Category: Stage IV

I started this book about a month before my book club meeting, picked it up, put it down, then got into it about two weeks later. Once I got into it, I had a hard time putting it back down. I finished it at midnight the night before the meeting.

I’ve discovered some things about me and my style of reading. This is just a start. I’m sure I’ll learn a lot more as I continue to read more novels and fewer academic books.

First of all, I love historic fiction. I don’t know that I ever knew that for a fact, but I love reading all the human interest stories surrounded by true historic events. Second, it takes me a while to get into a book. Call it procrastination, or feeling tired, or dread, I don’t know. But, if it’s a good book, I do get into it and then I have a hard time letting it go until I finish. I do enjoy true stories, so perhaps the truth of the history is what draws me in.

This month’s book was All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr. He won a Pulitzer Prize (2015 Fiction Prize) the year after it was published. I was curious to find out why, and I was not disappointed.

I tried to explain the plot to Tim, but this book is so full of intricate details, defining it is a massive challenge. What can I say? Read it!

Basically it’s a story of a boy and a girl who experience the atrocities of war, and the intersection of their stories. The book tells us about a blind Marie-Laure’s experience from the French side, as well as Werner’s front line witness on the German side. Werner was a child prodigy, fixing broken radios from a young age, then he is called to enter the war with others who would share in participating as students and military personnel in Heitler’s Reich. Marie-Laure learned to make use of her other senses at a young age, opening puzzle boxes within minutes, smelling her way around town, and recalling her steps by counting drains. Their family members are also followed, and the chapters rotate between various people and locations. This kept me on my toes.

There is much history told within the pages of this book. I feel like I understand more about the war, the important role played by the radio and trigonometry (math comes in handy in real life at times), German’s propaganda, the attack on Paris, the sad demise of the city of Saint-Malo, and how war impacts everyone to some degree or another (to name a few). I felt attached to the blind girl with freckles, whose father created small replicas of her town so she could find her way around when she ventured outdoors. I loved reading some French phrases, and actually understanding them!

The father’s puzzle boxes reminded me of the puzzle box my mother brought home to me from Guatemala, when I was a little girl. She was there on an extended mission trip after a major earthquake shook their world. I meant to take it to the meeting to show my fellow book clubbers, but I forgot to pick it up as I was walking out the door. Perhaps I can create a video to show you what it looks like, as well as the treasures found inside. It’s an antique now!

I liked the relatively short chapters, which helped the pages flip a bit faster. It’s quite a story. I enjoyed seeing the resilience and perseverance of those who experienced trauma and war crimes. The storyteller drew me in with his beautifully written phrases, exquisite attention to detail, and storyline. As I carried the book with me to doctor’s appointments and other errands, I heard more than once, “That’s a great book!”

I rated it a 9.0, with one point deducted primarily due to the ending. Club members also rated it strong, with some ratings increasing from 8.0 to 9.0 after our discussion.

Spoiler Alert! Skip this paragraph if you plan to read the book. I was a bit disappointed by the ending. I was hoping for a Hallmark ending, and that didn’t happen. A few people’s ending were left unclear, as the characters in the book were unable to find family members and friends. Werner and Marie-Laure do meet, and he saves her life more than once, but they only meet in person for less than a day. He seems to have fallen in love with her before they met, but when they leave the country in separate ways, he becomes ill and wanders into a mine field. I was really hoping they could stay together until the end of the book. It’s fiction after all. Why didn’t the author end it that way? I guess war is like that. Not a lot of happy endings.

À la prochaine…hasta la próxima vez…until next time!

I’ve managed to make it to all four book club meetings this year, and I’ve read all four of the books. That’s more than I’ve read in a while, so I’m pretty proud of myself. Each month someone different picks a book, so we never know for sure what we are going to read. This month’s book was The Boys in the Boat, by Daniel James Brown. It’s a true story about the boys who rowed in the 1936 Berlin Olympics–and won. It’s a long story, demonstrating all the obstacles they had to overcome to get there.

The main character (Joe) was interviewed by the author, along with Joe’s daughter, as he was nearing the end of his life. Apparently she kept many newspaper clippings and had journaled their story in detail, so this helped the cause. Much research had to have gone into this book in addition to her contribution. Historic events in Berlin under Hitler’s dictatorship showed a side of propaganda I found very interesting, as it was woven into the context of the story in a way I have not heard before. And the competition between the east and west was also new to me. Very intriguing how the underdogs were treated.

It was a good read. I learned more about rowing than I ever thought I would! I’m not sure I could do it! The torture these boys endured would probably not be permitted in schools today (e.g. rowing every day in the snow and bitter cold). The book was a bit technical for my liking, with a few too many rowing races described in infinite detail. I admittedly skimmed a few parts to get to the end where they competed in the Olympics. It took a while to get there. I do think it’s amazing that this true story, a fabulous part of history, is in print. It needed to be told.

Carol’s summary of our discussion was again spot-on.

"Nine of us gathered this afternoon to discuss The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown.  We marveled at how these Washington poor young men overcame all the obstacles thrown at them and how they kept rising up and beating the odds.  The Depression; the weather; the practices and still went to a job and had to do homework; the east coast having all the money/prestige; having to come up with $5,000 to go to the 1936 Olympics; the lane that they got at the Olympics; Don Hume deathly sick at the Olympics.  You could go on and on.  We all hated Thula, Joe’s stepmother,  and how she could abandon Joe at 10 years old and how Joe’s father let it happen was so pathetic.  Several of us got sick of the description of the art of rowing over and over.  It was too repetitive.  We thought the propaganda town of Berlin during the Olympics fascinating that they really pulled it off.  We all loved the ending and finding out what each one became and the families getting together each year.  We were sad of course that they all are gone.  We were all thankful for this true story being written. We rated the book 8.5."

There are a lot of memories about Joe’s family and growing up. I probably enjoyed reading these sections the most. Watching the family dynamics was intriguing as a family therapist. But it was hard to absorb as well. His family was a challenge, and I can’t imagine anyone who would abandon their son the way they did. His step-mother was stereotypical, and could have come straight from a classic Disney movie. Having said that, overcoming this challenge is just one of the many things that made him into the great man he became.

I pondered whether our current society is too easy on people. It seems our younger generation has become soft, and tends to give up more readily. I’m not saying we should permit bullying, but I wonder if the bullies in one’s life could actually help bolster an individual if we get the right perspective about it.

Perhaps we all need a few more obstacles to strengthen our internal muscles. We can moan and groan and complain, or we can choose to welcome the obstacles in our lives. Rather than focusing on how someone else can change, think about how their interaction with you can change you. These challenges may be the very thing we need to become the next (better) version of ourselves.

À la prochaine…hasta la próxima vez…until next time!