The Nightwatchman by Louise Erdrich

April 15, 2021 Zoom Host: Janna Attended by: Amy, Ruth, Mary Margaret, JJ, Pam T, Susan, Pam M, Kathryn

The book we were supposed to read: Only a few read it....only a few liked it..... The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich 4.13 · Rating details · 18,752 ratings · 2,597 reviews Based on the extraordinary life of National Book Award-winning author Louise Erdrich’s grandfather who worked as a night watchman and carried the fight against Native dispossession from rural North Dakota all the way to Washington, D.C., this powerful novel explores themes of love and death with lightness and gravity and unfolds with the elegant prose, sly humor, and depth of feeling of a master craftsman. In the Night Watchman, Louise Erdrich creates a fictional world populated with memorable characters who are forced to grapple with the worst and best impulses of human nature. Illuminating the loves and lives, the desires and ambitions of these characters with compassion, wit, and intelligence, The Night Watchman is a majestic work of fiction from this revered cultural treasure.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Blame it on Covid confusion! The two book selections got mixed up months. This is the book that some others read instead:

**A Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club Pick and New York Times bestseller** “Once again, Megan Miranda has crafted the perfect summer thriller.” —Riley Sager, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Time I Lied The summer after a wealthy young summer guest dies under suspicious circumstances, her best friend lives under a cloud of grief and suspicion in this “clever, stylish mystery that will seize readers like a riptide” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) featuring “dizzying plot twists and multiple surprise endings” (The New York Times Book Review).~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We were a mess, all over the place with likes and dislikes and discussing two different books.~~~~~~~~ Hmmmmmm....who wrote all those positive reviews about The Last Houseguest?!? But the overall group consensus was to forget The Last Houseguest and select Deacon King Kong as our next book for May! Happy reading!

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

The Vanishing Half March 11, 2021 Zoom Host: Janna Attended by: Debra, Amy, Michelle, Pam M, JJ

From The New York Times (May 26, 2020) Book Review: In her new novel, “The Vanishing Half,” Brit Bennett brings to the form a new set of provocative questions: What if passing goes unpunished? What if the character is never truly found out? What if she doesn’t die or repent? What then? The book opens in 1968, with the return of the prodigal. Desiree has come home to Mallard after 14 years away, without her husband but bearing his bruises on her neck. She’s brought her small daughter, Jude, whose “blueblack” skin the town registers with horror. It will be Jude who encounters the vanished Stella years later, now living in California and married to a wealthy white man. Jude will befriend her aunt’s daughter — a flighty, blonde actress — who, like everyone else, is ignorant of Stella’s origins. Bennett is a remarkably assured writer who mostly sidesteps the potential for melodrama inherent in a form built upon secrecy and revelation. The past laps at the present in short flashbacks, never weighing down the quick current of a story that covers almost 20 years. Each chapter ends on a light cliffhanger, and the pages fairly turn themselves. Some depth is sacrificed for the swiftness; the book doesn’t burrow into the psychology of its characters so much as map the wages of artifice, fracture and loss across generations. Desiree pines for her missing sister. Jude is tormented by the absence of her father. Jude’s boyfriend, who is trans and trying to save up for surgery, mourns his own family. But Bennett excels in conjuring the silences of families and in evoking atmosphere: the claustrophobia of the small town and its scuzzy and beloved saloon (“Cold Women! Hot Beer!” its sign proclaims), the jazz clubs in New Orleans where the twins first taste freedom. There’s something deeply familiar but weightless about her settings. They are conjured not as real places, one feels, but as their mythologies, in how they exist in the imagination. We know these spaces not from life but from literature. **************************************************** Next Month: The NightWatchman by Louise Erdrich

Small Great Things by Jodi Piccoult

February 11, 2021 Zooom: Michelle, Janna, Ruth, Debra, Julie, Susan

In her highly-anticipated 2016 novel, SMALL GREAT THINGS, Jodi tackles the profoundly challenging yet essential con­cerns of our time: prejudice, race, and justice. "SMALL GREAT THINGS is the most important novel Jodi Picoult has ever written. Frank, uncomfortably introspective and right on the day’s headlines, it will challenge her readers...The difficult self awareness is what sustains this book...forcing engaged readers to meditate on their own beliefs and actions along with these characters....It's also exciting to have a high-profile writer like Picoult take an earnest risk to expand our cultural conversation about race and prejudice." Washington Post

A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende

January 14, 2021

Hostess: Amy Attendees via Zoom: Janna, Michelle, MaryMargaret, Susan, JJ, PamM, Ruth ***************************************** A Long Petal of the Sea With the Spanish Civil War as the setting, this book challenged our memories of history classes! From the author's website: In the late 1930s, civil war grips Spain. When General Franco and his Fascists succeed in overthrowing the government, hundreds of thousands are forced to flee in a treacherous journey over the mountains to the French border. Among them is Roser, a pregnant young widow, who finds her life intertwined with that of Victor Dalmau, an army doctor and the brother of her deceased love. In order to survive, the two must unite in a marriage neither of them desires. ************************************************************ Together with two thousand other refugees, they embark on the SS Winnipeg, a ship chartered by the poet Pablo Neruda, to Chile: “the long petal of sea and wine and snow.” As unlikely partners, they embrace exile as the rest of Europe erupts in world war. Starting over on a new continent, their trials are just beginning, and over the course of their lives, they will face trial after trial. But they will also find joy as they patiently await the day when they will be exiles no more. Through it all, their hope of returning to Spain keeps them going. Destined to witness the battle between freedom and repression as it plays out across the world, Roser and Victor will find that home might have been closer than they thought all along. Lots of thoughtful discussion! Roser or Rose Air ? ************************************************************************************** Next month's selection: Small Great Things by Jodi Piccoult