Freaky v Fab Families

On Wednesday 14 May the FnB club (sans Julie) congregated for the last time at 43 Sheffield Avenue Malvern to say goodbye to a house, and hello to Mog and Cherrie's book selections - The Season (Helen Garner) and Somebody Down There Likes Me (Robert Lukins).    While waiting for Margy P, who was doing her very best to impersonate Helen Garner by taking her teenage grandson to football training, our idle conversation turned to hanging out the washing which turned to cleaning and who does what, when and where - and we all agreed that Peter came out as the King of the Clean after Kathy's revelation that he does most if not all, does it strategically and extremely diligently, every time.  

The inscrutable author and his book

Cherrie swung our attention away from the housework humdrum and straight into the bizarre when introducing her selected book by Robert Lukins.  Reflecting on the difficulty she had in finding information about the author - including basic stuff such as age and background - Cherrie did discover that he had frequented some place in Shropshire, now lives in Melbourne/Naarm, and flew across America in a home made plane with a friend looking for ghost towns.  This may say something about the outsider status of the author.  

Lukins' little yellow plane

It was during the ghost town travels and from a random conversation that he discovered Belle Haven - home of rich and callous American families. There is a mighty big clue about what the reader is in for in the title of the book because it was hard to find a redeeming feature among the characters of the Gulch family, Fax, Honey, Lincoln and Kick.   Through the individual voices of the 4 family members, each laced with introspection and dripping with distain, we were plunged into a narcissistic world of backstabbing, sexual predation, revenge, manipulation, blackmail, capitalism morphing into criminality, serious drug abuse and the mystery of Mouse - and that was just the first few days... (readers please add any more vices you can think of).  Structured around a week in 1996, we all agreed it was a hard read with some finding it more worthwhile than others.  And there wasn't anything gratifying at the end which may have been a clue to Lukins choice of his enigmatic title.  It wasn't difficult to read the book as a scathing commentary on the civil and moral decline of white, rich Americans.  Tough going and not worth it for some readers, but an interesting journey into a very different world for others.

We all breathed a sigh of relief and shook ourselves down before making our way to the footy ovals of Footscray.  There we found Helen Garner, her grandson, Amby, and his family - who were a long way both geographically and metaphysically from the Gulch's of Belle Haven.  Mog reminded us that Helen Garner's last book was her second choice, after her original selection 'An Ethical Guide to Murder' was ditched as lightweight bumph.  And so we enjoyed following Helen and Amby through Helen's monthly reports on training, games and events, including the return of Boof from the NT for the big Grand Final, and Helen's graduation to be the 'half time oranges lady'.  As the writer, and although part of the family, Garner was on the outside looking in, giving us insight into well functioning family life, relationships, community, being present, team spirit, growing up in today's world, physicality and masculinity, along with humour - {page 48; Sign outside the Hawthorn Church 'What would you do if Christ came to Hawthorn?  Answer: move Peter Hudson to centre half forward"}.  

Hudson in his heyday

It made each of us reflect on our interaction with grandchildren - including McLassie who cheerily confirmed her heavy lifting continues with rowing, football and other activities; and Cherrie travelling to Melbourne soon to hear her granddaughters cello recital in coming days (go Beatrice!).  The general view was that the book was a classy read - notwithstanding Garner's take on the role of grandparents which was slightly chilling (read on if you dare)..."you're making a serious mistake if you start to think you're near the centre.  You're on the periphery.  You're a servant.  A hanger on.  And soon you'll be dead."  (p51)

And for more of Helen's writing, try this https://www.themonthly.com.au/july-2015/vox/darkness-every-one-us?share=djF8NzJjMGJkMjl8RkdbRllCXklXVTtEW0pQQ1tEWUNcXVNBWEJdWUdcJ0RGU1FUVl9EQ0E=&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=The%20Monthly%20Daily%20-%20July%2028%202025&utm_content=The%20Monthly%20Daily%20-%20July%2028%202025+CID_93a04cb7c7f54ded69d2352cdd819928&utm_source=EDM&utm_term=Read%20the%20full%20article&cid=93a04cb7c7f54ded69d2352cdd819928

Lightening the moment, chocolate mousse cake came out and went down with or without tea, but without a crumb left - followed by chat about the phantom defaecator apparently still lurking around Norwood after a sex change.  

Movies recommended were

• Mad about the Boy
• The Brother's Band

and television to watch

• The Piano - ABC Sunday nights (big ticks for Andrea Lam and Amanda Keller: differing views about Harry Connick Jnr)

Books for next time were called

• On the calculation of volume - Solvej Balle (Kathy)
• Wild dark shore - Charlotte McConaghy (Megan)

So that's it till next time - Wednesday 16 July at either Kathy or Megan's place. 

Houses, Doors, Homes

Tuesday 18 March 2025 and all bookclubbers were in for a full house at Barb's place for the first meeting for 2025.

The only scratching for the evening was 'Noble Ambitions', Cherilyn's first book choice which was rejected by her not long after it was chosen.  Some slogged their way through some of it, some not much of it, and all were thankful at Cherilyn's wise decision to ditch.  Adrian Tinniswood, we all agreed, seemed more interested in delving into aimless decadence and upper class gossip than the demise of Britain's stately homes and the changing nature of British society.  Though seemingly a well credentialed historian, the anecdote that you can't judge a book by its cover seemed fitting, but FnBer's also added the byline  'or its author'.    

W Somerset Maugham in 1934

Barb leapt out of the vacuum of triviality and took us to the world of W Somerset Maugham via Tan Twang Eng's book, The House of Doors, shortlisted for the Booker.  Set in the 1920's British colony Penang, and based around Maugham looking for a story to write (erroneously to bolster his flagging fortune, as Barb's meticulous research revealed) FnB'ers were unanimous about the novel - well researched, well written, well received.  Weaving the smells of Penang, with the cunning of the British to deceive, with the threads of Chinese history, and tieing it all up with the neat ribbon of colonial justice (at least for Ethel and Lesley in the end) it was a great choice. It cleverly linked a true story (Ethel Proudlock) with a fictional life (Lesley) and Maughan's real life choices.  Interestingly, Eng wrote Maugham with his life choices on show (failed marriage; gay lifestyle, Gerald, extravagance), as well as his stammer - exposing the secrets he tried to hide during his lifetime.    Perhaps this has something to say about Eng's sense of justice, his wit and/or morality - but whatever, he wrote a wonderful book about race, gender, power and British colonialism.

We all loved the ending with Lesley (in South Africa in 1947) receiving a letter from Arthur, and a copy of Maugham's book of short stories, The Casuarina Tree, which included Ethel's story (The Letter) - and we all hoped this opened another door for her return to Penang after her life in South Africa with Robert.   

The final twist to the discussion about House of Doors

was Barb's realisation that the para 

she asked her eye patients to read 

to test their eyesight 

was from Maugham's short story 'Rain'.

So we left the House of Doors and moved on to Foster, Cherilyn's second and best choice by far, by Claire Keegan.  

Again everyone loved the book, but there were different views around the room about how this book ends.  Some thought the girl ended up with her foster parents, while others thought she was taken back to her family.  So to get to the nub of the ending I went to AI, and here is what it spat out

The ending of "Foster" by Claire Keegan is poignant and emotionally charged. After spending the summer with her foster parents, the Kinsellas, the young protagonist is returned to her biological family. The final scene unfolds as follows:

1. The Kinsellas bring the girl back to her parents' home on a Sunday.

2. As the Kinsellas are about to leave, the girl hears their car stop at the gate.

3. She runs down the lane towards them, much like she did when fetching the mail at the Kinsellas' farm.

4. The girl rushes into Kinsella's arms, embracing him tightly.

5. She hears Edna (Mrs. Kinsella) weeping in the car.

6. Over Kinsella's shoulder, the girl sees her biological father approaching.

7. For the first and only time in the story, she calls Kinsella "Daddy".

This ending symbolizes the deep emotional bond the girl has formed with the Kinsellas, particularly with John Kinsella. It highlights the contrast between the love and care she experienced during her foster stay and her life with her biological family. The girl's action of running to Kinsella and calling him "Daddy" demonstrates her attachment to her foster parents and her reluctance to return to her previous life

I'm certainly none the wiser so while it is certainly artificial, intelligent it's not!  Perhaps a few viewings of the film, Quiet Girl (film of the book) or re-readings will throw some light on it - but maybe not because perhaps Claire wanted it to end with the uncertainty of life.  

Barb's plum cake with roses and cream

We were still discussing it when Barb's fabulous gluten free plum and coconut cake came out with lashings of cream and the chat turned to moving house, carting boxes, styling for sale, and selling houses.   And now, we're all on tenterhooks waiting to hear if Cherrie and Bill have accepted the Perth offer on their house, or whether they chose the cash option or another better offer.

Next meeting is back to the scheduled Wednesday - 14 May 2025, at Cherrie's place in Adelaide (because Port Eliot is probably no more, and Mog's place at Sheffield Street is likely to be as well, but if not they won't be living there anyway).  Books are:

An Ethical Guide to Murder by Jenny Morris (Mog)

Someone down there likes me by Robert Lukins (Cherrie)

Happy reading till then.  And to keep you going Cherrie recommended Claire's next book, 'Small things like these', as well as TT Eng's second book 'The Garden of Evening Mists'.

2024 - Its a wrap

 

Deconstructing the environment: Reconstructing cakes

A clean Mystery

The 13th day of the 11th month and all turned up at Fox Street for the discussion about Limberlost (Robbie Arnott), and Creation Lake (Rachel Kushner), except for one book clubber who was scouring the hills searching for a runaway.   But we all got there in the end, including Mystery with all the detritus from her escapade clinging on. 

The environment came in for much attention in our 2 books - both its importance, and its fragility - and this set the scene for some troubling discussions later on.  But first, here is Julie's take on the discussion about the first book Limberlost by the ABC Radio National's Book Show favourite, Robbie Arnott.  

Robbie Arnott

Quite a bit of discussion but most bookclubbers were interested to press the return button and live in parental childhood, with Ned and his family.  We reminisced about country living in depression times and before the war. Few cars and little chance to visit other places.

The thrill for Ned when taken by his father in a boat, with his siblings to view the whale, set the scene for Ned`s desire for boat building. The capture of a quoll, its release and its rehabilitation resulted in Ned finding his future wife. The capture of rabbits and selling their pelts was the means for both these events.

Tasmanian country life is at the heart of this novel, as Ned works on the family apple orchard. 
The novel slips backwards and forwards which most bookclubbers found annoying, making it difficult at times to know with which family Ned was living, however the conciseness of the novel and the connections to the environment, made the novel satisfying and personal. 

"Arnott, I think, isn’t sentimental. Ned’s failures and errors aren’t presented as moments of transformation or growth. They are allowed simply to stand, as part of the whole.”  https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/oct/07/limberlost-by-robbie-arnott-review-a-sweet-and-moving-song-of-man-and-landscape

The general view overall was 50/50 for the book (I think - or maybe that was for Creation Lake? or maybe both books??) - here is the link to Julie's notes for the book if you want to limber your eyes and get a little more lost in the book.(scroll down because the notes are out of order - I'm blaming Mystery - life has been a bit of boondoggle the last few days).  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1k5l6cdaK46M39rQaULp8U4iK3DiZdeCIR7xoaVBw66M/edit?usp=sharing

Then, just in time, the late arrival arrived, and we wandered waist deep into Creation Lake, by Rachel Kushner.  It wasn't your usual spy thriller, and nor was the narrator Sadie Smith a normal heroine.  Manipulative, deceptive, unfeeling are just three of the words we used to describe her.  Some thought there was no saving her - others suggested maybe there was a core to her and the book - suggesting it came out on pages 208-211 giving a clue (not quite a SPOILER ALERT) to the ending.   

Pascal's character was also the subject of commentary, laced as he was with the arrogance of privilege along with the emptiness of oratory, leaving the farmers in the lurch.  The ending was either unresolved/ambiguous/satisfactory/unsatisfactory depending on your reading - but in all cases, had the effect of making the reader reflect.  (Apparently Kushner was going to give Sadie her comeuppance in the end but decided against it, so maybe we were all correct.)      As Cherrie commented, the book did make you reflect on the extent to which objectors now need to go in order to get their message across (recent example given by Cherrie was cementing/locking arms to cars and other immovable objects in Limberlost country).  

If you want to hear a short interview with RK try this - and my brief notes are in the above google.docs link.

Conversation turned to the state of the environment (COP 29 now on with the 2 big emitters not there), and how the orange blob is going to make the environment, and everything else, so much worse.  

Before we got too dark, Cake time was called.  Its not often that a cake ends up in a jar, but sadly it was the fate of the chocolate roll cake that never was - 

this is what it should have looked like

(Mary Berry eat your heart out - oops that is MB's cake!)

yet regrettably, this is similar to how it turned out (though to be honest, mine were less elegant)

But if the cake didn't turn out for the better, we all agreed the election in the USA took the cake for being a disaster.  While not wanting to get too depressed, we all worried about the future of the planet and whether we shouldn't return to the cave just like Bruno - which may be where we end up if the orange blob and his unelected wingman Elon keep heading in the direction they're going.     

Trying to steer away from the demise of the USA (again), and reassure Mog that Lainie won't be deported (but could be lucky if she was!), we turned to Series 2 of The Diplomat, then on to pigs (don't go there!), and back to two of Mog's lighthearted jokes to end the evening:

• What borders on insanity?   -  Canada and Mexico 🤣
• After driving with an older friend through 3 red lights, she felt obliged to ask the driver if she knew she had driven through a red light.  Answer - am I driving?  🙏

Good to end of an uplifting light note.  The schedule for 2025 is looking something like this - based on the second Wednesday of alternative months

12 March                Cherilyn and Barb

14 May                   Mog and Cherrie

16 July                   Megan and Kathy

10 September        Margie and McLassie 

12 November         Julie and Sue

No books yet decided so stay tuned, and not sure who is hosting though it maybe first person listed - but put the dates in the your diary, or if you're hosting, let everyone know if the listed date is a problem and we'll reschedule.   Holiday readings didn't get much of a mention, although Elizabeth Strout's new book Tell me everything was suggested given the author's past successes in telling stories about characters, lives and relationships.  Also suggested again was The Forest of Wool and Steel by Natsu Miyashita.  Does that mean its Zen time in the rest of the world for the next 4 years?

Happy reading until 2025.

UPDATE:  Books for 12 March 2025 have come through the internet wire and are:

• Cherilyn - Noble Ambitions by Adrian Tinniswood
• Barb - The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng

  

Fire and Chai - and then there was the Teacher

Wednesday 25 September 2024 and all booksclubbers except Julie gathered at McLassie and Rosie's place for our fire and chai chat.  It took us a while to settle down around the fire and when Rosie had found her place, McLassie led us off with her selection, Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens by Shankari Chandra.  It was not long after the author had appeared on ABC Compass talking about her 2023 Miles Franklin award winning book, explaining where its narrative about justice and dispossession had come from.  

Shankari Chandran

https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&sca_esv=c95792980f3c473c&sca_upv=1&cs=0&q=compass+season+38+episode+18&stick=H4sIAAAAAAAAAONgFuLSz9U3ME5OK4g3U-LVT9c3NCy3jE9LyojP1VLJTrbSLykDoviCovz0osRcq9SCzOL8lNRihfKM_JzUgsT01EWsMsn5uQWJxcUKxamJxfl5CsYWClBlCoYWANupHXZiAAAA&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjK9q_Avu6IAxXGqFYBHTLxCPEQm8wBegQIARAf&biw=1347&bih=953&dpr=1

Cherrie also referred to Shankari's interview with Richard Fidler, where she talked about being an Australian lawyer based in London for 10 years.  During that time she achieved no mean feat by incorporating social justice as a principle for the international law firm she worked with.

https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/conversations/conversations-shankari-chandran/8747086

Chai Time is her third book and revolves around the residents of the Cinnamon Gardens Nursing Home and their stories. With story lines in both Australia and Sri Lanka, the book stands racism firmly on its dark pedestal giving it a good whack - which in turn gives the book a good deal of heft.  We discussed the many characters Shankari introduced us to, some of whom were complex and not so easy to understand; and talked about Shankari's blunt way of introducing some of her characters (eg Ruben).  The anti-colonial sentiment of Anjali's parents that brought about the downfall of Captain Cook's statue some time ago was tossed around too.   This action set off a series of events that raised past trauma for the residents - and was precipitated by the action of the local Councillor who lodged a complaint with the Human Rights Commission.  (Hmm - is there a hidden message here about power, men and local government?)

Some thought that there was too much going on the in the book, with the many characters, their backstories, the different timespans, and the storyline about Cinnamon Gardens and the Council - and all this made it difficult to keep track of everything.  But the kindness seeped through rescuing some of the many and varied narratives, and our readers generally agreed it was a good choice.  Thanks McLassie.    

McLassie handed the platform over to Marg for our next book, The Book of Fire, by Christy Lefteri.  Christy is a favoured author for Marg (and the group) as Marg has previously chosen her two earlier books (The Beekeeper of Aleppo and Songbirds).  Here is a short interview with Christy introducing The Book of Fire - there are much longer ones on Youtube if you feel like settling in: 

We didn't take long to plunge into the sea with Irini and her daughter Chara, and spent many chapters with the Mother, daughter and fabulous dog, Rosalie paddling on the raft reflecting on the big theme of the book - the effects of climate change and who is to blame.   We also spent a lot of time on the night discussing the end of Mr Monk - was it suicide, was he assisted in his suicide, or was it a straight out stringing up by the villagers?  All three options got a guensey with various readers favouring different interpretations - so the jury is still out on this one.    After questioning Tasso's response to the fire, we talked our way around to agreeing in the end that Tasso too should be acknowledged because of the grief and trauma he went through.  Which then brought us to the kindness of the strangers who looked after Irini and Chara in the days immediately after the fire - leaving us with some respite from the unresolved questions posed by the book.   But resolution or not, Irini's strength and Chara's resilience shone through suggesting they were the heroines of the book.   Another great Lefteri read, all agreed. 

Chai time was called (again), and this time it was accompanied by Marg's wonderful strawberry strudel cake and conversations about reading books in the rain in Noosa, swimming in future with two swimming caps to guard against the effects of cold water (and potentially GTA), fire retardants including agapanthas which then led on to Kathy's story about the phantom garden soiler (best left unfinished).

We made our way homewards around 9.00 pm thinking about the next meeting which is currently scheduled for Wednesday 13 November 2024 - venue Fox Street unless its changed to Hindmarsh Valley and moved to lunchtime on Friday 22 November 2024.  Yes it's up for voting.  Books are:  

• Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner (Sue)
• Limberlost by Robbie Arnott (Julie)

.....and then there was the Teacher

on Tuesday 1 October.   Kathy and Peter, Mog and Jeremy, Julie and Chris, Megan and Andrew, McLassie and moi saw 'The Teacher who promised the sea' at Palace Nova, followed by dinner at Lemongrass.  

Sadly, no splashing around in the sea for this film - after a bit of slow start to warm up the story, it was a film that will take a good while to leave your mind.  Highly recommended for those who couldn't make it.