Bob's Book Club discussion
This topic is about
Saving Lucia
SAVING LUCIA - ANNA VAUGHT
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The discussion for Saving Lucia by Anna Vaught will take place Friday 29 May, which means you still have over a week to finish your copy!
We will be here from 11am for an hour to discuss the book with you all, but we encourage you to discuss the book in the meantime at your leisure.
Happy reading and we look forward to hearing your thoughts!
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We are excited to discuss this week’s read, Saving Lucia by Anna Vaught. If you can’t join the discussion at this time, we encourage you to leave a comment and to talk about the book at your convenience. This discussion page is open all the time.
This week, we’ll be sharing some questions that were kindly sent to us by the author.
1. Why are birds so important in the book?
2. What did you think about the way Violent and Lucia spoke?
3. As it asks in the book, ‘Did any of this really happen?’ Could it have happened?
4. Why is imagination so important in the book?
5. What did you like most about the book and what least?
6. In what way, if at all, is Lucia saved?
7. Do we have the right to retell – even as historical fiction – others’ stories, especially when those people have had their stories partly or fully hidden or silenced?
8. Who was your favourite character and why?
Please feel free to use these to discuss the book, or indeed discuss other aspects of the book that you found interesting!
Overall, I have mixed opinions about this book. My favourite thing about this book is the liberties that Anna Vaught took to write about real historical figures. I love when authors don’t feel constrained by historical fact to ‘accurately represent’ the past. I think it’s more fun to give life to the historical figures, even when it means the author has to take artistic license. I think this is especially the case in Saving Lucia, as there is such little information about the women available. Obviously it would be wrong to tarnish the women’s reputations/legacies etc., but there’s something great about writing a book that brings their stories – or a version of their stories and experiences – to light when they’ve been hidden for so long. Interested to hear what other people think!
Reading this book while being confined ourselves was an intense experience. In the beginning especially I found Lucia's narration to be difficult company. With my own head full of anxieties and concerns, Lucia's many words, many thoughts, felt overwhelming.The latter half of the book was easier, either I had grown accustomed to Lucia's stream of consciousness or the pace of it had subsided a little.
I did learn many new words in the process- 'passerine' being just one.
I feel the same, Erica. I have mixed opinions about this book! I really liked the concept of telling a story about four historical figures, and highlighting mental health through literature. My only struggle was with the language. I struggled with the way that the women spoke. I had to read paragraphs a couple of times to understand what they were saying and, even more so, who was speaking. I struggled with the lack of speech marks and traditional (?) punctuation. I think I understood thAt it was a reflection of Violet's and Lucia's thoughts, but I found it hard to connect with the language!
I should also say, the book set me off to find out more about the four women. Before Saving Lucia I was only aware of the story of Violet Gibson, and then only vaguely.
Amanda wrote: "I feel the same, Erica. I have mixed opinions about this book! I really liked the concept of telling a story about four historical figures, and highlighting mental health through literature. My onl..."I think Anna Vaught is extremely successful in conveying the disordered intensity of the women's consciousness, and yet also questioning the very idea of 'madness' and what/who is sane.
Erica wrote: "I should also say, the book set me off to find out more about the four women. Before Saving Lucia I was only aware of the story of Violet Gibson, and then only vaguely."Me too, Erica. I was really interested in learning more about the women. I admittedly hadn't heard of any of them nor any of their stories, so I was particularly interested to learn that what happened to Lucia in the book differed to what happened to Lucia in real life. I must admit it confused me a little bit. What do you think of the ending?
By the end of the novel, Lucia no longer lives at St Andrews and is seemingly living a full, healthy life. However, in real life, Lucia lived and died at St Andrews and never ‘escaped’ like Violet, Bertha and Blanche hoped she would. In the novel she is 'saved' by her imagination, managing to transcend the physical realities of her situation and create a better life for herself in her mind. In that sense, the women perhaps did 'save' Lucia.
I agree. I found the discussions about Violet's sanity interesting. Was she mad for attempting to assassinate Mussolini when she was ultimately right about her assessment of the political figure?
Erica wrote: "By the end of the novel, Lucia no longer lives at St Andrews and is seemingly living a full, healthy life. However, in real life, Lucia lived and died at St Andrews and never ‘escaped’ like Violet,..."I think this is a good assessment of the ending. I couldn't decide/figure out whether she really did leave St Andrews in the novel, or if it was all in her head, and I think that this thought is applicable to the entire book. 'Did any of this really happen?' Anna O and Blanche had died years before Violet and Lucia ‘met’ them, and the women could not have travelled back in time to Violet’s past and could not have shot Mussolini. But it still doesn’t mean it couldn’t have happened, I guess. Like they say in the book, those who are confined have the best imaginations. It reminds me of what Dumbledore said at the end of the Harry Potter ‘Of course, it is happened inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?’ Out of all of the literary allusions that Vaught was making in the book, this is probably not the most obvious or important one, but nonetheless it is one I thought of!
Erica wrote: "I should also say, the book set me off to find out more about the four women. Before Saving Lucia I was only aware of the story of Violet Gibson, and then only vaguely."I was fascinated by Lucia's relationship with her mother, 'the barnacle', which on googling I discovered was based on a real life resentment. So interesting.
⭐️ Saving Lucia by Anna Vaught @bluemoosebooks ⭐️
You have over THREE weeks to read #SavingLucia. The discussion will take place the week commencing 25 May 🗓
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