Man's Search For Meaning - review by Valerie

So sorry for the delay in getting this review done. Better late than never I hope!

We had a great meeting in May to discuss Viktor Frankl's "Man's Search For Meaning." There were 9 of us there and the discussion was very interesting. Not everyone loved the book most of us felt it's impact and can see why it is on the all time list of must reads.

Frankl was born in Vienna in 1905 and died in 1997. He was a Nazi death camp survivor and lost his wife, father, mother and brother in concentration camps. Despite these circumstances, Frankl remained an optimist and always believed that a person has the freedom to choose how they see their situation in life and to then create meaning for themselves. One of his favorite quotes was from Nietzche, "He who has a why to live can bear with almost any how."

The first half of "Man's Search For Meaning" is for the most part an autobiography of Frankl's experiences in a concentration camp. We all thought this part of the book was very interesting and felt empowered and inspired by his will to live. The last half of the book is a essay explaining his theory called "logo therapy." This basically states that the main human drive is not please but the pursuit of what we find meaningful. He believed that people often died in concentration camps because they did not have something to live for, something that was meaningful to them. Some of us felt this part of the book was repetitive and not a page turner as it was full of technical terminology and clinical psychology information. But we were all inspired by the bottom line of his philosophy: "Human behavior is not dictated by conditions than man encounters, but by decisions he himself makes." Our thoughts on this were that it's so nice to feel like we have a choice regarding how we live life, that you get out of life what you put into it, we are in control. Frankl has given us a challenge and we need to embrace it. Most of us could relate to his theory and would keep this book as a reference point when having a bad day. It can empower us all. 

The overall rating for this book was a 3.5. The first half of the book describing Frankl's experiences in the death camps was definitely preferred over the last half but taken as a whole, it was still an amazing book and has been a huge influence on major contemporary self-help writers. 

Frankl's message is one of hope, even in the worst situations. No matter what the circumstances, we can be free.

Their Eyes Were Watching God-Review by Kellie

Last Friday five of us met to review our April read which was Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. Three more of us, who were unable to attend our meeting, read the book and emailed me their rating/opinion, and our collective score was a 3.75.  This is excellent, considering some of the disappointing books we've read in the last six months!  The only real negative that came up was that all of the dialog was written in a vernacular dialect.  For some it grew tiresome, for others it was hard at first to figure out what a particular word meant.  However, for most of us, once we got the hang of it, it just wasn't that much of a distraction. Upon discussing this topic at great lengths we felt that because this book was about a young black woman in the 1930's, who is very poor and uneducated and lived in the deep south, this is exactly how they would have talked!  To change that up would have been ridiculous.  The book would not have been the same without it. Furthermore, we came to the conclusion that what we really appreciated about this book was Ms. Hurston's talent when writing in the narrative. She wrote so beautifully and we reviewed many of our favorite passages or paragraphs while discussing this book.  We realized that this book had both metaphors and symbolism laced throughout, and just like last months book, we probably needed professional help to explore the true depth of this book. This explains why most of our kids have read it, either in high school or college; so very much to discuss. Unfortunately, we weren't really able to do this book justice in our meeting, but we really enjoyed talking about it.  Also, worth noting, by the end of our discussion, three of us who originally gave it a rating of 3.5, changed it to a 4.  Now, that's a good discussion!

A note about the author:  Hurston was an American-folklorist, anthropologist, and author. She received an Associates degree from Howard University and then went to Barnard College, Columbia University, where she was the college's sole black student. She received her B.A. in anthropology in 1928, when she was 37. Sadly, Hurston's work slid into obscurity for decades, for a number of cultural and political reasons. Many readers objected to the representation of African-American dialect in Hurston's novels. However, Author Alice Walker published "In Search of Zora Neale Hurston" in the March 1975 issue of Ms. magazine, reviving interest in Hurston's work, unfortunately, fifteen years after her death.  Now, this book is considered one of the most important works of twentieth-century American literature.

Next months book is Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl.

Anna Karenina-Review by Valerie

There were 6 of us at Kellie's on Friday to discuss Anna Karenina. First and foremost, thank you Kellie for hosting! The food was so yummy and your home was beautiful. If you weren't there, we missed you.

Our discussion of the book was interesting but we all felt there was just too much to discuss in such a short period of time. We definitely did not do this book justice. There have been a few times when we have read a classic and thought that without some advanced study and thought topics, we did not grasp the full meaning and impact of the novel. This was certainly the case with Anna Karenina. We should have broken the book down and had questions to review throughout. Food for thought before our next classic!

Just a little recap for us all....

Themes (taken right from the internet)

1. There were huge social changes taking place in Russia at the time Tolstoy wrote this, making the historical aspects of the novel as important as the personal and psychological aspects. We see a battle between old patriarchal values and new liberal values.

2. Blessings of family life. Family novels were popular in the early 1800's in Russia but were out of fashion when Anna was written. Tolstoy presents an idea that family limits individual freedom. However, we are shown that faith, happiness and family life go hand in hand.

3. Philosophical value of farming. Wow, did we read a lot about farming (if you didn't skip these parts.) Levin, one of the main characters in the book, is a devoted farmer. Tolstoy uses him to portray farmers as more fulfilled and happy than their urban counterparts. There is a delicate balance between personal labor and trust in the forces of nature.

4.Interior monologue. We discussed this in depth. Some of us really disliked this aspect of the book. There was tons of internal dialogue and many thought it was monotonous. This was a new style of writing at the time and was supposed to create more empathy with the characters....not sure if we got that!! We did find the radical change in thoughts to be almost comical. For example, a character might be happy and in love, then the next minute feel that they were not loved and life was not worth living. Then would come the "make-up scene" and all was forgotten. Wow!

5. Forgiveness.  The idea of Christian forgiveness recurs regularly in the book and is one of Tolstoy's main topics. The central action of the plot is sin, forgiveness is the potential resolution. What is our attitude toward the characters (primarily Anna) and how much do we forgive them? 

6. Death. The protagonists face death numerous times. It is seen as an escape from problems that are faced and also as an "inescapable end to existence", calling into question the entire meaning of life.

Ok, these themes would have been good to discuss last Friday. Why didn't I see this before today? Oh well, if anyone wants to reread with these insights in mind, feel free!

On a personal note, I loved this book when I read it the first time, about 20 years ago. I fully expected to love it again. What happened?  I really didn't love it this time around and think that I must now be jaded! I didn't feel as much emotion and connection to the characters and wasn't sad this time when I was done reading it (would it ever end?) It's interesting how our own life experiences affect our perception of books and most likely everything we encounter. Hmm...

Ratings: We gave it 2 2.5's and 3 3's for an average of 2.8. Here were a few of our comments: Didn't enjoy it, not compelled to keep reading it, would not recommend. Gave it a 3 because it was a classic. Needed to have more information about the book so we could understand it more. Gave it a 3 because I understood where the book was coming from and the time period but could not relate for today. 

Ok, our next book is "Their Eyes Were Watching" by Zora Neale Hurston. We are meeting on Friday, April 11th. 

The Kitchen House-Review by Pam B.

Finally...a good book! We had a really good turnout and discussion of The Kitchen House. This was a page turner for most of us. We couldn't wait to see what new tragedy was on the next page. Actually, was there just too much that happened in the story? Was it possible that so many horrible things could happen one after another? This was a different time in history, so does that make it feasible? This book was about the lives of slaves and one indentured servant on a Virginia tobacco plantation. Was it better to be a servant or a slave? Were servants treated better than slaves? These are just a few of the questions we pondered.

Some of the main characters...
Lavinia, a 7 year old white Irish girl, was brought to the plantation as an indentured servant. She suffered the loss of her parents and brother at this tender age. She married an abusive guy that put her through hell. She got addicted to opium. Yet, she maintained her child like innocence through all she went through. Is this humanly possible? We discussed if it was because of being put in this situation at such a young age.

Marshall was pretty much abandoned by his parents and was physically and mentally abused by the overseer most of his childhood. Did his past justify his abusive and ruthless behavior? Most of us thought that, while nothing excuses the horrible things that he did, we could certainly see where it came from.

Belle was a slave and the illegitimate daughter of the master of the plantation and became a stand in mom for Lavinia. The slaves became Lavinia's adopted family.

Mama Mae and Papa George...we all loved Mama and Papa... They pretty much ran the kitchen house and were the peacemakers.

Although we really liked the book, there were a couple of complaints that some of us had with the author's writing style. Some felt like the writing was different in the first half than in the second and that the story was a little contrived with just too much going on. Some, also felt that the ending was abruptly stopped. Does this leave it open for a sequel?...

Our average rating was 4.02 :)

A Pig in Provence

No official review was written on this book.  We were all too busy with the holiday season.  None of us cared much for the book.  Let's try again next month, seems like we have had a series of bad books on our list.

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius-Review by Deb

We had 7 of us at the meeting yesterday and had a good discussion despite the overwhelming dislike for the author's style of writing.

The consensus was that the story was compelling but the stream of consciousness style was so off-putting that it spoiled the narrative. The highest rating was a 2 and most people gave it a 1.5

Eggers has authored a number of books and screenplays, he is editor of the literary magazine McSweeney's, and he and Toph co-author children's books. He gives a great deal of the proceeds of his work to charity and he also runs a children's workshop in San Francisco to teach kids from 6-18 yrs. old how to write. It was interesting to read one of the few interviews he granted and see behind the grandiose facade that he puts out in the book. His childhood was overshadowed by his father's alcoholism and his mother attempted to rigidly control the chaos of the household "where everyone fought about everything." He remembers needing to internalize the chaos and feeling responsible for his mother's happiness. After his parents' deaths he fought against keeping any kind of schedule for years and the free-for-all lifestyle that he and Toph led in California was obviously some part inexperience and youth and some part rebellion.

We agreed that Eggers really is a talented writer and we were drawn to the relationship that he had with Toph and wished it had been told more along the lines of The Glass Castle. It was hard to understand how the older brother did not take more of a role in raising Toph when he was obviously the most settled in his life. In my research about the book and author I was shocked to learn that their sister Beth committed suicide in 2001 shortly after the book was published. Eggers hasn't discussed her death in any detail however he did say she was unhappy with the book and felt that he minimized the impact she had on raising Toph. 

There were some bright spots in the book and he is clearly able to write some laugh out loud moments but they weren't enough to sustain the book. 

Kellie who loves disfunction (in other people's lives) declared it was her least favorite book she has read since being in the book club. Many felt the writing was self-indulgent, but  we also agreed that the majority of 20 somethings are incredibly selfish. 

The beginning was obviously difficult to read given the real health struggles so many of us are dealing with now.

The sense was that the non stop dialogue was so intense it was exhausting to read and created more tension in the reader than enjoyment. Bonnie Jean said we all have had similar thoughts but have managed with age to put a filter on what comes out. Obviously at 21 Eggers did not have much of a filter and every thought just poured out. 

The end of the book (spoiler alert but I know if you haven't read it yet you won't) was incredibly disappointing. Toph and Dave were throwing the frisbee on a nude beach in California and talking about a move to New York and it just trailed off after one of Dave's rants….

The extensive preface was far more enlightening to read after having finished the book but it was too much more of the same…

We are beginning to question how we are choosing our books since so many have been rather disappointing reads despite receiving overwhelmingly positive reviews and awards….

Revolutionary Summer-Review by Bonnie Jean

We had a small, but happy meeting yesterday.  Liz made some sort of delicious cashews - which we all enjoyed.  The discussion was good because of the things we learned about that small time period in American history.  None of us were overly fond of the book, the ratings ranged from a low of 1.5 to a high of 3.5.  The reason for the low ratings on the book was not because we didn't enjoy the information presented.  It was because the way the information was presented was 1) more academic/drier than what we expected, and 2) the book was missing the relationship piece of the story - which we all would have enjoyed.  We wanted to know more of the connections between the players, feel their story was more personal.  I will leave you with this question/discussion topic that the author posed in an on-line book-talk I listened to. 

    He said -

A republic depends on the value of its ideas to succeed.

 

An empire depends on the power of its arms to succeed.

 

While we may consider ourselves a "republic", the rest of the world considers us an "empire".  Are our actions in the world today similar to England's in 1776?  Our core values are in conflict with us being an imperial power.  Our original intent was not to succeed by the power of our arms.  Joseph Ellis believes that our country should at least have this discussion.

 

Our November book is November: A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius – Dave Eggers

Watership Down-Review by Valerie

We had a great meeting on Friday and had a great turnout! For those of you who couldn't make it, we missed you. Liz, our newest member, was there and fit right in to our crazy conversation.  Once again, welcome Liz!

Watership Down was written in 1972 by Richard Adams.  He has said that this was based upon stories he would tell his girls as they were driving through the English countryside.  They then told him he should turn it into a novel.  His book was rejected by numerous publishers before being picked up by a small publisher. Over the next few years, Watership Down sold over a million copies worldwide and became a modern classic. 

It was not easy to find book club discussion question as the bulk of online material is geared toward literature classes, breaking down each chapter in detail. We all agreed that this is not a children's book although teens (especially boys) may like it. Some of the main concepts in the book revolved around friendship, courage, villains and heroes. Adams was posted to the Royal Army and military structure is seen throughout the book.

Now for the review....

We were all over the place on our ratings, ranging from a 1 to a 5 and averaging 3.25.  We pretty much loved it or hated it, with a few in between. Most of us agreed that the first part of the book was hard to get through but it did pick up. Those who did not like the book felt it was way too wordy, especially the descriptions of the countryside, flowers, trees, the warrens, etc. Another criticism was regarding their rabbit language. Why did they know certain English words yet had to make up rabbit words for other things, such as "hrududu" for car? Some also never felt like they connected to the rabbits and never gave a second thought to those cute little bunnies (Kellie!) There was a nice which was too tidy for those who like hard, painful, deadly endings (Kellie!) The legendary stories told about El-ahrairah, the rabbit folk hero, were hard to get through.

Those who liked the book were able to connect to the characters and root for them throughout the book. The story was poignant and touching and had great character development. It made you want to know what was going to happen to each of the rabbits. The perspective was interesting and different from the norm. Most of us would have liked to have had more female rabbits involved in the plot. It was a male dominated story although females were the driving force behind most of the action! The language issues were not bothersome; after all, this was published as a children's book, which is very scary! Why do I keep thinking of Rosie eating all those baby bunnies?

All in all, it was a good discussion and another classic completed!

We discussed the possibility of reading "Regret Not a Moment", by Nicole McGehee, Lisa Fournier's neighbor, and discussing it in January. Nicole would come speak to our group that month. We would push all books back one month to accommodate this book. 

We are now reading "Revolutionary Summer" by Joseph Ellis.

Happy reading! Looking forward to seeing you all in October.