New Providence Memorial Library's Online Reading Group discussion
Escape Ordinary Summr Rdng 2015
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Escape the Ordinary - Week 5
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I loved the "Night Circus". Reading it I felt like an outsider looking in, wondering how Marco and Celia would react to what was happening. It took a little to get used to as it is a different writing style than I am used to, but I did like it.I am currently reading "The Lion Seeker" by Kenneth Bonert which is written in the first person. I keep wondering why I bought the book. I am about 10% in and dislike the main character a Jewish boy originally from Finland growing up in South Africa. There is a lot of anti-Semitism and racism in the book I just have no idea where this book is going.
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It did take awhile to get used to the different perspectives of Night Circus and of knowing more than the characters. Usually, we find out things as the story unfolds and the suspense is natural. And you're right, I also felt like an outsider but looking down on the whole rather than in through a window.
I just started to read Afterwards by Rosamund Lupton. The narrator is the wife and mother having an out of body experience as she and her daughter lie in a hospital clinging to life. The narration is further "tweaked" by being a one way conversation with her husband who- of course- can't hear her. All very intriguing techniques. She also converses with her daughter who is also "out of body'. Sounds weird but I'm enjoying it, so far. This choice of narration style allows the author to wander and be an observer without influencing what is happening. A little reminiscent of The Lovely Bones. We'll see where it goes...
Eileen wrote: "I just started to read Afterwards by Rosamund Lupton. The narrator is the wife and mother having an out of body experience as she and her daughter lie in a hospital clinging to life. The narratio..."Sounds interesting! Await your final comments...
The book that comes to mind for me is All The Light We Cannot See with the story told in two perspective; the young girl first person and the young soldier first person and on opposite sides to add depth. Loved it.
I used to not like most books that went back and forth between time and narrators but over the past few years I've grown to like them. I liked "All the Light We Cannot See", Loved "Night Circus" and like listening to multiple narrators in an audio book when they change voices. I like first person narrators but then I sometimes wonder how reliable they are since we are only getting one point of view. For example, "Gone Girl".
this question is making me think!
I've come to love the jumping around in time and between characters, as long as it doesn't confuse me too much. Also loved All the Light We Cannot See.I listened to a podcast yesterday where the author Elena DelBlanco was interviewed about her latest book, The Silver Swan. She said she has readers coming up to her so angry because they guessed some major plot points in the story. Ms. DelBlanco said she didn't really care if the readers guessed what the plot points were; she was more concerned how the characters realized things. I thought this was such an interesting perspective. Could I suspend my own journey through a point and view things completely through the eyes and experience of the characters? I'm sure with great writing I could. I can't recall a point that has led me on this path, though.
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So, even though we know that she's going to die and we know that Scott has a huge hole in his life that will never be repaired, we get to meet this woman who is so empathetic that even on her deathbed she is more interested in her nurses' backstories and in her son's being away from his family than in her own comfort and needs.
They relive the past when she was a struggling single mother. They choose a soundtrack to take her away from where she is and chooses her favorite singer, Nat King Cole - hence the title.
So, we do see things from her perspective and we see Scott saying goodbye. Although we know the ending, we are so glad that we had a chance to get to know her.
Judy wrote: "The book that comes to mind for me is All The Light We Cannot See with the story told in two perspective; the young girl first person and the young soldier first person and on opposite sides to add..."That's a future selection for our (the library's) Thursday night bookclub!! Looking forward to it.
Marilyn wrote: "Eileen wrote: "I just started to read Afterwards by Rosamund Lupton. The narrator is the wife and mother having an out of body experience as she and her daughter lie in a hospital clinging to life..."Marilyn wrote: "Eileen wrote: "I just started to read Afterwards by Rosamund Lupton. The narrator is the wife and mother having an out of body experience as she and her daughter lie in a hospital clinging to life..."
Just finished Afterwards- I liked it very much. It's part mystery, part family bonding and discovery as the mother and 17 year old daughter come to know each other in a more adult way, and it had some interesting twists and turns.
I did finish "The Lion Seeker" a while ago. I started to like the book when I got further into it, though it is not one of my favorite books. The discrimination that bothered me in the beginning keeps recurring, but it does shape the character and it makes him a better person.
Hi all! For some reason I have gotten NO emails for 1 week. I thought Lisa night be on vacay and things got hectic here or I was too lengthy in my answers and you guys moved to a new site and never told me! LOL
I just finished "What Alice Forgot" by Liane Moriarty.Interesting concept. What would you do it you hit you head at the gym and wake up in the hospital and you have completely forgotten the last ten years of your life. You are 39, 3 kids and you have no clue how things got to the place they are. I do not want to spoil this for anyone that wants to read this, but I will say, at first is seems like major chaos, but then again...
Hi! I made a decision to read/listen to audio books I would never have even considered until now as an experiment.The "Thunder of Giants" is a very interesting audio told in parallel of the 19th century Giant Anna Swan from Nova Scotia and the 7'11" Andorra Kelsey in 1937 that is going to Hollywood and become a star in a film about Anna.
It blends fact with fiction and is very clever considering Anna's famed attraction at PT Barnum's American Museum until she falls in love with a veteran of the Civil War and the parallel story of Andorra Kelsey coming to terms with both women trying to survive in a world that is too small for them.
Most humans are drawn to these so called "freaks of nature" I know 40 years ago, the dog face boy scared me until I learned it is a genetic mutation often found in central American males or the fat lady (just look at America today) seemed like freaks 100 years ago, but these 2 women clearly show, that they are no different then you or I. I would not recommend this as must read, but it is off topic for something I would normally read, but glad I did. Joel Fishbane does a wonderful job researching and then constructing the two parallel stories told at the same time, but the ending is obvious from the start. Regardless a person's size, shape, color and background, we all essentially strive for the same things and have the same needs and feelings. The sensitively the author presents this with (both women were treated like freaks and shunned by some family and friends)is wonderful and most important, proves that love is blind after all.
Hi! Now I know you guys will move to a new site and not tell me, but I haven't gotten any messages since July 5th.South of Shiloh by Chuck Logan is diffidently a must read for any guy that is in the Civil War re-enactments (right down to the size and color of a button) and a murder mystery combined. The re-enactment takes place is MN, which I had NO CLUE had some serious battles, and I have been to Stillwater,WI. I crossed the Mississippi exactly where they did and other areas of MN I have been to. So that was fun to hear. But the "accident" that occurs may have been intended for another player and former Cop Paul Edin is going to Corinth, MS and investigate. Story moves fast and what is so interesting is that both the battles that took place is Mississippi and Minnesota have some very similar out comes. Much more a guy book, and I do not recommend, but if you know any Civil War buffs that never knew about the impact in our Mid-West States, and throw in a murder mystery, they may very well enjoy this book from start to finish.
Marie - I've not gotten many emails/notifications but I did just get one that alerted me to new message from you. Did you see my message that I finished "Stay" and liked it?
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LOL Great comment Lisa, I think I would like to forget the last 20 years! Marilyn I glad you liked Stay. It is a different and fun read. AND honestly, I would have picked the Vet in a heartbeat, he is so much my kind of guy...wishful thinking!!
Hi! Another NOT recommended but I stuck with it thinking it would have a different ending and did not.Rebecca's Johnson "And Sometimes Why" is a common theme that brings to mind Jody Piccoult's "My Sister's Keeper".
The tragic motorcycle accident put's the 16 year old daughter in a PVC (persistent vegetative coma)of a couple that has focused on their 2 daughters to keep the marriage together. Add their refusal to accept their daughter's condition is permanent and they can't pull the plug, the other daughter turns 18 and wants to go to Alaska and live with her new boyfriend. Not only to escape her Sister's situation, but the crumbling of her parents marriage. Bad enough the parents blame each other (how did they not know their 16 was seeing a much older man), but was this really an accident? They find out she had just broken up with this loser and drunk, but he just happened to have joined the Navy and was going straight, but offer's her a ride home on his bike and hits head on into a car and is killed? The plot is too obvious, the end results the same and I do NOT agree with Booklist that this is "Unflinching and heartbreaking and POWERFUL." Too many other books and not enough time. Take a pass on this because all I wanted to do was smack all three of them for putting the focus on how this tragedy is destroying their lives and each has an escape plan and use the comatose daughter as a excuse to walk away from an already fragile marriage that used the kids to hide the truth about themselves. Not worth the time and the other plot lines just prove that people are their own worst enemies.
The book I'm thinking about is Night Circus. The story is told alternately from Marco and Celia's perspective. They don't know all the details but we do. It has the effect of creating suspense as you wonder not only how the story will play out but also how and when the character will learn what you know and how they will react. Sometimes it's frustrating as in "why can't they just ask the other person what's happening"? Or, if you'd just stood on that corner for another half second you would have seen the guy walking by. But I thought it added to the fantastic atmosphere that Morgenstern creates in the book.
What about your book?