Our bi-monthly rendezvous took place at Mog's place on 11 May to discuss Mog's choice, 'The moment of lift' by Melinda Gates, and Cherrie's selection, 'Scary Monsters' by Michelle de Kretser. Three of our group missed the discussion and the yummy cake - Julie and Kathy were separately in iso, and McLassie was tied up in family affairs.
Bonnie wasn't happy at having to move from the comfiest chair in the room but after she was rescued by Jeremy, Cherrie introduced us all to Michelle de Kretser and her book. Flipping through her 4 pages of notes, Cherrie recounted her recent interview at Writers Week. It was an informative exchange with some puzzling quotes from Michelle - but the big question was who or what were the 'Scary Monsters'? We all had our different views to begin with but somehow they coalesced through our discussion of the book/s. There was a lot to talk about - with 2 novellas (Lyle and Lili), comparing the two and flipping the essence of the bridge (yes if you can make sense of that last phrase you apparently can talk Michelle's language). So to the novellas
First to Lyle - a dystopian view of the sadly not too distant future narrated by the rather insipid namesake of the novella. We followed Lyle around his Department, home and life, discovering along the way that casting a pale shadow seemed to be his key survival strategy. Yet throughout the bleak outlook of the story was woven de Krester's acerbic wit which went someway to lightening the storyline. But the dark threads were real - with racism, disinterest, and greed (or at least indifference to the life of the elderly) to the fore. Ivy and the Amendment drove our discussion down rabbit holes that we probably didn't want to grapple with - and yes we found more scary monsters (think ageing, losing control and end of life). So we moved on to the next one....
Lili - a very different book. It was a walk through the past and a short though very graphic reflection on the overseas experience of a young female teacher in France. In some ways it was about Lili's rite of passage into adulthood - where she wanted to be like Simone de Beauvoir and ooze confidence (no small aspiration there!). There was no real storyline, rather it was a character based, fast paced, explosion of a novella. Everywhere was colour (including Minna's wardrobe and hair), yet it was all grounded in Lili's fear of the scary monsters. Think racism again, youthful uncertainty, and killers roaming the streets. There were odd relationships along with weird neighbours with weird names (I for one was glad that no light was shed on Candlewoman), and strange encounters on the stair/landing/dunny. We were all thankful again for the wry humour woven through this novella, and found ourselves caught up in Lili's escapade through the south of France, and side trips to Italy and Sardinia. (And who was John Berger? - you can find out more here if you must - https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/jan/02/john-berger-obituary)
Cherrie worked her way through her notes and admirably led us along the pathway of these two unrelated but conceptually connected stories. It soon became clear that there were common themes around the scary monsters, even though there were divergent views and interpretations about the book/s in the room. But we all agreed it was a classic book club book - invoking great discussion, making us confront our own scary monsters, with many laughs along the way, and in the end expanding our minds in many different directions to try and make sense of it all. There was general agreement it was a strange book but a great choice.
You can bridge the essence and listen to MdK talking about her book at this link -
And I can't leave this part without posting a picture of the scary monsters Cherilyn has renamed Lyle and Lili
 |
| Lyle in front; Lili behind |
After the lengthy discussion of scary monsters we didn't have a lot of time for Mog's book, The moment of Lift. Chosen during the dark times of the pandemic and Ukraine, Mog explained her choice was driven by the need to be uplifted. We all felt the same. Mog gave us a summary of Melinda Gates' life up to her divorce and how Bill's link with Epstein was the last straw for her. Moving out from Bill's shadow and into the world in her own right, Melinda has certainly made her mark. Moment of Lift is a personal statement about the importance of investing in women and health, which Melinda has been fortunate enough to be able to do in spades. Her first steps were into funding for family planning in third world countries - and that moved her further into encouraging women everywhere to have access to jobs. Our chat took a slight deviation at this point - into wonderment about how our generation of women managed a home, children AND work - and how this has moved the goalposts for the next generation where men (well, some at least) now lean in to do their share (or is it sometimes more than their share was a question posed here; and I'm definitely not going there).
Amongst our group, the view was that the first half of the book was a bit of a slog, but the second half was redeeming in that the presentation of her main argument was a moment of lift - her argument being that pulling the gender equity lever lifts everybody. YOU GO GIRL!
After confronting our scary monsters we were lifted up and ready for Mog's yummy carrot and walnut cake, tea, along with more uplifting chatter - before a few of us had to set off on the road to deflation and suffer the delays caused by night roadworks on the long drive home.
Next meeting is on 13 July 2022, at either Megan or Kathy's place; and the books are:
Megan: The Garden of Broken Things by Francesca Momplaisir
Kathy: Rattled by Christine Coppa
