Hi to all the brave souls who came to the November meeting! And of course to those who were there in spirit. There was a smaller number than usual for this month’s book group at Berwick – but lots of regulars were away and of course it is a busy time of the year. Once again I think Kim’s teas, coffees and cherry and almond shortbread were good enough reasons to come!
We were reading the much-hyped The Time Traveller’s Wife, the highly accomplished first novel by Audrey Niffenegger. What an interesting reponse we had. I think it’s fair to say that there was a distinct gender split! Four of the women were pretty positive about it, whereas the two chaps couldn’t get into it at all. I’d be really interested to know if there’s been a similar gender-related demarcation in other book groups that have read this novel.
Although I think we agreed we wouldn’t classify it under science fiction, those who loved the book were impressed by the author’s very thorough examination of the possibilities and the ramifications of time travel – and how she even managed to make it funny. The boys wondered whether the time travel “worked out” although we decided against getting out the pen and paper to draw up a timeline!
But the time travel was really secondary to the love story. For me and some of the others who were taken with it, it was a very hopeful book concentrating on the potential for love to conquer all. I felt that although the book was called The Time Traveller’s Wife, Henry was the more rounded and better realised character. A reader who shall remain nameless admitted to being a bit in love with Henry on a first reading – although a second reading flagged up more of his flaws! One reader who much prefers sci-fi and would never usually read a romantic novel absolutely loved it, so that was one of those happenings that makes a reading group well worthwhile!
We all had slight reservations about the frequent time-travelling by Henry to Clare as a child. It wasn’t helped by the rather unpleasant front cover, which did have a look of one of those child-abuse misery memoirs that seem to fill the shop shelves these days. But perhaps that discomfort says a lot about our culture today – I wonder, if the book had come out 10 or 15 years ago, whether we would have felt this way.
As we consign that novel to the past, we have a slightly earlier meeting next month to take account of Christmas. We’ll be reading Pat Barker’s Life Class. Looking forward to seeing everyone then!
Next meeting: Tuesday December 16th, 6.30pm. Doolally’s on Marygate, Berwick. Life Class by Pat Barker.
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