2017-October- I am China by Xiaolu Guo

I AM CHINA - XIAOLU GUO

Iona Kirkpatrick lives in a flat in North London and is contracted to translate from Chinese to English, the letters and diaries of Mu and Jian.

These two had a strong relationship in China but have become separated and estranged after the birth of a child who died, we are not informed of this event until quite late on in the book. The letters and diaries reflect the strain and their feelings for one another.

Jian becomes an agitator against Chinese authority and takes part in Tianamen Square demonstrations attracting the attention of his father, a senior politician, resulting in him banning his son from China. Mu looses contact with him and feeling abandoned goes back to live with her parents. She enjoys writing poetry and somehow is able to leave her family to begin touring in the USA.

Jian was sent to England and arrived in Dover to be detained in an immigration  camp for many months before being transferred to Switzerland.

Moving on from there to France,  Greece and the Greek Islands.

There are very mixed feelings about this book but all agreed it was difficult to get into because of constantly referring backwards/ present time and found this particularly irritating. Some gave up because of it others continued to enjoy the story and insight into China in modern history, where education for girls was not considered necessary and difficult to obtain. Therefore for a Chinese woman to achieve success as a novelist is a major accomplishment in its own right, particularly in English Language.

There are some doubtful phrases including Jian's letter to, and reply from the Queen. His ability to travel across Europe seemingly un hindered and Mu's ability to tour the USA with her poetry.

Marks varied from 3(1) to 9(2) with an overall average of 6.

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Maggies review:

I enjoyed reading this although I found the movement between voices and times hard to start with.

I felt that the innermost feelings of Jian,Mu and Iona were extremely well portrayed with beautiful language. In particular the experience of Jian,cut adrift from his family and state came across with all of his anger and despair. I found a parallel in this with Iona's own unhappiness - manifested in meaningless casual sexual encounters.

The book moved me to tears in several places - with the sad hopelessness of Jian and Mu's separation; and the loss of their child as well as  Mu's description of her father's dying days.

I liked the way in which parts of modern Chinese history were woven into the storytelling - some of it quite chilling.

There were a couple of things that I found irritating - Jian's letter to the Queen which seemed to indicate a naive understanding of democracy given his political idealism in China. But even more the supposed reply from HM.

I'm also not convinced that Iona's stumbling upon her father with his mistress would have been enough to colour her adult attitudes and behaviours in the way this is implied. At 15 would she have been so traumatised by this that she would as an adult treat sexual liaisons almost as a way of punishing herself. Or have I got that wrong?

Overall though I found this a thoroughly good read with well drawn characters, a compelling story line and wonderful use of language. It's a book which really made me think about modern China and its influence in the world.

My score is 9

I hope you all enjoy discussing it - I'm really sorry that I can't  be there to hear what everyone has to say and whether others liked it as much as I did.

Second Review:
Dear All

I am really sorry to be missing this discussion. It was good to have something more challenging. I agree with all Maggie’s comments, especially the quality of the writing. I had the luck in the Library to find Xiaolu Guo’s autobiography “Once upon a time in the East”, and think you would all find it as interesting as I did. It says a great deal about the Chinese Education system that a girl whose primary education was in a small, poor isolated fishing village, living with an illiterate grandmother, was eventually, from a provincial urban secondary school, able from 6000 applicants to gain one of 11 places at Beijing Film school, and later to master English in the way that she has, and devise complex structures for her story. To be one of Granta’s Best Young British Novelists in 2013 is an amazing achievement. The book itself is a great addition to our repertoire of migrant stories, and the counterpoint between the leaver & remainer (!) very clever.

I too would give it 9.

And mine: 

I don't like this book, but you do want to know what happens to Jian and Mu. The author must have a very low opinion of British women, the way that she makes the translator Iona go out periodically to get a quickie from any male she can, even if it is in a hovel. There are too many stories in here, and they are all over the pace timewise. We have Iona's story, the random transcriptions of Mu and Jian's letters, and the stories of what Jian and Mu are doing at different times. Jian's is almost chronological, but in the past compared with the Iona story and moving at a faster rate. My feeling is that it is a feminist book, as none of the men seem any good.  

2017- September - Mightier than the Sword - J. Archer

Mightier than the sword- Jeffery Archer                             September 2017

This book was the fourth in a set of 6, which although slightly off putting at first did in fact stand alone as a novel with enough detail about characters and earlier events to enable readers to make sense of the story.

This was about a wealthy family of shipowners whose cruise liner narrowly escaped being sunk by IRA bombers on its maiden voyage. Events subsequently centred around the directors' attempts to stop the story getting out to protect the company's reputation. In turn this provided fertile ground for blackmail and extortion on the part of the 'baddies' on the board of directors. 

In a side story the son of the female chair of the board, a mercenary young man loses his fiancée after failing to honour a promise to an elderly historian schoolteacher who provides him with essential information. His mother at the same time is being sued for libel by the ex-wife of her husband. 

At the conclusion of the story neither of these side plots is resolved leaving the readers feeling that the series might be part of a cynical effort on the part of the author to sell the next book or even better the serialisation rights.

The five members of the reading group who were present agreed that the book was lightweight and the plot and characters somewhat contrived. Nevertheless the author succeeded in 'reeling us in' to the extent that we cared what happened to the more sympathetic characters and felt antipathy towards the cheats and scoundrels. Overall it was an undemanding read and not a book that anyone felt they would recommend to others; although one or two had read earlier volumes in the series and felt they were better. 

Scores : average 6 ( range 5 to 7 )

2017-August - Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

We  expected not to like it, thinking it was chick-lit, but were drawn in by the need to know what happened.  There were lots of good laughs. We felt it was true to life anywhere with slight exaggeration to highlight effects.

There were three of the disturbing aspects of life that were addressed by this book:
        - Wife beating
        - Bullying
        - Children of split families

It was quite real and quite disturbing the effect on children of switching between families, and also the effect on the split parents.

It was cleverly constructed in showing how Max the bullier had seen his father hitting his mother, and Bonnie reacting because she had had similar experience.

The characters were distinctive and in the main likeable, though  Mrs Ponder only appeared at the beginning and the end. Some of us thought that there could have been more of her.  The teachers were very well drawn.

It was 'not badly written'. We liked the clever device of including snippets of peoples testimony throughout. This also highlights the way rumours spread and the damage that they can do. [ A fourth aspect of life addressed by the book]

At the end - A self-evident truth that a hairdo makes woman.

Would we read another of hers? Very likely.  It has shades of Jodie Picoult in taking up a cause and highlighting it.

This month all 8 of use were present, and the marks were 6*8, 7 &6, so average just below 8.

2017- July - To Rise again at a decent Hour by Joshua Ferris

This book is the stream of consciousness flowing through the mind of a Manhattan dentist while someone is trying to steal his identity and he becomes involved in a fake religion.

They said:

….at its best it is enormously impressive: profoundly and humanely engaged :with the mysteries of belief and disbelief, linguistically agile and wrong footing, and dismayingly funny in the way that only serious books can be.

The Guardian

…at once laugh-out-loud funny about the absurdities of the modern world, and indelibly profound about the eternal questions of the meaning of life, love and truth. To Rise Again at a Decent Hour is a deeply moving and constantly surprising tour de force.

WWW goodreads

…wit so sharp, its fake-biblical texts so clever and its reach so big……a major achievement

New York Times

A serious inquiry into the condition of a human soul.

Financial Times

WE said:

The stream is heavily polluted

Why am I reading this?

Sordid

“Funny” - no way!

Do not appreciate the tenor of the discourse

A mind like a sewer and no wish to spend time in a sewer

Insulted by it

No redeeming features

Unmemorable ending

6 people started the book - only 2 people got all the way through. The rest gave up between page 33 and page 60.

There was general agreement that:

it did not deserve any mark at all: 0, zero, nothing, zilch, rien, nul points!

(There were mutters - was this choice “the Revenge of Liz”?)

PS Credit where it is due!

Sadly this singular novel is all mouth and not quite enough trousers. The Independent

2017-May - The Invention of Nature by Andrea Wulf

These are my notes on the book, as there were only three at the meeting and nobody did notes.

An excellent Biography of Alexander Von Humboldt and his travels and explorations. A 10 by any scientific person's scoring. His researches and books stimulated so many people, and there are chapters on some of these, Charles Darwin, Thoreau, Marsh, who influenced Muir who found the national Parks movement to prevent man from destroying nature. That is his main theme. Wulf writes very well.

2017-June - Waking Lions by Ayelet Gundar-Goshen

The novel tells the story of Eitan, an Israeli neuro-surgeon, who, exhausted after a 19 hour shift at the hospital, finds himself involved in a fatal SUV collision in which he hits an illegal immigrant from Eritrea. In that isolated moment in time, he makes a decision which proves to be life changing for him. He leaves the fatally wounded man to die at the roadside.

Unknown to him, the accident was witnessed by the Eritrean’s wife and she begins to extort Eitan for his medical skills and he is forced to surround himself with deception for the price for her silence. This sets the scene of the underlying theme of power throughout the narrative of the book and its misuse. It is a story of secrets based on the unspoken.

There is a tension to the story as it revolves around the emotionally charged triangle of Sirkit the widow, Eitan and his wife Liat, with the dramatic irony that Liat is the police officer investigating the hit and run incident. The book is threaded through with themes of guilt, shame and racial intolerance, with gestures towards wider political themes, including a sub-plot involving the Bedouin Arabs.

Opinions within the reading group were varied, as is reflected in the score but there was general agreement that the overuse of psychological analysis became tedious, making it a dense and slowly paced read. In addition, although the text raised many searing moral questions and dilemmas, the third narrative dampened the emotion and didn’t really evoke any real empathy towards any of the characters.

One of us, although not present, had read the book, reported it as not very memorable.

Score: 6.3

2017 April - The Green Road by Anne Enright

The Green Road – Anne Enright

The consensus about this book is that it wasn’t very good, and was a waste of time.

Quite confusing – One of us finished it but didn’t know how she felt about it.

So much of it was left unsaid and unresolved.

There was so much that you don’t know or learn.

Didn’t enjoy it. It was not the way that you hope families will go.

She (the mother) was a selfish woman and made Maggie so cross. The whole book doesn’t bring out a picture of Rosaleen at all.

No route or roadmap through the story. It was disjointed and almost like a set of short stories.

Waded all through it and not got a proper ending.

Don’t understand why it was necessary to be so explicit about Dan’s homosexual adventures or about Constance at the hospital.

However, there was some lovely descriptive writing, some nice touches, for example about the shopping.

LW said that overall it was an unsatisfactory book – some bits could be left out and some bits needed to be added.

A final statement: very descriptive – BUT.

Marks came out to be just below 5.

2017-March - A Place Called Winter

A Place Called Winter              -             Patrick Gale

This is the story of a young man of independent means – Harry Kane- who following the death of his parents and a private education leads a rather aimless life until he drifts into marriage with Winifred. He meets her through his brother who is courting her sister. Harry is second best for Winifred as she still loves a man considered unsuitable by her family. This is her explanation for her initial reluctance to consummate the union. They do, however, eventually have a daughter.

Life changing events then occur:

·         Harry seeks treatment for his stammer from a speech therapist with whom he falls in love and engages in a homosexual affair at a time when this was both illegal and socially unacceptable.

·         He is persuaded by his brother in law to invest heavily in a share scheme and loses a significant proportion of his fortune.

·         His homosexuality is discovered and he is persuaded by his wife's family to emigrate to avoid a scandal and to rebuild his fortunes. He chooses to go to Saskatchewan in Canada where portions of land are allocated freely, providing that this is settled appropriately within 3 yrs.

·         On the journey he is befriended by a Danish 'agent' – Troll – who subjects Harry to a vicious rape before delivering him to a farmer who undertakes to teach Harry about farming for a year before he settles his own land.

·         Once on his land, he meets his neighbours a brother and sister - Paul and Petra – who live on the adjoining property. They help him to build his house and fence his land. He begins to plough and plant with Paul's help.

·         Winifred asks for a divorce on the grounds of abandonment, so she can marry her first love.

·         During a swim after a hot harvest day he embarks on a homosexual affair with Paul. This is instigated by Paul but becomes a real love affair. Petra knows about it and seems to be happy with the situation.

·         WW1 begins and Paul goes off to fight and doesn’t return. Troll reappears and rapes Petra leaving her pregnant. Harry marries her and she moves into his home. But the 2019 flu epidemic claims both Petra and the child and Harry has a mental breakdown.

·         Following his inappropriate overtures to soldiers on a train, Harry is admitted to a mental asylum and subsequently an alternative treatment centre where he makes friends with a suicidal transvestite native Canadian Indian.

·         He is eventually returns to his land. Paul returns. They live their unconventional lives by opening up the fencing between their properties. Harry is also reconciled to some extent- by letter- with his younger brother

Most of us found this a good read although the subject matter did not appeal to all. We enjoyed the descriptions of pioneering life in 1908 Canada – although Peter tells us that they do not accord with his own family's experience 30 years later.

Oonagh had researched Patrick Gale's account of how he came to write the book based on the life of his great-grandfather, but was irritated by the lack of evidence that this ancestor was in fact gay!

Mary asked whether we thought that this was a love story. When we considered Harry's   various relationships we concluded:

·         - He loved the speech therapist but for the latter this was just a physical relationship

·         - He loved the daughter born of his marriage of convenience to Winifred.

·         - He certainly loved Paul and when he thought he was lost in the war he was devastated.

·         - He was fond of Petra and acted very honourably in marrying her.

We also explored some of the issues associated with the theme of homosexuality in the book. Patrick Gale states (thanks Oonagh) that for him the challenge of the book was to 'inhabit a homosexual life at a time when there were no words to describe being gay'.

It is hard to fully understand in 21^st century Britain what it must have been like to be homosexual at a time when it was a criminal offence punishable by imprisonment. This is a difficult theme for some members of our group and we recognise that we each  bring our own perceptions, beliefs and life experiences to anything that we read and these in turn affect  our enjoyment and perception of a piece.

Having said that, there was general sympathy for Harry who's early life without close parental guidance possibly influenced some of what happened to him later. We also held sympathy for Petra who devoted her early life to protecting her brother and was later subjected to such a violent rape by Troll. There was also sympathy for the troubled transvestite Little Bear. His situation gives an insight into the way he might have been ostracised by his own people for his sexual preferences.

There was however no sympathy for Troll whose violent behaviour towards both men and women marked him out to us as wholly evil.

In conclusion the group agreed that the book was well constructed and well written, with some beautiful and some shocking descriptive passages. The characters were exceptionally well drawn and wholly believable.

Marks ranged from 5 to 7 – Average 

February 2017 - A God in Ruins - Kate Atkinson

The Group welcomed Carrie.

The God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson                                           

The book appears to be set in and after WW2, and in particular concerns a rear-gunner in the RAF (so of considerable interest initially to P.M. the son of such a man).                                                                             

It is a companion, rather than sequel, to a previous book by this author, Life after Life, but those that had read the earlier work felt it was an advantage to have done so, both because the characters and settings were familiar, and because they were to some extent prepared for the unexpected structure of the novel.

The group was sharply divided about this book: “the perfect book”, “confusing”, “enjoyable”, “irritating”, “clever”, “difficult”. Although there was general agreement about the author’s ability to portray characters, emotions, landscapes and happenings, there was outrage from several members when they found that they had been deliberately misled about events, and even some of the people who already understood that various scenarios were imaginary, found them confusing. The enthusiasts were keen to convert the rest, pointing out the quality of the writing, the way the time shifts exposed more of the characters’ personalities, the vivid picture of the RAF camaraderie, the strength of family bonds. They insisted that perseverance to the end of the book brings real rewards.

Several members did not read enough to be entitled to award marks, but the opinions of the rest were fairly represented by: 7, 8, 8, 8, and 10(!), Average 8.2

January 2017 - The Buddha in the Attic - Julie Otsuka

This is a composite story about Japanese brides who came to San Francisco in the early 20th Century starting from their journey by ship from their homeland to their lives in the USA.

For most of them their American lives failed to live up to their expectations as on the ship they nervously exchange photos of their future husbands. Experiences vary for individuals but variously work as servants, in commerce, on farms and for some in brothels. Many are treated badly and some die ( including in childbirth). Few of them learn English or integrate fully into the culture or social life of the area. It is not until their children are old enough to make friends that integration by this second generation begins.

Following the attack on Pearl Harbour they and their families are rounded up and interned. We then learn from an American narrator that their places homes and businesses- are taken by a new wave of immigrants from other parts of the US and life goes on with the Japanese missed by only a few for a short term

This was a short book, but not an easy read because of its composite nature. The 'voice' in all but the last chapter is one of the women but she uses 'we' and 'us' in Japanese literary style so we are unable to identify with individual characters as they struggle in their new life. Many of, unused to this style of writing felt that it made the book a less enjoyable read – but for others it emphasised the universality of the women's situation.

We discussed a theme which seems to recur in our own society: namely a pattern of immigration which brings first men to seek work and a better standard of living before sending for their wives and families. This is the often followed by a stage where the women who may have a limited understanding of the host culture and language and as a result may cling to their own compatriots as they struggle with daily life. This can be seen by the host nation as a 'protectionist' attitude to their own culture. Children may then as second generation become more integrated and help to break down barriers- in the book there is just such an example of a Japanese boy who leaves behind his jumper at his American friend's house and is clearly missed by his friend when he is interned.

Another theme which runs through this book is the secondary place of women in society and alongside this the ill treatment of many women by men in their lives. We acknowledged that not only was this characteristic of the period but also persists today in many countries and societies.

One comment made was that these women were in no worse a situation than many others of that time and indeed today. We also discussed why they may have chosen to emigrate from their homeland – although we learn early on that the reasons were many and varied – some were sold or forced into marriages by impoverished families and variously left homes on farms or in fishing villages. Others were city girls. Many chose this route in the hope for a better life in the US. Most had failed to find suitable husbands in Japan.

We mostly missed the relevance of the title – there was only one mention of 'the Buddha in the attic' and no explicit reference to this influence on their daily lives. Although we could infer that their stoicism derived from their Buddhist way of life.

In conclusion:

Some found the style irritating and felt it detracted from being able to identify with the individual women, so that you could follow their individual stories and lives. There was some acknowledgement of some lyrical and poetic language

Scores ranged from 4 to 6 with an average of exactly 5

December 2016 - Harvest - Jim Crace

Walt has lived with the workers on Mr Kent's estate for 12 years, had a wife and buried her and now has a relationship of convenience with a widowed neighbour. It appears to be a feudal village very set in its ways and customs. 

The story details event in the village after the harvest. It starts with a fire in Mr Kent's barn which in all likelihood was set by a trio of likely village lads after a drunken night out. But with the arrival of family of three into the community these become the scapegoats for the fire and the 2 newly arrived men are placed in the stocks. The woman has her head shaved but is still attractive to many of the village men including Walt.

The next new arrival is Mr Kent's cousin who comes with a 'surveyor' to claim the estate, and wants to enclose it for sheep farming. This would mean the loss of grazing and other long held rights for the villagers. Walt is deputed to assist the surveyor.

Following the violent death of Mr Kent's horse a couple of women are accused of witchery and are imprisoned in the manor house by the cousin's soldiery who torture and- the inference is- rape them. This includes the 5 year old harvest queen.

The villagers flee with as many of their possessions as they can manage. Walt is left to try to negotiate the release of the hostages with Mr Kent and to search for the surveyor who has vanished and the shaven headed woman who continues to surreptitiously feed her husband still in the stocks. (Her father having died there and been partially eaten by a pig!)

Eventually Mr Kent and his cousin all leave in stages with the hostages still guarded by the soldiers and Walt hides to see them go. He then releases the remaining stranger from the stocks who reunited with his wife takes up residence alongside Walt in the manor house (where Walt has already found the surveyor, long dead.) 

Walt is supposed to be guarding the estate but with the village deserted except for the two strangers whom he distrusts, he decides to pack up his possessions and leave.

The strangers loot and set fire to the manor house and they too leave.

This was not an easy book to get into although the descriptive language conjured up both attractive and shocking images. Most of us persevered to the end but there was some dissatisfaction with the inability to locate the tale in either time or place. In discussion we mooted the idea of England at the time of the first enclosure acts in C18 but this was by no means certain.

Others liked the fact that the lack of time and place gave it universality.

Themes we discussed included:

• The impact of new arrivals – immigrants – on a closed and traditional community
• The way in which such strangers can evoke suspicion and become scapegoats
• The never changing behaviour of young tearaways
• Fear of and resistance to change
• Abuse of women