21st Century Literature discussion
2019 Book Discussions
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The H-Bomb & the Jesus Rock - General info - no spoilers (Jul 2019)
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I'm in for the discussion. 10/27/62, I was in the 2nd grade in Dover, PA. I don't have memories of discussion, explanation or reaction from adults. D & C drills are my main memory. My peers and I thought they were tedious and silly. Maybe we didn't have the cognitive level to understand the significance (I think most of my class still believed in Santa) and the adults didn't seem to want to talk with us at our level. "Do what is good for you", "Don't question authority". Living down a long farm lane, I didn't have a neighborhood per se with a fat kid, empty lot, and exposure to other parents. Also, the Catholic Schools were in the city, miles away. I appreciated additional information and scenarios to add to my memories. This was such a fun book for me! I loved the perspective from children, especially the blend of fantasy and reality.
Sarah, glad you are in for the discussion. Hugh, sorry you cannot join us. You can get a reasonably priced copy on Abebooks - see https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/Sear... - but it would take a while to reach you in the UK. I hope some of our younger group members are reading it, as I'm interested in how they would compare the reaction of these children to the reaction of children post 9/11.
Linda, great comparison idea. Younger readers, this is a quick, fun read. Give it a go!
While not a younger member, I started reading it and enjoy its quirkiness. I do remember the day JFK was shot, as we were sent home from school (and this in Canada), but I'm not so clear about the Cuban Missile crisis. What I do recall was that there was something very serious going on that my parents didn't really want to talk about in front of the kids.Not too long ago, Daniel Ellsberg commented on how very close a call this was -- that we were actually much closer to pressing the button that people realized.
Here's his website and latest book:
http://www.ellsberg.net/
Like Elaine, the memory of the day JFK was shot is much more powerful than the Cuban missile crisis but I remember Kruschev banging his shoe on the table and drills in school in which we hid under our desk in preparation for the bombs dropping. Even at 9 I knew that wouldn't save my life and I think I was scared but also disbelieving that anything would actually happen.I'm a little late coming to this book, but it seems interesting and different.
Hello Elaine and Ellie, glad you can join us. Yes, Kennedy's assassination is burned deeper in my psyche too than the Cuban missile crisis. But, the Cuban missile crisis is one of those close encounters that so could have gone wrong and all those duck and cover exercises would have done not one iota of good, if it had!Thanks Elaine for the link to the Ellsberg site. North Korea is scarier than Cuba to me, especially given the heads of state involved in this one!
Yes, the current situation is really scary. l. And just think of what the new bombs are like after 60 years of further development. I will catch up with the reading in a few days. I am certainly interested in the idea of young people intervening.
Welcome to Saturday, October 27, 1962. The US and the USSR are in a standoff over missiles in Cuba, less than 100 miles from the United States. President Kennedy and Premier Khrushchev have exchanged threats. Trusted CBS newsman Walter Cronkite is on the job and millions of Americans are glued to their televisions (mostly black & white). Children have just experienced a week in school where "duck & cover" drills were frequent. On this Saturday, life is unsettled (and this was a very true and real situation).
I wasn't able to find many reviews of this book. In fact, I only located two:
https://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwbook... and http://jim-murdoch.blogspot.com/searc.... Spoiler warning -- do not read these if you've not read the book and like a pristine reading experience. If anyone has found other reviews or interviews with the author, please share them on this thread.
There were not a lot of votes casts in this poll, so I'd be interested in know who will be joining the discussion. I'd also like to know if those who have or are planning to read the book were alive at the time and if so, if you were around the age of the children in the book -- Toby is 13 and in the 8th grade; Ralph is about 10, which would put him in 4th or 5th grade, and Lou (short for Louisa) is 8, which would put her in 2nd or3rd grade. And, the bigger question, is whether you remember the Cuban Missile Crisis.
I'll start. I was in the 6th grade and I remember that on Friday, October 26 when school ended that the main sentiment among the class as we left was whether we would be back to school on Monday or would a nuclear war have commenced.
I'm going to set of a second thread for discussion of the book. This one is to is to prepare us for the experience.