There were ten of us gathered in Amanda's extraordinarily lovely and welcoming apartment (with balcony!) – some of us getting a special guided tour of the historic nooks and crannies of the hôtel privé, courtesy of Tristan.
We began with a toast to Elisabeth, our newest bas bleu, whom we forgive for keeping Anke away this time. We are less indulgent towards Anjuli's exam. Fingers crossed for June and the discussion of Divided Heaven!
Discussion of Freedom was heated, as we like it. Most people who were around when the group read Franzen's The Corrections preferred this later work, finding its style less virtuosic and theme less self-consciously Great American Novel, if I followed the interweaving comments correctly. Emily was impressed, detail by detail, but unmoved by the big picture. Caroline was not alone in finding Patty a pain. During a discussion of how different characters were handled – Walter, Patty, Katz, and Joey getting full internal explorations, characters of different class (Carol, Blake, Coyle Mathis) and ethnicity (Lalitha) getting external presentations – Maren brought up Joey's sister, Jessica, who indeed gets short shrift. Is it simply because, like a Tolstoyan happy family, she doesn't have enough problems for a full description? And, hey, why didn't we touch on Tolstoy, since Franzen waved War and Peace under our noses? I confess that in my case it's because I've never read it. Future selection?
We never did get around to discussing in full Anke's questions – is this a self-absorbed novel, or a novel about self-absorbed people? Cynthia brought up the fact that the novel brought up (even if refracted through possibly unappealing or obsessive characters) some genuine issues (overpopulation/overconsumption). We talked about the comic and pathetic self-importance of some of those middle-class characters – Walter's "Positive social change works top-down … Rosa Parks sits down on her bus, college students hear about it … and suddenly there's a national civil-rights movement" or Patty's worrying about cloth diapers – and how it expressed a feeling of responsibility as well as solipsism, a sort of bourgeoisie oblige. In short, good choice!
Another good choice is our next selection, which has people excited and cooperating. I think we're demonstrating that a less accessible book choice can work if it's announced a few months ahead. (Do remember that availability in English is non-negotiable: we have several members who can't read a whole book in French and apparently a significant number who find it very difficult.) And, while it shouldn't be mandatory for every selection, Maren's essay was inspirational and a big bonus for readers!
Phoebe
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