Lucky us to get to spend an evening discussing River of Dust with its author Virginia Pye at Wendy's lovely home. Thank you so much Wendy, it was wonderful!
What a fascinating discussion, it was so interesting to hear how a novel comes together, and how it is like most things - hard work, perseverance and some luck makes it happen more than inspiration. Most of us really appreciated her effort as the general consensus was that we liked the book, although there were definitely other opinions.
In Virginia's case, this is her sixth novel and came out, in part, of a previous attempt that spanned three generations, starting in the same place as this book, the northern plains of China. Virgina drew on her family history for this novel. Her grandfather had been a missionary in a similar period in the same region and left his journals behind when he died, filled with his impressions and experiences. In his case, he came to China to close a mission on the heels of the end of the Boxer Rebellion. Instead, he stayed 15 years until his death and his widow stayed on many years after that with Virginia's father, their son.
His life, and that of his very strong and capable wife, was entirely different than the Reverend's and Grace's but there was the same sense of place, time and challenge. Virginia was open, funny and insightful as to how this particular novel came about. I was particularly taken with her describing her prior novels and how those lead into this one and gave her the practice she needed to create this novel.
And speaking of creating, Virginia mentioned that each of her prior efforts had taken about five years to complete. In this case, she completed the first draft in 23 days! She was taken with the story and the effort of getting it on the page and got up early and stayed up late with the inspiration.
As for the book itself, our discussion was all about The Reverend and his wife Grace, an odd combination of characters. He was remote in so many ways, increasingly obsessed with the local culture, increasingly absorbed in guilt and despair in the search for his son, lost as a result of his role in the death of another child. While some of us could empathize with his quest, in the end, he seemed beyond redemption, completely mad.
Grace was another puzzle, a physically weak person, longing for children that were repeatedly lost, yet her obsession was with her physically and mentally absent husband. Why did she focus on him while dismissing her lost son? Why did she give her daughter away to the other missionaries who were leaving China as she stayed to search for her husband. Virginia didn't say!
For her, the biggest surprise of the book was that Ahcho and Mai Lin were married! And that Grace comes to this conclusion late in the story, as she is physically wasting, watching them exchange the familiar, loving gestures of those long together. "Could they be married?" she wonders. Of course they could, of course they should be.
So, a lovely evening, talking about an entirely different view of our chosen book. Thanks again to Wendy and to Virginia for a great night!
Our next meeting is August 13 (another Tuesday, heads up, sorry Dawn!) and our book is Proof of Heaven, by Eden Alexander. This is a Book and Author Dinner book, and having met him, I can't wait. We are hoping Julie can host, if not, any volunteers?
We had a lively discussion about the next book and once again decided to select the next two books. September is The Enchanted Life of Adam Hope, by Rhonda Riley, another Book and Author Dinner selection. Beryl, Mary and I were at her table at the luncheon and truly enjoyed talking with her.
September's date is the 16th and the book is The Wife, by Meg Worlitzer. I love this book and can't wait to hear what you all have to say about it. Anyone volunteering for September? Who could have thought that we would be scheduling into September? Certainly not me.
Thanks to all who brought goodies, it was a great evening all around, can't wait for the next time!
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