The Free-Range Bookclub
Bookclubbers without boundaries in Nelson, New Zealand
Category: Family drama
The Immortalists – Chloe Benjamin
READ FOR BOOKCLUB Chosen by Sonya Four siblings learn of the date they will die, and find their adulthoods shaped by the knowledge ⚑ “I chose this book based on the synopsis, a story around the idea of knowing ones day of death and… Continue Reading “The Immortalists – Chloe Benjamin”
Sing Unburied Sing – Jesmyn Ward
READ FOR BOOKCLUB Chosen by Jodie An intimate portrait of a family and an epic tale of hope and struggle; the archetypal road novel is transformed for twenty-first-century America ⚑ “Sing Unburied Sing was the first novel I have read featuring ghosts and Southern… Continue Reading “Sing Unburied Sing – Jesmyn Ward”
Pachinko – Min Jin Lee
READ FOR BOOKCLUB Chosen by Jodie The story of life for Koreans in Japan, told through four generations and eight decades. ➽ “I found Pachinko a deeply engrossing story about the burdens of a Korean family living as immigrants in Japan during the 20th… Continue Reading “Pachinko – Min Jin Lee”
Milkman – Anna Burns
READ FOR BOOKERTHON A young woman is pursued by a renouncer terrorist in 1970s Northern Ireland. ➽ “The unnamed narrator in Milkman is the glue that holds the book together. She is the apolitical in a political novel, the every day logic amongst the… Continue Reading “Milkman – Anna Burns”
I Capture The Castle – Dodie Smith
READ FOR BOOKCLUB Recommended by Sophia A coming-of-age novel written as diary entries by a 1930s teenage girl living in poverty in an English castle. ➽ “What at first appears as a simple coming-of-age story is actually a cross-genre mediation on the history of… Continue Reading “I Capture The Castle – Dodie Smith”
Blindsight – Maurice Gee
READ FOR BOOKCLUB Chosen by Jo The lives of Alice Ferry, a retired Wellington scientist, and her brother Gordon take divergent paths. ◉ “Gee gradually unravels this story building the tension effortlessly as we learn about the siblings’ history, start to understand the nature… Continue Reading “Blindsight – Maurice Gee”
As The Earth Turns Silver – Alison Wong
READ FOR BOOKCLUB Chosen by Jo The story and struggles of two entwined settler families in early 20th-Century NZ, one English, the other Chinese. ◉ “Chinese immigrant brothers Yung and Shun are greengrocers in Wellington in the early 1900s. They support their families back… Continue Reading “As The Earth Turns Silver – Alison Wong”
Do Not Say We Have Nothing – Madeleine Thien
READ FOR BOOKERTHON From inside an extended family in China, Do Not Say We Have Nothing examines two of the most important political moments of the past century. ➤ “This is historical fiction written authentically and beautifully, and as twee as it sounds I feel… Continue Reading “Do Not Say We Have Nothing – Madeleine Thien”
Hot Milk – Deborah Levy
READ FOR BOOKERTHON Sofia, a young anthropologist, spends much of her life trying to solve the mystery of her mother’s unexplainable illness. ➤ “Hot Milk has that kind of pleasantness about it that makes it neither beautiful enough to be outstanding, nor horrible enough to be outstanding.… Continue Reading “Hot Milk – Deborah Levy”
A Spool Of Blue Thread – Anne Tyler
READ FOR BOOKERTHON The lives of four generations of Whitshanks unfold in and around the sprawling, lovingly worn Baltimore house that has always been their anchor. ❍ “Though this is Tyler’s 20th (and apparently her last) novel, it’s the first of hers I’ve read.… Continue Reading “A Spool Of Blue Thread – Anne Tyler”
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