by Sara Gruen
Meeting Date: October 2, 2009
Hostess: Joyce
Discussion: Most people liked or really liked the book. Most of us felt that is a very nice story and we appreciated the simplicity of the writing style, making it easy to read. I believe everyone agreed that they liked the "flashback" to "present day" style of the story-telling. For most of us, it was the ending that really made the whole book come together -- had the ending been different, we believe that it would have significantly altered how we felt about the book. There were a couple of people who were indifferent - neither liking nor disliking the book. Those who were indifferent found the story did not hold our attention enough, we consistently forgot secondary characters who were being reintroduced throughout the novel; and even found it difficult to remember what was happening from the last time we'd put the book down to the next time weo picked it back up (and sometimes that was not a very long period of time). We certainly credit the author, a woman, for writing the story in a man's voice. There were several comments that we forgot that the author was a woman; even in our discussion on Friday night some of us would slip and refer to "him" as the main character being the author. It was commented that, in particular, this was achieved by the thread of sexualization that was woven throughout the book, which we all felt was written from a male point of view. We enjoyed the parallel between "Rosie" in the historic story and "Rosemary" in the present story. We commented that Jacob's treatment of Rosie as a living being deserving of respect was mirrored by Rosemary's treatment of Jacob in his old age. We also commented that the women in this novel were more commodities and lacked the strength that we saw in the women in "Pillars of the Earth". We had an interesting discussion on loneliness and whether having children lessens that loneliness in old age; certainly in the book it does not.
Favourite characters were Kinko, Rosie/Rosemary and Marlena. Kinko demonstrated his compassion for his fellow circus/train travelers many times through the novel and after his initial harsh exterior was let down, he showed the true depth of his character. Even with significant reason to be harsh and difficult, he proved to be understanding and caring. Rosie/Rosemary were caring and compassionate. We enjoyed the way they were both able to approach situations without carrying the past with them. Marlena was a naive yet caring person. She was making the best she could out of a very bad situation and we appreciated some of the risks that she took to improve life for Jacob. The least favourite character was unanimous: Uncle Al. Although we tried to see the good that Uncle Al did - employing people and feeding them during the depression, we could not justify his actions as being anything but selfish and self-aggrandizing. There was also a comment about the lawyer at the beginning being someone that we disliked for his lack of compassion and understanding.
Ratings:
Joyce ...................8.5
Stephanie ...........8.75
Lynne ...................5.5
Stacey ....................9
Barb ....................6.75
Overall: 7.7
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