Fifth Meeting: Let the Great World Spin

I am such a bad blogger! We had a book club meeting a month ago and I still haven't said a word about the book or the meeting! Shame on me. Hopefully I can redeem myself.

The January meeting of Eat, Drink, and Literary was hosted by my lovely friend Mandy, and we discussed Colum McCann's Let the Great World Spin. The novel is written like a series of short stories, but all (or most, anyway) of the chapters are intertwined to a degree. The novel begins with a description of Philippe Petit who tight-rope walked between the two world trade center towers on August 7th, 1974. The rest of the chapters were told from the point of view of people living in the city during that time. Some of them saw the tight rope walker, some didn't-- but all had a remarkable day on August 7th. The cast of characters ranged from wealthy Park Avenue ladies to Irish immigrants to prostitutes in the Bronx. I enjoyed the book for the most part, and when I read the afterward by the author, I think I figured out why. After 9/11, he saw how one event could connect an entire city of individuals. So, he wrote about another event that could offer a similar kind of connection. I am a sucker for the idea that we are all part of something bigger than ourselves. Even something like a "man on wire" can shed light on the fact that we are all connected.

My favorite two chapters were from the points of view of two very different women. First, was Tillie, the prostitute who reflected on her life in a matter-of-fact, hilarious, and inspiring way while she was serving time for her offenses. Second was Gloria, the college educated Midwestern black woman who lost her sons in the Vietnam War and ended up adopting Tillie's grand children. Though these women were incredible opposites in most parts of their lives, I could feel a similar conviction coming through both of their distinct voices.

The discussion of the book was interesting. Mandy asked some really interesting questions and was able to approach the book both as a novel and as short stories (one chapter or character at a time). Overall, the impression of the book was that it was good.... but not as good as we were all expecting.The two characters that seemed to be most central to the book, and the most connected to all of the chapters, were the two characters that we never actually heard from. In fact, they died almost immediately in the book. The fact that we could never get inside the head of the Irish monk Corrigan, and teenage prostitute from the Bronx, Jazzlyn was a puzzle to everyone. We couldn't decide if this was a good thing or a bad thing-- in some ways, we liked it. The main characters became more subjective and not knowing anything about them just made us want to know more. In other ways, we found it frustrating that we couldn't really see what was so important about these characters or why we were supposed to care about them so much.

Similarly, we had mixed feelings about the intertwining of the characters/stories. The chapters were not overly intertwined, which was nice, but in some cases we were left without closure.

The thing we all agreed on is that the last chapter was unnecessary. It was the only chapter told in a different time period (present day), and it just took a different tone entirely. The book would have been far better if it left us in the gloomier era of 1970's Manhattan.

Despite the sub-par ending and the minor grudges here and there, as a group we mostly liked the book. However, the book was NOTHING compared to the incredible spread. Mandy decided to host an afternoon tea so we had a selection of 50 plus teas, honey, sugar, and milk plus every goodie you can imagine with it. Two types of scones (I have yet to decide which was better-- the currant or the pumpkin. I am still dreaming about both), Devonshire cream, lemon curd, cheese straws, fresh fruit, a delicious tart, tea party cupcakes, and my contribution of cucumber sandwiches. Whether or not this was the best book we've read it was by far the best meal.