A Visit from The Goon Squad

A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

An intriguing title from a National Book Award Nominee writer which promised to be an interesting choice for our book group.  However, once again, many of us found the book hard to get into and the story quite disjointed.  It's a story about time and the author attempts to echo contemporary society's rapid fire lifestyle.

Melissa's insights into this novel are quoted below :

"An interesting juxtaposition - while the characters experience a kind of jaded cynicism about the superficiality and brevity of various kinds of success, the novel is written in a highly contemporary, vigorous and energetic style. Fresh writing about 'staleness' which is both curious and confusing for the reader.

The footnote on page 180 by the character journalist Jules Jones, seems to sum up the author's possible anger at the way Western society measures people. Assessing whether you're 'in' or 'out', acceptable or not, based on foundations as fragile as celebrity and corruption.

The author, in her quirky ambitious style, seems to be mourning the loss of important values and is rapping, if you like, to use a musical term, about the degradation of contemporary measures and morals. It is an important theme for discussion and although the author is quite brilliant at representing multiple points of view in an unexpectedly wide variety of literary (and non-literary) styles (eg. Powerpoint/text messaging), jumping around chronologically like someone reporting an event on Speed - the overall experience for the reader can be quite alienating. Whilst the author presents people in various states of indifference/oblivion and suggests perhaps that we are not caring enough about what actually matters, at the some time do not seem to care about the characters in her book and we get lost in the epic interconnecting stories which feels too hard to work out along the way.  If this was indeed her message, for it to have been more effective, we needed to care more."

We rated this novel 3.6 out of 10 (Only 5 of us finished the book and there was a low score of 2 and a high of 7).

Our next book is That Woman: The Life of Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor by Anne Sebba.
It will be at Robyn's and on Thursday May 30th.

The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul

The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul by Deborah Rodriguez

This novel was easy read and follows on quite well from our previous book of the Infidel.

This is basically a story about the lives of Afghan women as seen through the eyes of an American woman Sunny who owns a coffee shop in Kabul.  The most compelling story is that of Yasmina, who was taken in by Sunny whilst pregnant with child from her dead husband and who is desperate to save her younger sister from a fate of being sold off to settle her uncle's debts, just like herself.

Deborah Rodriquez paints a good picture of love and friendship in a wartorn city.  But as the novel progresses, it starts to resemble a Mills & Boon story as Deborah proceeds to tie up all the loose ends too nicely. We found the change in Ahmet, Halaya's son, who was very traditional in the novel, extraordinary and hard to believe--not only does he become a loving husband for Yasmina and father to her child, he even accepts his mother's old love as her new husband!

Our group found that Sunny's character was a bit too contrived and wonder why is she in Kabul anyways?
Isabel's journey into the heartland of the Taliban in search of a mother and child was also unbelievable.
The character of Halajan was quite inspiring as she understands the dilemma of her son and doesn't condemn him.

We rate this novel 6.75 out of 10.

Our next meeting is on April 11th and Patricia will be sending out the venue details.
The book we will be discussing is A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan.

I believe that Meredith has chosen her book : The Dinner by Herman Koch but I'll confirm that at the next meeting too.

Infidel

Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Our first book of 2013 is Ayaan's amazing journey from Somalia to Holland where she applied for refugee status, worked hard for a university education and was elected to be a Member of Parliament.

This book shows us the life of a Muslim woman and the abuse and oppression she had to endure in countries where men subjugate their women in the name of Islam. There were some horrific scenes of female genital circumcision and corporal punishments.  It was sad that her younger sister, who had originally appeared the stronger, succumbed to mental disease and died.

Ayaan tries to reconcile the violence and inequality that she and other Muslim women are subjected to with the Muslim teaching of a peaceful and loving Allah. Her path from being a woman of faith and prayer to becoming an atheist is almost entirely based on intellectual reasoning.

Why are women supposed to suppress their sexuality in the name of modesty while men are free to live in society without any such restrictions?  Interestingly, in the Sydney Morning Herald a few days ago, there was an article about such extremist views but coming from Israel. To read the article : http://www.dailylife.com.au/life-and-love/real-life/stoned-for-having-short-hair-20130130-2dkd1.html

The short film which she produced with Theo Van Gogh called Submission Part 1 and for which Theo was assassinated in Holland is available on You Tube  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGtQvGGY4S4

Melissa came across this radio programme and here is what she has to say :

"Thought you might be interested in the Radio National program that was played yesterday on feminism in religion. Malay women activists were talking about polygamy, sexual prohibitions on women, patriarchal inheritance and other matters of inequality that are enabled by shariya law. Also discussion on burhka-wearing by choice, the gendered God, and the "third sex" in religions - fascinating"
http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/encounter/women-program/4478874

And thanks Marty for this very interesting debate "Is Islam a religion of peace?"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFvklPpGZtA&feature=youtube_gdata_player

We rate this book 8.3 out of 10.
Infidel ties in very nicely with our next choice, The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul by Deborah Rodriguez.  
The meeting will take place at Jane's on Thursday March 14th.

Some holiday reading suggestions

Hi Everyone,

As a member of Goodreads, I was sent an email of the winners of this year's best books as chosen by Goodreads members.

Check them out on :

http://www.goodreads.com/choiceawards/best-books-2012

You'll find something for sure for these holidays!
Sharon

The Lighthouse

The Lighthouse by Alison Moore

This is our last novel of the year and was chosen partly because it is not too long for this busy time of year and partly because it is shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2012.

In general, our group felt that this was well written and the author is a worthy selection to the shortlist. However, it was felt that the central characters were quite dull including the choice of the name of the main protagonist Futh!

Futh undertakes a walking holiday after a failed marriage and reflects on a childhood journey that he took with his father.  His mother's abandonment of him when he was young continues to affect him and his relationship with women.

Our rating for the book is 6.2 out of 10.


The following is the list of our choices for next year :


Sharon -- Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Jane -- The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul by Deborah Rodriguez

Patricia -- A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

Robyn -- The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers (new choice)

Megan -- The Red House by Mark Haddon

Sally -- Having Cried Wolf, Gretchen  Shirm

Lee -- Don Quixote by Miguel De Cervantes Saavedra

Melissa --tentatively  Gone Girl : A Novel by Gillian Flynn


Our next meeting is January 31st 2013 Thursday at Sharon's and we will be discussing Infidel.

Happy Holidays everyone and see you in the new year!

The Street Sweeper

The Street Sweeper by Elliot Perlman

"The inalienable dignity of the individual is very important to me" says author Elliot Perlman in an interview about his very successful novel, The Street Sweeper.  This is a very intriguing story of 2 men in New York in the 21st Century and how their lives eventually intertwine.  Through the stories of Lamont Williams, an ex-con, and Adam Zignelik, a Columbia University history professor, Perlman explores both the themes of the civil rights movement and the Holocaust.

Perlman took nearly 6 years to write this novel and it is very well researched, including visiting Auschwitz 6 times.  The stories of the courage of the Holocaust survivors and their resistance attempts in the concentration camps were very moving.  He was lucky enough to interview the last surviving Jewish Sondakommando in Poland in 2008 just a few months before he dies and this old man is the inspiration for Henrik Mandelbrot's character in the book. Perlman says that without this man's story, he would not have his novel.

The question of whether there were black troops during the liberation of Dachau was introduced to tie in with the civil rights struggle in the US.

Some people found the repetition of text annoying but I thought it was a rather clever device to remind the reader of the many characters and events in the book.  And there are so many characters! Some with incredible courage while some living with immense guilt and remorse. The roles of memory, love, betrayal, courage, cruelty and kindness are all explored in this engrossing novel.

I would like to include the following links here :

Random House video of an interview with Elliot Perlman :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-ynCm9I0tyE

A half hour radio interview with Elliot Perlman and ABC Radio :

http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/latenightlive/elliot-perlman/3957810

A moving short film by Sara Greenberg on her grandfather who is a Holocaust survivor :

http://www.b2247thefilm.org/

We rated this novel 8.9 out of 10.

Our next book is The Lighthouse by Alison Moore and the meeting will be at Melissa's on Nov 8th Thursday at 7:30pm.

Then don't forget -- our Christmas dinner will be on Nov 13th Tuesday at the Oaks Hotel.

The Happiest Refugee

The Happiest Refugee by Anh Do

An inspiring story about the success of Anh Do, a refugee who became a well known comedian in Australia.  The chapters about how his family escaped from post war Vietnam on a fishing boat were especially captivating.  His father's leadership and courage were instrumental in getting the family to survive a journey fraught with danger.

Anh Do started the book with feelings of anger against his father who left their family when he was thirteen. There is no doubt he really appreciates how hard his mother had to work to fend for him and his siblings. However, I find that throughout the book, his love and admiration for his father underlies his own outlook on life. Often his life decisions were based on his father's sayings like “There are only two times. Now and too late.” or “Always question your fear, Anh. there's almost never a good reason to be scared.”

Our discussion used the book to launch into the broader problem of racism in this country and the Australian Government's history of handling the influx and method of processing refugees and asylum seekers.  We all had our opinions on issues such as offshore vs onshore processing and whether refugees are assimilating into our society.  Suffice to say that we agreed to disagree but still remained friends after our meeting!

Thank you to Melissa for telling us about Dr Helen Szoke's talk at the National Press Club on how Australia is tackling racism.  As our Race Discrimination Commissioner, Dr Szoke explains how a racial equality agenda should encompass promoting racial equality as well as tackling racism. She said : "The reality is for people who never experienced racism, they don't actually understand what impact and what damage it does".
If you'd like to watch the whole episode, the link is : http://www.abc.net.au/news/programs/national-press-club/

We felt that this was an easy read and rated the book 7.7 out of 10.

Our next book is The Street Sweeper by Elliott Perlman and it will be on Sept 27th Thursday at Lee's place.

All That I Am

All That I Am by Anna Funder

This is the first novel by Anna Funder and it is the winner of the Miles Franklin Literary Award this year. Her previous work, Stasiland, is a non-fiction book about the former East Germany's ministry of state security which was very well reviewed.

Once again, a few of us found it hard to get into All That I am initially because the story is told from 2 narrators' voices and jumps around in time as well.  But once you get to know the characters, you can't help but get involved in this story of their amazing courage and friendship.

There is a very good interview of Anna Funder by Anne Summers during the Sydney Writers' Festival about the background to her writing this novel.  Patricia attended this event and found it most enjoyable.  Here is the link to the Sydney Writers' Festival website : http://www.swf.org.au/  I would highly recommend you listen to the entire interview as Anna Funder goes on to explain her friendship with Ruth Blatt (on which the character Ruth Becker is based), the incredible research she did for the book and the meaning of the title.

Even though this is a novel about real characters, she didn't want to write it as a non-fiction because she wanted to get inside the heads of these characters and to tell a story about courage and fear, love and betrayal.  She has set the telling of the story in the here and now because this story of resistance to tyranny is surprisingly universal and could be happening in China, Burma, Libya etc.

We have rated this book 8 out of 10.

Our next novel is The Happiest Refugee: My Journey From Tragedy To Comedy
by Anh Do and we are meeting on August 28th at Megan's for our discussion.

Then the next novel to be discussed will be Lee's choice The Street Sweeper by Elliot Perlman and the date is September 27th Thursday.