verbicide: (reading)
I really liked this book! There's been a lot of discussion on various sites about whether a white woman is qualified to write from the perspective of a black person, particularly in such a racist time in history. It didn't really bother me. One of the POVs is a white woman, and I sort of just imagined her writing the whole book. Maybe I would feel different if the author was writing about Pakistani women? I struggled a bit with the dialect of the maids, and agree with articles that have noted that none of the southern women had a dialect. But ignoring those concerns, and as a story--I loved it. I found the characters very believable for the most part.

The discussions were fun. We all had different favorite parts/characters. It's always interesting how perspectives can vary on the same damn thing.

Spoilers--big ones. )

It was a fun meetup. This has been a pretty nice group of women so far. This was a particularly young group of women--20s and early 30s, but they didn't throw stones at me or threaten to burn me as a witch, so we fine.
verbicide: (reading)
I went tonight and I'm really glad I did. Only two other women showed up, but they were there last time and I like them. They didn't judge me for not finishing or liking the book, though they both liked it. One woman, Deb, really did, because she's a retired nurse, and she loved all the detailed medical stuff.

While I only read half the book, I really loved the characters of Hema and Ghosh, but the rest of it was too grisly, too boring, or too political. I just couldn't connect or care, so.

Anyway, the discussion was fun, and I'm glad I'd read spoilers and at least half the book so I wasn't just sitting there slack-jawed. One of the women really reminds me of my sister-in-law, Sarah, who also is part of like three book clubs, and it was in talking to her that I was really motivated to find some book clubs again! We talked about other books, games for the Kindle, and movies. They're really nice. And in a way, the small size of the group makes it kind of nicer, more personal.

We were discussing the next book, and Major Pettigrew's Last Stand was up vs. my suggestion of The Hunger Games. And while Last Stand sounds sweet, it sounds like another intensely literary slow-moving selection and I just wanted something more readable for the summer. And happily they were both really interested in reading The Hunger Games, so--that's what we're reading. Woo! I also hope that the other dormant members will be invigorated by Hunger Games, since it's so ...topical? trendy? right now.

Tomorrow: The Help.

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