The Lowland
by Jhumpa Lahiri
Welcome back to India! The Princeton Walk book club has read several books set in India - Beyond the Beautiful Forevers and The Space Between Us.
This book is set partially in India. Subhash and Udayan were brothers very close in age but very different in temperment. Subhash ends up coming to Rhode Island to go to school. Udayan is killed as a revolutionary in India. His wife, Guari, ends up marrying Subhash and moving to the US.
Jumpha Lahiri was born in London and raised in the US. She also wrote The Namesake. (Highly recommended by the book club!) She's a Pulitzer Prize winner.
The theme of guilt is pervasive in the book. Guilt follows Subhash around his life.
Ratings:
We rated this book the usual 4.5 stars. Ha! In between "I wouldn't have picked it, but I am glad that I read it," and "I would recommend it to a friend."
Character Development: We thought the character of Subhash was well-developed. Cheryl commented that the character of Udayan was lacking....we weren't sure what led to his development as a terrorist.
Plot: We thought that the author handled the jumping back and forth between setting and times. Some times it was hard to figure out at the beginning of the chapter who was talking - we had to read a page or two to figure out who was talking and what was going on.
Themes: "Parenthood" was a theme. Subhash was the real parent to Bela, while Guari and Udayan were the biological parents. There was a lot of sadness, grief and depression in this book.
Friday, April 11, 2014
by Jhumpa Lahiri
Attendees: Mary Margaret (host), Pat, Pam, Nan, Janna, Susan, Lori, Cheryl
For this month's book club, we were back in India. We've read several books in the past set in India - Beyond the Beautiful Forevers and The Space Between Us.
Jhumpa Lahiri was born in London and raised in Rhode Island. She wrote The Namesake (highly recommended by book club members), and is a Pulitzer Prize Winner.
Rating:
We rated this book at 4.5, the usual! Ha! In between 4, "I wouldn't have picked this book, but I am glad that I read it," and "I would definitely recommend this to a friend."
Characterization:
We thought that the author did a good job with developing the character of Subhash. Subhash was the central character and most relatable. With the character of Udayan, we were wanting to understand his motivation....how quickly he escalated into terrorism. We also didn't really understand Bela; how she could not put down "roots" even though she was a farmer. (Pun intended.)
Plot:
Sometimes we started a chapter and had to read a page or two to understand what time and what place that particular chapter was about. But, for the most part, we didn't mind the back and forth between settings and times. We did wonder about the ending, though; it seemed a little "out of order."
Quote of the night:
From Cheryl - "We've all done that....or something similar...."
Attendees: Mary Margaret (host), Pat, Pam, Nan, Janna, Susan, Lori, Cheryl
For this month's book club, we were back in India. We've read several books in the past set in India - Beyond the Beautiful Forevers and The Space Between Us.
Jhumpa Lahiri was born in London and raised in Rhode Island. She wrote The Namesake (highly recommended by book club members), and is a Pulitzer Prize Winner.
Rating:
We rated this book at 4.5, the usual! Ha! In between 4, "I wouldn't have picked this book, but I am glad that I read it," and "I would definitely recommend this to a friend."
Characterization:
We thought that the author did a good job with developing the character of Subhash. Subhash was the central character and most relatable. With the character of Udayan, we were wanting to understand his motivation....how quickly he escalated into terrorism. We also didn't really understand Bela; how she could not put down "roots" even though she was a farmer. (Pun intended.)
Plot:
Sometimes we started a chapter and had to read a page or two to understand what time and what place that particular chapter was about. But, for the most part, we didn't mind the back and forth between settings and times. We did wonder about the ending, though; it seemed a little "out of order."
Quote of the night:
From Cheryl - "We've all done that....or something similar...."
Sunday, April 6, 2014
Killing Lincoln by Bill O'Reilly (and Martin Dugard) March 13, 2014
Date: 3/13/14 Hostess: Michelle Smith
Rating ****1/2
Attendees: Janna, Lori, Nan, Cheryl, Mary Margaret, Myra, Emily, Amy, Pam, Pat
Notes:
Lincoln was the first American president to be assasignated.
JWB was a very high profile actor with status of current day George Clooney or Brad Pitt (and he had similar political platform and personal views).
Many similarities between murders of Lincoln and Kennedy starting with the zealot personalities of their murderers, and ending with where they were one month prior to their murders (Lincoln "in" Monroe, Maryland and Kennedy "in" Marilyn Monroe) - "Quote of the night".
Lincoln seemed morose from the very beginning of the book, almost like he expected that he would be killed in the near future.
We were shocked at the lack of security at the theatre on the night of Lincoln's murder.
We discussed how polarizing the author of the book, Bill O'Reilly, was to many of us. One of our members who began the book on audiotape wasn't able to continue listening due to his abrasive style.
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