No doubt you have all been wondering where our most recent recap has been. The answer is in Kentucky, along with our book club members Mary Millhiser, Sally Eddows, Maggie Georgiadis and me. We were all at the premier horse event in the country, the Three Day Event sponsored by Rolex in Lexington, KY. There are pictures and they are amazing, will try to post them soon. This is one of only six events in the world at this level and it was absolutely amazing.
But, back to the real world, including the world of wonderful stories. A big thank you to Val for hosting, she was absolutely fabulous in getting so many of us around the table and we had a great turnout for Gone Girl.
The consensus was that we liked this book and I was one of those in favor, although most of us HATED the characters. Among the main characters, Nick was weak and weaker, Amy was just too amazing and odious, and Margo "Go" was just useless. What kind of nickname is that? And they were so isolated from everyone else, even Amy's parents. How sad, how
I think it was Val who pointed out that "Go" was the unconditional love role of the story, showing Nick, her twin, all the support of the absent parents, or any other responsible adults. No doubt there was a shortage of them as Amy's parents clearly used her as to create the life and the child they wanted. Should an issue arise, an Amazing Amy book could work it out, and show the real Amy what and how they wanted her to be.
Poor Amy, she grew up so amazing and so capable and so disassociated that she orchestrated her own life as if it were another episode, just along different lines. She wanted a handsome, compliant husband, playing out his assigned role and she finally got just what she wanted. Could any of us conceived of and executed such a plan, and adapted along the way as she did? Please say no.
I had to admit, this was a great read. I actually cancelled plans in order to get home and finish this book, it was so compelling and many of the group agreed. That being said, is there some reason why our younger writers have great stories and odious characters? This is far from the first book where we have not been able to find a character that we might identify with and champion. This may be the trend of current publications but I want to find someone to bring me into and along with the story and somehow that is missing from so many recent books.
Ok, then, moving on. Our next book is Lean In by Sheryl Sandburg, could not be a more different part of our intellects but an important one. We are meeting on May 13, but our place is uncertain. Wendy can't do it that night as we had hoped, and the Deep Run Hunt Club is also out that night. Can anyone volunteer to host?
Our June book is The Dinner, by Herman Koch, tentatively at Wendy's. Bring your ideas to the May or June meetings for July books, my pick is River of Dust, by Richmond's own Virginia Pye, I LOVED it.
Looking forward to seeing you all soon!
