Library Book Club – Off The Shelf
The Library’s second book club ‘Off the Shelf’ met for the first time on June 6th. The book we read was Anthony Doerr’s About Grace. Hydrologist David Winkler, the protagonist of the story has disturbing prophetic dreams. When he dreams of failing to rescue his infant daughter Grace from drowning, Winkler tries to save her by moving himself away from the predicted tragic event. He leaves his family in Ohio and find finds himself on the island of St Vincent where he spends more than 20 years before returning to search for his family.
Most of us had read and loved All the Light We Cannot See, which won Doerr the 2015 Pulitzer Prize, so we were looking forward to reading this, his début novel. We all agreed that About Grace was a story of hope and the author showed great imagination that was reflected in his description of events. However, in parts we felt there was too much description, which was often at the expense of character formation and sometimes got in the way of the story. Although About Grace was not a favourite, it was mostly enjoyable but sometimes a frustrating read. We were pleased that we had persevered and finished the book and would still recommend it to others. Overall we gave the book 7/10.
Off the Shelf will meet on the first Wednesday of each month from 7.00 – 9.00pm. We have places for a few more members so if you are interested in joining us please contact Isobel Davies: davies.isobel@ yahoo.co.uk
