Cameras rolling in the Prague Hotel

Alice to Prague was our first book for the meeting on 18 September 2019.  McLassie made everyone welcome with wine, cheese and general bonhomie, and we settled in for the discussion on McLassie's selection.  Billed as 'The charming true story of an outback girl who finds adventure - and love - on the other side of the world", it was written by Tanya Heaslip who was raised on a station near Alice Springs.  Some astute minds turned their neurons to where Tanya had gone to school in Adelaide, and MLC came up as the most likely (could be confirmed or not by Lanie who would have been around the same time - which gives truth to the legend that there's always a school connection in this town!)

The book was Tanya's story,  a well grounded girl who decided to venture into womanhood by taking an adventurous and risky sojourn in life by jetting off alone to Europe.  This was in the late eighties/nineties and at a time of some political upheaval.  After seeing the Berlin wall come down; our writer travelled to the Czech Republic and spent time as an English teacher in an unpronounceable little village.  Some of us wondered how in Prague, where she spent most time, she had become an English translator of dense legal briefs without knowing a word of Czech - though we didn't dwell on this but rather amazed at her skill.   From the lightness of the language, it seems she sailed through these challenges, and her relationships, whether they were successful or not.  Charismatic Karel was the focus of her love in the romantic city of Prague, and though she found it with him for a while, she lost it later on - but still came out on top.  You go girl!!   Those who read the book found it a pleasant light holiday read, written by a clever woman who had her feet well planted in her sense of 'fitting in' - wherever she found herself.   Well if thats not an Australian outback trait, I don't know what is!

Our second book was The Electric Hotel, by Dominic Smith (author of 'The last painting of Sarah de Vos' and other books of a similar genre - ie social history smudged with a good dose of the arts).  It was the story of Claude Ballard, a follower of the Lumiere Brothers in the 1890's, and the making of his silent film masterpiece, The Electric Hotel.  The context used to draw out this story was the PhD student trying to find and save the masterpiece as part of his dissertation, in LA, in 1962.   The main part of the book was set at the time when the silent film industry was born, and Thomas Edison was flexing his legal muscles to make sure his invention reined supreme.  Which it did!  But back to Claude.  Sabine was his French muse, was the centrepiece of his film, and in many ways the centre of this book.  Some of us thought she was a strong woman; others thought she was selfish and off with the fairies.  Claude was besotted with her, but she rejected his advances - choosing instead to immerse herself in the travails of the TB ravaged widow, Dorothy and her 2 children.  (Are you still with me?  In case you're not, Sabine used Dorothy as her method acting model in Claude's masterpiece, which was the dramatic story of a widow with consumption trying to avenge her lodgers at the Electric Hotel.)  At this point, Marg did well to remind us that this was set at a time when Vaudeville was the mainstay of entertainment - which is good timing on Marg's part because the description of the filming of The Electric Hotel was something else again.  The film flopped at the box office mainly because of Thomas Edison's patent wars, and all the main characters lost their dosh in the production.  From there, the book moved to World War 1 and Claude's clever use of photography - which was clearly his talent and really, he should have immersed himself in that, rather than being obsessed with the fickle Sabine.  There was broad agreement that the second part of the book (during World War 1) was much more interesting than the first part, and that the first part could have done with a good edit.

As you can see from the above, I have taken some editorial license with the discussion of the books.  Feel free to comment if you disagree or have other views to add.

It was then on to Marg's fabulous Blueberry and Lemon Cake, cups of tea, and general gossip, and a welcome to McLassie's travel companions to Lake Eyre.  Hope the weather shines, the road is smooth(ish), and the tyres hold up.

NOW TO SOME IMPORTANT NEWS:

The next FnB meeting has been changed to Wednesday 20th November 2019.  Venue will be 1 Fox Street, Goodwood.  The books are

Julie:  First Person by Richard Flanagan
Sue:   Desperation Road by Michael Farris Smith

Thank you Sue.  I did receive the invitation to join FnB's blog and will presumably now be able to post.  One just needs to have a gmail or Google account to be able to log in.

The reason I probably missed it when you invited me the last time was that it went straight into the server's spam collection.

Cheers,
Kathy

Kathy's report - 10 July 2019

Present:  Barb, Cherilyn, Cherrie, Julie, Kathy and Marg

Apologies:  Megan (contributed her report), Mog and Sue (contributed to the blog)

  

White Houses by Amy Bloom – Megan’s selection

This ‘fictional’ story was based on real-life characters in real relationships gleaned from several hundred ‘love’ letters to which the author had access. These letters were written by the two main characters in the book, Eleanor Roosevelt and Lorena Hickok (Hick).

The book outlined Hick’s horrendous early life of abuse and poverty and the courageous way she journeyed out of that to gain an education and become a well-regarded newspaper journalist.  She was given the heady assignment of covering FDR’s first Presidential campaign and it was during this time, Hick established a very close relationship with the soon-to-be First Lady.

For the four-month period between FDR’s election and inauguration, Eleanor and Hick spent a great deal of time together.  Eleanor asked Hick to accompany her to the funeral of the mother of Franklin’s secretary, Missy LeHand.  They spent the long train ride talking and beginning a long friendship. By the time of the inauguration, Hick had become Eleanor’s closest friend.  They made frequent trips together and spent nearly every day in each other’s company.  Hick joined the Roosevelts every Sunday night for dinner, while on other nights, Eleanor joined Hick at the theatre or opera or at dinners alone in Hick’s apartment.

This love story painted Franklin Roosevelt as a fairly selfish, cold-hearted philanderer, used to having his own way.  At the same time, he seemed open to his wife’s predilections and gave her the freedom to do what she liked, and he was always welcoming when it came to Hick.

Our group discussions demonstrated that there tended to be confusion around the way in which the chapters of the book were dated (more like frequent writing in a journal than telling a story as it progressed through time).  A few also discussed the difficulty they had in reading the story as a book of fiction BECAUSE it was based on certain fact and the lives of real people.  Overall, most enjoyed the read and it was given an overall score of 6½.

Brother of the More Famous Jack by Barbara Trapido – Kathy’s selection

In Brother of the More Famous Jack, the story is narrated by the main character, Katherine. She is a young and impressionable university student who is taken under the wing of her philosophy lecturer, Jacob Goldman.  She is invited to Professor Goldman’s home by way of a prospective lover and there begins her love affair with the Goldman family.  Jane, Jacob’s wife, is sharp-witted, wise and beautiful, calls a spade a spade, and loves her family dearly, whilst recognising the strengths and weaknesses in them all. Her two sons, Roger (beautiful, moody, intelligent) and the younger Jonathan (also smart, but volatile) are strong and precocious, yet strangely likeable in different ways.  Katherine becomes involved with the darker Roger, which leads to heartbreak and a trip to Rome to deal with her heartache.

She manages to move on with her life facing considerable obstacles including language barriers, a fraught relationship, and the birth and loss of a baby daughter.  After 10 years, she returns to London and resumes her connection with the Goldman family – including falling in love with Jonathon. The family bond was incredibly strong despite the members of the family being so different from one another, and they swept Katherine up in that inclusion and acceptance as one of their own.

Group discussions on this book were very mixed.  Those who enjoyed the story and its characters found it an easy ‘fireside’ read, but at least half the group really struggled with the Katherine’s incredible naivety and found the whole Goldman family atmosphere to be overwhelmingly clichéd.

There were some 4’s and some 7’s so an overall score of about 6.

NEXT BOOK CLUB MEETING:

Wee McLassie's place; 11 September 2019.  Selections are:

The Electric Hotel: Dominic Smith

Alice to Prague: Tanya Heaslip

Weatherbeaten

Hi all FnB clubbers - sorry to say that the weather has beaten me today so I'm a very late scratching for the meeting tonight.   Checked the radar at 5.30 and a big rain front was hitting VH (which I knew) with more behind it, and it was all moving up to Adelaide.   Hope you have a good night and discussion - my take on the books is as follows.

I didn't get that far into 'Brother of the more famous Jack'.  Maybe there was a lot more to it in the last two thirds of the book, but I found I wasn't really interested enough in any of the characters to continue.  I'm sure there are family units like the good Professor's (Jacob), especially in UK, but I didn't find them very attractive - and I thought it was a bit stereotypical of the oddball professorial type.  Perhaps I'm a bit too old for a 'coming of age' novel!! which is why I didn't go on to find if Katherine found true love.

I really enjoyed Amy Bloom's White Houses however.  I thought the writing was fabulous - there was a lot of wit and irony, and I really enjoyed the voice of Hick.  The time changes unsettled me to start with but once I found the rhythm of the novel I got in to it.  There were many interesting characters and much insight into the Franklin/Eleanor partnership - though it was clearly a novel, there has always been innuendo surrounding the Roosevelts.  I expect Amy Bloom took some license with it, but I also expect there was an undercurrent.  Some of the other characters were fascinating - Parker whatsisname for example - a really interesting scene when Hick when to visit him for lunch (eggs!) at White Horse.  And then later when he arrived a mess on the doorstep - I wondered who the black author who was with him was based on and thought maybe it was James Baldwin.  But who knows!!  In any case, the book made its way to its inevitable end (we always knew that was where it was going) and the last chapter was so sensitively written - it could have hovered on melodrama but didn't cross that line.

Hopefully you're all well and warm.   Its pasta, and a glass of wine by the fire for me now with Moj.    See you next time.

Cherrie and Mog - 15 May 2019

8 book clubbers came to the meeting for Cherries choice, 'The Children's House', and Moggie's choice, 'Everywhere I look'.  

Cherrie:  "The Children's House" by Alice Nelson delighted everyone and was enthusiastically reviewed.  Cherrie had heard Alice speak at Writers Week and was able to give us some insightful background information on this book, suggesting much of it seemed to be based on Alice's personal experiences and encounters with similar characters in the book.

Themes of motherhood and the abandonment of children were threaded through the book. Just like people, mothers and families are all different.   And a message from this book is we don’t necessarily follow in the footsteps of our mothers.  The Children’s House brings out these themes in spades, along with others such as the effects of trauma.

Marina’s mother was an absent mother who couldn’t come to terms with her own past or her (mainly) husband’s decision to leave their children in a kibbutz; Constance was an absent mother who couldn’t come to terms with her life in Rwanda; Jacob’s son, Ben’s, mother left him and Jacob.  But Marina became a loving and ever present mother and guardian of Gabriel, and came to terms with her own mother’s life in the revealing final chapters. And all the while, Rose (Jacob’s mother) was wonderful, gathering her family and centering them to her life.

Everyone loved this book – and thanks to Zoe M for the recommendation (as was revealed on the night). There was so much in the book but also so much we didn’t know and could only contemplate - what did happen to Constance in Rwanda?  Where did Jacob and Marina’s relationship end up?  What about the fathers' roles?  (Was it an editorial decision to not explore these storylines – we just don’t know?) But the resolution for Constance who found peace looking after the aging nuns seemed proper; and the revelation of Dov’s death (Marina’s brother), finally exposed their mother’s fragility.  

We were all happy the book didn’t go down the rabbit hole of a relationship between Marina and Patrick in Cape Cod, and liked that resolution.  And we all loved the writing – particularly the way the descriptive scenes interacted with the narrative, moving the story along.  Moving, thoughtful, and captivating stories.  Top marks - 9 and 10/10 from all.  

Mog: " Everywhere I Look" by Helen Garner, the well known Australian novelist, journalist, screen writer and actor was also thoroughly enjoyed. This is her latest book (2016) and is a collection of essays comprising her memories and reflections on life - sometimes taken from her diaries. The book is divided into 6 parts and deals with some very honest & personal facts covering her relationships with her husbands, parents and grandchildren; ageing; some of her interviews with noteworthy Australians (Russell Crowe, Rosie Batty & Tim Winton) as well as interesting court cases she had reported on. It was her exquisite writing style - tender, funny whimsical and wise that enabled us to so easily relate to her stories. A couple of us were initially disappointed that the book didn't have a 'story line" but on reading further enjoyed the depth and wisdom of her observations on everyday life and her compassion and humour. 

The two books, although chosen randomly, dealt with family relationships and mothering in particular. 

Next meeting:  10 July 2019 at Kathy's place.  Hosted by Megan and Kathy. 

Book selection: 

Kathy - 'Brother of the more famous Jack' by Barbara Trapido

Megan - 'White Houses' by Amy Bloom