The Orphan Master's Son - REVIEW by KELLIE

Book Club Babes:

I think it safe to say, sadly, that this book was a bit of a bust with the group.  Only two of us (that I know of) finished it, and most that attempted it did not get further than 100-150 pages.

The book was written in two parts.  Part One was solely narrated by Jun Do and Part Two was narrated by Commander Ga (Jun Do), the interrogator, and then about every third chapter was the government loud speakers daily episode of what one living outside of a communist country would consider brain washing sessions, which EVERY citizen in North Korea is required to listen to every morning.

The first part of the book is about Jun Do's life, first as an orphan, and then it goes into the government assigned jobs he has as a young adult.  For most of us, the writing felt very disjointed and was difficult to read.  Pat also felt that this book failed to develop Jun Do's character sufficiently, and was a rather boring read.  The rest of us did not feel that it was boring, as we found the subject matter rather riveting, never having read about North Korea before.  (One book reviewer describes the daily existence of the average North Korean citizen as a "frightmare".)  However, we absolutely agreed that the way in which this book was written made it very difficult to get through.  I for one had the constant feeling that I was missing something when I would find myself reading and then wonder, "how did he get to this point?"  Did I miss the transition?"   Last Friday, Bonnie Jean and I met so she could talk about it and, her take on the way it was written was SO interesting!  In her opinion, she felt that the writing style was very intentional by the author.  She feels that he was trying to give the reader a small taste of the frustration of the North Korean society.  The citizens of NK only got to know what the government told them and they had to live with that. We, the reader, experienced that through the writing.

The author, Adam Johnson, who is an associate professor in creative writing at Stanford University, clearly knows how to write.  Unfortunately, we just did not care that much for his chosen style.  So much so, that the highest rating this book received from us was a 3 and the average was only 2.75.

Book Review on "The Light Between Oceans" by Pat - July 2013

Hi everyone,

Our July book, “The Light Between Oceans” was perceived as an enjoyable read by most of us and scored a 3.75 average rating from our group.

This book had a lot of moral dilemmas that echoed throughout the book and we discussed each of the characters in the book in depth.  Tom was our morally but conflicted character that was torn by his guilty conscience in many events in the book ranging from not being killed in the war to keeping Lucy when she washed ashore.  Tom was in love with Isabelle and went to great lengths to protect her.  Isabelle was a wild spirit and she went through a lot of heartache with three miscarriages so once finding Lucy, Isabelle felt justified in keeping the baby and although a loving mother, she was overly obsessed with the child.  Hannah was one of our least liked characters as she was not a very nice person in general and showed weak moral character in several scenes throughout the book.  Isabelle’s parents and Hannah’s father, Septimus, were both loving, giving people that loved Lucy-Grace and we could all relate to them as people we would want in our own lives.

Emotions ranged through a large spectrum in the book from joy and love to anger, despair and sorrow.  We liked the fact that there were only a few main characters and the ending of the book had good closure.  It was a simple story line but the author’s writing style allowed us to visualize the settings, scenery and characters being portrayed.  The consensus was this would be a good book to make a movie about.  Our group did feel that a couple of parts in the book were a little redundant with an overemphasize on the “moral” aspects of the book as it related to Tom’s character. 

A bit about the author – the book was written by Margot Stedman who was raised in Australia and now lives in London.  Working in London as a lawyer in 1997, she had a “eureka moment” and decided to try creative writing so she quit her job and transitioned into writing.  Margot sent this short story version of the book comprised of 15,000 words to an agent who told her it had the makings of a novel and she pursued her passion and expanded the book to a novel.  This is her first novel.   

Lastly, the quote of the year that all of us will remember from Lisa Fournier in regards to several of Tom’s actions is “I divorce my husband mentally once a month” – I am sure we can all relate to that.

Pat 

Breaking Her Fall-Review by Pam H.

Hi Ladies,

 

It was a good discussion today and we missed those of you who couldn't make it.  For a book that we didn't end up liking that much... it did stimulate some good conversation!

There were 7 of us present (with one person not having read the book but came anyway... go Johnnie!!)  The range of ratings went from 0 to 2.5 ( with an average of 1.75).   

Some of us thought the book was a compelling story at the beginning and then went down hill and others didn't care for it right from the start.  We all agreed that we wouldn't recommend the book.  Much of the problem revolved around not liking the characters, especially Tucker, the father.  We all agreed that the author did not really develop some of the characters nor some of the parts of the book and we found that frustrating.  He also digressed, at times, for too long which interfered with the flow of the book and made it boring.

The writing left a lot to be desired and we were amazed that the author is a professor at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va in the creative writing department!   Goodwin has written four other books "Kin" in 1975 and "The Blood of Paradise in 2000 and then 2 (little know books) about golf.

Here is a link to an interview with Goodwin regarding Breaking Her Fall :  http://www.harcourtbooks.com/authorinterviews/bookinterview_Goodwin.asp

Much of our conversation was about sexual behavior of teenagers (today and in the past)  and whether the daughter was raped in this particular story. We were ambivalent about a decision on that.   I personally liked the book for its references to the DC metro area which brought up many memories of my 25 years there. That did not help my rating, however!  Probably the case for Pam B, as well.  There was much more but you kinda  "had to be there"  as the saying goes!  

THE NEWS

We did make some decisions today, so mark your calendars!  Our next meeting is going to be on March 15 instead of March 8th at it will be a Jonnie's house at 9:30 am.  She will provide her address closer to the date.  We also decided to push the May book (Shantaram ..which is a long book) to June and go to see the movie "Great Gatsby" in May and therefore not discuss a book in May.  A review of book list is below.

The other BIG decision that we made was at our annual July "party" meeting everyone is to bring 2 book titles (each from a different genre) that you have NOT read.  At that meeting, we will plan out the following year of books and work toward a good variety and mix of genres.

 

Wow... hope you enjoyed your wine and have a great weekend!

 

Pam H

Unbroken - Review by Kellie

Good Afternoon Book Club Babes:

 

Our meeting today was a great one, in spite of getting off to a rough start!   First off, the Pinery Club was being cleaned so it was closed down and we had to scramble and make a mad dash to Panera's.  Secondly, we were somewhat small in number (only 7 of us), thirdly, a few of the already small group had yet to finish the book........HOWEVER, I'm quite sure a record was set today anyway.  Out of the seven people that gave it a rating (Val, I am counting yours even though you were not in attendance) four of us gave it a 5!  The lowest score was a 3 and those who have yet to finish it plan on emailing me their revised score upon completion of the book.  Pat and Bonnie Jean, I'm talking to you!

The first thing we established is that, had I been in the raft, I SO would have eaten all the chocolate and once it was gone I would have then exclaimed that, "we're all gonna die!!!"  Cindy assured me though, that, unlike Phil and Louie, she would have been prompt in throwing me overboard and fed me to the sharks....

Seriously, though, what an amazing story.  We were all humbled and awed by Louie's strength, faith, hope, fortitude, and perhaps most of all, the endurance that would eventually be required of him, in order to survive his ordeal.  One of the questions for the book was, Was Louie a Hero and what does Heroism mean to you?  It was a great question and we discussed it at length, concluding that he absolutely was a Hero.  He wasn't a hero based on the fact that he survived, but what he did for those around him while they were all suffering as POW's.

The struggle then continues for Louie and all WWII veterans upon coming home after the war and then trying to have a "normal" life.  Obviously, many of these men and, without question, Louie, suffered from what we now call, P.T.S.D. but back then was not known, and therefore, not treated.  We were all so happy that in the end he was able to find true inner peace, happiness, and God bless his wife for hanging in there with him and helping him along the way.  We also had tremendous respect and appreciation for his family, who, never once gave him up for dead which speaks volumes to the strong bond the family had.

So, some of the criticism, as far as the writing is concerned, was that the first half of the book was somewhat long, drawn out, and a little repetitive.  However, those of us that read this book to the end really felt that all of that detail laid the ground work for us to have a perfect understanding of who Louie was as an individual, and how he would eventually need to draw on many of those childhood experiences. For example, while imprisoned, in order to survive he was able to steal and endure bullying.  Also, his running/olympic experiences gave him the ability to have such a tremendous focus, not to mention, the amazing physical shape he was in at the time of his crash, no doubt, also played a large part in his survival.  Majority of us appreciated that the author was very straight forward in her writing and really dealt with the hard, cold facts because this story needed to be told exactly as it happened and we accepted and appreciated that.  It was definitely written in more of a jurnalistic-style, opposed to how a fiction writer would have told the story.  This brought up the discussion of  No Ordinary Time  by Dorris Kerns Goodwin which, although true, read very much like a novel and I do understand the appeal in that writing style, which is what a couple of us where hoping for in this book.

Well, that sums up our thoughts and feelings about this book.  Pretty powerful stuff!  Also, let's always remember the Veterans and the sacrifices they made....this story was a great reminder of what they have done for Americans.

Next month we will be reading Breaking Her Fall by Stephen Goodwin and Pam H. will be discussion leader.

On a VERY sad note, Cindy informed us today that she and her family will be moving to Austin, TX, in August.  We have enjoyed having you in group so much and you will be missed when your moving day comes....

Hope to see you all in February,

Kellie