Friday, June 18, 2010
Our July Book Selection
The book receiving the most votes was Let the Great World Spin: A Novel, by Colum McCann. Discussion will begin in five weeks -- July 23, 2010. Enjoy reading.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Book Club Selections for June/July
Maggie is hosting the next Ethereal Reader book club. Her book selections are: Queen of Palmyra, by Minrose Gwin; A Long Time Ago and Essentially True, by Brigid Pasulka; The Last Child, by John Hart; and Let the Great World Spin: A Novel, by Colum McCann.
You have until Friday, June 18, to cast your vote. Please email Kris at kzmclain@comcast.net to let me know your book choice. Ethereal Reader will announce the book Friday.
Saturday, June 5, 2010
The Reliable Wife
Once I came to grips with the fact that I would never remember the name of this book -- I called it The Reluctant Wife, The Realistic Wife, The Rambunctious Wife (well, that last one's not actually true; I never called it that) -- I enjoyed this deeply disturbing but quite thought-provoking novel.
At first look, the characters seemed to be one dimensional. Clearly Catherine was evil; after all, she was out to kill Mr. Truitt for money. As for Mr. Truitt, he was simply a sexual pervert, wasn't he? But as I read on, I found the two main characters to actually be very complex and interesting, if not exactly likeable.
As I read a book, especially for book club, I try to decide which character I like the best, or that at least I find the most interesting. About halfway through the book, I was thinking to myself that I detested all of the characters and found none to be compelling. By the end, however, I found myself drawn to Catherine. It's true she had done some terrible things, and was about to do the most terrible thing of all. But as I learned about her past, I was able to see why she did the things she did. Furthermore (and more importantly), I realized that she had a conscience and even a bit of a moral compass.
Give me some of your thoughts about the characters -- who did you find most interesting or who did you like the best?
I think the thing I liked most about this book, the thing that kept me turning the pages, was the author's writing style. I found the cadence to be almost poetic. He would write the most disturbing words but I found it to be beautifully written. It was the kind of book that I would get to the end of a chapter and want to keep reading, even if I was tired. It wasn't because I couldn't wait to find out what happened next; it really was just the writing style. And I LOVED the ending.
What did you like best about the book? You must answer this question even if you disliked the book.
I found Mr. Truitt's obsession with sex (and the author's choice of discriptives) to be one of the things that I found most uncomfortable about the book. As I learned of his past, however, I decided he really was obsessed with sex because that was the only way in which he found closeness and what he considered to be love. It was a bit over the top, however. Sleeping with his finger in her sex? Really?
I also didn't quite get the random references to people cutting off their hands or hanging themswelves. I found that to be quite weird.
What did you like least about the book?
My rating is 8 out of 10.
At first look, the characters seemed to be one dimensional. Clearly Catherine was evil; after all, she was out to kill Mr. Truitt for money. As for Mr. Truitt, he was simply a sexual pervert, wasn't he? But as I read on, I found the two main characters to actually be very complex and interesting, if not exactly likeable.
As I read a book, especially for book club, I try to decide which character I like the best, or that at least I find the most interesting. About halfway through the book, I was thinking to myself that I detested all of the characters and found none to be compelling. By the end, however, I found myself drawn to Catherine. It's true she had done some terrible things, and was about to do the most terrible thing of all. But as I learned about her past, I was able to see why she did the things she did. Furthermore (and more importantly), I realized that she had a conscience and even a bit of a moral compass.
Give me some of your thoughts about the characters -- who did you find most interesting or who did you like the best?
I think the thing I liked most about this book, the thing that kept me turning the pages, was the author's writing style. I found the cadence to be almost poetic. He would write the most disturbing words but I found it to be beautifully written. It was the kind of book that I would get to the end of a chapter and want to keep reading, even if I was tired. It wasn't because I couldn't wait to find out what happened next; it really was just the writing style. And I LOVED the ending.
What did you like best about the book? You must answer this question even if you disliked the book.
I found Mr. Truitt's obsession with sex (and the author's choice of discriptives) to be one of the things that I found most uncomfortable about the book. As I learned of his past, however, I decided he really was obsessed with sex because that was the only way in which he found closeness and what he considered to be love. It was a bit over the top, however. Sleeping with his finger in her sex? Really?
I also didn't quite get the random references to people cutting off their hands or hanging themswelves. I found that to be quite weird.
What did you like least about the book?
My rating is 8 out of 10.
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