On Thursday, May 9^th, the Fixed on Fiction Book Group met to discuss the book The Love of My Youth by Mary Gordon. Here are a few of the comments made during the meeting:

Everyone who attended commented how much they disliked the book.  Even though the premise of the book was promising, everyone was disappointed by the telling of the story. Most of us had trouble in following the dialogue and could not distinguish who was talking when.

The group felt that Miranda and Adam would never have ended up together; there were too many differences. Miranda and Adam were considered outsiders at school and it was more likely that they were in love with the idea of being in love, or the idea of having someone in their life. No one could imagine Miranda as the wife who gave up everything so her husband could focus on his art.

Some of us admired Valerie for having to put up with her mother-in-law and for having to take care of her husband.  The group was not happy about Miranda and Adam’s attitude toward Valerie, and we laughed about Miranda’s reaction to the idea that someone may not have liked her.

We talked about going to class reunions and seeing old classmates or old crushes. Most of the group said that they kept in touch with who they wanted to keep in touch with and that reunions were not necessary.

We talked about Rome, and a few of the group members had already been there. We thought Adam made a good tour guide since he was familiar with Rome and had a good grasp of the language. We looked through some books on Rome that had statues by Bernini that Adam talked about.

The contradiction in the book was mentioned regarding Miranda telling Adam that she was a vegetarian and then later in the story eating peppered meat, boar, and clams.

We talked about Adam’s son and the reasons for his attitude towards his father.  We realized that Adam thought it might have been better if his son was never born, and this attitude, along with the fact that Adam did not love Beverly, could have been the underlying cause for his son’s attitude toward his father and toward life.

Some of the group thought that Adam’s betrayal was harder to forgive because of the existence of the baby.  Sleeping with someone once could be forgiven but a baby is not something that can be forgotten.

Most of the group liked Adam more than they liked Miranda, and they thought that the 1960-70s era was more interesting and brought some relief from the stories of their daily walks in Rome.

The group thought that meeting again gave Adam and Miranda a degree of closure.  They both seemed to have made peace with the choices that they made in their lives, Miranda more so than Adam, but both seemed happy in their present marriage.

These are just a few of the comments made during our discussion. Please feel free to add any thoughts in the comments section.

Miranda and Adam, high-school sweethearts now in their late fifties, arrive by chance at the same time in Rome, a city where they once spent a summer deeply in love, living together blissfully. At an awkward reunion, the two—who parted in an atmosphere of passionate betrayal in the 1960s and haven’t seen each other since—are surprised to discover that they may have something to talk about. Both have their own guilt, their sense of who betrayed whom, and their long-held interpretation of the events that caused them not to marry and to split apart into the lives they’ve led since—both are married to others, with grown children. For the few weeks they are in Rome, Adam suggests that they meet for daily walks and get to know each other again. Gradually, as they take in the pleasures of the city and the drama of its streets, they discover not only what matters to them now but also more about what happened to them long ago.

The discussion will take place on Thursday, May 9th  at 7:00 p.m. in the group study room  at the Lisle Library. Everyone is invited to attend, no registration required

-Most of the people attending commented how much they enjoyed the book, they liked the storyline and getting to know the characters.

-There were some who did not enjoy the book so much, they especially pointed out that the author was not too good at writing dialogue. One person pointed out that although she really enjoyed the book she would categorize it as quaint.

-One person commented that only thing that did not seem to fit with the book was the cover. Several people agreed that it did not reflect Enza’s personality at all. We figured that it was probably a decision made by the publisher who wanted to point out the Opera aspect of the book.

-People commented that they enjoyed the descriptions of food throughout the book

-There were some comments made about the pacing of the book, the second half seems to move along faster than the first half.

-When commenting on the ending, someone pointed out that they did not understand why Antonio and Angela married without telling Enza about it.  It seemed disrespectful to Enza to leave her out of the wedding, some people pointed out that Antonio and Angela should have gone back to Minnesota to get married.

-People were sad that abut Ciro’s death but liked the way the author handled the storyline by giving Ciro the chance to go back to Italy and say goodbye to his brother and mother.

-We talked a bit about Enza and Vito’s courtship. We didn’t understand why Enza would not share details about her childhood with him. Someone pointed out that perhaps the reason Vito was on his third divorce was because Enza had been the love of his life.

These are just a few of the comments made during our discussion. Please feel free to add any thoughts in the comment’s section.

The majestic and haunting beauty of the Italian Alps is the setting of the first meeting of

Enza, a practical beauty, and Ciro, a strapping mountain boy, who meet as teenagers, despite growing up in villages just a few miles apart. At the turn of the last century, when Ciro catches the local priest in a scandal, he is banished from his village and sent to hide in America as an apprentice to a shoemaker in Little Italy. Without explanation, he leaves a bereft Enza behind. Soon, Enza’s family faces disaster and she, too, is forced to go to America with her father to secure their future.

Unbeknownst to one another, they both build fledgling lives in America, Ciro masters shoemaking and Enza takes a factory job in Hoboken until fate intervenes and reunites them. But it is too late: Ciro has volunteered to serve in World War I and Enza, determined to forge a life without him, begins her impressive career as a seamstress at the Metropolitan Opera House that will sweep her into the glamorous salons of Manhattan and into the life of the international singing sensation, Enrico Caruso

The discussion will take place on Thursday, April 11 @7:00 pm in the group study room. Everyone is welcome to attend.

-The overall opinion of the group was they that enjoyed the book, one person even made the midnight brownies recipe and brought them to the meeting.

-People liked that the book was about cooking and that recipes were included.

-Even though we all more or less enjoyed the book we all had some issues with it.  We agreed that it was a sad book since it begins with the death of Ginny’s parents and ends with David’s death.

-We were a bit divided on Ginny’s mom’s behavior, some of us thought she was being protective while others though she was trying to hide or ignore Ginny’s condition. We did agree that she work very hard to not have Ginny labeled, however, we were a bit weary that Ginny herself didn’t realize there could be something wrong with her.

-We didn’t like Amanda’s reaction to Ginny, she was very inconsiderate especially when she tricked Ginny into going to see the psychiatrist. We understood that Amanda was going through a lot but she didn’t seem to want to think about how Ginny was feeling during this time. We also thought it was very unusual that she would cut Ginny off completely so suddenly.

-We agreed that the author did a very good job of letting us into Ginny’s mind and how she perceived things.  We thought it was a realistic portrayal of someone with Asburger’s syndrome, however we did not think it was realistic that Ginny in such a short period of time could make such big progress. She went from living with her parents and almost never leaving the house to being able to live on her own in just a few months. We thought that this could happen but it would take a longer time period.

-I brought up the question of whether people thought the ghosts were real or not. While I was not fully convinced that they were real, almost everyone else in attendance did.

-We liked David and we would have liked to see how his relationship with Ginny would evolve. We didn’t think it necessarily had to be a romantic relationship but we thought they could have helped each other, everyone was sad to see David die.

These are just of few things mentioned during the discussion. Please feel free to add any of your thoughts in the comment section.

Thursday, June 13, 2013 @ 7:00 pm

The Uninvited Guests by Sadie Jones

Thursday, July 11, 2013 @ 7:00 pm

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Thursday, August 8, 2013 @ 7:00 pm

Leaving the World by Douglas Kennedy

Thursday, September 12, 2013 @ 7:00 pm

Wife 22 by Melanie Gideon

Thursday, October 10, 2013 @ 7:00 pm

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle

Thursday, November 14, 2013 @ 7:00 pm

Where’d You Go Bernadette by Marie Semple

Thursday, December 12, 2013 @ 7:00 pm

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Thursday, January 9, 2014 @ 7:00 pm

Calling Invisible Women by Jeanne Ray

Thursday, February 13, 2014 @ 7:00 pm

TBA

Thursday, March 14, 3014 @ 7:00 pm

The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson

Thursday, April 10, 2014 @ 7:00 pm

Brain on Fire by Susannah Cahalan

Thursday, May 8, 2014 @ 7:00 pm

Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan

After the unexpected death of her parents, painfully shy and sheltered 26-year-old Ginny Selvaggio seeks comfort in cooking from family recipes. But the rich, peppery scent of her Nonna’s soup draws an unexpected visitor into the kitchen: the ghost of Nonna herself, dead for twenty years, who appears with a cryptic warning (“do no let her…”) before vanishing like steam from a cooling dish.

The discussion will take place on Thursday,  March 14th  at 7:00 p.m. in the group study room  at the Lisle Library. Everyone is invited to attend, no registration required.

-We had a very lively discussion. The people attending the discussion were split on their opinion towards the book. Some people really liked it and others had several problems with the book.

-The people who enjoyed the book pointed out that it was well written and a fast read, they were drawn to the characters and wanted to know what happened to them as the book went on.

-There were some comments made about May Dobb being a likable and strong character that always went for what she wanted. People were impressed that she was willing to leave her privileged upbringing behind to be with the man she loved, they liked how resourceful she was in order to get herself out of the insane asylum.

-People also liked that May made the bests of any situation and was mostly optimistic about her future.

-People who disliked the book mostly said that a lot of the events were not believable; it seemed that tragedy upon tragedy kept occurring to the point it seemed silly.

-It was hard to believe that a woman like May would just give up everything to go live with a man she loved and still refused to get married to him.

-People also had some issues with May as a mother, some of us did not understand why May would volunteer to go live so far away from her children, we would have liked to see her fight more to stay close to them.

-There were some comments made about Fergus choosing the write the book from a point of view of a women through her diaries, it seemed inauthentic since he is a man living in contemporary times. To counter this point someone did point out that the author mentions that he had a woman help him with his perspective from a female point of view.

-We talked about the historical events and mentioned that even though Fergus has a note at the beginning of the book that the events are not real the story is told in a way that it makes you forget.  He does make it clear that the treaty never happened and that President Grant never sent 1000 women to live among the Indians.

-We were not sure how we felt about Fergus’ portrayal of the Cheyenne Indians. On the one hand he was able to show different sides of the society although everything was shown through May’s eyes which were not very objective; on the other hand the incident towards the end when they cut off the baby’s hands seemed so horrible that it was hard to see the tribe in a likable manner.

These are just a few comments made during the discussion, feel free to add your own in our comments section.

Fiction

-The Red Chamber by Pauline Chen

-The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin

-The Sleepy Hollow Family Almanac by Kris D’Agostino

-The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle

-Canada by Richard Ford

-Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

-Wife 22 by Melanie Gideon

-The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman

-The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivery

-A Lady Cyclist’s Guide to Kashgar by Suzanne Joinson

-The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson

-The Uninvited Guests by Sadie Jones

-Leaving the World by Douglas Kennedy

-Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan

-The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers

-Where’d you Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple

-Calling Invisible Women by Jeanne Ray

-The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker

-Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walters

Classics

-An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser

-Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser

-The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

-The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Non-fiction

-Brain on Fire by Susannah Cahalan

-Mao’s Last Dancer by Li Cunxin

-Coming to my Senses:  A Story of Perfume, Pleasure, and an Unlikely Bride by Alyssa Harad

-To Heaven and Back by Mary C. Neal

-Wild: From Lost to Found in the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed

Click here to look at a list of reviews for all the selections. 

If you would like to vote please select 10 titles from the fiction section, 1 from the classics section and 1 from the non-fiction section and email them to me at nancyc@lislelibrary.org  by March 14th, 2013.