Recap: The Poisonwood Bible (Part II)

We had our final meeting for The Poisonwood Bible this past Saturday at Bev's house. Bev had a wonderful brunch for all of us - thanks Bev!

Our discussion was a bit crazy this time. From what I can tell, everyone really enjoyed this book. ALMOST everyone liked the 2nd half better than the first. One person liked the first better, and the rest of us decided that the 2 halves together are what makes the book so fascinating.

Here's a recap of some of our main discussion topics:

• the death of the daughter (I won't say which, in case those who didn't read it still want to!)
• Leah's marriage to Anatole (Annette fell in love with him through the audio book!)
• Nathan's death, and the biblical story it reflected
• how Nathan's decisions affected the girls throughout their lives
• the concepts of "muntu" and "nommo" and how that relates to the "eyes in the trees"
• more explanation of The Apocrypha - what it is, which churches accept it, etc.
• the position of women in society - in many ways they were limited by the resources they could control (not many resources in most cases) and oblivious or perhaps deliberately not aware of the larger political/social/etc. situation around them (Orleanna is a great example of this)
• Rachel as a character (this caused much debate as one member tried to defend Rachel's opinions and another member tried to justify her actions and most of the other members disagreed with both of them), and her amusing misuse of language (gotta love her for that!)
  
• Adah before and after "losing her slant"
• how each daughter changed from the first half of the book
• how the author shows the Congo to be a woman, and a character of the book
• the difference between European colonization in America and in Africa

Here's how we rated the book: there was one 8, four 9s, and five 10s. That gives us an average of 9.4 ... the second highest rating we've ever given! (FYI, the highest rating was 9.8 ... but only 6 people voted in that pole. That book was Memoirs of a Geisha.)

Our next meeting is set for June 8 at 2pm at Nicole's house. Bev chose our book, The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini. Since there is a movie version, we MAY watch it at the meeting ... we'll decide as time gets closer.

As always, feel free to post any comments about the book, the discussion, or anything related to our club. Happy Reading!

Recap: The Poisonwood Bible (Part 1)

We had an excellent meeting this past weekend to discuss Books 1-3 of The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. Our host was Audrey, Carrie's stepmom. It was wonderful to have so many of us all together - and comfortable - in one room!

I was SO IMPRESSED with all the ladies this month. Of the 12 of us who attended (we did have one visitor plus Audrey) everyone read up to - or almost up to - where they were supposed to. And wonder of wonders, EVERYONE liked this book! Personally I thought there would be many who did not so I was pleasantly surprised. :)

We began the discussion with some basic info about the author. The fact that she was born in Annapolis and lives nearby in Virginia made us feel local connection to Kingsolver. Then we moved on to an overview of Books 1-3. We discussed the relationship between the title of each book, the subtitle of each book, and the events that happen within that book. We also contrasted the verse at the start of each book with what happens at the end of each book.

From there we talked a bit about the characters themselves, their outlook on the world, and the meanings behind their names. We discussed how Leah begins to change in Book 3. During the character discussion, Carrie pointed out that although each of the 5 women telling the story has her own distinct voice, Rachel and Ruth May sound very much alike. We decided that had a lot to say about Rachel's maturity level! Annette brought up Rachel's actions during the ant raid. The way she stuck out her elbows and let the crowd carry her really symbolized her way of going through life.

Other big topics included Biblical themes, contrasting cultures, stereotypes, and the idea of balance. We touched on Adah's use of palindromes (everyone found that fascinating) and her fascination with the poet Emily Dickinson. This book is fun and entertaining yet dark and haunting all at once. Everyone agreed that it has many levels that open up world's of discussion!

We talked for about 2 hours straight and I didn't have to remind anyone to keep on track. Everyone was very involved in the discussion and contributed a variety of ideas and opinions. Two members are doing the audio version this time and both are heartily enjoying it! They say the narrator does an excellent job changing her voice to portray the 5 women.

We'll conclude our discussion at our next meeting on April 19. Bev gets to choose our next book and she's started looking already!

Just before our meeting closed, Joan gave everyone a copy of The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards. She's been picking them up from the thrift store every chance she gets and finally had enough to give one to each member of the club. This is the book Joan plans to choose when her turn comes up in a few months. What a cool idea - thanks Joan!

Next Meeting: The Poisonwood Bible (Part 1)

Our next meeting is set for March 29 at 2pm. We will discuss Books 1-3 of The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver. Here are some questions/ideas to consider as you read ...

• Where does the title of the book come from? Does this give you any insight into the theme of the book?
  
• Take notice of the different voices of the 5 narrators ... do you have a favorite?
• Why doesn't Nathan get to tell his part of the story? Do you think he should, or is the book better because he doesn't?
  

Of course, you can always use the questions on the bookmarks I gave out at the last meeting. Those are helpful when reading ANY book for discussion.

Happy Reading!

____________

I just found an excellent summary of the book on ReadingGroupGuides.com ... I'm posting it here for everyone:

God's Kingdom in its pure, unenlightened glory. So fourteen-year-old Leah Price expects when, in the summer of 1959, she arrives in the Congo with her family. Her Baptist-preacher father, Reverend Nathan Price, assigned to Kilanga mission, is determined to enlighten the savages and to rule his family with strict biblical sanction. Leah's twin, Adah, the victim of hemiplegia at birth, limps along and maintains silence. Fifteen-year-old Rachel resents being dropped on "this dread dark shore" far from America's fashions and comforts. Ruth May, five years old, faints. And their mother, Orleanna, readies herself to protect them all from whatever perils may come--from jungle, river, or father and his terrible God. From 1959 through 1998, the Price sisters tell their stories, in alternating narratives that reflect their ages as the years pass and the understandings that they achieve. Those stories--together with Orleanna's retrospective commentaries--reveal the amazing forty-year saga that the Prices and the Congo share. Cultural and spiritual conflicts, confusion and revelation, hunger and pleasure, cruelties and kindness, suffering and love, all combine with the day-to-day life in Africa's villages to enrich this wondrous tale. This is Barbara Kingsolver's most daring, complex, and rewarding novel--a whopping good story told with tender majesty. The wisdom that Rachel, Adah, Leah, Ruth May, and Orleanna wrest from their lives is also ours.

The Mists of Avalon

When it was my turn to choose a book, I quickly came up with Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon. This is one of my all-time favorite books ... and I knew the girls would never read it on their own! The book is about 800 pages long so we took two months to read it., finishing in January 2007.

Some main topics of discussion were:

• the author's personal beliefs about religion and how they influenced the book
• the difference between this story and the standard King Arthur tale
• the conflict between doing your duty, doing what is right and doing what you want to do - which characters did we admire?
• English history in general and the druidic culture specifically

Nancy found it useful to print a list of characters and use this to help her keep things straight as she read. And Bev made an interesting observation. She had never read anything about the tribal people of England, or the small kingdoms that used to exist. She said that reading this book actually helped her to understand her Bible reading better. The Old Testament refers to all sorts of kingdoms and this didn't click with her until she read about the same type of thing in this book. Wow - you never know WHAT you might learn from a book! :)

I was very proud of the girls for making it through this long (and to some, very hard) book. Seven of us participated in the discussion and we voted as follows: 2, 6, 8, 9x2 and 10x2. The official rating was 7.7. I was pretty impressed - I thought they were really going to hate it!

2005: My Sister's Keeper

My Sister's Keeper, by Jodi Picoult, was the second book our club ever read, and it was a group pick. The 5 of us who participated gave the following ratings: 4, 5, 7, 9 and 10. The main debate we had centered on the mother's character. We discussed whether or not we would have done the same as she did if we were in her shoes.

What I found most fascinating about our discussion was the divergence in view between those of us who are mothers and those of us who are not. I have a son (at the time he was 2) and I found myself agreeing more with the other mom in the group, and less with the girls who don't have children.

There was lots more to this discussion (we split the book into two meetings) but I didn't start taking notes until 2007 so I can't give you any more details.

2005: East of Eden

East of Eden, by John Steinbeck

When we began our club in May 2005, we decided to tackle a classic: East of Eden. This was an easy start because it was Oprah's Book Club Book at that time and there were lots of fresh resources to use. Our plan was to split the book into parts and meet every two weeks to discuss the assigned section. It was a great way to start off because it required a big commitment from each member. No one joined the group who wasn't ready to put the required time in.

It took all summer to read this book and we all felt a great sense of accomplishment at the end. Of the 6 people who participated, two gave it a 7, one gave it an 8, two gave it a 9, and one gave it a 10. That averaged into an official rating of 8.3.

This was a challenging book for many of our members. It provoked much discussion ... although I can't say about what, as I didn't start taking notes until 2007!

After finishing the book, several of us got together to watch the movie version starring James Dean. Boy were we disappointed! The book has so much depth and spans so many years while the movie just takes a snippet of that to dramatize. The character of Kate was especially lacking in the movie. None of us liked it at all, although we might have had we not read the book.

PS. Once I get into 2007's books, I'll have more detailed info about our discussion to share.