I keep promising myself that I will write these entries right after the meetings--before I forget all the exciting details. But so far I haven't been terribly efficient.
This month's book was The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield, a first-time novelist. The plot weaves together the story of Margaret Lea, a biographer with a traumatic past, and the life story of Vida Winter, the reclusive writer Margaret is interviewing. The tone of the book is gothic. References to Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, and other gothic novels reinforce this.
This was one of those rare books that everyone liked AND we had a great discussion. Some of us were bothered by the fact that the book did not take place in any specified period (or periods). Since it is part family epic (it starts with Vida's grandparents), we tried to guess at the period using clues provided by clothes, carriages versus cars, etc. Margaret writes with pencils--is this because the "current" time is before computers? Is it her eccentricity? Why not pens? Anyway, despite a more-than-thorough discussion of these trivialities, no conclusion was reached. Some people liked this lack of specified historical period and felt that it added to the feel of the novel.
The mystery of the book has to do mainly with twins and a fire--and an "extra" twin. We felt, even after finishing the book, that we still weren't quite sure which twin was Vida, which twin had survived, and which twin had died in the fire.
Anyway, there was lots to talk abut.
We met at Beryl's and I FORGOT to bring the treats. Was my face red (or read). Anyway, everyone was forgiving even if they were starving.
Mary Do introduced a new member to the group--another Marilyn! So now, we have two Marilyns and two Marys. With Mary Ann in Arizona sending in occasional communiques. Should we change out name to the "Duplicate Name Group"? Probably not very catchy.
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