September 2015: Our next book

The Newlyweds, Nell Freudenberger

The WCRG next meets on Wednesday, 23 September at 7:30pm in the Combination Room. We will be discussing The Newlyweds - the latest work from Nell Freudenberger, one of America’s most acclaimed young writers. It is a story of love and marriage, secrets and betrayals, that takes us from the backyards of America to the back alleys and villages of Bangladesh.

In The Newlyweds, we follow the story of Amina Mazid, who at age twenty-four moves from Bangladesh to Rochester, New York, for love. A hundred years ago, Amina would have been called a mail-order bride. But this is an arranged marriage for the twenty-first century: Amina is wooed by—and woos—George Stillman online.

For Amina, George offers a chance for a new life and a different kind of happiness than she might find back home. For George, Amina is a woman who doesn’t play games. But each of them is hiding something: someone from the past they thought they could leave behind. It is only when they put an ocean between them—and Amina returns to Bangladesh—that she and George find out if their secrets will tear them apart, or if they can build a future together.

We hope to see you at our next meeting, but, if you are unable to be with us, please do email me your comments and scores, to be shared with the group.

We understand there may be some difficulty obtaining this book - it is available for just under £6.00 at the Book Depository: http://www.bookdepository.com/. A Kindle edition is available from Amazon*, which also provides links to alternative third-party sellers.


*Do remember to use the link on the Wolfson Alumni & Development website if you choose to buy from Amazon, as the College will benefit from the sale.

July book review: 'Us', by David Nicholls

Book: Us, David Nicholls


Publication Date: 2014


WCRG Meeting: 22 July, 2015


Group Rating: 7.2


The Book Group met on Wednesday 22nd July 2015 to discuss Us by David Nicholls. There was largely consensus on the amusing nature of this book, with members of the group finding it laugh-out-loud funny. It is a story of a disintegrating marriage but it is also about the male narrator, the husband of Connie and father of Albie, Douglas Petersen. Douglas is a scientist who is happiest studying the fruit fly. Unexpectedly he meets and marries Connie, an artist and a troubled but happy-go-lucky woman, in his twenties. She is just emerging from an abusive relationship and the steady and rather boring Douglas appears to provide the stability that she needs. And as pointed out, opposites attract. However, many of the group felt that it was a marriage doomed from the beginning, and the fact that 25 years later she returns to the abusive boyfriend, (now much changed), is significant.

Douglas’s attempts to bond with his teenage son, who resembles his mother more than himself, is at the heart of the book. These attempts are the funniest sections of the book but are also the most heart-rending as he so often misses the point of the relationship between parent and son. For example his frustrations at the young Albie making lego models just to gleefully destroy them. Douglas spends a whole night making models and gluing them together. Not surprisingly it does not go down well.

All readers found the research and detail of the European cities fascinating, especially the detail of the art that Douglas encounters. Douglas is keen to show his understanding of art, as this is his wife’s territory, and perhaps he has this wrong. Would it not be better to allow her control over this area and just take his cues from her? But, again, Douglas wants to control – not in an aggressive way but rather because he likes order. He is escaping from his parent’s marriage and his father whom he always found distant. Douglas’s marriage survives the death of a first child but this is always present and even Albie feels he cannot measure up to the image of the baby sister who never grew up. These are the most poignant parts of the book.

The book is mainly constructed of set pieces throughout Europe as Douglas attempts to find his son after having betrayed him by apologising for his behaviour to some industrialists who specialise in selling arms. Many noted and approved the shortness of the chapters and the fast pace of the narrative. We all liked the way Nicholls writes dialogue.

One reader, interestingly, found a religious theme within the book – betrayal/redemption; father/son. Although it was enjoyed by many, some readers felt that we were only being presented with half the story and would have liked to have seen it presented from Connie’s point of view. Should it truly be called Us one person wondered, rather than Me? There is some attempt at the end to address this, but it was felt that it was too little and too late.

Overall an enjoyable read but we felt that possibly Nicholls could have rounded out the other characters a bit more. Many would certainly read other books by David Nicholls. It received a very creditable score of 7.2.

Welcome to our blog!

Welcome, one and all, to the new, official blog for the Wolfson Contemporary Reading Group! This is a space where notices, book details, and reviews for the Reading Group will be posted. However, this is primarily your forum, dear member, to share your thoughts on the books you are reading and to make suggestions for future reads.

The template of the blog is a simple one, designed to allow for easy interaction between users. All are encouraged to comment on posts and to generate discussion. If you wish to post something in particular to the blog, please contact the blog administrator (Anne O'Neill) on wolfsonreading@gmail.com with your draft post and any pictures you would like to include.

Please contact the administrator if you have any questions or concerns. A brief introduction to the blog will be given during our next meeting in September.




Image credit: Flickr; Lex McKee