THE TATTOOIST OF AUSCHWITZ by Heather Morris

It was nice to have our 4 new ladies at the meeting today, and a special welcome to Lynn.  We read Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris.  This was written as a novel after the author interviewed Lali Sokolov for 3 years as he told her his story.  For him, it was a story of his falling in love with the most wonderful girl.  It just happened to take place in one of the worst places and times in history.  With the exception of one member, the book club liked the book.  With one low rating of 1.0, the rest spanned from 3.25-4.50, with an average of 3.5.  

The cons regarding  the book was that while it was a novel, some of the historical data didn’t match with Lale’s recollections of his experience in camp; and the author’s writing style could have been more developed.  Some of the pros mentioned were that it had heart, the reader could feel the sense hope that Lale and Gita felt in the book, the romance was sweet, and the story itself for a “5” even if the writing style was a bit lacking.

A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES By Deborah Harkness

The Timbers BookClub, read and reviewed “A Discovery of Witches” by historian Deborah Harkness.  The book is the first of a trilogy that has been made into a TV series in the UK.  This was her first work of fiction.  It is also important to note that she is a well known wine writer.

Our book club followed what seemed to the trend on GoodReads.  Readers seemed to completely love the book or totally hate it. It was interesting that our bookclub felt the same way.  

For the members that did not like the book, some felt that the author spent a lot of time and verbiage on describing a lot of details about the wine and the food and it was suggested that the author needed a better editor.  The members that did not like it also felt that the romance was too juvenile in nature, it was mentioned that the book was too long and it was not a preferred genre of another member.  

Even for those that liked it, some felt that it was very slow going for the first half of the book.  Those that liked the book did enjoy the love story and several members of our club plan to read the next book or have already started it. The historians in the club did really enjoy the book and the references to the events in history.

The average of everyone’s rating was 2.85.

ALL THE UGLY AND WONDERFUL THINGS By Bryn Greenwood

The group engaged a long discussion of All The Ugly And Wonderful Things last Wednesday.   It is the story of a girl (Wavy), who at the age of 8, develops a friendship with a young man (Kellen) who is 20.  Their relationship evolves from a big brother/little sister situation to a sexual one as they get older.  

This book dealt with many uncomfortable subjects: illegal drugs, spousal abuse, child abuse/neglect, murder.  But, in particular, the sexualization of children and pedophilia.  And yet, the author takes that topic, flips it on its side and forces the reader to look at an older man/young girl relationship from a different perspective.   While none of us would ever condone a 28 year old man hooking up with OUR 13 year old daughter, somehow the author flipped this narrative from “Ugly” to “Wonderful”.  What really is the best course of action and care for a child at risk?  We found ourselves scratching our heads, how brilliant a writer, to take something so taboo as pedophilia, and encourage the reader to consider, is this specific relationship okay with me?  Would it be okay if this were a Catholic priest and a young boy?  If not, why?  Why are we not more outraged at the criminality of the situation?  

This novel pushed our boundaries and found us questioning our viewpoint on age of consent.  What defines a healthy relationship?  We found ourselves being appalled by and then defending Kellen's actions, all in the same breath.  This book stuck with many of us, but in the end, we discovered, you don’t have to agree with every story to appreciate it.  The book was highly rated by all of us, scores ranging from 4.0-4.75.