Category: Wenvoe Page Turners

"Cranford"

By  Elizabeth Gaskell

 

Page Turners were greeted with mincepies. Mulled wine and Buck’s Fizz to ensure plenty of Christmas spirit at the final meeting of 2016.

Less palatable however, was the book the group had been offered for December. To continue the foodie theme, it was not easily digested by the group and left a bitter taste in the mouth!

“Cranford “ is one of the better-known novels of the 19th century English writer, Elizabeth Gaskell. It was first published in eight instalments, between December 1851 and May 1853 and was a popular novel at the time. There is no plot, rather a collection of satirical sketches portraying small town customs and values in mid Victorian England.

Only one member made their way through the whole book. Readers did not like having to constantly refer to the book notes and some thought it was a punishment to have to read it! The only positive comment on the book was that people thought it made you appreciate life today, instead of having the anxiety that surrounded women in the 1850’s who had to worry about their choice of bonnets!

No scores were given and it was not a recommended read.

When the discussion was over, the more important business of the discussing the merits of the Yule log and the Malteser Christmas pudding could continue.

The group can now turn their thoughts to the next book and more happy discussions in 2017.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie.

Agatha Christie’s first novel “The Mysterious Affair at Styles” was published in 1920 and introduced a new literary character in the form of Hercule Poirot, a Belgian detective who became the central figure in more than 30 of her novels.

The unfolding story line is narrated by Captain Hastings, a guest of Emily Inglethorp, the owner of Styles. Hastings has pretentions of becoming a detective and solicits the help of his friend Poirot to resolve the mystery of the subsequent death of the owner. The book is thoroughly enjoyable with the introduction of several intriguing characters, a page turning plot with numerous clues and red herrings which kept the reading group guessing as to the murderer until the final denouement.

 

The prose is relatively naive with one or two unexplained clues emerging and all agreed that in our imaginations we continually saw Poirot as portrayed by the television actor David Suchet However this did not deter from our enjoyment of an easy and relaxing novel which was awarded an overall mark of 7.5 out of 10.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Our novel “Persuasion” was written in 1815 and published in 1817 six months after Jane Austen’s death. It was her last novel, and is still in print.

Through the eyes of the heroine, Anne Elliot, we learn of the intricacies of domestic and family lives involving her family, their friends and relations. The Elliot’s who enjoy the status of landed gentry live in Kellynch Hall, and are having financial problems because of Sir Walter’s vanity and spiralling debts. They socialise with the Musgroves whose son, Charles, is married to Mary Elliot, Sir Walter’s youngest daughter. Anne enjoys the company of the untitled and warm friendly Musgroves and their two daughters Henrietta and Louisa. Sir Walter is forced to rent his estate to Admiral Croft and Mrs Croft the sister of Captain Frederick Wentworth, to whom Anne was briefly engaged eight years earlier. She was advised and persuaded to break the engagement with Wentworth who was a naval officer at that time and of a lower status. Something she later regretted.

All human emotions (love, sadness, worries, joys) are experienced by Anne’s observations of the landed gentry, the landowner, and the naval families.

Bookclub review:-

Settled comfortably, we took ourselves back to the eighteen hundreds. This was not difficult with the help of Jane Austen.

With the beautiful language and long descriptive sentences we found that we were forced to read slower than usual and with care at first, but it did not take long to picture the locations of the events whether in Lyme Regis, where the group enjoyed the sea breezes, or Bath for the socialising and shopping.

Anne’s meticulous observations soon made us familiar with the interesting characters. Ann’s father and her older sister who were so preoccupied with class and the ‘right connections’ were outrageous and almost the opposite of the warmth, wit and comic situations of the Musgroves and Croft families.

Love was in the air for the young but Anne’s was not blooming at all.

Almost all in the group thoroughly enjoyed this novel giving it a score of 9 out of 10.

 

 

 

 

 

Fiona Maye is a successful, middle aged, High Court Judge in the Family Court, requiring her to make decisions about children and families in crisis.

Fiona and Jack have been married for 39 years when she is confronted with his revelation that he is about to embark on an affair with a younger woman, even though he says he still loves her and wishes to remain within the marriage.

Whilst dealing with this emotional turmoil within her private life she becomes involved with a court case involving a 17 year old boy, Adam, who is a Jehovah’s Witness and is suffering with aggressive Leukaemia. The Consultant treating him in hospital wishes to administer an emergency blood transfusion which the boy and his family are refusing due to their religious beliefs. Her subsequent ruling has far reaching unforeseen consequences.

The following opinions were unanimous::-

 Concise but extremely well written by one of our leading authors.

 Thought provoking yet poignant.

 Highlights the power that Family Court Judges have over the lives of children and their families where decisions can have far reaching consequences.

 Interesting insight into the religious beliefs of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

 Two strong story lines, one concerning the law and the other about personal relationships.

 A very good read enjoyed by all with a score of 9.

 

Additionally this month it was decided that each of The Page Turners would read a book of their choice. The chosen books are listed below, together with a brief review:

Where My Heart Used to Beat by Sebastia Faulks. – Tedious and uninspiring. Would not recommend.

My Grandmother Sends Her Regards and Apologises: by Fredrik Backman, Henning Koch. – A pleasant holiday read but would not particularly recommend.

The Fishing Fleet. Husband-Hunting in the Raj by Anne de Courcy. – Historically well researched with some interesting parts but mostly boring. Would not recommend.

Oliver Kitteridge: A Novel in Stories by Elizabeth Strout. (Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction) – Interesting, funny and enjoyable. Would recommend.

Me Before You by JoJo Moyes. (New York Times no.1.bestselling novel.) – Very well written, intense but an easy and enjoyable read. Would recommend.

Eagles by Cynthia Harrod – Well written but a light and easy read. Would recommend.

The Past by Tessa Hadley – A good summer read. Would recommend.

The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd. – Historically well researched and paired with a good fictional story line. A good read. Would recommend

 

 

by Mohsin Hamid

At a cafe table in Lahore, a bearded Pakistani man talks with an uneasy American stranger. As the sun moves across the sky and shadows become darker, he begins the tale that brought them to this ominous meeting. This is a first- person novel where the narrator, Changez, establishes an enticing and gripping hold on the reader as he reveals his life story to this American.

We learn that Changez is a highly educated Pakistani who was top of his class at Princeton in America. He worked as a financial analyst for the prestigious firm of Underwood Samson in New York. But after a disastrous love affair and in the wake of September 11 Changez finds his position in his adopted country is not viable and he returns disenchanted to Pakistan..

Opinions by the Page Turners were unanimous.

 An eerie quite powerful story.

 There is a menace there and something is about to happen, and soon..

 It was an exciting novel written well and containing good language.

 There is tension as the novel unfolds and keeps the reader guessing and gives the novel depth and power.

 It was a seriously good book.

 The author has captured a particular reality.

 A great read.

 

It was good to have a book at last that everybody in the group felt was a good read, and one that we would recommend. The score was a 9.

 

by Maria Duenas

Aged 12, Sira Quiroga was apprenticed to a Madrid dressmaker. As she masters the seamstresses’s art, her life seems to be clearly mapped out – until she falls passionately in love and flees with her seductive lover. But in Morocco she is betrayed and left penniless. As Civil War engulfs Spain, Sira finds that she cannot return and so turns to her one true skill – and sews beautiful clothes for the expat elite and their German friends. With Europe rumbling towards war, Sira is lured back to Franco’s Nazi friendly Spain. She is drawn into the shadowy world of espionage, intrigue and betrayal.

Opinion was unanimous on five counts – the writing was naïve, the story was predictable, overlong, disjointed (could have been 2 separate stories) and totally implausible when Sira progressed without a qualm from seamstress to spy.

There were three plus points – it was clever the way the story interwove real characters with fictional ones, the historical research was detailed and enhanced the story, it was a page turner.

Mixed feelings, not one of our better reads. A few enjoyed it and would recommend it as an easy read. Most of us didn’t. The score was a 6.

by DH Lawrence

In between newer books, Barry Library often select classics for us, which are always received with mixed feelings. Those of us who had not read them before, are glad of a 2nd chance. Those who HAVE read them before, find their impressions now, with the maturity of years, and from a different era, are quite different from their teenage years.

All of us agreed that the book was very well written, with excellent descriptions of the landscape, scenery, flowers, and the hardship of the times, but we felt the characters were not as successfully depicted. The mother of the family was a very strong character, from a cultured, affluent family, who had "married beneath her", and her husband soon felt inferior and inadequate. He took refuge in alcohol to bolster his ego, and, his aggression fuelled by drink, was cruel to his sons. They in turn despised him but worshipped their mother, and her relationship with all her sons, was so unnaturally strong as to be almost incestuous.

William was adored and seen to be his mother's favourite, and Paul, the main character was attracted to 2 ladies, Clara and Miriam. His mother disapproved of both, and did not think them "suitable". Paul also seemed to find them unsatisfactory, yet could not allow either out of his life, or search for someone else. We found endless descriptions of long conversations, and thoughts, about these ladies were tedious and frustrating, and never seemed to lead anywhere.

When the immensely strong matriarch eventually fell ill, the balance of power shifted, and the long, slow lingering death was very well portrayed. The painful end, after she was helped by Paul to take an overdose of morphine was quite horrific.

We found it difficult to mark this book out of 10, as is our custom. It was VERY well-written, and the graphic detail of the tedium of poverty, cruelty, really hard work, long hours, and repression, underlined the comfort and ease of our lives in the last half of the 20th century. But the book's content had no "feel good" factor at all, and was in fact quite depressing. So our enjoyment was much less than our acknowledgement of Lawrence's craftsmanship. (A few of us wondered why the book is no longer part of the A Level Syllabus.) So the overall score was a healthy 7.5 – but with a "spinach warning"! (Good for us but not enjoyable!).

This was totally unlike the scrumptious feast of homegrown Welsh strawberries and cream, and delicious cakes, provided by our hostess that evening – Thank You, Babs, you're a hard act to follow!