MORAL DISORDER - Margaret Atwood

This book has been floating around my house for several months. I brought it home after the AC Adult Literati group read The Handmaid's Tale by Atwood. I was expecting another noir tale of the future but it was not to be. 

The book is constructed as a series of vignettes telling a life story.  But it is not simply a narrative. It is more like an episodic crazy quilt as the chapters are not in chronological order. The opening story is of an elderly woman and her aging husband, Tig.  She reflects on how they understand each other and how uncertain and scary life has become. In the next chapter the reader is transported to the life of the woman as an eleven-year-old dealing with a depressed mother, an absent father,  and preparing for the pending birth of a little sister. 

About half way through I began to get annoyed that I still didn't know the main character's name. All the chapters up to that point were in first person. Without warning the rest of the book switched to third person and her name was introduced as Nell. Nell's stories then switch between childhood tales of raising her sister, trying to keep her family in tact during her teen years, maneuvering the pitfalls of adolescence, visiting her mother in the nursing home as an adult, and coming of age in the 70s. She avoided drugs and gratuitous sex in college but drifted as a young adult on her own. When she finally began a relationship it was with her friend's husband but with that friend's encouragement. 

I enjoyed mostly the chapters of Nell as a young girl and an adolescent. Maybe because she was a bookworm even when the only book available was The Joy of Cooking and she memorized how to entertain with or without servants.

I liked getting a glimpse into the psyche of a person who lets others make all the rules and simply tries to keep things together. This character took on responsibility without question. For many years she looked after her sister both when she was a child, and again when she was a suicidal adolescent. She even took on the job of caretaker for her husband Tig's ex-wife when she felt compelled to. 

It was a gratifying read and short, so only an afternoon or so of my time. I recommend it. 

LIFE EXPECTANCY - Dean Koontz

Both the Adams Central HS student Literati and the Adult Literati read Life Expectancy by Dean Koontz two years ago. I was cleaning out some school files today and came across these pictures which lead to some ruminating. Al Arnold, a math teacher shocked us by coming to group that day in full "Bezo" form.  We had such a great time with that book. Below is Al/Bezo and a picture to illustrate how we thematically decorate for our meetings.

Even if you are not a Koontz lover this book is a great read. I was hooked by the first chapter. In a hospital in a Colorado resort town is the owner of the bakery waiting for the birth of his first child. However, his father is also in another room in the same hospital and is dying. Just as the baker's son is being born his father sits up and demands that the he take note of five dates that will be important and dangerous in the life of the baby, whom he names Jimmy. Immediately after he dies. Creepy enough but then a deranged Bezo the clown goes on a shooting rampage in the hospital because his beloved wife has died while giving birth.


The lifestyle of the baker's family living and working at night is creative and fun. The whole extended family is fun and colorful. When Jimmy is twenty, one of the dates Grandpa noted arrives  and the son of the deranged clown shows up. He murders the librarian and takes Jimmy and a young girl hostage in the library while in the process of attempting a robbery. 

Each date of course holds a similar catastrophe and the book is a delightful romp through the decades of this family. There is darkness, suspense, wit, and humor. I read it twice!


All the members of both the adult and high school group liked this choice. I recommend it.

OLIVE KITTERIDGE - Elizabeth Strout

Unsettling discussion transpired for me at Jay County Public Library book group last evening. We had chosen the book Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. If you haven’t read this one I highly recommend it. However, many in our group would not. The format is in a series of short vignettes covering several decades. While the stories are about a variety of people in a small town in Maine, Olive Kitteridge is a part of each one.

There is a multitude of unusual characters, perspectives, and issues to grapple with in this book. Olive is a character who is hard to get to know. It is difficult to completely identify with her because she is so complex and you, the reader, don’t get any insight as to her development as a child. She at times is lovable and quirky and then at other times she appears mean and ego-centric. Olive herself is shocked at how others perceive her and aghast when faced with the fact that often other people see her as mean-spirited or cruel. The reader knows early on that Olive never is cognizant of how others perceive her and she has convinced herself that she doesn’t care. She also has altered her own memory so that the unflattering and painful things that she has done are remembered by her differently than those in her life. Some other characters though, see her as strong, and honest, and bluntly truthful as well. She has said and done many other things that had positive influences on other lives.

I was looking forward to putting our heads together for an in-depth discussion of this very unusual character and talking about why she is as she is, and why she does the things that are so shocking and off-putting. It would also have been fun to dissect the town and the people to try to figure out motives and why some people react to Olive in very different ways. However, the mood was set early by two people who so intensely hated Olive and almost demanded that we all see her as totally mean and shallow that discussion ended early and was most unsatisfying. It was asked how such a “poorly written” work could possibly win a Pulitzer which left me at a loss for how to respond. Well, for one thing I thought it was very well written and I enjoyed it thoroughly. I had to admit that I liked Olive a great deal - for which I got a scathing look so I contributed nothing else to discussion. I would love to discuss this book with a different group some day.

I am reminded of The Shipping News by Proulx which also won a Pulitzer. I had loved that book (in the early 90s) with all its strange characters and raved about it to more than a few people who disliked it very much. I am always at a loss when this happens wondering how it is that I see things and feel about people and books so much differently than others around me. Except my niece, Austin who appears to see things for the most part in books identically as I do. Thank God for her and her ability to make me feel like I am not a freak :- )

UNWIND - Neal Shusterman AGAIN!

         
Adams Central HS students read Unwind 

In March our whole Student Literati group met to discuss Unwind by Shusterman. (See below on this blog for notes on our first discussion and a summary.) This time we made discussion like a book party. We decorated with items pertinent to the story including a toy brain to represent CyFi, a towel draped mannequin head and other fake body parts to represent Roland and the unwinding process, an arm with playing cards to represent the truck driver, and a "storked" baby. My library intern made place mats containing a discussion guide and a representation of the UK book cover that she found on the Internet which she liked better than our USA version.  She also put a sign on the library door welcoming the students to Happy Jack's Harvest Camp. 

Each Literati member received their own official "Unwind Order" taped to their locker earlier in the week which served as their reminder to attend discussion. A baby doll was passed about in the hall and between sponsors offices as a "storked" child. Specific students presented at group with round band aids in their palms to represent "Clappers."

My students are so amazing and not afraid in the least to discuss the issues and the parallels. They talked about the values of the characters, the Heartland War (basically between right-to-life and choice), the resulting treaty protecting all life, organ transplants, and the ethics of requiring sacrifice so others can have quality of life. They also talked about the struggles of the characters deciding when life begins and what it means to a culture to have over-population issues. Discussion moved to parallels between events in the book and history such as the Underground Railroad and Sonia's Unwind Underground, Martin Luther King and Conner's work, and unwinding centers versus organ transplants.

Of my 32 Literati kids only one said she did not like this book. She did not elaborate as to why. Apparently a lot of kids in Indiana liked this book as it was voted the Eliot Rosewater winner for this school year. My students (who did vote by the way) are not surprised. I love my kids.

UNWIND - Neal Shusterman

Adams Central HS students read 
Unwind - Neal Shusterman

Oh my what a read! A few of us read this book for February discussion and there was such a rave going on about it that we have decided that the whole group should read it and discuss it for March.

It takes place sometime in the not too distant future in America after another civil war basically between right-to-life and pro-choice factions. A treaty was signed that assured the protection of every "life" upon conception. However, now there are may unwanted children who grow up in state homes or foster homes. At age 13 any child may be signed over to be "unwound" which is to be taken to a facility where they are used as donors until every piece of them is used to help someone else. Thus they are never destroyed but live on in some form.

Connor has been a discipline problem and so his parents have signed him over to be an unwind. When he flees he ends up banding with other unwinds and a "tithe" which is a person who has been given up to unwinding as a religious devotional sacrifice. If they can live until they are 18 they will be considered as adults and can refuse to be unwound.  What a page turner this is! I am so looking forward to the students insight and what they think about this provocative book.

WE HAVE ALWAYS LIVED IN THE CASTLE - Shirley Jackson

Jay County Public Library Book Group discussed We have always Lived in the Castle - Shirley Jackson

Only a handful of us were at group this month and probably it was due to the inclement weather. But, all attending were happy to have read this classic. If you haven't read it I would highly recommend it. The book is only 146 pages so it doesn't take long. All of us had read The Lottery in high school and I had read Haunting of Hill House also so I think we were all prepared for a dark tale. This novel of a brooding mansion, the scene of a multiple murder, and eccentric young girls living alone did not disappoint.  

The reader, knows right away that of an extended family of wealth only three have survived a poisoning. Merricat is 18 and the perpetrator of the crime. She is living with her older sister, Constance and an ailing uncle, Julius. They are reclusive and the people of their small village torment them. However, they perceive their life to be quite content and even happy. That is until a young male cousin shows up to change them.  There is much to ponder and to discuss. Alas, the questions I have go unanswered. Why did Merricat kill her famliy? Why do Constance and Uncle Julius not mind that she did so and why aren't they afraid of her? What is the reason that she is so childlike, is she mentally challenged? Why does Constance never leave the house? And does Merricat even exist or is she a phantom? Anyone care to comment?

Update – October 2010

Adams Central HS Student Literati had this as one of the choices to read for this month. Several balked as to them it looked too short and the cover appeared too juvenile. But, three took it and had a good discussion. Bridget simply loved it and intends to keep it in her personal collection. I believe she hopes to use it to refer to in her creative essays for class. I hope she does. They had concluded with the same questions the adults had. Did I remember to say I love my students? When I work with them I feel good about our future.

 

LOST - Gregory Maguire

Adams Central HS students read Lost - Gregory Maguire

Ten students tried to read it but only a handful accomplished the task in time for discussion. Winifred is a writer who doesn't like her own work even though in the mass-market world she is a success. When the story begins she is working on a new book about Jack the Ripper. After a strange scene in the opening chapter at an adoption agency (it ties in later) she travels to London to research. She also co-owns a home in the White Chapel area with her cousin and they are distant relatives of the real person that Dickens used for Scrooge. Upon arriving in London her cousin is missing and people in their building are acting strangely. Drama ensues with haunts, specters, and much creepiness.

I liked it very much however, it bogged down a bit in the middle and we all got the irritated feeling that it should have moved along with the plot a bit faster. Maguire is a hard read for kids but I am proud of the ones who stuck with it. We had a great discussion about the literary references which are many (Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, Lord of the Flies, 101 Dalmations, Mary Poppins, Wind in the Willows, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings to name only a few) and we had the best discussion of a quote on page 23, "Who would you choose to be haunted by, if you could choose?"

The students and I talked about Briticisms and also the rich vocabulary such as emasculation, nepenthean, verisimilitude. Also I had a lot of quotes to talk about such as, "I'm not superstitious but I an suspicious." and "Beware your childhood reading ... There is no Narnia in the wardrobe, there is no monkey's paw with a third and damning wish to grant."

"B" my reader this year that gives everything the most thought stayed with it - like the trooper that she is - and since then has commented several times about the book. So I know she got something out of it even if it wasn't her favorite for the year.

It is typical Maguire if you have read his books before - and I personally love them. But... I know they are probably for a limited few of us. I would very much like to re-read it with some adults though.