April brought us classic modern literature from two fantastic novelists; Margaret Atwood and David Mitchell. The novels 'The Blind Assassin' and 'Number9Dream' were two of the highest scoring and best received books since we started reading as a group.
Margaret Atwood's novel won the Man Booker Prize in 2000. It is a clever tale of the life of the main protagonist Iris Chase and her family interwoven with a science fiction story that was published posthumously by Laura Chase, Iris' sister after Laura commits suicide. The story engaged the vast majority of the group and received 8.1/10 (The highest so far). The group loved how the novel dealt with emotions and felt that the relationships and romance were believable and enjoyable to read about (unlike the Morse code/taxi driver/ foreskin regrowth issues in previous reads).
Margaret Atwood writes quite wonderfully about women and the complexity of all the female characters was another reason the group loved the book so much. The group members who had read other Atwood novels said that this was probably her best book. It was also thought that it was her most accessible The members of the group who had read this years Booker Prize winner (The Finkler Question) found the difference in the quality of the two novels laughable. Obviously the Man Booker Prize panel no longer has standards!! (in our opinion that is).
Moving on to another prize nominated read:
The novel is an exploration of belonging and identity set in modern day Tokyo. Personally I had never read a David Mitchell novel, and was put of with the thought that the narrative would be over complicated and fragmentary. Oh how wrong I was!
The novel was poignant, the lead character Eiji Miyake was one of the most likeable teenagers I've ever read about. His story was tragic, inspiring and often very, very funny. The group loved the video game style of some of his tales (however unrealistic they were). We also liked the relationship between Eiji and his twin sister. The only downside to the novel was a small sub-story about Goatwriter, Mrs Comb and a Neanderthal...randomness gone a bit too far. Apart from being terrified of getting mixed up with a ruthless Japanese gangster the novel really made me want to visit Japan. The score for this novel was an impressive 8/10. Putting it joint second of all time favourite 'Bookstrippedbare' reads. Well done number9dream.
NEXT! The May extravaganza
Ms Krauss....how are you feeling....depressed?....really?...we never would have guessed.
Great House is not a great joy to read. In fact its one of the most sombre and downbeat books we've ever had the pleasure (is that the right word) to pick up. O.k. maybe that's a bit harsh. The story revolves around a desk and how this desk has influenced the life of a few people over a couple of generations. The group felt on the whole that the book was trying to be too clever, and although it did have some very good plot twists and turns, on the whole that didn't make up for a self obsessed writing style and unlikeable characters.
The novel, nominated for the Orange Prize for women's fiction, featured weak and annoying female characters. The book was separated into four stories but the narrative was so similar throughout that we thought it was not done well at all. A disappointing 3.6/10
And finally...
On a personal note, I feel a bit of a failure- this is the first novel that I have not finished since the group started. I will use the group discussion with a little assistance from Wikipedia to do it justice.
The book was Claire's choice from her 5 Books of my Life, a new feature to The Book Stripped Bare. It is the tale of a very dysfunctional Midwestern American family. The family consists of Alfred Lambert, a retired railway engineer suffering from Parkinson's, his wife Enid and three grown up children. The novel looks at the lives of all the family and centres around them meeting for Christmas one last time as Alfred's health deteriorates. The group said that the family dynamics were interesting to say the least. The cruelty that was shown between family members was the reason some people like the book and some didn't like it so much. The group agreed that the end of the novel is much more enjoyable than the beginning (and at 672 pages, probably why I was unable to get through it). The book score and overall 6.3/10...not to shabby.
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