Manhattan Beach

Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan
Blog interpreted by Sharon from Sarah's notes

A few of our members (Sharon, Jane and Meredith) went to the Sydney Writers' Festival and heard Jennifer Egan and Min Jin Lee ( Pachinko) speak about writing historical novels.
The depth of their research is much appreciated and their hard work validated.

Jennifer Egan is kind of a role model being only 55 and successful. The character of Brianne was well liked and Anna is an admirable heroine.  Although some of her endeavours appear far fetched, we didn't mind it because of the clean writing.  The through lines we felt were of the sea, the underworlds, feminism and strong women.

We rated the novel 8/10 and Melissa described is as "excellent, praiseworthy, intelligent, clean, so well written and well researched".  She found quite a few metaphors she liked : examples on pages 307, 310, 365 and 369.

Comments from Lee :
I finished Manhattan Beach a few nights ago and agree with a few comments that it was a most enjoyable read. Another coming of age story but with so many different unexpected twists to the story, that also included many other stories of the various characters. Apart from Anna’s story, which did I enjoy most? Maybe the harrowing story of Eddie on the merchant navy ship and the wreck, but would have liked to have known more about how he survived although a little was revealed later. Brianne turned out to be quite a surprise and it was tragic to read that her pretend life had been a front for her sad destitution and then she took on the heroic stance to help Anna to move to California and raise her child. Anna herself is an amazing character and in reading the acknowledgements at the end to discover that there were actually hard hat women divers during the war was surprising. The surprises revealed in the narrative about women in war service and the prejudice they faced was so different from the usual women in war work in arms factories. Never would I have imagined hard hat divers! The character of Dexter Styles was so interesting, but I thought that there had to be more to the development of the relationship before the amazing one night stand, a scene worthy of Hemingway and “the earth moving”. I wasn’t quite sure why Dexter was killed, but he seemed to know of his impending demise but sadly didn’t have the Houdini like skills of Eddie to escape his death. And what role did his father in law have in Eddie’s execution?? Many sides to many characters. And the father in law must have somehow had links to Dexter Styles....

I did like “the happy ending”. Anna was going to be a wonderful mother after all the care and love she had given to Lydia. And the writing throughout was imaginative and the detailed descriptions, so that it was easy to imagine the grim world of the New York docks and the contrast of the tranquility of Manhattan Beach. While the Country Club world of New York society and their social prejudices was easy to visualise from the many movies, TV shows and books that we all have seen. And their ignorance of the fate that awaited their sons as they went off to war.

Our next meeting is on June 21st at Melissa's and our book choice is Extinctions by Josephine Wilson.

Where My Heart Used To Beat

Where My Heart Used To Beat by Sebastian Faulks

Blog written by Sally

Where my heart used to beat by Sebastian Falks is narrated by Robert Hendricks, a recently retired psychiatrist in his early sixties, World War II veteran, and son of a World War I veteran who never returned home. Robert opens with a tale of self-regret over a recent bleak encounter with a hooker while away at a medical conference. Somewhat wryly retold, the story is tangled with reminisces about his youth, war time experience, and the painful memory of the 'shimmering' experience of his first love.

Once back at home in London, things seem even worse. An anonymous angry phone call puts him on edge, he is an awkward guest at a housewarming party in his building, gets lumbered with looking after a drunk woman in his flat, which inflames the breakup with his girlfriend, who also is two timing him. There is also an intriguing letter from an elderly man living on an island off the south of France who may have known his father who offers an invitation to visit. So Robert leaves London and this leads to an exploration of his past.

The writing is wonderful. It gives a feeling of discovery as if reading a true personal history. But it is a harsh and bleak history. A new discovery brings a very moving end to this tale of reminiscence.
Most of us read the book and were impressed by the writing, including how well the war experiences were captured. However, the depressing theme makes it quite a challenging read.

The Tennyson poem of the title reflects the profound sense of loss this novel conveys.

Our average rating for this novel is 7.2 out of 10.  It is described as :
"Rich writing, enjoyable reading but may not recommend it "
"Insightful"
"Plot had holes - good writing but Birdsong was amazing at the time"
"War stories were well woven"

Our next meeting is on Wednesday July 26th at Megan's and our choice is The Japanese Lover by Isabel Allende

For Whom The Bell Tolls

For Whom The Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway

Blog written by Lee

I chose this book due to my current obsession with Spain and having visited Ronda where the atrocity on the bridge took place, and having been shocked by a photo I saw in a restaurant there of a Republican supporter being dragged away by Nationalist soldiers possibly to his death.


This classic antiwar novel was enjoyed by all, surprisingly so as I wondered if Hemingway's literary style might seem dramatically out of date compared with the more contemporary works we generally read.  Our group discussed it in the light of the history of the Spanish Civil War and in comparison with foreign fighters in current conflicts.  Anselmo was singled out as the most appealing character and of course Pablo as the most despised.  Pilar was much admired and her telling of various relationships allowed Hemingway to digress into Spanish culture and bull fighting in particular.  His writing regarding the nature of fear as felt by the bull fighter and the participants and victims on both sides of the Civil War is deeply sympathetic and at odds with the machismo style we usually expect of Hemingway.  Several of the group questioned what Robert Jordan's motives could be for signing up as a foreign fighter in the International Brigade and we discussed the influence of his father and grandfather in Roberto's decisions, one, becoming a fighter and then two, ending his life rather than being captured.  We all enjoyed passages describing Roberto's day dreaming about what life could be and his imaginings of a life with Maria and discussed the impossibility of a future in those circumstances.  Hemingway's machoism was viewed and noted to be rather out of place in 21st century literature, but as a Nobel Prize winner for Literature we all thought that that his canon is worth rediscovering.

Our rating for this classic novel averaged 8/10 with one member rating the poem by John Donne 10/10. We take the opportunity to quote the poem "No man is an island" below :

No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thine own
Or of thine friend's were.
Each man's death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.

Our next meeting is on Oct 20th Thursday at Melissa's and our book will be The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante.