Thirteenth Meeting: Cloud Atlas

In December, Aaron hosted the thirteenth meeting of Eat, Drink, and Be Literary. For me, it seemed like "unlucky 13" because I did not particularly enjoy his pick Cloud Atlas, by David Mitchell. The book consisted of six short stories that wove through time and space. The book itself was like a palindrome-- the first story ended abruptly (I'm talking mid-sentence) about half way through and didn't continue until the very end of the book. In other words, it was both the first and last story, and the second was also the second-to-last.

Each story was told from the point of view of a wildly different character. First up was Adam Ewing, a sailor exploring New Zealand in the 19th century, next was Robert Frobisher, a pompous young composer in the early 20th century living in Belgium; third was Louisa Rey, a young woman living in the 1970's in California, fourth was Timothy Cavendish, a book publisher in what seemed to be present day England, fifth was Son-Mi, a clone turned revolutionary in a futuristic Korea, and finally was Zachry living in post-apocalyptic Hawaii. Each character seemed to be reincarnations of the previous character, and also read or watched the same short stories as we read.

If nothing else, I was incredibly impressed by Mitchell's abilities to write from the point of view of these wildly different people. However, it was mostly lost on me. I especially couldn't read the sections told in dialects (Zachry's in particular). I found myself turning pages without knowing at all what I was reading. The book club meeting definitely helped me appreciate the book more, and I left feeling like I should re-read the book. (I'm not going to, mind you, but I think I should).

As usual, the book had a mixed review among the group. Of eight or so people that came, I think half liked it, and half didn't... though most of us were probably hovering towards the neutral feeling. I will not be recommending this book to anyone anytime soon, unless they are a philosopher or really into thinking hard and not understanding anything... but again, I have to hand it to David Mitchell for writing such an incredible book. I feel bad that most of it was lost on me.

* This novel is being adapted into a film sometime soon, and has an incredible cast. I'm definitely going to check it out, and maybe (hopefully!) I will get more out of it.

Twelfth Meeting: Norwegian Wood

Back in October (pretend this post happened approximately two months ago), Anne hosted our tiniest, coziest book club yet. Only four people were at the meeting, but in some ways it allowed for more discussion than usual.... and definitely more food. My pants are getting tighter just thinking about Sarah's raspberry bars and Kelsey's mint hot chocolate. But I digress--

For our twelfth meeting, we read Norwegian Wood by Japanese author Haruki Murakami. The book was our group's first piece of translated literature, and I think it was a hit. The novel (the title of which you may recognize as a Beatle's song)  is a nostalgic teenage-angst ridden love story on the surface, and a deep philosophical "what is the meaning of life" story once the layers are peeled back. The novel's protagonist is Toru Watanabe, a young man living in Tokyo in the 1960's, and we follow his life as he deals with loss and love and relationships with two women, fragile Naoko and spunky Midori. I didn't really emotionally connect with any of the characters and I couldn't tell if it was a product of the translated literature, or if it was that Toru was sort of vapid and unfeeling. Despite this lack of a connection, I still found the novel engaging (and very racy at times-- wowza!).

I think by the end of the meeting we all left with more questions than we started with mostly because none of us knew anything about life in 1960's in Japan, and what things were symbolic and what things should be taken at face value. That being said, I think the discussion helped me appreciate the work a lot more.



(Note-- my Amazon Associates button has disappeared, so I can no longer link to the book.. Bummer.)