On Thursday, June 13th the Fixed on Fiction book group met to discuss Sadie Jones’ The Uninvited Guests. Below you will find some of the comments made during our meeting.
If we were to give this novel a tagline, it would read: “I thought this was going to be like Downton Abbey, but then it got weird.” Similarly, when asked to describe this book as if she were suggesting it to a friend, one member simply said: “It has an interesting twist at the end.”
The majority of members enjoyed the book. These readers approached the text blindly, meaning they had not read any reviews and as such, did not see the ghost story coming. Others disliked it because they found the “spookiness factor” to be too over the top. There was also some struggle in finding these characters believable as they came across as caricatures.
Most readers greatly enjoyed Smudge. The animal tracing scenes were hilarious without being overly cute. Many also found themselves feeling sympathetic towards Smudge when she found herself in the predicament that was “The Great Undertaking.” There was also some discussion that “The Great Undertaking” exemplifies Smudge’s independence and Charlotte’s neglect as a mother. Most readers also enjoyed the Sutton siblings and resented Charlotte’s snobbish attitude towards them. Although one member did point out that perhaps Charlotte picked on Patience and Ernest because she was envious of their “legitimate” social status.
Readers also enjoyed the interesting friendship between Charlotte and Florence. At first there was confusion as to why Florence ended up as Charlotte’s housekeeper as they were previously “equals.” One member suggested that perhaps Charlotte gave her this position to keep her best friend nearby and to ensure she had a home. We also loved Florence for protectively staying with Charlotte when she approached Charlie and for holding her hand when Edward came home with news of Sterne’s future.
In terms of dislikes, the hounds and hinds scene was uncomfortable for all readers. There was some disbelief as to how the characters could attack each other so quickly and easily.One member described this scene as “heart wrenching” and found this incident to be Charlie’s demonstration of “how ugly people can be.” Additionally, readers disliked how Florence and John seemed to transform into different people after their physical relationship. The fact that their personalities seemed to completely change as a result was a bit unbelievable.
There was also some discussion regarding the author’s ambiguous ending. Most readers needed to clarify Charlie’s connection to the funds that saved Sterne, if Charlie was really Smudge’s father, what exactly happened to Charlie as he reappeared during the final pony scene, and the validity of the ghosts (did those people really die, was it all a dream, etc.)
In terms of themes found in this book, some readers mentioned that Jones was implying that culture is a surface thing, but people are actually barbaric. In other words, you can scratch the surface of seemingly decent people and still find cruelty beneath them. Also, while discussing the shocking discrimination towards the third class passengers, one reader suggested Jones’ was simply telling us, in a poignant fashion, to treat others the way you would like to be treated.
These are just a handful of points that were discussed during our meeting. Looking forward to next month’s discussion of Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl.
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