Never let it be said that I don't listen to the comments of my readers. You're a well-read bunch. Brick Lane is being read with gusto by one of my book groupers now -- the venerable retired english professor E, who is over 70 and wizened and hip and shows up at each meeting with about four pages of longhand notes on a legal pad. I think it's only available in hardcover now, though, so it's on deck for later. The group read Memoirs of a Geisha before I joined, and also Wide Sargasso Sea, so I'll have to read those on my own. (Jane Eyre is first, though.) We discussed Felix Holt briefly, too, which E. approved of, and The Transit of Venus, which E thought might be out of print (although Amazon says no).
I decided to choose High Fidelity, because I want the group to continue the conversation we began today -- what makes a romantic hero, and what are the elements of a credible love story? I had the group go around and say what we all remembered of Wuthering Heights from reading it ages ago, and what surprised us in rereading it. All of us had some memory of Heathcliff as this wonderful romantic figure, and there being a sort of wonderful strong and enduring passion between him and Catherine. And yet rereading the book,
he's a complete nutcase, and there is nothing loveable about him. A sick, twisted, violent, ugly man. And Cathy's this self-absorbed narcissistic manipulative wingnut. And Cathy, Jr. Don't get me started. So there are these completely unrealistic, overblown characters, none of whom you like. And this ridiculously contrived narrative structure. Why is the book a classic?
The discussion was pretty interesting. Mom, predictably, hated the book. I've never known her not to finish a book, but she couldn't get through it. The rest of us were a little more open to it. This book was the first bodice ripper, the beginning of the cliche of the dark, silent, strong, intense, slightly terrifying man and the swooning delicate woman who loves him although she shouldn't. And reading High Fidelity right in contrast, you know, it's a man in love, facing rejection, and he's no Heathcliff, and Laura's no Catherine. Reading that book, I'm thinking, "now this, this I can believe." I think it will be interesting to talk with the group about why and how we have those reactions, and what about this is the sensibility a modern reader brings, and what about it is the narrative structure. Blah blah blah. Anyway. So now you guys are virtually in the book group. Read High Fidelity by May 23rd; be prepared to discuss. Recommended background reading: Wuthering Heights.
And tonight I'm going to the bookstore to buy Norwegian Wood and Ella Minnow Pea for myself. And I need to read The Tipping Point, too, so maybe that as well.
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