Departing from our usual format we had an enjoyable morning discussing individually chosen novellas – which mostly could be defined as books with narrow spines.
We had two favourites in common; A Month in the Country by JLCarr and Foster by Claire Keegan, both of which have been excellently adapted for film (Foster retitled as The Quiet Girl). JLCarr’s book is set in the Yorkshire Dales. It is a moving story of a man trying to find peace after his experiences in WW1 who returns from war to find his wife has abandoned him. His restoration of a mural in the village church and the relationships he makes are redemptive. Claire Keegan’s novella, set in Ireland, is emotionally rich, moving and beautifully written.
Alan Bennett’s The Clothes They Stood Up In is classic Bennett, humourful, observant of human foibles and quirky. Alice Thomas Ellis’s The Fly in the Ointment – the third in a trilogy about impending nuptials told by three different narrators – has the same qualities with the additional ingredient of Ellis’s characteristic waspishness.
We had all read Animal Farm by George Orwell as teenagers, but maturity brings different insights! It’s a timeless allegory. New to us all was The Testament of Mary by Colm Toibin which describes the “astonishing, raw grief of a mother who has lost her son”. Our discussion led us to talk about the grip of the Catholic church on its members and on whole cultures. So many of our authors, Keegan, Boyne, Toibin, write of its pernicious influence in the lives of ordinary people, particularly women.
Two contributions by email came from holidaying members. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway tells the story of Santiago, a fisherman obsessed with landing an enormous marlin single-handedly from his small boat. Having vanquished the poor brute he strapped it to the side of his boat, only for it to be eaten by sharks on his way back to harbour.
Our final book was Water by John Boyne; “a shockingly powerful story of family catastrophe, betrayal, heartbreak and loss” but also how to deal with guilt, can it ever be alleviated? Despite its grimness, it is “balanced with moments of humour and the sense of a strong community surviving in a remote environment”.
We decided against attempting to score our books in the customary way. Instead we rated our meeting with five stars.
Annie Clouston