by Javier Cercas
Thanks for a great outing last night. I thoroughly enjoyed the nicely far-ranging discussion – as always.
The general consensus seemed to be a tepid response to Anatomy of a Moment. I was probably and seemingly the most appreciative. General discussion indicated that it was rather repetitive and the mode of reflecting on the same event from a variety of perspectives didn’t seem to help the general appreciation of the subject. We did attribute rightly or wrongly some of this to the translation of the book from the Spanish. Nonetheless, we certainly enjoyed reflecting on own remembrances and connections to the event itself and I think that that was some of the underlying messages of the book itself. There was a sense that it did bear some resemblance to HHhH and the reflection on craft seemed to detract from the presentation rather than enhance it. The extremely long sentences at times were something that seemed to get in the way of the full enjoyment of the novel. Onward.
So…for those not there last night, we have gone in a rather radical direction. After being absolutely dismissive of JK Rowling’s new novel, The Casual Vacancy, we have decided we would give it a go and for absolute distraction, we have chosen it as our read for this month. This along with Episode 4 of Ulysses where we will make the acquaintance of Mr Leopold Bloom.