Meeting Notes by Fiona

Glittering Prizes 2023

Christmas Literary Event

Meeting on Tuesday 12th  December 2023

Thirteen members met on a grey damp day (with occasional glimpses of sunshine).  Irene very kindly hosted us at her house.  There were two apologies.  

Food and drink were supplied by members of the group (the food being especially noteworthy).

The agenda of the meeting was as follows:

1. Review this year’s discussions

2. Awarding the year’s Glittering Prize

3. The Conversation Jar

4. Barn Tub Lucky Dip

5. Famous Last Words

6. The Alphabet Challenge

7. Picture Quiz

8. Starting Points

9. Off Piste – best books you have read this year

10. Next Year

Review this year’s discussions

This was lead by Irene.

January: Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead 

February: The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne 

March: Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason

April: Love and Other Thought Experiments by Sophie Ward

May: Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

June: The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak

July: Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

August: The Sentence by Louise Erdrich

September: Lessons by Ian McEwan

October: Motherwell: A Girlhood by Deborah Orr

November: The Bass Rock by Evie Wyld

The January and September meetings had the least number of members at just 9 and the  March meeting had 13!  The most common is 10 members at a meeting (four times in 2023).​

Awarding the year’s Glittering Prize

The Glittering Prize award went to Sharon 🏆for suggesting the book with the highest votes:

First Prize: 9.57 Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (Sharon)

Second: 8.38 The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne (Mary)

Third: 8.1 Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead (Victoria)

4: 7.89 Lessons by Ian McEwan (Irene)

5: 7.82 Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus (Julie)

6: 7.7 The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak (Kevin)

Joint 7: 7.38 Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason 

7.38 The Sentence by Louise Erdrich (Kevin)

9: 6.54 The Bass Rock by Evie Wyld (Mary)

10: 6.4  Motherwell: A Girlhood by Deborah Orr 

11: 5.22 Love and Other Thought Experiments by Sophie Ward (Valentina)

The Conversation Jar

We dipped into the conversation jar a few times during the afternoon while people were helping themselves to food and drink.

Barn Tub Lucky Dip

We decided not to do ‘Australian Rules’ Lucky Dip and agreed to swap a book if it had already been read. 

Famous Last Words

Kevin had complied the last lines from the books we have read this year.  We then had to  guess which book.

The Alphabet Challenge

Julie organised this year’s challenge which was based on the book Sorrow and Bliss.  We had to take 6 to 8 consecutive letters of the alphabet to describe a book from our 2023 reading list and the rest of us had to guess which book it was. 

A special award went to Dorothy 🎖️ for managing to complete two challenges with the letters from A to W!!

Picture Quiz 

Sharon organised the picture quiz.​

Starting Points

Irene had us read opening passages from the books this year.  Not only did we have to guess the book but in some cases the characters names and the time of year the book was set. 

Off Piste

We didn’t have time to go through all the best books we have read this year so Sharon has  volunteered to get a list together.

The Bass Rock

by Evie Wyld

Meeting on 21st November 2023 

Notes by Fiona

Eleven members met on a grey drizzly day inside the Cambridge Blue public house on Gwydir Street for the last book discussion meeting of the year.   There were four apologises.  Mary had nominated the book and very kindly lead the meeting.

Voting (11 at the meeting and 2 on email)

9 x 2

8 x 2

7 x 3

6 x 1

5 x 4

4 x 1

Average 6.54

Although born in the UK, Evie Wyld grew up in Australia – her first two books have won awards – there was a gap of seven years until the publication of her third novel The Bass Rock – shortlisted for the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction and won the Stella Prize in 2021 – also listed among 2020’s best books by Vogue – this is a more personal book than her previous ones - Ruth is based on her grandmother and Vivienne is based upon herself – spent many years on the book with re-edits and splicing it up – themes in the book resonate with the “Me Too” movement

Set in Scotland it explores the shared experiences of three women living in the 18th century, 1950s and the present and the ways their lives are impacted by male violence – the Bass Rock is a witness to all the violence throughout history – intergenerational trauma

We had a very interesting discussion about the issues raised in this book: toxic masculinity and male violence towards women and children and the abuse of power over vulnerable people – history of violence against women and children and how it ‘haunts’ the following generations – the ghosts of violence which bleed through society - the continual history of male violence: the current wars; Jess Phillips reading the list of all women in the UK killed by men each year; the very recent murder of a woman by her husband in Histon; abuse of girls in Rotherham; Sarah Everard – the spiking of drinks – it is still out there and we don’t talk about it – this book shows the violence 

Patriarchal view of women – no empathy for the characters – didn’t engage with the characters - unlikeable – there was a passivity in the women – would have preferred to see them as more survivors – stereotypical characters – male violence and women’s passivity – clichéd – ‘Me Too’ and saying no are empowering to modern financially independent women but Sarah and Ruth were not independent (Gwyneth Paltrow was abused by Harvey Weinstein but her boyfriend Brad Pitt was able to confront him about it) – the book is not subtle enough about an ongoing situation despite Me Too (male violence against women and girls) – the male characters are very sketchy (usually the other way around) – the women are unsympathetic and passive and need to fight back but it is not always possible – passivity is realistic as not everyone can fight back (human nature is to protect themselves and sometimes it is better to face the violence than run away from it)

It could be seen as seen as a negative novel about masculinity, but the boys also were subject to male abuse – intimidation of someone stronger and with more authority – the boarding school and the physical violence by the housemaster – teach boys about male strength and violence

The scene setting of the beach and the rock was very good – the author writes well and is quite literary – sometimes there is too much detail and at other times not enough – good writer – enjoyed the sense of foreboding – very good writing – enjoyed the interaction of the different, often clashing temperaments of the characters and the moody, gothic backdrop

Interesting portrayal of society at the picnic on the beach – the game of tickling with the children (fun?) and the tickling by Vincent (creepy?) and of course tickle torture of witches– this scene made me cringe

The book left me feeling uncomfortable – quite bleak and dark overall – dark with literal ghosts – didn’t like being made aware of the issues raised – would have liked a good story without the over-the-top misogyny – unremittingly negative – readers felt they were not uplifted, educated nor entertained by the novel – if the book blurb had mentioned the theme of male violence, I would have avoided reading it but as fiction I enjoyed it – would be good to have a bit of caution when reading this book due to its violent themes – only read half the book – didn’t like the supernatural element to the book – didn’t learn anything from the story – there is a hovering threat of violence and disaster – a very distressing and disturbing story – it is a very good novel and got more out of the story on a re-read and having listened to interviews about the book – there is echoing and repetition throughout the book possibly due to the many re-edits and splicing together of different chapters - it is quite a page-turner due to the spooky tension and the looming rock within the sight of the characters

Liked the Ruth and Vivienne sections – their stories drove the story forward – was Sarah’s story required? – possibly to show the background to her ghost – many ghosts in the book but they are benign; they appear but don’t interact with the main characters – what about the ‘cherry’ chapters, were they needed in the story?  The cherry chapters tied in some of the storyline but it is difficult to know how until you have read the end of the book – the cherry chapters were difficult to read due to the violence in them

The book shows us the subjectivity and barbarism suffered by females in the distant past, the awkward jarring between female and male in a marriage in the recent past and finally nowaday awkwardness between an anxious person and those she comes across who are seemingly much more comfortable in their skin

Ruth and Vivienne are very damaged women and have ended up in these abusive relationships but they are also attractive to abusive men who see their weaknesses 

Sarah’s story narrated by Joseph – Ruth’s story in the third person – Vivienne’s story narrated by herself

Interesting beginning to the book – which ties up with the last story in the book – read like a series of short stories – didn’t like the disjointed story telling – too mixed up and bad things happened to women and other weak characters – the story jumped around too much - story not fleshed out enough – it was a slog to read – the elaborate structure didn’t seem to work – didn’t understand the structure but was absorbed in the story without needing to – the different timelines appeared clichéd – liked the structure – would have preferred a more fluid structure – perhaps it would work better for a younger generation with ‘sound bites’ 

The chapters are numbered: I – II – III – II - I with a ‘cherry’ chapter inbetween

I for Vivienne 

II for Ruth 

III for Sarah

Sarah – a young attractive girl who is raped by boys in a barn – her story is told through the voice of Joseph – possible as a metaphor for the fact women didn’t have their own voices in the early 1700s – she was accused of being a witch but she wasn’t one – some people are called witches just so society can get rid of them

Ruth – married to Peter who is having an affair with a young girl (who is pregnant with Deborah) – married to be a nannie to his boys following the death of their mother – Ruth’s relationship with her husband were reminiscent of the 1950s – ‘In order to hide his affair, her husband was willing to have her committed to an insane asylum’

Vivienne -daughter to Bernadette and Michael – mental health issues - Vivienne calls her father during a sleepover and he collects her straightaway: is this because of his own childhood trauma – in a relationship with Vincent who is quite a repellent character – had an affair with Katherine’s husband – Vivienne and Katherine wait on the train while Dominic is at the train station and Katherine says “I don’t know” when asked what they should do – psychic connection between Vivienne and Christopher (rubbing of legs – scratching eczema) are they possibly father and daughter?

Ruth mourns her dead brother Anthony and Vivienne mourns her dead father Michael: does this make them vulnerable to abusive men?

Maggie’s speech towards the end of the book appears central to the story

Bernadette seemed to have a happy single life after having been married to Michael for many years but she goes back to Christopher at the end of the story

Betty the cook and the Reverend Jon Brown were good characters – although other members thought the reverend to be a seriously dodgy character

Mary is raped in one of the vignettes (cherry chapters) – she has an epileptic fit in the wardrobe which is where the banging noises come from – Bernadette is her daughter resulting from the abuse

The reverend knew of the abuse of the boys at their school –he was also complicit in the ECT treatment given to Mary – the mention of ECT treatment was a throwaway line in the novel

Good portraits of nasty people such as the Reverend and Peter

The Overstory by Richard Powers: The best arguments in the world won’t change a person’s mind.  The only thing that can do that is a good story

Misandry in popular culture include portrayals of men as absent, insensitive or abusive – feminism sometimes confused with misandry or man hating – ‘only good men are dead men’ – ‘the hurt that men do’

Audible version included distinctly different voices to each character

Would I recommend this book – probably not…!

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Meeting on 17th October 2023 notes by Fiona

Motherwell: A girlhood by Deborah Orr

10 members met inside the Cambridge Blue on a sunny but chilly autumn day.

Voting 

  8 x 3

  7 x 3

  6 x 2

  4 x 1

  3 x 1

Average 6.4

We had a very engaging discussion with regard to memories and parent/child relationships.  We finished at 2:07pm!

Deborah Orr was born in 1962 and died in 2019 at the age on 57 years.  The memoir was published posthumously.  

Deborah worked for The Guardian (editor of the weekend magazine), The Independent and other publications.  She was also married to Will Self from 1997 to 2018

Deborah Orr’s obituary:  Orr was ‘never knowingly not difficult’ and was also ‘supportive of young journalists’ – she was a much loved writer by other journalists 

Didn’t enjoy the book – preferred the discussion to the book – enjoyed the first third of the book – enjoyed the writing and the descriptions – lyrical at the beginning of the book but the rest is quite mundane and repetitive – the student years were boring compared to her early life – written in quite a journalistic ‘chunky’ manner

The background of Motherwell as a place in time and its position being overlooked by the steelworks was very evocative – this is a bit generic although it did reflect how people lived and talked in those times – post-industrial Scotland and moving from a terraced house with an outside loo into a new build with an indoor bathroom were discussed – the protestant and catholic divisions in Scottish society 

There is a foreshadowing at the beginning of the book but nothing happens until her later life 

Memoir – it is written in quite a journalistic style – was it cathartic for Orr to write this memoir? – as a memoir she is able to write about what she wants as she saw the events – hoped the book would be more about Orr’s life and her work

The book was published after Deborah Orr’s death – perhaps if she had lived longer she may have made some edits – there is some repetitions in later parts of the book – had she thought about when this book was to be published as it was just a few months after she had died – poignant to read a book so soon after someone’s death – perhaps this book was a way of self-discovery and sadly Deborah Orr died too soon

“Once you are ‘remembering’ things from this early in your life, your mind can’t be trusted at all.  Yet old memories shape you, whether they’re real, imagined, a dream, a photograph you’ve seen or someone else’s memory, passed on through your own perfidious filter.  After a certain age, only a fool trusts her recollections.  I’m nothing if not a fool.”

We had a discussion about brain development and emotional senses of a young life; that you cannot remember what happened but the emotional feeling of that event is remembered – can we rely on our memories?

Perhaps Orr is told what happened but is not able to remember the actual events herself.

“I expect, when I do show my feelings or try to explain them, those feelings to be denied by the person who is inspiring them.  I didn’t know, until recently, that denying another person their own feelings is the foundation of all emotional abuse.”

Overuse of the word ‘narcissist’ – contradicts herself by saying her mother was a terrible narcissist then in the next sentence saying she was a loving mother – Orr belittles her parents – she is looking at them through a modern eye rather than at the time they lived in – felt sorry for Win who did the best she could within the restrictions of the time – Win was not able to develop her talent as an artist – she put her talents into being a brilliant housewife and being house proud

It is a book about mothers and daughters and in particular about mothers with just one daughter - Orr felt restricted by her parents – she wanted to go to university but her parents didn’t want her to go – perhaps her mother wanted Deborah to go art college to have the life Win wasn’t able to have – many missed opportunities 

David (younger brother) was the favourite one – siblings treated differently but they are a different birth order, different personalities and of course different expectations from one being a girl and one a boy

Win was in charge of the household words – Win wasn’t able to have her own life – her life became about the house and her family – Win was set in her ways – Win made the rules and John was the enforcer

John (father) worked in factory 6 days a week – he saw himself as a semi-skilled labourer but Win felt it was a slur on him when Deborah wrote that on her marriage certificate – Deborah writes that perhaps it was more that it made herself feel good that her father was of the working class – John was offered the job at the forest commission but he wanted to be near the golf course and the football ground

It seems that Orr is writing this as though looking at her parents through a modern lens – a ‘teenage’ view of parents – a 57 year old woman still blaming her parents; perhaps it would have been best to let them rest – it makes Deborah Orr look spiteful – she shouldn’t compare her parents to current ideals

The book made you feel that we all have similar upbringings – you are not alone in how your parents made you feel – Deborah Orr says she feels she has to censor conversations she has with her mother but we all do that to some extent

“Late one evening, after my baby was asleep, she fired at me, out of the blue: ‘You like IT.  Don’t you?’ I knew what she meant by ‘IT’ right away.”

“My parents are dead.  But they would die all over again if they knew that this information had been placed by their daughter in the public domain.”

“It is awful to know that there was a vast, sad void at the heart of your parents’ happy marriage, to know that they spent their lives as perfect victims of a cruel, joyless, needless cultural repression that damaged their relationship with each other, their relationships with their children and their relationships with themselves…they were loyal to each other in their sexual misery and shame.”

“I know that the shame, fear and disgust my poor mum felt about sex has been shared by many women.  I think that many men have been made to feel like monsters for wanting to be a lover to someone they loved.”

There was a discussion about whether it was fair to write about her parents’ private lives especially as her brother is still alive and possibly other family members – there are ethical issues with dishonouring her parents - Win and John are not able to put their versions of events – but John and Win were a happy couple in later life – should the book have been published? 

David Orr is very angry that this book has been published

Orr seems to blame her parents for the terrible decisions she makes in later life – she is not accepting responsibility for her own actions – she tries to defy her mother but also wants approval from her - less sympathy for Deborah Orr as she goes through her teenage and university years – she sees herself as a ‘victim’ – most parents do the best they can for their children and are not to blame for all the issues in a person’s life: get over it!

Gabriel Quigley was the reader of the audible version – had a lovely Scottish accent (although it didn’t appear to be a Lanarkshire accent) – however a nasal estuary accent was used for Win which made her dislikeable 

Meeting on 19th September 2023 notes by Fiona

 
Lessons by Ian McEwan

9 members met on a windy end of summer day inside the Cambridge Blue public house on Gwydir Street.   There were six apologises.  Irene had nominated the book and very kindly lead the meeting.

Voting (8 at the meeting and 1 on email)

9 x 4

8 x 1

7 x 3

6 x 1

(one member came to the meeting but had not finished the book and did not vote)

Average 7.89

Irene nominated the book as she is a big fan of the works of Ian McEwan and she loathed the piano lessons she was made to do as a child.  

It is an epic story of a life – maybe of more interest to the ‘boomer’ generation as Roland is born in the late 1940s – the reader’s experience merges with the story – there is a lot of history in the story – it is a long unhurried novel (written during Lockdown) and cannot be whizzed through – it needs to be read in long sittings rather than quick short chunks – it is a very long book – enjoyed the story; it is very interesting but quite bloated – needed editing – it is a very good attempt to write a long novel – enjoyed the political commentary – Roland is left wing – it was annoying when the book would mention something else in the following sentence before coming back to the story – have enjoyed previous books by Ian McEwan but this was like wading through quick sand; where was it going? – it has been redemptive to enjoy McEwan again – not sure of where the novel was going so read the end and was able to carry on reading knowing what the author was attempting to do to the story - the relationships are painted very well – jewels of writing so many quotable lines – writes a fantastic character – it is a review of a long life

There was a discussion of the ethical use of real people as characters – how much of this book is autobiographical? – how do we feel about which part is real and which is fiction; does it matter? - many authors write about their experiences of life and people they have met – Roland is concerned that some of the fictional elements of Alissa’s book would be seen as fact – Roland is ‘self-centred’ to feel the book is all about him as many readers may not think that way – “It’s a novel, not a memoir”

We also discussed the very recent headlines of Russell Brand – he states his relationships were all consensual but at what age is a young person cognitive of giving consent - Roland was a teenage boy being abused by a piano teacher but at the time he was a willing participant in the relationship – it is a grim subject and may put off people from reading the book – historic sexual abuse is also topical and the police being involved and their ‘quota’ of female abusers – Roland didn’t tell anyone about the abuse while at school and nobody guessed what was happening – Miriam used Roland when he was a boy and she damaged him

News about global insecurity but as individuals we have security in our families and friendships

What was Roland expecting/wanting from his meeting with Miriam – Miriam said she would agree to the charges so that Roland would not have to go to court – what was the impact on Miriam throughout the years following her conduct – her life was unknown – Roland and Miriam had no understanding of each other nor about the future – he was enjoying the passion and she was wanting a marriage – there is a complexity to the issue of Roland’s relationship with Miriam as he consented to it – he sees Miriam as a mother figure – what was in her earlier life to make the decision to have a relationship with a child

The impact of this relationship when he was young has affected Roland for a very long time (all his life) – there is a fight over Daphne’s ashes between Roland and Peter who obviously still has feelings for her despite the length of time they were divorced – there is the impact of World War II which affects the older characters 

Daphne’s character is quite sentimental – she is the perfect wife – Roland finds he is unable to commit to a relationship with Daphne – he could have married her earlier

Alissa starts her writing career from the diaries her mother gave to her – was her mother aware her sexual experiences were written in the diary

A successful life – who was more successful: the one who stayed with the baby or the writer who left it all behind – Alissa is a successful writer but is not successful in relationships – she earned fame and adoration from her writing but not from her own child

Roland is quite self-indulgent – unsatisfactory meetings with Miriam and Alissa – his life is of passive decision making – the rest of his life is not wasted but he has no plans and he trips along while history is made around him – his talent is wasted (piano and brain) and he never gets back to it – Roland doesn’t realise his life has not been wasted until the end of the book when he is with his granddaughter – comes to terms with the decisions he made or didn’t make

It is interesting that abuse is of a young boy by an older woman and Alissa who leaves the marriage and her baby for Roland to look after on his own – two situations which are more often seen in reverse – interesting to see how people react differently when there is a switch on what is expected from women and men – is Alissa less to blame for her decision to leave her child because she wrote a good novel? – having a baby and the demands of motherhood and her having to claw her way out of the pressure

The element of choices made or not made – there is no choice in the circumstances of birth – “How easy it was to drift through an unchosen life, in a succession of reactions to events.  He had never made an important decision.” – Rosalind gives up all her children for Robert but does she have a chance to make a different choice? – Alissa has a choice but cannot see herself as a successful writer without having to make a sacrifice.

Would have liked to see more development of the unknown brother – parallel universe with meeting his brother: would Roland be more like him if he had made other choices

The impossibility of examining memory

what lessons are we learning? 

The audio book is very well narrated by Simon McBurney who is a film, television and theatre actor.

...
The Sentence

by Louise Erdrich

Meeting on 15th August 2023

Notes by Fiona 

11 members met outside on a beautiful warm sunny day after a month of rain in the garden of the Cambridge Blue public house on Gwydir Street.   There were four apologises.  Kevin had nominated the book and very kindly lead the meeting.  He also sang some Johnny Cash for us all.

Voting (11 at the meeting and 1 on email)

10 x 1

9 x 1

8.5 x 2

8 x 1

7.5 x 1

7 x 3

6 x 1

5 x 2

Average 7.38 

Louise is a native American author of many books and won a Pulitzer Prise for Fiction for The Night Watchman in 2021.

Kevin describes the book as ‘f**king freaky’ – there were a lot of storylines – maybe too many themes – uses many terms which have to be looked up – would have liked a glossary - not concrete - slippery text – overegged that sometimes the family stuff is buried among all the other themes – liked aspects of the book but didn’t work as a novel – doesn’t gel - weird balance of fantastic writing but odd storyline – loved the words (and sentences) but not the story – not a coherent novel - liked the writing – trying too hard by putting too much in - lots of layers – imagery was lovely –liked the pace of the book- very sad - many quotable sentences – enjoyed the book but only 55% read – didn’t enjoy it – struggled with the book – educated rather than entertained by the book – not an easy book to read but clever and well written - not fictional enough - why is this book so long?

Didn’t like the start of the book but was okay after about 20 pages – there was a big set-up for the prison sentence but was not relevant to the rest of the story – liked the beginning of the book: bodysnatching, drugs, stealing the van – starts as a crime story but becomes an indigenous peoples story  - disappointed the crime element didn’t carry through the book – liked the start of the book but felt it had lost its way – may have started as a book about the ghost and Tookie but then covid happened and the death of George Floyd and the repercussions in Minneapolis ended up in the book too which perhaps should have been a separate story as it didn’t add to the plot

It may be that Tookie has past trauma from being in prison which makes her act the way she does – the prison sentence and how routines are forced upon Tookie without a choice – the despair of routines with being in prison and again forced on Tookie and us all during the covid pandemic – Tookie has a choice about her routines with Pollux and she is happy and content with them – there is also a routine to Flora’s haunting of the bookshop and the routine of Tookie’s fierce walks during lockdown

It is a character driven novel – describes wonderful and real relationships between Tookie and Pollux, Tookie and Hetta and her baby – the touches of the domestic life is wonderful (Tookie Hetta and the baby) – family tensions during periods of love and times of difficulties – details a long term relationship and how they work through their pain – loved the relationships in the book especially between Tookie and Hetta 

The book blurb states it is a wickedly funny ghost story but it is much more than that – no empathy with ghost stories – the ghost is the least interesting part of the story – is the ghost real or imaginary? – is Flora a spirit or a ghost? – couldn’t suspend the disbelief of the ghostly haunting – believe in spirits but not ghosts – there is a lot of the paranormal that we don’t understand – a white woman haunting a place for native Americans rather than the more common reverse situation – spirits helping to read the past and present but not the future – then one day Flora walks out of the door and the haunting ends 

The native American culture is haunted by their history with western settlers – Tookie is haunted by Flora but also by her mother; her own history as well as her cultural history; her husband being the person who arrests her (“…he didn’t use cuffs, to be real about it, he used a zip tie like you’d fasten on a bag of garbage”) and her incarceration – the ghost is a projection of Tookie’s disturbed mind – the stressful events in prison lead to her mental health problems

It deals with native American culture – the indigenous culture is fascinating and what they have to live with – culture insensitivity – finally returning the bones of their ancestors - Issues of identity as a native American – white people wanting to have a native American culture but forget they displaced and killed them - who is Tookie? – indigenous cultures and black lives matter – wearing a ‘jingle dress’ to heal the community - about women and daughters and how they feed each other through food and stories - The world below feeds the world above – many varieties of wild rice grown on wetlands which is native American land and the banks investing to build houses on it “every world-destroying project disrupts something intimate, tangible and indigenous” – cultural issues that we don’t understand – comparing Aboriginal cultural in Australia with native Americans culture in the US they are treated quite differently 

Power of books and their ability to change people’s lives – books can teach us and by reading we can learn new ideas or gain an understanding of different cultures – this is a good as a companion book to help get started on indigenous studies course

Discusses very recent history - It is set from November 2021 to November 2022 and covers the Covid Pandemic and George Floyd – descriptions of issues of race – is it a work of fiction when it uses recent real events?  – the history of the indigenous Indians which then segues into covid and George Floyd – it is a divided and traumatised community not being able to connect due to lockdowns – lived through covid and didn’t want to read about it – the local experience of the George Floyd protests was very powerful

Tookie’s well-meaning and best intentions come to grief but also reflected in the wide world as the burning of the indigenous library during the George Floyd protest – Tookie made some stupid decisions and is having to live with them – she was incarcerated for a long time what has happened in Tookie’s head – the trauma of the prison sentence of being locked up – Tookie made many mistakes but she persisted

Tookie feels that Flora is trying to enter her body: descriptions of a heart attack or a panic attack or actual haunting

What does the ‘name’ mean at the end of the book – is Tookie named after Flora? – Flora cared for Tookie’s mother

A list of literary titles throughout the book and listed at the end – quite a few authors not known to the reading group

A recommendation for super summary for £19 a year and gives an in depth account of each chapter

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Small Things Like These

By Claire Keegan

Notes by Fiona

Ten club members met in the sunny garden of The Cambridge Blue on 18th July 2023.  Sharon had nominated this book and very kindly ran the meeting.

Votes by fourteen members:

10 x 9

 9 x 4

 8 x 1

Average 9.57

Winner of the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction 2022.

Shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the Rathbones Folio Prize in 2022.

This is a short novel (novella) just over 100 pages but the author had made 40 drafts of the story - A longer novel wouldn’t have suited the personalities in the story - a novel doesn’t need to be 400+ pages long to have a powerful, almost overwhelming impact - sometimes just padding - since Claire Keegan is a short story writer she doesn’t have the space to fall into the traps some longer novelists find themselves in - small but perfectly formed - emotional - a very polished book without a spare word but all there - this could be a syllabus book at school as it can create a lot of discussion - can be read in a day - it is a depressing read - can be appreciated in a detached way - humble descriptions of routines, rituals and duties which make up an adult life - tender portrayals of individual yearning and suffering and one human’s decision to turn away from quiet acceptance of cruelty and oppression - simplicity of the story telling and the quiet characterisation of Bill Furlong made for a powerful and memorable read 

It makes you think of what happens next…! - story told through show not tell made up of scenes packed with detail - thought it ended suddenly - would have liked to see what happens next - it feels like half a book but the reader can take the rest of the story in any direction - the reader is allowed to think and feel for themselves rather than be bludgeoned by the writer- torn between wishing the story was longer but knowing at the same time that it is the perfect length 

Beautiful and succinct - condensed writing - build-up of action at the end of the novel - new and fresh approach to a familiar subject - it is not focussed on the troubles or the violence (physical and mental) in the laundries - well written with a sense of doom but not preachy nor showing the terror - very emotional by the end of the book but it is not just about the magdalen laundries it has so many hidden depths - one man’s internal conversation - the underlying fear and tension of doing the wrong thing in society or what society sees as the wrong thing 

There is a excerpt at the beginning of the book from the Proclamation of the Irish Republic 1916 “…cherishing all of the children of nation equally."

The first paragraph is beautiful and flows along with a little crescendo “In October there were yellow trees… and soon the River Barrow, dark as stout, swelled up with rain.” - it sets up the novel 

Building of mood through language. The opening paragraph has three sentences. The first is short and needs no punctuation. The second has 1 comma to link the two thoughts. The third has 5 commas linking ideas. They are all visual reflections of autumn, of maturity and heading for winter (old age). They contain ‘small things’ which build up a mood, suggest childish painting, regulation and fecundity - Sentence 1 ‘in October there were yellow trees’. - an unexpected colour reminding of summer sun, and author is describing leaves not trees. But a good choice; unexpected warmth, mellowing, the way a child might paint a tree - Then the clocks went back an hour… and stripped the leaves bare - This brings in man’s ordering of the natural world, his efficiency and need to regulate (trains running to timetable) and cruelty as trees are stripped - In the town...chimneys threw out smoke...the quays...the river Barrow...dark as stout, swelled up with rain - The violence continues. Man-made (chimneys, quays etc) contrasts with nature (River Barrow) swelling (pregnancy) but drink is involved (stout); all of which set the scene.

Each chapter the first sentence orientates the reader:

1.In October there were yellow trees

2.Furlong had come from nothing

3.Christmas was coming

4.It was a December of crows (nuns)

5.On Christmas week snow was forecast

6.You missed first mass ‘Eileen said when he got home

7.On Christmas eve Furlong never feels more like not going in.

‘Would you mind telling me where this road will take me?’ ‘This road?’ The man put down the hook, leant on the handle and stared in at him. ‘This road will take you wherever you want to go, son’ - The man’s answer is emphasised by the pause as he considers his words. And the addition of ‘son’ used to address a middle-aged man, who still has a journey to make.

The building of mood in the story “It was a December of crows” - crows also being a description on the habits nuns wear

A troubling last line in the book “Climbing the street towards his own front door with the barefoot girl and the box of shoes, his fear more than outweighed every other feeling but in his foolish heart he not only hoped but legitimately believed that they would manage.”

The book is set in 1985 but has more of a post-war feel - the descriptions of poverty “And early one morning, Furlong had seen a young schoolboy drinking milk out of the cat’s bowl behind the priest’s house.” - 1985 is a recent time

The alcoholic father and the child foraging for sticks “'Drink is what ails him.  If he’d any regard for his children, he’d not be going around like that.  He’d pull himself out of it.’ ‘Maybe the man isn’t able’"

It brings out a range of emotions - the tension (rather than drama) - taut conversation with a sinister undertone (especially between Bill and the Mother Superior) 

There is a sense that everyone knows what goes on in the convent but no-one discusses it - people Bill meets on the street do not talk to the barefoot girl - Bill comes home with shoes for his wife and the young girl without shoes

Sarah is rescued at Christmas - he says “Christ” when he sees her - but Bill becomes the sacrifice (and his family)

Protestant values - not obsessed by sin - the The Good Shepherd nuns in the convent - the power of the catholic church in small rural communities in Ireland - “Surely they’ve only as much power as we give them, Mrs Kehoe?"

Bill has a bad start in life but is shown great kindness by Mrs Wilson (the protestant) - Mrs Wilson is the only woman able to do what she wants because she is a widow with money and a protestant - generosity and kindness in his childhood - parented by other people - is Ned his father (hot water bottle as a Christmas gift)

Hypocrisy of the Catholic Church - no love nor forgiveness to the young girls in their care - hidden cruelty - benefitting from free labour - all talk does not translate to action - the poverty of the children seen in the streets but the church does nothing to help - “…the worst was how the girl had been handled while he was present and how he’d allowed that…and how he’d gone on, like a hypocrite, to Mass.” - it is possible that the church do not see the way the nuns behave as cruel but as a way of redeeming the sins of the girls who have become pregnant - “training of school girls…but girls of low character who spent their days being reformed, doing penance…they worked from dawn til night.”

Hypocrisy of the state to allow children to starve - people having to leave Ireland to look for work, leaving their families and homes behind - unmarried mothers instead of being supported by the fathers are hidden away

Mrs Kehoe warns Bill “…you’d want to watch over what you’d say about what’s there?” “…but surely you must know these nuns have a finger in every pie.” - the darkness that would befall anyone going against the religious order

The misogyny in the society in which they live “Already he'd seen men’s eyes following his girls.” - The girls in the convent are being punished for their sins but what about the boys/men who impregnated them - Bill is a feminist (or at least brought up by one) he took his mother’s name - the nuns have no power as woman but are able to use the power of the church

Bill watching the stars in the sky: “One of the brightest fell…leaving a streak like a chalk mark on a board for just a second before it vanished.  Another seemed to burn out and slowly fade”. Which one is a metaphor for Bill?

Bill stands at doorways in the book except when he rescues Sarah and he is left on the doorstep at the end of the story

A sense of Bill as a character - a very internal story - he is succinctly and vividly brought to life - he does the right thing but the consequences may/will be catastrophic - Bill seems unhappy before the book starts - he is questioning his life with its difficulties in the present by looking to the past - the need for Bill to know who is his father - the ‘Christmas box’ and how Bill feels he is being paid off by the nuns - he loves his wife and daughters - he is not just a dad and husband but is also an important person in the community - a loving family and a good business - he is a kind man to his family and supportive of the community around him - is Bill having a breakdown?

Eileen is not so well drawn as a character - more judgemental - she is happy with her position in society

There is a lot of love in Bill and Eileen’s family - the making of the cake and Eileen and Bill staying up together until three in the morning to take it out of the oven - Bill wonders what life Eileen would have had if she’d chosen another husband 

Bill does everything right in a moral way but it goes against the catholic church - how he will be judged by his actions in society?  Will his community support him for his moral stance against the church even though the church doesn’t seem to support anyone in the community? - he is being urged by all around him to ‘give in’ but he decides to do the decent thing instead.

The passage of events by which Bill Furlong’s tough but seemingly fulfilling life, with his wife, daughters, work, is undermined to the point where he makes the decision that he knows could bring it all crashing down is brilliantly portrayed - Small town Ireland (and it could represent many other places as well) and Bill’s life in particular, with its public face and his private thoughts, are brought succinctly and vividly to life. 

At the end, as he approached his house with the girl from the laundry, he believed that he and his family would manage. However, virtually everything that we have learnt about attitudes in his 1980s Irish town might lead us to the opposite conclusion - his business could be boycotted, his girls’ education damaged and the family’s reputation destroyed. All that he has worked for since his own unpromising start in life lost. But it is, of course, precisely the start that he was given by Mrs Wilson that is behind his brave, not to say heart rending, decision. We are left not knowing what will happen - fearing one outcome but passionately hoping for a different one. 

Are we good if we see something bad happen and do nothing?

What happens next?

 - not just for Bill but for his family and the people who work for him

 - jeopardy of the daughters education

 - possible loss of business - could be boycotted

 - what happens to the family if the church turns its back on them - the priests and church will interfere and the whole family will struggle

 - how will Eileen cope with the loss of her position in society (what about their marriage)

 - their reputations destroyed 

Can we all be as brave as Bill.  Is he being foolish?

The audio version of this book is read by Aiden Kelly.  It can be listened to in one evening