ulysses was a hero and kept travelling on the trains - but did he ever find his wife and son???
- Everyone in the book was searching for someone or something - and the only one who really found it in the end was Woolly - but look how finished up?
- Was it another modern retelling of The Odyssey? Is happiness really found over the hill or at the end of a rainbow - or the highway?? These are the questions we were asking - and maybe thats what Amor really wanted us to ask ourselves.
- And the apres book decision: Amor Towles best book is probably Rules of Civility, though some might think it a tie with A Gentleman in Moscow.
We then dove headlong into Cherilyn's selection, 'Devotion', by Hannah Kent.
- Cherilyn introduced us to Hannah's 3rd book, overviewing it as a journey to freedom for 2 young women - but there was a lot of pain along the way. From the harsh family life back in Prussia, to the long sea voyage to SA, and ending with the colonising spirit that did everything it could to change the natural landscape and subdue/remove the indigenous inhabitants - it was certainly no fairy tale
- It was unabashedly about female love (Hanne and Thea) which lifted the book - but some readers weren't sure it did enough to help them in their read about the journey to the other side of the world to find the light
- Hanne and Thea were kindred spirits - a love of nature was one of the many elements that drew them to each other, and this was an affirming part of the book that helped bring it together
- The colonisation of the area around Hahndorf was graphic and disturbingly written about by Hannah K
- Some readers thought the book's approach was overly sentimental - humour didn't get much of a look in and this possibly compounded the overall feeling that the book was interesting but something was missing
- a few of us didn't get to this book (putting my hand up here) 👋 but found the conversation interesting
- And the final consensus was..... maybe not her best book - clearly an homage to her life partner - and brownie points for the strong local connection
Below are some old images of Hahndorf's main street - hard to know the date with telegraph (or electricity?) poles, horses and carts and some mature trees.
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After our difficult journeys, rich moist luscious cake with lashings of cream was the refreshing goto thanks to Barb when conversation flowed all which way - including from our resident festival goer, Cherilyn, on her many escapades at the Fringe.
Next meeting is on 11 May 2022, at Mog's place - and selections are
- Mog - The moment of lift by Melinda Gates (Mog apologises for its length in advance)
- Cherrie - Scary Monsters by Michelle De Kretser (good luck navigating that one Mog!)
Other recommended reads are
- The seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor J Reid
- Still Life by Sarah Winman
- The girls of slender means by Muriel Spark
