The Vanishing of Katharina Linden - my two cents (oops, I mean "pence")

The book The Vanishing of Katharina Linden is very engaging read and I'm sorry to be missing the discussion.
Some things about the book which caught my attention:

• I am fascinated by the way the author has created a sense that the book has been translated from German (as far as I know it was written in English and the author is English). The cadence of the language seems to me to be German rather than English.
• The relationships are very well drawn particularly the friendship between Pia and Stefan. Pia's sometimes irritation with, but dependence upon Stefan reminds me of friendships I had at her age.
• I will never forget the exploding Oma, a horrible image but somehow blackly humorous. I will use hair spray with caution from now on.
• Great interweaving of German folktales and daily life in the book. As I write this I wonder if there isn't a flavour of magic realism instilled in the novel by the stories Herr Schiller tells and the actual events as they unfold.

I haven't quite finished the book but am looking forward to getting home tonight to read the ending. What did happen to the girls and what did Stefan see the night he went to castle on his own?....

The Poisonwood Bible

A deep and dark novel set in a remote jungle village in Congo (at the time of the country's independence from Belgium in 1960). The story is told by the wife and four daughters of an evangelist minister sent out to convert the locals to Christianity.

The family arrives ignorant of local customs and finds a very, very different way of life to theirs back home in the states. The minister is rigid, ham-fisted, and over bearing (his keeness to baptise people in the crocodile infested river being a case in point). This sets the family apart and ostracises them - eventually leading them on a collision course with the local witch doctor...

The book was chosen by Janet, who commented on the natural division that occurs in the book when the minister is eventually left behind by the rest of the family. She felt that she would have liked this to be the end, feeling that the story stopped and the author took over. There was some sympathy for this point of view.

Everybody enjoyed the book. June liked the (extended) ending and felt she had learnt alot about the plight of Congo/Zaire since independence. Karen brought in an atlas and the group poured over the details: it is a third of the size of the USA, etc.

Marghie turned up and although she hadn't quite finished it was looking forward to doing so. She commented on the backward writing of Adah and wondered if the girls weren't a little bit stereotypical.

I put forward the point that all the family had lost their Christian faith, and that the bible had no relevance to the people of the Congo. In fact I surmised that it was losing relevance in this country. A heated debate followed... Although at home a quick search on Google (sorry to use a computer Janet) produced an article in The Independent 29.6.09 under the heading 'Britain knows little about Bible', stating "The National Biblical Literacy Survey has found that as few as 10 per cent of people understood the main characters in the Bible and their relevance".

Another thought provoking read, entertaining and enlightening in equal measures, although the meeting did remind me of that old saying "don't discuss politics and religion"...

North and South - Innocence Lost,Humanity Found

We discussed Elizabeth Gaskell's novel North and South in January. As the title indicates, a major theme of the novel is the contrast between the way of life of the industrial north and the agricultural south of England in the early to mid-nineteenth century.

There was a mixed response to the book. June, who selected the book for the group, has read the novel several times and originally choose to read it after viewing the excellent BBC TV series. She likes the way Gaskell weaves philosophy and political and social commentary into the narrative. Many in the group felt the characters were well drawn and the sense of place in the novel was very evocative.

Some of us did not find the novel completely satisfying. The ending seemed a bit weak. I also felt that there was tension between Gaskell's desire to write a novel of ideas and to spin a romantic yarn. The forays into philosophical and religious commentary did not enhance the flow of the story for me. One of the reading group said that the novels of Jane Austen "seem frivolous in comparison"; Yet to me, Austen's social satire seems more finely crafted and piercing because it is not freighted with philosophical discourse and politics. Having said that the strong characters in the book, particularly the women have left an impression on me, as has Gaskell's descriptions of the English countryside.

A member of the group summed the book up in the following phrase "Innocence lost, humanity found" which neatly summarizes the spirit of the book.

Books of the year

"Books are not made to be believed, but to be subjected to inquiry. When we consider a book, we must ask ourselves not what it says, but what it means" Umberto Eco

I agree with Karen - the book group pushes me to read outside my comfort zone. This year Mr Pip, Snow Falling On Cedars and What I Loved were up there for me; all three informed and entertained, their authors obviously having expertise/love of a subject they wanted to share through storytelling.

Notes from the Underground surprised me and shocked me. What a character Dostoyevsky created! And finally, The Key proved a great read a second time around. A much deeper piece of fiction than I first thought. Which takes me back to Umbert Eco's quote...

Struggling to find the Key

This month's read was The Key by Junichiro Tanizaki, a short Japanese novel chosen by Andy, the long-suffering token male in the group. The narrative is constructed from the secret diaries of a husband and wife, who each assume the other is reading their diary, and the story revolves around their mutually manipulative sex life. But is it an erotic novel? Some of the women in the group found it deeply unerotic and, not for the first time, we fell into discussion about what sets men and women apart (both in literature and life?).

The book gave us much to talk about, and was, as Andy said, a multi-layered story of old and new Japan, family politics, jealousy, sexual dynamics - even a hint of murder. It was interesting to compare it with last month's read, Memoirs of a Geisha - this was a more modern setting(1950s) and the women had more control, but the contrast between public propriety and a certain alcohol-assisted looseness were similar. Andy said that the novel was most of all 'a vehicle for illuminating a marraige' and we agreed that the themes of deception and avoidance are common to many marraiges. The man's obsession with viewing his wife naked was maybe not that unusual, and June related a Shetland tale of a (drunk?) man mistaking a sow for his wife 'wi her goonie aff'! Someone commented on the loveless attitude to sex, and lack of foreplay - 'but did men do foreplay before 1956?' retorted Andy!

We also took the chance to look back at our reads over the last year. For me, the most rewarding are the ones I probably wouldn't have picked up had I not had to read them for the group. A Perfect Storm and Margaret Elphinstone's The Sea Road were two of those.

Memoirs of a geisha - even better on re-reading

For nearly all the members at November's group meeting, this was our second read of Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a geisha. An exceptional debut novel - we wondered if he'd published anything notable since, and no, he seems to have published nothing at all! But there was general agreement that producing one really good book is better than a long list of mediocre ones any day.

It was most of all the authenticity of the narrative voice that impressed the group: how could it be that an American man could so convincingly write as a Japanese woman? It was dreamy and detailed. It was also a tremendous history lesson, and about a piece of Japanese life that was very little known.

Geishas were basically sold into slavery as children - this description was harrowing - but could attain a level of power and status. Men though, were fully in control and the sexism of Japanese society was notable.

Snowbinding!

October's book choice was Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson. A "whodunit" set in the 1950s against the background of Japanese-American immigration.

The quality of the prose, the multilayered depth of the plot and the new perspectives it explored meant that Guterson's book was enjoyed by all of the group and universally recommended. His characters were well drawn and had a humanity that you immediately empathised with.

Karen pointed out that the courtroom, which plays such a pivotal role in the novel, is a popular device in American literature/film. Margie thought that this was maybe due to it being one of the cornerstones of American life. Guterson seamlessly moved from story to testimony; handling the movement back and forward in time with deceptive ease.

Many of the group thought that the depiction of snow was especially well rendered and compared it to books such as The Tenderness of Wolves. Janet put forward the idea that the coldness it brought to the town was a metaphor for the effect the death of a local fisherman had on an apparently well integrated community.

A lot of discussion centered around the effect the war with Japan had on many of the characters and how Kabuo felt as a soldier fighting for a country that didn't really accept him. This then broadened out into a wide ranging debate on World War 2 - America's reaction to Pearl Habour, the cost in lives if nuclear bombs hadn't been used to end fighting, Shetland's Role of Honour, Britain's multicultural inheritance following the war and break up of the Commonwealth.

An enjoyable and thought provoking novel.