by Ann Patchett
Thanks for the great time out and our field trip to Blackbird. A lovely evening. Thanks to Brian for the impetus to go off campus.
Bel Canto seemed to be broadly well received all around which was great to see – scores ranged from 5.5 – 8.5 as I recall (I might even have gone higher but I misremember) I apologise for the brevity of my recollection – I think we were rather distracted with the impending referendum. I hope that all may have completed it by now as the ending was an aspect that I had wanted to discuss. There was some criticism over a slower start, and potentially excessive detail, although I have to say I felt that this really created a deeply atmospheric experience for me. I was very impressed by the nicely gradual teasing out of characters – who seems to naturally evolve for the reader. The generals were the exception to this and were left rather unidimensional – intentional? That there was little deviance from the real-life events that informed the narrative was unique in itself as the author seems to have been able to marshal a rather strong portrayal – life/fiction? A very enjoyable, satisfying and engaging read by me and very grateful for the recommendation Mike.
So…onto the next…
The book chosen for our May/June read is The China Study: The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted and the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss and Long-Term Health by Campbells Sr and Jr. A unique thing for the club thus far and particularly sparked by the comment from Mike that he is listening to the book and finding it compelling in that medium. Interesting…