Searching for Happiness

It was our first meeting for 2026, our first Tuesday night meeting (24 March), and our first with apologies from the 3 'M's - Megan, Mog and Margy P.   And so seven bookclubbers made it to Cherilyn's place. We excused Megan and sent our best wishes to her and Andrew for the next few months - we look forward to her next appearance at bookclub when good and ready; also hoping Mog managed to sleep in her new home after the big move; and looking forward to smelling the blooms Margy returned with from the Melbourne Flower Show.  

McLassie yarning

The evening started with yarning about many things until Cherilyn pulled us together and we got down to the book business - although McLassie kept up with the yarning.  (Ed note: because Cherilyn is now on the high seas, and I forgot to get a copy of her notes, this background part is a bit dodgy).   Susan Choi was born in America, to a Korean father and Jewish mother, and graduated with a Master Fine Arts from Cornell University.  She then worked as a fact checker (a vanishing breed) at The New Yorker.  Now living in Brooklyn, she teaches creative writing at Johns Hopkins.   'Flashlight' is her fifth book and was shortlisted for the 2025 Booker Prize. (Cherilyn had a lot more interesting info in her notes!).   Cherrie recalled hearing an interview with her recently, when she explained the idea for the story came from her memory of a childhood trip to Japan some time ago, when a child went missing.  Choi then said she became aware of the North Korean abduction stories some years ago and the two recollections came together to form the basis of the novel.  Cherilyn reflected on the symbolism of the flashlight - which had three entries in the book.  The first in the opening passages when Serk went missing on the Japanese beach; the second in Louisa's psychologists office when she pockets it; the third when Serk is escaping from North Korea - and Cherilyn astutely observed the beam of a flashlight only illuminates a small part and not the whole.   This launched us into the book sending us searching for its light and dark side.  We found

• the odd and for some unlikeable characters - Serk, Louisa, Tobias - any others?
• the lovely Walt - certainly not enough written about him
• the way Anne's illness was revealed and its effect 
• the dramatic leaps in time leaving some of us catching up
• the final resolution with Serk and Louisa, facilitated by a very 'zen' Tobias

Most readers enjoyed the book, interpreting young Louisa's trauma on the Japanese beach as the reason for her anger.  Others (well one) read her as the ninja bitch, when at the age of 40+, with a mother who suffered from MS, who was downtrodden in her marriage with the ascerbic and remote Serk, then lost the one good thing in her life, the lovely Walt, Louisa could have had a more positive and empathetic relationship with her mother.  (And that's the polite version!).   That same reader thought the writing was quite aggressive, being told how to think and interpret events by the author, rather than coming to your own view.   These views weren't embraced by other readers however.   All thought the book a good choice and worthwhile read (even the outlier), though some more than others.  In the end it was a reflection on the way Korean people were ostracised in Japan - not unlike outsiders elsewhere today.  

McLassie still yarning

McLassie was still yarning when we moved on to Barb's selection, 'This is Happiness', by Niall Williams (yes, there's a lot of 'l's in that name).  Barb talked about the author as someone she had read before and enjoyed - especially 'Time of the Child'.  Born in Dublin Ireland in 1958, he was taken to the library by his father every two weeks; then earned a Master of Arts in American literature at University College Dublin, where he met his wife.  Deciding that a life of lecturing and copywriting wasn't for him, he and his wife returned to Ireland in 1985 and moved to Kilmihil, County Clare, where his writing about life in rural Ireland took off.  

Barb summarised his third novel set in Faha, a fictional village in west Ireland.  Tracking the life of young Noe Crowe in tandem with the introduction of electricity in Faha 'This is Happiness' covers memory, love, regret, the emotional cost of change, and facing modernity.  Barb thought the book not as engaging as 'Time of the Child', but still worth the read.  Readers agreed at least about the last bit - and Cherilyn, who had read 'Time of the Child', agreed with all of it.  

The book didn't raise a lot of discussion, so I'm not sure if everyone found Happiness in it.  The sentiments were real and readers agreed there was coherence in the story.  However, the writing was a bit spasmodic - perhaps unhurried and meditative more than plot driven - and some passages were reflective, although the characters (especially steady Ganga and sharp Doady) were certainly more likeable than most of Susan Choi's creations.

The two books were an interesting pairing, added to by Julie who read and enjoyed Barb's other 'not quite' selection -   The Confidence Woman by Sophie Quick.

Plum cake a la Cherilyn

Cherilyn put the kettle on and it was time for the lovely plum cake to arrive, with after book chatter somehow turning to public transport routes, including clicketyclack railway tracks to Flinders and Seaford, where it branches to Flinders and where to board; who travels on this train and back again; then double railway tracks to Melbourne and Belair but query why Mount Barker cannot share? And on to South Road -  until 2031 your time will be blowed!

It was a roundabout yet enjoyable yarn that somehow led us on to an 'end of the world' conversation about Trump and his war hungry merciless cronies.

Not such a happy note to end up on - but we all went swinging our way down Cherilyn's driveway knowing there's not a lot we can do about it - except keep ourselves on the high road.  Which I did on the way home and at the top of the hill near the Victory Hotel came across a fabulous moon peaking through clouds over the water with a shard of moonbeam shining directly down on the very still ocean - just like a flashlight.  And so I found happiness.  There is magic everywhere after all!

Next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday 13 May - maybe at Mog's new place.

     

Cherrie announced her next book - 'Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop', by Hwang Bo-Reum; check Libby because it was still available a few days ago.  

Mog to announce her choice when boxes have been ditched and the dust has settled.