It is all Ashley's fault that this blog is relatively late. When I wasn't looking at her Facebook posts about viewing the eclipse in Oregon (I was in my office parking lot with borrowed glasses), I was catching up on back episodes of The Great British Baking Show, which Ashley told me about. Oh, and blame Julie Joyce (we have two Julies now) and Lynn, who got me to the library instead of Amazon. No doubt that is why the stock has gone down recently. I am reading more I have in a good long while. Thanks to all three of you! It has been great.
About our next Julie, welcome to Julie Weissend! Lucky us! Julie came to our group for the June meeting and it seemed like she had always been part of the group. Thanks so much for joining us!
And now on to the book - such an amazing read. Here is a link to blog I posted when I first read this book in March. http://celiasbookclub.blogspot.com/2017/03/remember-tenth-of-december-george.html. Can you tell I loved it?
Despite the odd factor, the group of us who met at Susan Victoria's house in Church Hill (thank you Susan, so lovely!) really enjoyed this book. We had a wonderful, far-reaching discussion about what if anything, this sad retelling of Lincoln's private tragedy against the backdrop of the national horror of the Civil War meant.
There was much that the group appreciated about this book. The first was the premise - how very inventive to create a purgatory of lost souls, none of whom, save one, know that he or she is dead. And into this lands poor little Willie Lincoln, who died while his poor father struggled to save the Union while his own life disintegrated.
The second aspect of the book that was so impressive was the writing. It was amazing. Rhythmic, repetitive phrases, beautiful sentences, spun paragraphs, it was a pleasure to read. Although it was definitely odd.
The third thing we liked was the story - the pacing of the plot, the characters in their full weirdness, the clever introduction of new information and new ideas. Poor Lincoln, trying to fulfill his responsibilities while enduring the loss of his child and public defamation for his choices. Oh dear.
It was Catherine who pointed out what seems now to be obvious, the parallel to the story of Christ. It fits all so well. Catherine also pointed out the shock of those lost in the Bardo, of their shock when Lincoln actually touched Willie. No one had ever touched anyone there before and it was the beginning of release for those lost souls.
It is wrong to mention only Catherine's comments because there was such a great conversation, and everyone contributed so much. What a fun, interesting evening! And see if you can wangle an invitation to visit Susan, she is an amazing hostess in a lovely space. Thank you!
And so, on to our next meeting on September 19 at Fiona's. The book is Miss Portland by David Ebenbach, a friend of Fiona's who is planning on joining us in person! You may remember him from our meeting with him at the Fountain Book Store for his last book, which we all loved, Into the Wilderness.
See you all then!
