Book Club Rules

Tonight was book club. Once a month we meet, eat, talk. Usually we talk more about life than the book, which is just as great. We've been meeting for over two years - it's hard to believe. A handful of the regulars are friends I've know for five or more years, along with others who were invited by one of us. It kind of just happened - and it's really a wonderful assortment. Each month we rotate - the host recommends the book selection. Next month we're reading "Assassination Vacation" by Sarah Vowell - very fitting for S, the hostess. Probably for May we'll read some chick lit as G is hosting and she's wonderfully whimsical.

Amazingly enough, we actually discussed the book for a good two hours - longest ever. Everyone who came had actually read the entire book (not always the case) and really felt compelled to discuss it. The book was "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood. To be honest, I'd never been interested in reading it - the cover and the description sounded more like sci fi/fantasy to me. I did read it, and I really enjoyed it. It's not sci fi/fantasy. It's loaded with themes - about complacency, women's rights, society. I won't even try to describe it here - I couldn't do it justice in a post. I highly recommend reading it.

In "Handmaids" the narrator is the protagonist, and we learn about her world as she does. It's a dystopian world, in which she was few (if any) freedoms and the sentence structure, word choice, and so much more embody this. In book club we also read an excerpt from an interview with the author, in which she said that everything that happens within the book's world can be supported by history, fact, somewhere on Earth and she just combined all of it, placed it in the US, and took it to an extreme. Amazing and credible in a very troubling way. Plus, our newest book club member was a handmaid in the movie version so we got a little scoop on the filming, actresses/actors, etc.

So far I've read two novels by Atwood, and I really admire her as a writer. Her stories have substance, themes, and she masterfully uses words to mirror the character's world. i'd like to read "The Edible Woman" and "Oryx and Crake" next.

The other novel I've read by here is "The Robber Bride" - R lent it to me. I disliked it initially. I felt uneasy, uncomfortable with this phantom character that seemed to pervade the other characters lives. The way it's written makes you feel uneasy, mirroring the feeling of three characters who are plagued by the ghost of this other character, Zenia. There's a very foreboding sensation and an immediate dislike for Zenia, who is only mentioned, not introduced, for a long time. It took me awhile to realize that Atwood in fact does a great job of really engaging the reader - making you feel threatened just as the characters feel. I'd love to be able to convey things as intelligently and richly as Atwood, someday.

In the meantime, I'll continue reading, book clubbing and dabbling with writing!