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Book summaries - 2019
NARCISSUS AND GOLDMUND - Herman Hesse THE FLIGHT OF THE LAST STUART KING - Margaret Stenhouse THE GIRL WITH SEVEN NAMES - Hyeonseo Lee ELEANOR OLIPHANT IS COMPLETELY FINE - Gail Honeyman MISBEHAVING - Richard H. Thaler
from Margaret 5/12/2019 A blazing log fire set the scene for our first winter meeting at Tatiana's house. Our discussion too was “heated”. Her choice of book, written by Tommy Orange of American Indian descent gave rise to an animated debate that saw us all passionately involved. Personally, I had found the book disturbing. It was quite a nasty story about a shoot-out and robbery at an annual PowWow meeting, with twelve different characters intertwined and all involved with one another in one way or another. What affected me most, however, was the author's underlying tone of anger, resentment and bitterness that pervaded the story, from the Prologue that sketched out the Red Indian tragedy at the hands of the invading white colonizers to the underlying allusions to the hopelessness of the future of most of the characters. Almost all were addicted to alcohol or drugs and seemed incapable to imagining any other outlet for their frustration. These were urban Indians, not ones who lived on a Reserve, and they had the added problem of trying to fit into the mould of a modern society, where the rules had been made for them and they had no option but to try to adapt and sacrifice many of their customs and traditions. The individual stories of the characters were interesting (and not all entirely without hope, like the young boy Orvil Red Feather, who looks after his two young brothers and cares about his grandmother, but then he gets shot in the end, and the ex-alcoholic Blue, who just might be building a positive relationship with the potential writer Edwin Black – maybe the writer's alter-ego? - who, however, is also one of the victims). The robbery itself is a totally messed-up business ending in an indiscriminate shoot-out in the Coliseum stadium during the PowWow event. The author's introduction of potential ultra-modern weapons, like the drone and a plastic pistol contructed by a 3D printer, points to a grim new future which we shall all probably have to defend ourselves against sooner rather than later. Not all of us, however, found the book so negative. Some had picked out poetic passages and felt that the message spread by the book would be positive and lead to a better understanding of the problems of minority groups.
NARCISSUS AND GOLDMUND - Herman Hesse from Tatiana 26/10/2019 Our meeting at Eva’s on this warm, lovely day in late October was a real treat, not only because it was great to be able to enjoy Eva’s lunch out on the terrace but also because the book she chose made for a very lively discussion. Eva chose Narcissus and Goldmund because it was a book that stayed with her when she first read it, both because of the beautiful writing and because of the general philosophy that underpins the story, and she wanted to share it with us. Those of us who read the book in English found the translation to be very good, surely a worthy transposition from the German, but it appeared that we read the book from different perspectives, both literal and philosophical. Some of us found they had to force themselves to keep reading, growing tired of Goldmund’s constant sexual escapades and travels, only to find that when Hesse’s basic point became clear near the end, they were impressed by the way he managed to bring the opposing elements of feeling/empathy and intellect/thought together. Others read the book entirely on a symbolic level, seeing not real characters as such but embodiments of the various aspects of human beings. For some it was a trip down memory lane and for others it was a solid look into the way our understanding has changed as we have matured. A very interesting note was some comparison between the writings of Jung (a contemporary of Hesse’s) and Hesse’s views as encapsulated in this story. Not everybody felt that they were in the right frame of mind to read something as philosophical and ultimately symbolic as this but on the whole, from whatever angle we individually approached this book, it resulted in a very interesting discussion. from Margaret 26/10/2019 We had a particularly stimulating meeting this month on Eva's patio, bathed in the warm autumn sun. All nine of us were present and all nine had different opinions about this book! Some of us had read it as a straight “romance” and had been disappointed, finding the numerous tales of Goldmund's wanderings and sexual conquests pointless and boring. Narcissus the aesthete did not come over much better – too cold and cerebral. Several remarked that they were puzzled by the references to Goldmund's missing mother, especially in the last chapter, where the dying Goldmund rather cryptically remarks: “Without a mother one cannot love. Without a mother one cannot die.” However, in my own opinion, I think this is a book that has to be approached in a totally different way. It is not an easy read. It is full of symbolism and cryptic references and is strongly influenced by the newly discovered sciences of the subconscious and the psyche dominant in Hesse's time. Hesse had met Jung and he was also aware of the theories developed by Freud regarding the ego and the consequences of sexual repression and deviation. In Hesse's book we find a clear revocation of the Oedipus complex in Goldmund's dreams of his mother and especially when he imagines her fingers penetrating his chest and lifting out his heart. There are descriptions of fantasies in Jung's “Memories, Dreams and Reflections” that evoke scenes in Hesse's book, like the Angel-Vampire, that opened its wings and turned out to be a “man of unearthly beauty,” just as the mural of the Dance of Death described in Hesse's novel talks of Death's wild song becoming “sweet and seductive, beckoning homewards, maternal.” To me, Narcissus and Goldmund should not be seen as people but rather cardboard one-dimensional figures, symbols of two different philosophies – the active and the contemplative life. Hesse's affinity with Nature and animals is evident throughout the book. His descriptions of the countryside, the wild flowers and the creatures that live there are lyrical. His haunting description of the fish in the fish market “those panic-stricken eyes and thrashing tails.....that unbearable transformation of mysterious, wondrously beautiful creatures as the last little quiver rippled across the dying skin....pitiful morsels of food for the tables of jovial gluttons” says it all....and predates the new sensitivities that have led to the vegetarian, vegan and animal rights movements of our era.
THE FLIGHT OF THE LAST STUART KING from Tatiana 11/09/2019 It was wonderful to be all together again after the summer break, more so because we were discussing a book written by one of us – making it truly special. Margaret got interested in the subject of the last Stuart King and began researching slowly, reading material only available in Italian and visiting the places he is associated with. Over time it became a labor of love as she grew to respect, admire and like Henry, both as a person and as the embodiment of the end of an era. The journey she writes about was new to all of us and it was a very interesting look into a time when wars and conflicts were making the world a changing, dangerous place. We recognized the skill she exhibits in this work of successfully grounding the events in actual fact but imbuing them with the emotions, flavors, sights and scents of the people at that time, making us empathize and understand at least to some degree what it must have been like. What could have been a rather dreary, fact-filled recitation is instead an engaging story that enables the reader to learn about a fascinating period in Italian and European history through the eyes of the beloved Cardinal Archbishop of Frascati. Kudos to Margaret and here’s hoping she’s got another book up her sleeve! from Laura 15/09/2019 We have a nice surprise for you. An interview with the author Margaret Stenhouse. Just check the link below.
THE GIRL WITH SEVEN NAMES - Hyeonseo Lee from Tatiana 11/07/2019 I am disappointed that I missed this meeting as I would have liked to hear everybody else’s opinion of this book. It is an interesting story, with a look into a place I know very little about, and yet I wasn’t at all touched by it. Perhaps it was the pedestrian writing, or the way even the most terrifying moments, the greatest anguish, never came off as such. It was as though this story, supposedly her life, was being told about somebody else. Perhaps it is the culture that imbues people with an impenetrable shell they need in order to survive it. Perhaps she is simply a cold fish, but I never really cared nor was I ever really involved. The fact that Margaret mentioned in her email the discrepancy between her TED talk and the book only makes me wonder if things really went the way she wrote. I guess in the end it was worthwhile to find out more about the Hermit Kingdom (though it’s been in the news so much lately nothing was really all that new) and throughout my reading I kept feeling grateful that I wasn’t born in a place like that, but nothing about the book has stayed with me and I feel like it was closer to reading a textbook than someone’s daring, adventurous life. from Laura 15/07/2019 Reading this book till the end has
been a real feat, due to the conflicting
reactions it triggered in me. Outrage,
aggravation, exasperation, incredulity, denial,
and I could continue with a long list. Although
the subject is extremely interesting - the
alleged story of a defector from North Korea (a
country I knew little about) - the language and
style they used to write it didn't work for me. from Margaret 17/07/2019 Our Book Club has offered us many pleasant experiences, apart from reading and exchanging views, and an early evening session on a terrace with an incomparable view overlooking Lake Albano was this month's special treat! Jill's unusual choice of the chilling story of a North Korean girl (who had to change her name seven times on her hazardous journey across China and Laos towards the forbidden frontier of the South Korea Republic) gave us plenty of material for discussion. This book was a factual and straightforward account of her experiences, more or less in diary form, rather than a stylistic or literary piéce. Despite the difficulties and repressions of a brutal regime, she had a happy childhood, with a loving family that enjoyed a privileged status. According to her story, she “escaped” almost by chance, crossing the river into China out of curiosity and a natural adolescent desire to see something beyond her habitual world. However, in the TED talk that we followed up with, she gave a different version, saying she was sent abroad to study. Otherwise, the book version and the talk did not diverge, although the talk (20 minutes) did not allow time to go into great detail. Undeniably courageous and resourceful, Hyeonseo Lee was by instinct a street-wise survivor, no doubt thanks to her upbringing in a society where people had to bend the rules continually. Her mother and brother smuggled goods in from China as a normal activity. Bribing guards, police and authorities was a normal way of life. We did wonder how she always seemed to manage to get enough money to bribe all the border guards and to avoid arrest and deportation. Autobiographies tend to be selective and auto-censored and we did suspect that she probably omitted details that would have put her in an unfavourable light, especially with Western readers. We were heartened by the account of the Australian stranger who spontaneously lent her money to get her mother and brother out of jail in Laos, a ray of light in a tale of shady characters, exploitation and near despair. We were also upset to learn that her mother was homesick and wanted to go back to North Korea, after all the trouble getting her out! This book was thought-provoking and sobering. We can only be glad we were born in the right place......
from Margaret 12/06/2019 Our June meeting took place in Laura's home in Molise. This has become an annual institution, very much appreciated by all of us. The area is so beautiful and our hostess always organizes interesting itineraries and programmes for us, in addition to providing delicious meals! Who can stop dreaming of the wonderful ricotta of Molise, the homemade jams and cakes....and all the other specialities we get to enjoy! Our book discussion took place early evening and was very animated. It was soon apparent that the younger members of our group had difficulty understanding the attitude of Joan, “the Wife”, subservient to a selfish, self-centred egoist who had used her talents to promote his own writing career. Obviously this was an extreme case, but “back seat” wives were not unusual in the generation of the 50s, 60s and even 70s, when middle class women were conditioned to believe that only the husband would have a worthwhile career and be the main salary earner and family sustainer. The wife's job (if she had one) would inevitably be low level and unimportant. I thought the only flaw in the story (but this was inevitable if the writer wanted to keep the big revelation to the very end) was that Joan's sense of frustration at having her talents exploited was underplayed. Instead, Wolitzer focussed on her anger at his philandering to justify the wife's resentment towards Joe. Other than that, a well-written novel, with sensitive insights that kept the reader's attention throughout. We followed with a screening of the movie of the same title with Glenn Close in the leading role. Most of us found it disappointing. The story had been twisted in parts and lacked the subtlety of dialogue that was so prominent in the book. We got little insight into what Joan was really thinking. For most of the film she kept on a mask of benign smiles. Glenn Close's performance has been much acclaimed, but you could not really find it convincing if you had read the book. I was very glad I had read it before I saw the film, or I would have had a totally different impression....I would probably not have bothered to read the book at all. from Tatiana 17/06/2019 Yet another marvellous Book Club week-end at Laura’s, enjoying her great meals, beautiful and interesting sites and the chance to bask in the friendships that are far greater than a mere collection of book lovers. As usual, our book discussion was also enriched by seeing the movie afterwards and many of us greatly enjoy the chance to compare mediums and discuss the possible reasons behind the changes and different messages we perceive. Laura chose The Wife because she had gotten interested in Meg Wolitzer as an author and we all found the book to be interesting and clearly written. Not all of us were caught unawares by the “surprise” but this may have more to do with current affairs than anything the author did with the story. Some of us were less than sympathetic with the protagonist, feeling that she should have cut ties far sooner if it was making her so angry but others pointed out that this was set in the fifties and women with children did not have many options. The book and the movie differed significantly in approach and made for a completely different perception of the protagonist. In the book she was seething from page one; in the movie she smiled beatifically until her husband’s Nobel speech, when she lost it, and I personally found it very strange that neither the book nor the movie gave any weight to the guilt I believe anyone would feel when telling their spouse they’re going to leave them and the spouse dies of a heart attack! All in all it was a good book for our group, seeing as it acted as a counterpoint to many of our personal experiences, and served as a good introduction to those of us who had never read Wolitzer. from Laura 18/06/2019 I found Meg Wolitzer mentioned in
Nick Hornby's blog, her new book "The Female
Persuasion" was suggested as a good read. So I
googled her and discovered she is a New York
writer born in '59, whose novels are mainly
focused on the female condition in the last 50
years or so. She is mostly known for "The Wife"
that was adapted into an Oscar nominated movie.
And I just thought this would be perfect for our
Molise book & movie meeting.
ELEANOR OLIPHANT IS COMPLETELY FINE - Gail Honeyman from Margaret 16/04/2019 Full turn-out at Margie's this month to discuss what had obviously been a good choice on her part, as almost all of us (bar one) had been totally captivated by this book. Discussion was lengthy and full of perceptive and thoughtful comments on the way the plot had been handled, the subject matter, the suspense and the surprising ending (the dreadful “Mummy” did not actually exists outside her daughter's immagination). The novel was deceptively untaxing at the beginning. It seemed to tell the usual Cinderella story of the ugly duckling (always a female....it wouldn't work with a male unless he was transformed into a hero instead of a swan) who gradually begins to improve herself through self-effort or circumstances. Gradually, however, dark hints began to creep in that Eleanor's past contained some very dark elements. The author skilfully did not reveal all but kept dropping suggestions throughout the story. Raymond, Eleanor's friend (or boyfriend?) seemed too nice a fellow to be quite true, however, I hope some like him are indeed around. The descriptions of Sammy's happy family and Raymond's devotion to his mother proved a foil to the horrors concealed in Eleanor's family background. One or two doubts were raised: could such a disturbed personality really manage to achieve a university degree and hold down a job, despite weekend drinking bilges? Not many of us found this novel “funny”, although more than one reviewer used this adjective to describe it. It was, however, undoubtedly a remarkable first novel and obviously touched the chords of many hearts, judging by its best seller status. I personally appreciated the short passages in the Glaswegian dialect, but probably no-one else understood them! from Laura 25/04/2019 Gail Honeyman's debut novel certainly hit the mark with our bookclub. Most of us liked it. Why? It's beautifully written, hilarious without meaning to be, it has various aspects you can relate to if you made your acquaintance with loneliness and/or depression sometime in your life (who hasn't ?), it stimulates a good discussion with fellows in the club and stays with you for a while, not soon forgotten as it often happens with us jaded readers :D Eleanor Oliphant is described in first person, we see the world through her eyes, she is alone, no friends or family, a victim of child abuse by her crazy mother, a tragic past that left her traumatized. She works as accountant in a graphic design company during the week and drinks herself into a stupor at weekends, to survive the absolute void of her life. Being socially awkward, her interactions with other humans are kept to a minimum, although her cinical and cunning inner monologue, analizing their behaviour is vastly entertaining and mostly responsible for the humorous side of the book. The plot takes a turn when Eleanor gets smitten with the rock singer Johnnie Lomond, then decides to change her appearance to seduce him. Things start to happen then that push her out of her precarious comfort zone: meeting her first friend Raymond and his mother, then helping the sick man Sammy to the hospital, meeting his nice family and getting involved in their life somehow; the disappointment of unrequited love and the following disillusion take her to break point. She hits the bottom and then resurfaces, remembering her past, understanding it and maybe finally coming to terms with it.
from Tatiana 20/03/2019 We were nearly a full house at Françoise’s house to discuss Exit Ghost and while it took a while for us to settle down to talking about the book (lunch was truly delicious and it was great to be together again) we found that on the whole we all enjoyed it. Françoise had chosen the book because she had seen a lot of press concerning Phillip Roth’s life and death and realized that we, as the Castelli Book Club, had never read a book of his, so she chose this one – not an early work nor the last but certainly that of a writer in his prime. While some questioned the verisimilitude of a writer, nearly a hermit, making the kinds of choices the protagonist makes to not only go back to a mega city like New York but also become infatuated with a much younger woman and take on a crusade protecting the private life of a much admired writer, we agreed that once you accepted that Nathan Zuckerman did, in fact, decide to do these things, we were able to relate to this old man: scared of dying, wishing to recapture a long-gone youth and yet hopelessly out of sync with today’s mores and aspirations. Thus his reactions to other people’s motives are fraught with his own interpretation, further hindered by the fact that he often forgets not only what he or others said but even what he did. What Roth succeeds in doing with this book is making the angst of a man in his twilight years relatable (perhaps even too much so for some of us), laughable, yes, sometimes, but also truly sad. The only jarring note for some of us was the juxtaposition of Zuckerman’s so-called screenplay, written entirely in He said, She said dialogue, with the narrative but excluding that (which did not bother all of us), we concurred that this is a book of finely tuned prose and a clear-eyed look at what it means to get old and feel entirely redundant. from Margaret 22/03/2019 Strangely enough, we had never read any of Philip Roth's books in our club so this was a good choice on Francoise' part in order to remedy this lapse. We agreed that this was obviously not his best book, but that his skills as a writer more than compensated for a somewhat flimsy plot and his diversions, sidetracking into what were obviously his personal views (on politics etc when he raved for a couple of pages about the 2004 Presidential election results through the mouthpiece of Jamie). His rather grim depiction of the afflictions of old age I found a bit off-putting (he was only 71 for goodness sake!) as well as his rather horrific description of the ravages of cancer – but maybe I am just too squeamish! Our discussion tended to focus on his sexual fantasizing, so plainly and graphically recounted. Being all women, we were fascinated with this inlook into the male psyche! We also pondered over Zuckerman's obsession with preserving his dead friend's pristine reputation. Would the revelation that Lonoff, a celebrated writer (and maybe Zuckerman's or even Roth's alter ego) had had an incestuous relationship with his sister really have had such a devastating effect on his reputation as Zuckerman feared? After all, neither Shelley nor Byron were saints as far as sex was concerned, but the scandals surrounding their lives don't seem to have damaged their images as great romantic poets! A few of us disliked the dialogue insertions, seeing them as irrelevant and out of place. All in all, not a memorable book but a stimulant to read his other, more famous works.
MISBEHAVING - Richard H. Thaler from Tatiana 16/02/2019 I have mixed feelings about Misbehaving. Looked upon as simply an introduction into a new field in the social sciences, it is interesting and thought provoking, despite some difficult passages that, despite his attempt to write for the layman, were confusing to me anyway. The idea of using psychology, the social sciences and behavioural economics to solve some of our problems seems, in retrospect, a no-brainer. Nothing involving human thought and activity is rooted in only one thing. The same goes for understanding that our actions are, to a large degree, characterized by an incomplete view of the situation, over-confidence based on reliance on headlines and confirmation bias, which is due to the way our mind filters information. However, in the end, I was constantly wondering: so? How can these theories be employed concretely? And here the book was lacking in insights or tools to apply his theories. How can we change our basic psychology, even knowing these things, since we cannot become experts? Hire experts? He says if you buy stock don’t follow stock market news. Fine, so who should handle this for you and how many of us can buy stocks anyway? The only concrete applications seem to be the increase of retirement savings by instituting automatic enrolment in retirement accounts along with phased increases, or sending notes to tax evaders saying: “most people pay; you are one of the few that hasn’t”. Hardly something that would work here in Italy, I think. In delving a little deeper I have read that some scholars from other countries say that nearly all the research in psychology and behavioural economics is conducted by people from cultures that are Western, educated, industrialized, rich and democratic. Therefore, global institutions must be wary about applying these findings to other cultures. For example, people in Australia chose an entirely different message as the most persuasive as regards organ donations than those in the U.K. Perhaps it is too early to expect much by way of tested guidelines from this nascent field and, confined to this view, I thought the book a valuable introduction. from Margaret 20/02/2019 Despite there being only five of us at this month's meeting (only three of whom had actually read the book!) Lena's choice of “the Making of Behavioural Economics” (the subtitle of “Misbehaving”) provoked a lively discussion. Those (few) of us who had some background in the Economic disciplines obviously got more out of Professor Thaler's ponderous and lengthy study on why Humans make illogical choices in monetary matters as opposed to Econs who do not (usually) make these mistakes. The language used was simple and obviously aimed at lay readers, so it was reasonably comprehensible, however, I for one got bogged down with pages and pages of what I thought boiled down to fairly logical conclusions (even for a super-ignorant Human like me!) For example: did it really require some of the world's best brains (book seemed to team with droves of Nobel prize winners – most from the Western world - how many of them are there? I thought the prize was only awarded once a year) several years of studies, experiments, discussions etc. To arrive at the conclusion that people (Humans) object to paying $7 for a $3 shovel after a snowfall? I (ignorant Human) would have thought that was a pretty natural reaction, ergo a foretold conclusion! I felt rather the same about the example he quoted of Uber taxi drivers, who apparently just finished work as soon as they had reached their desired takings for the day, instead of carrying on to take advantage of the more profitable tariffs they could charge by hanging on till later when fares went up due to demand. It did not seem to cross the mind of these Econ experts that maybe these drivers just preferred to have a bit of a life and spend some time with their families, rather than earn yet more money! Anyway, I learned what I didn't know before – that Uber fares vary according to demand which made me decide never to use Uber, as I don't approve of companies that take advantage of circumstances to charge more (we're back to the $7 shovel story). I was hoping to be enlightened on the more obscure issues of the stock market, recessions and crashes. I once visited the Chicago (I think it was, but it might have been NY) stock exchange and I never saw anything more closely resembling Hell in all my life: a hall crammed with sweating, desperate men (yes! all seemed to be men, and all crazy) shouting over each other, gesticulating, rushing around like hamsters in a trap. I suppose now they all sit in front of computer screens so things may be a bit quieter but this doesn't restore my faith in a system that I personally think is corrupt and illogical, shovelling around virtual money and basically feeding on itself. So I looked forward to being enlightened as to the mechanism of crashes and the mysteries of the Market by Prof. Thaler. Quote: Page 232-233: Oct. 19th 1987, " the carnage started in Hong Kong and moved west......in New York, prices fell over 20%....no war started, no political leader was assassinated, and nothing else of note occurred.......Yet prices were falling precipitously all around the world. No one could say why........... Hemlines go up and down without any apparent reason; might not stock prices be influenced in other similar ways that seem to be beyond the standard economist's purview?” In other words, the economic experts are in a fog as well. I must say, that was a big disappointment!!! We also mentioned promotional offers: Lena, a declared Econ, said she would weigh up whether it was worth her while spending time and money on petrol to go to a particular supermarket that was advertising special offers before she actually went. Well, I am a Human ignoramus, but I do exactly the same thing. In fact, I usually just chuck all this stuff straight into the bin. So maybe there is hope for me yet!!
from Tatiana 20/01/2019 It was wonderful to be all together again at Grazia’s house after the long holiday break; the noise level would attest to our being extremely happy to see each other again! Grazia chose this book in conjunction with the movie, and while she thought the movie very good I believe she thought the book better. Most of us had not seen the movie so we only had the book to base our views on and we all thought it was a very good book, thought provoking and interesting. The idea that a family judge (like those in penal court) makes decisions of life and death for people is not a surprise but the consequences of those decisions can reach much further than the specific case and reverberate in the lives of all those connected even long after the original sentence has been handed down – and this was basically the point of the book. We agreed that Fiona May, the judge, acted irresponsibly when the boy she “condemned” to live reached out to her, grasping for some sort of ballast for a life that had suddenly been turned upside down, and she didn’t reply. It was the catalyst for his “suicide” months later: an embittered young man who turned his back on the religion of his parents only to find there was nothing to take its place. There were some details of the book that strained credibility (it is highly unlikely that any sitting judge would sing with the boy in the hospital, and the dynamic with her husband was sometimes unconvincing) but overall it is a book that generates a lot of discussion around what we are willing to do even in our own lives to help others, and what the consequences of this might be. from Margaret 29/01/2019 A very pleasant, stimulating session, Grazia's choice met unanimous approval and the plot was dissected and examined from all angles. We agreed that Fiona became too personally involved in the case of the young Jehovah's Witness whose family was refusing to authorize a life saving blood transfusion because she was going through a personal crisis that made her vulnerable and unable to react with her customary detachment. Her relationship with her husband, by contrast, seemed glossed over. He was another male needing attention that she was not prepared, or able, to give. However, one can imagine that she was not the easiest person to live with – a kind of cold, inflexible goddess dedicated to her work, and with little energy or desire left to give him the coddling that he obviously needed. We all admired the depth of McEwan's background research into the work of a High Court judge and court procedures and his skill in turning what could have been a dry subject into a fascinating and gripping tale. In fact, I was unable to put this book down and read it straight through in a couple of days. I particularly admired McEwan's crisp style in this book. He kept strictly to the point of his story without getting involved in labyrinthine sub-plots and strings of unnecessary descriptive passages. Having read other of his works, however, we know that this is not a constant characteristic of McEwan's novels. He can often ramble, in fact. “A Child in Time”, which I am reading just now, is quite a confusing tangle of retro flashes and alternating story lines and “Atonement” was, I felt, unnecessarily wordy. This book will definitely join my shelf of favourites - books that I re-read, often after an interval of years. from Laura 29/01/2019 This book received an enthusiastic reaction from all of us in the bookclub, almost an ovation I daresay. I don't remember it happening before. So, well done Mr. McEwan! Although this writer has proved to be quite eclectic in style and subject (we all read and mostly liked some of his other books), this novel captures the reader with its many facets. The language is straight-to-the-point and the characters are well developed and feel real. Fiona May is a very respected and successful judge, who is called to decide on a complicated matter regarding an underage Jehovah's Witness refusing blood transfusions that could save his life. She must evaluate, against the boy's parents opposition, if his life is more important than his dignity. While going through a marital crisis, she is at her most vulnerable and lets herself get involved in the boy's situation until her verdict finally saves his life. Here come the complications, when she finds herself facing the consequences of her own judgement, maybe for the first time in her career. The novel takes us on an intriguing ride from the point of decision, through Fiona's personal and professional confusion, to the dramatic after effects of her ruling, all the while feeding us with interesting glimpses of court proceedings, and moral evaluations of profound subjects such as religious freedom, the pros and cons of individual rights and the impossible task of equanimity when applying the law while human emotions are involved.
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