YSDC Book club meetings in the Chatroom

[Isis]

Mostly everyone liked Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes, although we all felt that the almost poetical style, whilst admirable, got in the way of the story and especially when connecting with the characters.

Bradbury spins his tale in a near-mythical way, more like a song than a story, which some of us found hard to get into at first. The few characters who were fleshed out seemed more archetypes of some golden 50s/60s era in small-town America that probably never existed. than real people. The two boys, Will and Jim, were there to be the light and dark aspects of boyhood, and Will's father was a pale, ghostly figure until he stands up to the evil of the carnival, at which point he becomes more than human, an überdad . All the freaks at the carnival are painted as evil, even though they themselves were probably victims of the Illustrated Man, Mr Dark, in the long gone past.

On the whole, most of us would like to read more by Bradbury although probably not to reread this book for quite a while.

Next choice is Maus by Art Spiegelman: meeting on Tuesday 21st August, 8pm UK time.

[Isis]

Erm, sorry that should be Tuesday 28th August.

[yockenthwaite]

Oh phew. I wasn't sure I could make 21st, or finish the book in time. 28th is much more viable.

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Mmm, hate to grumble but waiting on a round-up here.

[lordof1]

Apologies Glyph and fellow bookclubbers. What can I say? Life gets in the way.

Okay, okay, Minecraft gets in the way.

Now then, where was I? Oh yes. Maus, by Art Speigelman - a tale of a survivor of the holocaust and it's aftermath, told by his son (Speigelman) through the medium of a comic, depicting the Jews as mice, and the Germans as cats.

Maus was well-recieved by the tome team. Everyone agreed that the comic style (perhaps surprisingly) suited the extremely dark and graphic subject matter well - either by softening the blows of the dreadful reality (as some thought) or by making such unimaginable horrors easier to, well, imagine (as others felt). The characters were well-rounded and the small human touches brought home the reality of just how people could live through the terrors of the Nazi regime despite losing everything it is possible for a human to lose, and did a good job of showing how survival in such a time was down to simple issues of trust and, more often than not, plain luck.

Speigelman, especially in the second volume of Maus, frequently adopts a 'meta' (or post-modern?) style, discussing the work itself, and it's impact upon him. Some tome teamers felt this didn't quite work, and distracted from the main story, while others (myself included) enjoyed these sections more.

Everyone agreed it was an important, worthy and succesful work, but about 50% of those present said they probably wouldn't wish to read it again (although a few of us expressed an interest in Speigelman's further discussion of Maus, Metamaus)

Sorry about the delayed report, and thanks for the wrist slap, Glyph. Next up we have Yockenthwaite's choice of 'If on a winter night a traveller...', a novel and a discussion of reading itself, by Italo Calvino. Eveyone welcome as ever! The next meeting will be at 8pm on tuesday the mumble mumble mumble possibly have forgotten

[yockenthwaite]

The next meeting will be at 8pm on tuesday the mumble mumble mumble possibly have forgotten

Tuesday 25th September

[yockenthwaite]

Can't guarantee I can make tonight's meeting folks. Sorry about this. I'm all over the place at the mo with the neurological disease, up at the wrong times, often very knocked out and dozy at other times. May be there, but in case I'm not I'm going to paste in the thoughts I had and the questions/points I was thinking of raising:

Spoiler:

how well did this work as an exploration of reading?

how effective was the nested - or rather always-going-on-to-new-things - narrative style?

were you frustrated by the constantly changing narrative? and if you were do you consider this a success of the writer for matching your character to the Reader's experience or otherwise?

did you relate to the characters? e.g. what did you think of the Reader, Other Reader etc?

for me perhaps the most effective bit was when we had the writer's perspective of silas flannery, including thoughts about tormented and productive writers, and thoughts about readers reading his work - anyone else feel that?

and at a trivial level did anyone else feel this was a book they had to make notes about to keep up with it properly? i didn't keep notes by the way, and just drifted with the flow!

would you reread this book?

would you read other works by italo calvino?

overall did you enjoy the book?

answers from me to last three: NO, YES (already have, and will do more), and NO

[yockenthwaite]

Overall the book club found "If on a winter's night a traveller" by Italo Calvino to be a disappointing book, with all members finding it a frustrating reading experience. On the plus side we appreciated that it was an interesting writing experiment. And there were some highlights, such as the chapter written from the writer's perspective, which several members specifically praised. But as a reading experience it was difficult to enjoy, and several of us found it increasingly frustrating the further we got, wanting to read completed stories, rather than never-ending unfinished ones. We all skimmed or skip read to various degrees, reflecting how little we were enjoying the reading experience. Characterisation was also a problem, with little development of either Ludmilla, The Other Reader, or The Reader. And none of us could relate to the characters. We were also confused by the South American section, and disappointed by the ending. Even as an experiment in writing and the idea of storytelling several of us cited other better examples, such as "Cloud Atlas", and "World's End" from The Sandman. The point was also made that it would be a book unlikely to be published for a first-time author, and perhaps only was because its author was established. None of us plan to read the book again. Two of the book club don't intend to read any other works by Italo Calvino. Two others are willing to give them a go. And one of us already has.

The next book to read is "The Haunting of Hill House" by Shirley Jackson. The book club will meet again at 8pm on Tuesday 23rd October.

[Isis]

Postponed a week until Tuesday 30th October.

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Yo, this is tonight, spooky!

[yockenthwaite]

Yo, this is tonight, spooky!

Almost perfect timing for Halloween

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The Haunting of Hill House got a very positive reaction from the book club. The only reservations were over the ending which everyone agreed was anticlimatic, and the introduction of new characters near the end of the novel which derailed the flow. The book clubbers agreed that Jackson did an excellent job on the novel, and the unreliable narrator was put to excellent use. All of the characters were convincing, and it raised the interesting question 'can you have a haunting without a ghost'. Overall an excellent ghost story/psychodrama, most book clubbers agreed they would reread it.

Next up on the 27th November - the greatest American novel of our times not written by Stephenie Meyer - The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

[Helen]

The book club has been postponed to next week, 4th December at 8pm (GMT).

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Yo this is tonight in 10 minutes; locked on for a man like F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby, in wildeeeee style

[Helen]

The Great Gatsby was enjoyed overall. The characters felt a bit like caricatures at times and we didn't really warm to any of them - there was an element of style over substance in the characters, and the novel as a whole. While this made it difficult to engage with the characters, the book was well-written which helped. But we agreed that it didn't really feel like 'the great American novel'. There was a dreamlike quality to elements of the book, especially in the party scenes. Although the book built-up a sense of impending doom/fate, we all agreed, as with last month's book, that the ending seemed a bit sudden. Basically not much happened then it all happened at once.

We also had quite a long discussion about how this will work in the upcoming film with Leo de Caprio as Gatsby.

I think everyone enjoyed it and most said they would reread it.

Join us next fortnight - 18th Dec - we're doing A Christmas Carol.