Thanks so much to Carole for hosting in her beautiful home! Thanks as well to everyone who brought things along, I think the all appetizer all the time is working well for us. Weigh in if you don't think so!
Well, once again we have found characters that no one really could like, and in the case of Joe Castleman, pretty easy to dislike. At the same time, these characters, and this particular situation was pretty easy to understand and so Joan, the wife, got some considerable empathy despite some of us wanting to slap her into taking responsibility for herself.
The tension of The Wife is one of an extremely talented woman with little ambition and confidence married to a charismatic, highly ambitious man with no talent. Of course they are two sides of one coin, a perfect partnership to produce literary success, at long as no one regrets their role.
Did we discuss the Joan/Joe selection of names? Could this be any more transparent? At least some of us caught on fairly quickly to this sad story of a man of limited talents using his highly talented wife to create and sustain his life, with her full cooperation. Of course, at some point, after years of standing on the sidelines despite deserving the attention, the wife decides to bail. Not to mention the bad behavior of a husband who is both appreciative and entitled. Yuck.
Many of us felt this story resonated with the stories of their mothers, or others who had chosen to be the support of the man in her life rather than compete on her own. And of course there are a lot of women who wanted to have their own life and accomplishments and never were able to find a way. For all of those women, this story rang true and the mix of bitterness and complacency of the main character was the flavor of their lives.
Our general consensus was that Meg Worlitzer is really readable and we liked the book overall. Yes, it was predictable, yes there was no compelling character, but at the same time it was very well written and certainly kept our attention and interest. And it was short enough for the story it had to tell, unlike some other novels that just go on way too long.
Of course, we had our usual round of fun and chatter complete with lots of laughs. What a fun group we have and how lucky we are to have been born when we were, able to have the lives we want, the careers we want and at least in my case, a husband who does not expect to be the headline. I for one, am a very lucky girl.
Our next book is Haints, by Clint McCown. Dawn says Clint is coming to our meeting, so read up! The date is Nov. 18 and we will be at Ashley's. Please let her know if you will be coming and what you can bring.
Our December meeting will be at my house on Dec. 9. This will be our Yankee Book Swap and Christmas party, so start thinking about what book you want others to read and why. The rules are"
1) Bring a book you think others should read, gift wrapped.
2) Include a note on why you selected this book - do not give your name!
3) We will conduct a usual "Yankee Swap" format - choose numbers, pick gifts in order, swap out as you want when your number comes up, # 1 goes again at the end.
4) The most swapped book will be nominated for our read in February
5) After the swap is concluded, we can reveal who brought what!
6) We eat and drink and have much fun along the way.
Does this not sound like the best possible way to spend a Monday?
See you on Nov. 18!
