Our Next Book

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The Heart's Invisible Furies

 

 

The Wolfson Contemporary Reading Group will next meet on Wednesday, 27 June 2018 at the usual time of 7:30pm in Plommer A. We will be discussing John Boyne's latest novel, The Heart's Invisible Furies.


The novel opens in the small west Cork village of Goleen, in 1945, during mass in the parish church. Instead of giving a sermon, Father James Monroe rises to denounce 16-year-old Catherine Goggin, recently discovered to be pregnant. The priest calls her up to the altar to shame her before family and congregation, before kicking her out of the church and banishing her from the parish. Boyne introduces this scene by informing us that it will be known later that this priest has himself fathered two children in the area, and his brutality is inflamed rather than tempered by hypocrisy.

Catherine’s journey to Dublin is the beginning of a picaresque, lolloping odyssey for the individual characters and for the nation that confines them. As the novel begins, Ireland is a young republic and effectively a theocracy. The church writes and enforces the laws controlling sexuality and social behaviour. The opening episode is narrated by the child in Catherine’s womb. He grows up as Cyril Avery, adopted child of a famous Irish female novelist, and tells the story of his life up to 2015. By then the permanent, unquestionable structure of Catholic Ireland will have all but vanished, as the power of the church dissolves in scandal and shame.

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We really hope that you will join us at this meeting. However, if you are unable to be with us, please email your comments and scores so that they can be shared with the group.

The book is available in local libraries, and in paperback and Kindle edition from Amazon* and other booksellers.


*Please remember to use the link on the Wolfson Alumni & Development website if you choose to buy from Amazon, as College will benefit from the sale: http://www.wolfson.cam.ac.uk/alumni/amazon/ 

May Review: 'A Gentleman in Moscow'

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Book: A Gentleman in Moscow, Amor Towles

Publication date: 2016

WCRG meeting: 16 May 2018

Rating: 7.4




The vast majority of our book club members loved this book. They especially liked the main character (‘a real gent’) and found it charming and whimsical. Members described the book as very elegant, humorous and a clever book, well written. A lot of what was mentioned during the book, and especially in the first chapter, was later picked up again and became meaningful, “the first chapter contained basically the whole book”. Readers also liked the many different characters and the description of them. We also liked the referencing of classic books and movies.

Some criticisms were that the book was a bit long and a slow read, however it still managed to keep the readers curious as to what would happen next. Although everyone liked the count and found him an endearing character, some felt that he did not really develop as a character during the book; especially considering for how long the book followed him.

All chapter titles began with an ‘A’, but because we couldn’t really find a reason for this, it felt more gimmicky than clever.

Some questions about the book remained. Did it give readers an insight into Russia and Russians, or was it a bit too detached from the real world outside the hotel? The awareness of the difficult times in the background was very subtly depicted - perhaps too subtly. Also, some episodes did feel quite unrealistic and left readers wondering.

Overall, the book was a very nice read, albeit some readers were left somewhat bored and wanting some darkness or tension to enter the narrative. However, these members were in the minority and most loved reading it.

The final score was 7.4 out of 10.

Our Next Book

Image may be subject to copyright

A Gentleman in Moscow

 

 

The Wolfson Contemporary Reading Group will next meet on Wednesday, 16 May 2018 at the usual time of 7:30pm in Plommer A. We will be discussing Amor Towles' A Gentleman in Moscow.


In 1922 Count Rostov is deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal. He is sentenced to house arrest in The Metropol, a grand hotel across the street from the Kremlin.

Rostov, an indomitable man of erudition and wit, has never worked a day in his life, and must now live in an attic room while some of the most tumultuous decades in Russian history are unfolding outside the hotel’s doors. Unexpectedly, his reduced circumstances provide him a doorway into a much larger world of emotional discovery.

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We really hope that you will join us at this meeting. However, if you are unable to be with us, please email your comments and scores so that they can be shared with the group.

The book is available in local libraries, and in paperback and Kindle edition from Amazon* and other booksellers.

*Please remember to use the link on the Wolfson Alumni & Development website if you choose to buy from Amazon, as College will benefit from the sale: http://www.wolfson.cam.ac.uk/alumni/amazon/ 

March Review: 'The Girls of Slender Means'

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Book: The Girls of Slender Means, by Muriel Spark

Publication date: 1963

WCRG meeting: 21 March 2018

Rating: 7



The novel is set in London in 1945 at the end of the war in a shabby/genteel boarding house for young ladies called the May of Teck Club. We meet the various girls of slender means and follow their lives and love affairs over a few weeks until a shocking event transforms the wry comedy of their existence into something suddenly tragic and baleful.

The book is just a small volume, and Spark’s writing style is very sparse, but very dense with lots of layers behind it. Her dry way of writing was acknowledged and compared to be “almost like a very crisp Chardonnay”. Members enjoyed the irony and fun with tongue-in-cheek humour and play on words, for example the many meanings of ‘slender’ which were touched upon in the novel.

One question raised a few times was if, and how, the quotes of poetry Spark selected were relevant to the story, and maybe even a foreshadowing. A special shout out here to anyone who did look them all up. One example was the ‘Wreck of the Deutschland’ that appeared numerous times.

Some criticism involved the slow pace of Spark’s writing, and some members said that it was difficult to connect with the book and some of the character, but they still appreciated the quality of the writing. Others said that they either struggled with Spark before or felt it was a hard slog to get into this book.

Many enjoyed the description of publishing and “the world of books”, and the description of the immediate post-war period. “Spot on” was the comment from members who lived through the time.

Another member, who did read several of Muriel Spark’s books, sensed something dark in her books. One member commented that he found it a thing of its time: “twee”.

There was much about the status between women, between their looks, size, men. As well as the role of women: two possible futures for women, either to become spinsters or to get married. Another recurring theme was that of religion.

One participant became rather impatient with the book, as there was also a lot of repetition of themes and topics. Although he seemed to be one of the major characters in the book, Nicholas didn’t quite get explained, nor how and when he gets killed.

Many found it interesting how the focus shifted from one character to another and there is no clear main character throughout the book.

Overall, the book was well received and book club members were impressed with how Muriel Spark created a whole world with very few words. A very simple novel on the surface, but very complex underneath.

It received a score of 7.