March book: Revolutionary Road, by Richard Yates

chosen by Sharon

Book Description:

Revolutionary Road is a novel about Frank and April, a 20-something, suburban couple in the 1950s. They seem to be a 'model couple', but both had loftier hopes for their lives, and feel a sense of failure with where they ended up.

What we discussed about the book:

Overall, everyone really liked the book - and felt it provided interesting insights into life 'under the surface' in the 1950s.

We talked about passions, and whether we thought the book was making the comment that you can always follow your dreams, or if it's inevitable that you won't reach them. We also talked about the concept of 'the grass is always greener' and wondered if Frank and April would have been happy regardless of their situation.

Most of us agreed that both Frank and April were selfish and self-absorbed, and that they thought they were 'so much better' than everyone else. Everything began to fall apart when they realised that they weren't!

We all agreed that the book itself wasn't actually about the era of the 50s...that the basis of the story could have been picked up and placed in almost any era, with similar themes always relevant.

Who we would cast in the movie version of the book:

• April - Kate Winslet
  
• Frank - Leo Di Caprio

It was a little too hard to get past the actors who appeared in the recent movie!

And then we were sidetracked into:

• A book called '30 something and over it' that Bree and Rachael recommended
• Pip shared her engagement story (short though it was!)
• Looking for fulfillment - how do we seek it, and what are some of the sorts of things that can help
• Apparently Ruby's patisserie is excellent!

The conversation then degenerated and I didn't take any notes of that!

And in other news:

• Sharon's 40th is on Friday, 7 May at The Brisbane. Email invites on the way
• Given all the $$ we have been collecting, we decided to go to Balthazar for our Christmas Dinner. Sharon to book.
• Sharon was the 1950s hostess with the mostess!

Ratings

Ratings average: 7.6

Ratings range: 7 - 9 (3 DNRs)

Jacqui's trifle (with homemade custard) got a 9/10!

February book: The Other Hand, by Chris Cleave

chosen by Kim

Book Description:

The Other Hand is narrated alternately between Sarah, suburban mother and magazine editor, and 'Little Bee', a Nigerian girl seeking asylum, who speaks Queen's English learnt from broadsheet opinion columns and a Collins Gem, with snatches of her native language.

The novel is built around a sickening scene on the Nigerian beach where Sarah and her husband, Andrew, briefly met Little Bee. These three characters cannot 'move on', physically or emotionally, after their experience there.

Despite the beach scene and the depiction of the plight of refugees, hope for new beginnings is at the story's heart - as Little Bee remarks, 'a sad story means, this storyteller is alive'.

What we discussed about the book:

We used a lot of Oprah's reading questions for The Other Hand, which made us talk about ourselves more than actually talking about the book!

For example, Little Bee tells the reader "We must see all scars as beauty...because a scar means, I survived" (p9).  We discussed what emotional or physical scars we have and whether we've come to embrace any of them.

We talked about whether we trusted one woman's voice over the other and decided Little Bee was a more likeable character.  We couldn't understand Sarah liking Lawrence, with whom she had an affair.

We briefly discussed when do you decide to put yourself first and when to offer charity.  Is one human life ever more valuable than another?  And then, like Little Bee and her sister Kindness, we chose new names for our group members, based on their characteristics.

Jack - Generous Jack, Rachael - Giving go-getter, Sharon - Loyal tiger, Pip - Calm strength, Pen - Resilient lady, Alana - Loyal rock, Bree - Generous thinker, Kim - Gracefully capable.

Who we would cast in the movie version of the book:

• Sarah - Kate Winslet
  
• Little Bee - a young Thandie Newton
  
• Andrew - Coling Firth
  
• Lawrence - Ralph Fiennes
  
• Batman - ??
  

And then we were sidetracked into:

• What a great movie Avatar is.
  
• Bullying - who of us was bullied and how we coped with it.
  
• The escalation of random violence we are reading about in the news

And in other news:

We got an update on how Alana, Caryn and Zachary are going.

Ratings 

Ratings average: 7.9

Ratings range: 7 to 8.5