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Book: The Postmistress by Sarah Blake
Discussion:
The reaction to this month’s Page Turners selection, Sarah Blake’s The Postmistress, was a bit divided. Of the twelve members attending, exactly half gave it a thumbs up vote, while the other six voted thumbs sideways.
The major complaints concerned the book’s dialogue and tone. The readers thought that the dialogues were too lengthy and the conversations a bit unrealistic. They also had difficulty distinguishing between the characters’ points of view in the alternating vignettes. They would have to read for a bit before they could ascertain from which of the three protagonists’ viewpoints the story was being told.
We then began to discuss each of the three women in more depth. Emma, the doctor’s wife, inspired a lot of sympathy. With her orphan background and lack of self-esteem, it seemed unfair that she lost her husband as well. His death seemed to reinforce her belief that she was completely alone in the world. One Page Turner called Dr. Finch a wimp; while another felt he was living his father’s failures. We speculated on possible suitors for Emma. One group member thought she might be a match for the widower Fish though others thought Otto the house painter might be a contender. However, we managed to talk each other out of any romantic entanglements for Emma.
One Page Turner commented on the speed of romance depicted in the novel. At times, it seemed really fast and at others very slow. The romance of Iris, the postmistress, and Harry Vale exemplified both speeds very well. In the beginning, it seemed to really take off, but later the couple seemed a bit embarrassed to be seen holding hands by the townsfolk. We found Harry’s death at the end of the novel very surprising and a bit sad due to his relationship with Iris. We also discussed Iris’s title of postmaster, as opposed to postmistress. We found it strange that the book was titled The Postmistress if that is an inaccurate term.
The title also seemed strange since we viewed Frankie, not Iris, as the main protagonist. We discussed Frankie’s privileged upbringing and her radio career; in addition to the experiences she had interviewing people on the trains. We felt that prior to these experiences she was a bit naïve and did not follow all of her stories to the end, as illustrated by Emma and Will Finch wanting to know what happened to her neighbor Billy after a bombing. After her experiences on the trains, Frankie seemed shell-shocked, as if she was used to reporting the news but not to being so intimately involved in it. We also saw a few parallels between her and Dr. Finch. Both seemed to be trying to prove or earn something; the doctor was attempting to regain confidence in his medical skills, and Frankie was trying to make it as a female journalist. They both seemed to feel better when they were contributing to the war effort too. Harry Vale seemed to share this quality as well.
As the meeting wound down, we discussed one of the major themes of the book. Blake wrote in the afterward that the fundamental question the book strove to answer was about how people bear the news. Each of the three women in the story did this in different ways. Iris and Frankie both delivered the news; Iris served as a temporary repository of the news in letters, and Frankie experienced, and then reported the news. Regarding the letters Iris and Frankie possessed relating to Dr. Finch’s death, they each had to decide how to bear the news physically, while Emma had to bear the news they delivered emotionally.
We also questioned whether Iris and Frankie were right to withhold the letters from Emma. The consensus seemed to be that the group felt it was appropriate for Iris to withhold the letter until she knew Dr. Finch was officially deceased. However, several of the readers thought the decision to withhold the other letter was not Frankie’s to make, even if she did it out of compassion or emotional inability.
Before the meeting ended, we mentioned a few titles we might want to include on next year’s reading list. Group members are encouraged to bring suggestions next month as well, before the voting commences in August. Next month we will meet on July 28 to discuss Stieg Larsson’s second book in the Millennium trilogy, The Girl Who Played with Fire. I anticipate a fiery discussion.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Friday, June 24, 2011
May 26, 2011: Page Turners 7 p.m.
Book: Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls
Discussion:
This month’s Page Turners meeting was a pleasant change from last month for two reasons. First, we reconvened at the Central Library for the first time this year; and second, everyone liked this month’s selection, Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls. We had twelve members attending the meeting, and they all gave the novel a thumbs up vote.
The Page Turners liked the book because they found it a quick and easy read. They viewed it as a survival story that was true to the era and enjoyed reminiscing about the time period. It was also the story of a teacher, a subject that resounded well with many in the group, including a few former teachers.
The subjects of teaching and education were popular at this meeting. We discussed many aspects of Lily Casey’s teaching career, particularly how she supplemented it with gambling, horse racing, bootlegging, and her hearse taxi service. The former teachers remarked that this type of behavior would not have been tolerated in their day, and likely would not be today either. We decided that Lily was able to get her jobs due to the demand and isolation of the areas she lived in.
Lily’s ability to keep her jobs was a separate discussion and led to a conversation on working women in the 1940s. Some of our group members were in the workforce at that time and recall that many women were let go from their jobs when they got married. Many of these women wed soldiers home on weekend leave and consequently would lose their jobs on Monday.
We also commented on Lily’s marriage to Jim. One Page Turner said the book mentioned that Lily and her daughter Rosemary shared a room, while her husband Jim and son Little Jim shared another, a situation she thought seemed a bit strange. I personally thought the more stereotypical roles of man and woman were switched in Lily’s marriage. Lily seemed more domineering and masculine, and Jim seemed laidback with an "it will all work itself out" attitude.
Another group member brought up the subject of economizing and said that the activities the author described as economic measures would have been normal practice. She thought these measures were probably customary during that time period, but seemed strange to the novel’s young author.
The author, Jeannette Walls, was the granddaughter of Lily Casey. She wrote the book as a "true to life" novel. She also authored a memoir entitled The Glass Castle, which chronicles the marriage of Rosemary and Rex. Four Page Turners had read that book, and one remarked that she liked it even better than Half Broke Horses. Many of the group members said they enjoyed Half Broke Horses because it was a family story. Considering The Glass Castle, which is also a family story, occupied a spot on the bestseller list for several weeks, this seems to be the type of story Walls excels at.
Next month we will once again meet at the Central Library, at which time our selection will be The Postmistress by Sarah Blake. Group members are encouraged to bring their suggestions for next year’s reading list to both the June and July meetings.
Discussion:
This month’s Page Turners meeting was a pleasant change from last month for two reasons. First, we reconvened at the Central Library for the first time this year; and second, everyone liked this month’s selection, Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls. We had twelve members attending the meeting, and they all gave the novel a thumbs up vote.
The Page Turners liked the book because they found it a quick and easy read. They viewed it as a survival story that was true to the era and enjoyed reminiscing about the time period. It was also the story of a teacher, a subject that resounded well with many in the group, including a few former teachers.
The subjects of teaching and education were popular at this meeting. We discussed many aspects of Lily Casey’s teaching career, particularly how she supplemented it with gambling, horse racing, bootlegging, and her hearse taxi service. The former teachers remarked that this type of behavior would not have been tolerated in their day, and likely would not be today either. We decided that Lily was able to get her jobs due to the demand and isolation of the areas she lived in.
Lily’s ability to keep her jobs was a separate discussion and led to a conversation on working women in the 1940s. Some of our group members were in the workforce at that time and recall that many women were let go from their jobs when they got married. Many of these women wed soldiers home on weekend leave and consequently would lose their jobs on Monday.
We also commented on Lily’s marriage to Jim. One Page Turner said the book mentioned that Lily and her daughter Rosemary shared a room, while her husband Jim and son Little Jim shared another, a situation she thought seemed a bit strange. I personally thought the more stereotypical roles of man and woman were switched in Lily’s marriage. Lily seemed more domineering and masculine, and Jim seemed laidback with an "it will all work itself out" attitude.
Another group member brought up the subject of economizing and said that the activities the author described as economic measures would have been normal practice. She thought these measures were probably customary during that time period, but seemed strange to the novel’s young author.
The author, Jeannette Walls, was the granddaughter of Lily Casey. She wrote the book as a "true to life" novel. She also authored a memoir entitled The Glass Castle, which chronicles the marriage of Rosemary and Rex. Four Page Turners had read that book, and one remarked that she liked it even better than Half Broke Horses. Many of the group members said they enjoyed Half Broke Horses because it was a family story. Considering The Glass Castle, which is also a family story, occupied a spot on the bestseller list for several weeks, this seems to be the type of story Walls excels at.
Next month we will once again meet at the Central Library, at which time our selection will be The Postmistress by Sarah Blake. Group members are encouraged to bring their suggestions for next year’s reading list to both the June and July meetings.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
February 24, 2011: Page Turners 7 p.m.
Book: Heart and Soul by Maeve Binchy
Discussion:
This month the Page Turners discovered that our second book of the year, Heart and Soul by Maeve Binchy, had a great deal of heart but seemed a little lacking in the soul department. The book received a decidedly tepid reception with thirteen group members voting thumbs sideways and only two giving it a thumbs up.
A few of our members had read Binchy before, and they all agreed that Heart and Soul was not her best effort. The novel, though not bad, and therefore not worthy of any thumbs down votes, displayed many characteristics of a cozy soap opera.
The foremost of these characteristics was the regurgitation of characters. It seemed as if Ms. Binchy was trying to be a bit Dickensian in her proliferation of characters. However, due to the lack of depth and development of these characters, she fell a bit short of a Dickens’ ideal. Many of the characters briefly mentioned in the novel are featured in some of Binchy’s other books. While this may have pleased fans of her complete array of work, for those of us reading her for the first time a few sentences detailing a non-essential character’s actions seemed a bit irrelevant.
The second characteristic which led us to describe Heart and Soul as a cozy soap opera was the overabundance of happiness expressed in the novel. Each character was so positive, nice, or forgiving as to render them unrealistic and the book underwhelming. For example, the twins, who at first were presented as typical irresponsible adolescents, went on a vocation-vacation to Greece and transformed into a focused, ambitious team of caterers. Declan, the new doctor at the clinic was in a near-fatal accident, but was cheerfully up and about, albeit with a cane, less than fifty pages later. Even the dramatically intended end of the book, when Fiona almost relinquishes her engagement to Declan due to issues concerning a prior relationship, fails to inspire any anxiety in the reader. By this juncture we had discovered the book’s inherent white picket fence nature, thus we knew everything would end happily ever after.
There were a few other improbable plot lines, which required some suspension of disbelief. The first of these involved Eileen Edwards, the woman stalking Father Brian Flynn. Eileen came off as being mentally ill, which we believe Binchy planned. Yet one Page Turner rationalized that she could not have been too ill, otherwise she would not have agreed to stop stalking Flynn when confronted by all his friends. Her agreement implied that she knew she was doing something wrong, which led some of our group members to question the notion of her being mentally ill.
The second improbable plot line was the underdeveloped love-hate relationship between Clara and Frank. For the majority of the book we heard about how detestable Clara found Frank, then, near the end, she begins complimenting him and socializing in such a way with him that a date appeared to be in their future.
Some of the Page Turners commented on the relationship between Anya and Mereck, her former employer. They thought this section of the book was the best because it had the most conflict. However, the details were a bit vague, so we wondered just how far Mereck’s maltreatment of Anya went.
As the meeting concluded we talked a bit more about romance in the British Isles, which lead us to a discussion of the upcoming royal wedding and remembrances of the wedding of Charles and Diana. As usual copies of next month’s selection were available for checkout after the meeting. We will convene again at the North Garland Branch Library on March 24, at which time we will discuss Elizabeth Kostova’s novel The Swan Thieves.
Discussion:
This month the Page Turners discovered that our second book of the year, Heart and Soul by Maeve Binchy, had a great deal of heart but seemed a little lacking in the soul department. The book received a decidedly tepid reception with thirteen group members voting thumbs sideways and only two giving it a thumbs up.
A few of our members had read Binchy before, and they all agreed that Heart and Soul was not her best effort. The novel, though not bad, and therefore not worthy of any thumbs down votes, displayed many characteristics of a cozy soap opera.
The foremost of these characteristics was the regurgitation of characters. It seemed as if Ms. Binchy was trying to be a bit Dickensian in her proliferation of characters. However, due to the lack of depth and development of these characters, she fell a bit short of a Dickens’ ideal. Many of the characters briefly mentioned in the novel are featured in some of Binchy’s other books. While this may have pleased fans of her complete array of work, for those of us reading her for the first time a few sentences detailing a non-essential character’s actions seemed a bit irrelevant.
The second characteristic which led us to describe Heart and Soul as a cozy soap opera was the overabundance of happiness expressed in the novel. Each character was so positive, nice, or forgiving as to render them unrealistic and the book underwhelming. For example, the twins, who at first were presented as typical irresponsible adolescents, went on a vocation-vacation to Greece and transformed into a focused, ambitious team of caterers. Declan, the new doctor at the clinic was in a near-fatal accident, but was cheerfully up and about, albeit with a cane, less than fifty pages later. Even the dramatically intended end of the book, when Fiona almost relinquishes her engagement to Declan due to issues concerning a prior relationship, fails to inspire any anxiety in the reader. By this juncture we had discovered the book’s inherent white picket fence nature, thus we knew everything would end happily ever after.
There were a few other improbable plot lines, which required some suspension of disbelief. The first of these involved Eileen Edwards, the woman stalking Father Brian Flynn. Eileen came off as being mentally ill, which we believe Binchy planned. Yet one Page Turner rationalized that she could not have been too ill, otherwise she would not have agreed to stop stalking Flynn when confronted by all his friends. Her agreement implied that she knew she was doing something wrong, which led some of our group members to question the notion of her being mentally ill.
The second improbable plot line was the underdeveloped love-hate relationship between Clara and Frank. For the majority of the book we heard about how detestable Clara found Frank, then, near the end, she begins complimenting him and socializing in such a way with him that a date appeared to be in their future.
Some of the Page Turners commented on the relationship between Anya and Mereck, her former employer. They thought this section of the book was the best because it had the most conflict. However, the details were a bit vague, so we wondered just how far Mereck’s maltreatment of Anya went.
As the meeting concluded we talked a bit more about romance in the British Isles, which lead us to a discussion of the upcoming royal wedding and remembrances of the wedding of Charles and Diana. As usual copies of next month’s selection were available for checkout after the meeting. We will convene again at the North Garland Branch Library on March 24, at which time we will discuss Elizabeth Kostova’s novel The Swan Thieves.
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