The Free-Range Bookclub
Bookclubbers without boundaries in Nelson, New Zealand
The Secret History – Donna Tartt
Chosen by Jodie
A group of Greek mythology students attempt to experience a higher level of being and in doing so carry out an evil act.
⫸ “There were many reasons why the The Secret History was such a hit with us all in the Free-Range Bookclub. It was easy to admit we were enthralled, but like the characters, we had to come together and bond over our thoughts to completely understand our visceral responses.
“In the book, a group of New England college undergraduates who study Greek form a veiled friendship that excludes many. Their God-like opinions of themselves, and their obsession with experiencing an alternative realm of being sees things take a turn for the worse.
“It’s a very Greek idea, and a very profound one. Beauty is terror. Whatever we call beautiful, we quiver before it. And what could be more terrifying and beautiful, to souls like the Greeks or our own, than to lose control completely? To throw off the chains of being for an instant, to shatter the accident of our mortal selves?
“Donna Tartt has ensured there is one privileged person who is admitted to this private sect however, and that is you, the reader. The admission of murder in the opening pages, and even the title, make us complicit in the crime. To continue is to knowingly be involved. But then, there is a perverse pleasure in being admitted to this intoxicating group and a part of the secret.
“Richard, the narrator, is open and honest from the outset and it’s hard to dislike him, nor any of the characters, despite their immoral and snobbish demeanours. Richard begins as the outsider, arriving at Hampden without friends or familial support, but looking for a better life, to “fabricate a new and far more satisfying history”. He is drawn to the bunch of conceited and clever Greek students, focused on becoming one of them, and fulfulling his hopes and dreams through them. He narrates the story to us like we are friends, chatting about friends.
“With the biggest of the plot drivers revealed in the opening sentences, it would be easy to think there is little left to get the heart racing. However, Tartt deals in angst instead, detailing how and why the murder happened, with many interesting character developments and surprises thrown in for the later.
“There was a general consensus of delight for us all after reading The Secret History. We agreed it was difficult to put down. For it was continually astounding and enthralling. It was delicious and disgusting. And it challenges you all along the way to be party to or to turn your back on their deviancies. A book we all highly recommend.
—–
Published 2004
Vintage
559 pages
2021 – Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements ensure influences to the creation of a notable thing are credited. For creative imaginations are enabled and influenced by many things: people, places and events. When book reading, it is interesting to discover where the author found inspiration.
In setting our new reading schedule, we have a few acknowledgments of our own. Beginning with the fact that 2020 was a tough year and that many are glad to see the back of it. We acknowledge the impact that year is already forecast to have on 2021 and wonder what may prevail.
We recognise that recent and current events have impacted our book choices. On the list are many new and recent releases with a high level of relevancy to changing times. Plus there’s a good percentage of dystopian themed novels talking about the “what ifs” that are eerily starting to reflect in our everyday lives. We’re even re-reading Nineteen Eighty Four, for what book deals more effectively with global disaster and lost freedoms?
We’d also like to make another acknowledgement, and that’s to one of our bookclubbers Sonya who is departing book club to ensure all other parts of her busy life are not neglected. We will miss the literary musings and fashion chat, Sonya!
The books we have chosen for 2021 are:
The Secret History – Donna Tartt
Bina: A Novel In Warnings – Anakana Schofield
The Harpy – Megan Hunter
Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell
The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
Summerwater – Sarah Moss
Death In Her Hands – Otessa Moshfegh
Toto Amongst The Murderers — Sally J Morgan
Blue Ticket – Sophie MacIntosh
Sisters – Daisy Johnston
2020 – End Of Year Thoughts
At our end of year bookclub we dined at the Boat Shed Cafe in Nelson and acknowledged how lucky we were to be able to do so. While we recalled our bookclubs hosted by Zoom and philosophised about the state of the world, we also expressed our gratitude in having books to entertain and to distract us; and we reiterated how lucky we are to live in New Zealand where Covid-19 was far less threatening than in other nations and now is basically non-existent. To our readers around the world who are still experiencing the effects of the pandemic we offer our thoughts and aroha and hope that our mental wanderings might offer you some entertainment and distraction, just for a moment.
It was a year of emotive readings, in which, weirdly, the books did mimic the uncertainty of world events. Immigration crises, alternative realities in which humanity was at risk, and tales of lost family members and hardship abounded. The use of unnamed or faceless characters featured several times, allowing us, the reader, to imagine ourselves in the predicament of the characters, and therefore creating a much greater emotional tie to the events.
In analysing the year there were certainly some common thoughts and opinions voiced:
- Tara’s brother and father in Educated were some of the worst characters (made worst by the fact they are real people)
- Connell and Marianne from Normal People had the romance of the year
- Baby’s heads being smashed in Driving To Treblinka was one of the most shocking moments of the year’s readings
- “It’s like this, Saul Adler” was one of the most memorable one liners – The Man Who Saw Everything
- The unique narrative structure of Lost Children Archive provided so many metaphorical revelations
- American Dirt had the most disappointing outcome, for being too sewn up
Here are some of our other thoughts:
Best character:
Sonya: The old man – The Memory Police
Jo: Katy – Rules of Civility
Rachel: Saul Adler – The Man Who Saw Everything
Becks: Girl – Lost Children Archive
Jodie: Katy – Rules of Civility
Most memorable setting:
Sonya: The ghetto – Driving to Treblinka
Jo: The house – Memory Police
Rachel: 1930s New York – Rules of Civility
Becks: Zebra Crossing – The Man Who Saw Everything
Jodie: The scrap yard – Educated
Best revelation (spoiler alert):
Sonya: There was only one accident – The Man Who Saw Everything
Jo & Jodie: How intense the hatred of Jews was – Driving to Treblinka
Rachel: The Rules of Civility was a real document – Rules of Civility
Becks: The real life controversy around the publication of American Dirt
Runner up best book:
Sonya: Lost Children Archive
Jo: Rules of Civility
Rachel: Rules of Civility
Becks: Normal People
Jodie: Norwegian Wood
Book of the year:
Sonya: The Memory Police
Jo: Driving To Treblinka
Rachel: Lost Children Archive
Becks: Lost Children Archive
Jodie: Rules of Civility
Lost Children Archive – Valeria Luiselli
READ FOR BOOKCLUB
Chosen by Becks
A family’s road trip across America collides with an immigration crisis at the southwestern border.
✚ “Lost Children Archive is not purely about immigrants crossing borders. More, it reflects on the histories of immigrants that have been lost by society’s refusal to embrace cultural uniqueness.
Our mothers teach us to speak, and the world teaches us to shut up.
“To highlight her point, Luiselli cleverly constructs her book with a narrative that itself sometimes captures events and sometimes allows them to fade into meaninglessness.
“The unnamed parents capture sounds for a living and are headed cross country on a road trip with their two children (referred to as boy and girl), each working a different soundscape project.
“The sounds captured, the waning silences, the awkward interactions amongst the family members and their varying memories of the same experience all demonstrate how difficult it is to tell a story from one person’s perspective or with only one mode of language. Ultimately the narrative structure suggests an inventoried collection of fragments and experiences is the only way to accurately represent a moment in time .
“To showcase this, the story changes narrators several times. Ma recalls the journey in an intellectual, emotional and overthinking way; boy challenges her assertions, recalling the same events in a logical, realist manner; whereas girl remembers the entire trip as a series of sounds. The father, true to his self-absorbed characterisation, does not contribute to the narrative.
“However, Luiselli wants us to know that no matter how many fragments the mother collects, no matter how many ways in which she tries to tell the stories, it is the political systems that will win: immigrants will be treated with disdain, their stories, histories and beliefs will not be valued nor kept. Historical narratives must be in the hands of many, she intones, not just of a few select powers.
The book also offers a juxtaposition between creating new histories and relying on existing texts, showing how the past and present are constantly intersecting and can provide a muddling effect to the remembered truth of history.
Conversations, in a family, become linguistic archaeology. They build the world we share, layer it in a palimpsest, give meaning to our present and future. The question is, when, in the future, we dig into our intimate archive, replay our family tape, will it amount to a story? A soundscape?
✚ “I have both read and listened to this book, and as a story about sounds, both offer a unique perspective. I loved this multi-dimensionality, especially as the book is about how accurate histories should be captured in many different formats. Every voice is deserving in the documentation of history and the author makes this evident.
“I particularly loved girl’s retelling of their trip as a series of echoes in the Audible book. It is so eerie, and stimulates a roller coaster of emotion, like reliving the entire book again in condensed format.
“The novel’s language is slick and considered. I found myself often pausing to either marvel over beautiful sentences or to consider challenges to conventional ideas and constructs. I absolutely loved Lost Children Archive and have thought about it a lot since first reading it.” – Rachel
✚ “I can’t say I really enjoyed the book all that much.This was primarily due to the mother’s narrative which was too pretentious and overwrought for me. I much preferred the son’s logical narration style but by the time this was introduced, it was unable to recover my interest in the story.
“My view of the novel vastly improved following the bookclub research, when the reason for all of the different perspectives became apparent. I did enjoy the educational aspect in regards to learning about the Mexican people’s awful journeys and the risks they take to cross the US border. The portrayal of the horrible consequences to immigrants’ lives but also to their histories was extremely moving.” – Jo
✚ “Lost Children Archive was my runner up book of 2020, for a mixed bag of reasons, and not because it was a ‘perfect’ novel for me. In fact, there were a few things I didn’t really like about it. Truth be told the weightiness of the mother’s narration was at times too much, too contrived. I wanted reprieve from constant metaphors and analogies and double meanings. And I didn’t like the perfect plot, which felt to me like one driven by the need for metaphors, analogies, and double meanings.
“But at the same time, I was blown away by how cleverly and beautifully the book was written. The lost children touched me, moved me. The lost stories, blankness, emptiness and the sense of touching a void, were all feelings I experienced whilst reading this book. The deep, deep sadness and loss, the pain of parent separated from child, or the death of a child, a lost child. The refreshing simplicity of the boys narrative, in contrast with the mothers? That was genius. A beautiful book”. – Sonya
—–
Published 2019
Knopf Publishing Group
385 pages
2020 Booker
It’s an understatement to say 2020 is a bit of a strange year! Covid-19 and the resulting politics around controlling it both unites and divides us. While some people reach out to neighbours, colleagues, families for support, some feel their ‘otherness’ and loneliness more distinctly than ever. It is a trying time for many unsure of how they fit in.
While this year’s published books do not yet have Covid storylines (am sure we’ll see those soon) the Booker shortlisters do portray this sense of otherness, plus a hopefulness for the future. Marginalised people, poverty stricken families, war-affected communities and those who consider themselves outsiders feature strongly in this year’s shortlist.
For example: This Mournable Body features a woman stuck between past and present, attempting to rebuild her life in post-colonial Zimbabwe; Shuggie Bain‘s eponymous protagonist is a young gay man in a working class Glaswegian tenement struggling for acceptance; Hirut is a female warrior in The Shadow King, fighting amongst men; Wallace is a black, gay biochemist struggling for acceptance at an academic level in Real Life; Burnt Sugar tells the story of a young girl brought up in a commune and on the streets now trying to care for her dementia-ridden mother; The New Wilderness features a number of outsiders trying to adapt in a new environment on a dying planet.
But rather than depict them as outsiders, the formidable writing styles of these authors sees these protagonists portrayed as real people. Most are not over wrought, or over written, nor have moralistic opinions to shove down our throats. We appreciate that this group of authors let their characters simply tell their incredible stories then leave it up to us, the reader, to develop our own opinions on how this represents the real world, how it affects or involves us and what, if any, actions we feel obliged to take.
As Suzy wondered in one of her reviews, when have we “othered” people without realising? Each of these stories provides so much food for thought about how we interact with people and how our interactions can affect those people, and how small adaptions to our behaviours can have the largest of effects.
We both agree that while initially the list was a surprise, it ended up being a year where most nominees evoked a real sense of the world.
I say most because there is one title we feel does not fit. The New Wilderness is topical, we acknowledge that, but its characters who feel like characters and the lack of reason in its plot works against it. We struggle to see how it could have been shortlisted amongst these other developed titles. Therefore, it is out of the running for us. (Hilary Mantel must be wondering even more so how she was left off this list.)
As we lounge about in our rented Thorndon villa in Wellington, we agree we’d like to pick multiple winners. However, unlike the Booker judges of 2019 we are prepared to make a tough call. Here are our thoughts:
This Mournable Body: a synchronised depiction of a country and its people learning to adapt to colonisation and independence, without judgment of the mistakes they make along the way and ending with opportunities not results
Shuggie Bain: a true representation of alcoholism, poverty and sexuality on a struggling Glaswegian family without pointing any fingers of blame nor nicely sewing up the conclusions
The Shadow King: a factually based retelling of a time when women were warriors but still people with successes and failings, a duty of care for those around them and a blood thirsty desire to live
Burnt Sugar: a study of human nature and mother-daughter relationships where resentfulness and co-dependence mar an ability to see clearly, and where the outcome is the best that can be hoped for
Real Life: a very real account of the lives of marginalised peoples, told in a matter-of-fact manner without judgement or sentimentality
So which comes out on top for each of us?
Suzy chose The Shadow King. “This novel somehow transported me from the rural Waikato to 1930s Ethiopia with complete ease! I was absolutely drawn in to The Shadow King and relished reading a book with a storyline unlike anything I’d come across before. Amazingly compelling and fresh writing – I loved it.”
Rachel chose Burnt Sugar. “I loved the ever-evolving relationship between Tara and Antara – their love for one another, mixed with their mutual contempt was very convincing. The slow drip feed of their toxic past added to the intrigue plus there was a nice little plot twist. Slow-burning, fictional studies of human nature are definitely my type of book.”
Rachel (favourites in order 1-6)
Burnt Sugar – Anvi Doshi
The Shadow King – Maaza Mengiste
Real Life – Brandon Taylor
This Mournable Body – Tsitsi Dangarembga
Shuggie Bain – Douglas Stuart
The New Wilderness – Diane Cook
Suzy (favourites in order 1-6)
The Shadow King – Maaza Mengiste
Shuggie Bain – Douglas Stuart
Real Life – Brandon Taylor & Burnt Sugar – Anvi Doshi
This Mournable Body – Tsitsi Dangarembga
The New Wilderness – Diane Cook
Shuggie Bain – Douglas Stuart
READ FOR BOOKERTHON
A story of addiction, love and hardship in a working-class Scottish family
✚ “I knew I was in deeeep with Shuggie Bain when I put a load of washing on partway through reading it and said to myself “Ah! I dinnae put the powder in!”. The story is so evocative that I damn near felt like I was in a 1980s Scottish tenement myself. There is very little light and, like Shuggie, I held out hope that things were always close to getting better.
“I was apprehensive about this book having read a bit about how harrowing it was and wondered whether it would be ‘misery lit’ rather than Booker-worthy – it was giving out strong Angela’s Ashes vibes. While there were a couple of moments where things were just a tad too convenient or a sentence was a bit jarring overall this book is a blimmin’ belter and I cannae recommend it enough.” – Suzy
Something about the boy was no right, and this was at least something they could pity.
✚ “Shuggie Bain is the debut novel of Douglas Stuart, and an epic portrayal of a working-class Glaswegian family in the ’80s. Shuggie is a youngster with a developing sexuality that seems to offend some people, an alcoholic mother and a philandering taxi-driving father.
“Everyone in the family wants for something: better jobs, a house with a front door, education, more love, purpose. Yet it is clear that in this time and place all of these things are a struggle. And the toll of unfullfillment is taken out on those closest. It’s fair to say there isn’t a lot of joy in Shuggie Bain but I’m sure there is a lot of truth and its this that makes it compelling. Also the characters are exceptionally well constructed providing incentive to read on.” – Rachel
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Published 2020
Grove Press
430 pages
This Mournable Body – Tsitsi Dangarembga
READ FOR BOOKERTHON”
A disillusioned native woman re-establishes her life in post-colonial Zimbabwe.
✚ “Finding out about halfway through This Mournable Body that it was the third book in a trilogy was useful to know as there was certainly the feeling that the Zimbabwean war that was often referred to was the ‘real’ story, whereas we were learning more about its aftermath and the impact on the character Tambudzai and her family. I’m thinking maybe the first two books dealt with the war and its politics more comprehensively?”
“The book wasn’t without violence and there was a constant underlying feeling of menace that hovered on the edges of the story and threatened to spill over in many ways. Tambudzai spent most of the time on edge and was constantly negotiating with herself whether she would deal with issues in flight or fight mode.
“I genuinely felt for Tambudzai and her experiences and its clear this book can standalone with no need to read the preceding two books, however I think I would have got more out of it had I had a bit more background.” – Suzy
Your umbilical cord is buried on the homestead; in the empty space that widens within at every step, you feel it tugging.
✚ “This Mournable Body is the story of Tambudzai, a woman who has lived through the long and devastating guerrilla war between the white Rhodesian army and native black nationalists. Now the 1990s, the nation has gained independence and is trying to rebuild itself, as is Tambudzai (Tambu).
“However, it is clear Tambu is in the midst of a personal or post-traumatic crisis as she jumps from one experience to the other, making observations of her new fragmented environment and attempting to find purpose, but hurting people and herself along the way.
“The book is jarring but hopeful and its anti-hero Tambu is an emotive parallel for a country with a new and promising future. Zimbabwe, and Tambu, must look for opportunities in its new-look reality and acknowledge that the past cannot be erased, but must be respected as something that will continue to shape them.
“Told in second person, as though Tambu is trying to distance herself from her past, ensures we, the readers, are intimately invested. The episodic wanderings of Tambu can seem a little disruptive to the flow of the plot but if you remember her experiences are also notations of a post-colonial era’s history, the plot is more meaningful.” – Rachel
—–
Published 2018
Graywolf
284 pages
The Shadow King – Maaza Mengiste
READ FOR BOOKERTHON
Set during Mussolini’s 1935 invasion of Ethiopia, The Shadow King portrays the first real conflict of World War II, casting light on the women soldiers who were left out of the historical record.
✚ “Early on in The Shadow King I had to google “Italian invasion of Ethiopia 1930s” proving yet again my historical knowledge is slightly lacking. It was such an unexpected event and I wasn’t sure if it was even real (nearly as bad as when I was teacher aiding in a Year 12 English class and learned about the Warsaw ghetto thanks to the students reading The Pianist) .
“Well yep the invasion sure was real and Maaza Mengiste takes you to the absolute heart of it. This book was at times terrifying, at times exhilarating and then a lot of the time it was just very sad. There was little joy and not much relief from the absolute onslaught of overwhelming events.
“Reading the note from the author at the end about her personal connection to the story was shocking. I read this while it was longlisted and was rapt to see it on the shortlist. At the time of writing this I’ve read no other shortlisters, but I’ll be very surprised to read one that tops this.” – Suzy
To be in the presence of our emperor is to stand before the sun. You must respect his power to give you life and to burn you alive.
✚ “Stories of female contributions to war efforts are few and far between. Usually the women are carers or victims or fictional superwomen. The Shadow King is different. It tells the story of Hirut, a young Ethiopian woman who goes from lowly servant to proud warrior during the 1935 Italian invasion.
“The story has a base in the author’s own family history and this attachment is obvious in the realistic portrayal of the characters and their war-time experiences. At no time did they seem over-written, and the war activities had the right measure of atrocity and hopefulness. Although I knew nothing of this conflict prior to reading this book, I was quickly lured into this story and captivated throughout.
“Hirut, an orphan seeking meaning in life, seemed to me a symbol of many people, many cultures, many communities and though I was left feeling shocked, I was also satisfied at the completeness of the story.” – Rachel
—–
Published 2019
W W Norton Company
448 pages
The New Wilderness – Diane Cook
READ FOR BOOKERTHON
A group of strangers escape a polluted city and learn to live in the wild as part of a study
✚ “This dystopian-type novel features a polluted and over populated city and a location which is the only place in which nature still exists: the Wilderness State. A group of people, led by Bea and her daughter Agnes, live a nomadic life there as part of a nameless study.
“There are a lot of topical themes raised in this book, about environmental concern, our relationship with nature, social change, mother-daughter relationships, what our children will inherit from us, and back-to-basics survival. Plot markers revealed early on were portrayed with a no-nonsense sensibility and brutal acceptance about life and death in a harsh environment.
“However it soon become apparent that there were many holes in the plot, too many to mention here. Plus I felt let down by the characterisation. Stereotyping and dramatisation led to unbelievable interactions and I just couldn’t relate to the characters, nor accept some of the actions they took. I felt completely distant from the story about half way through and only finished the book because I had to for Bookerthon.” – Rachel
—–
Published 2020
Harper
416 pages
Burnt Sugar – Avni Doshi
READ FOR BOOKERTHON
A story of love and betrayal between a woman and her mother.
✚ “Though dementia is the vehicle for the plot, the real story in Burnt Sugar is the toxic co-dependent relationship between Tara and her daughter Antara. Despite Antara’s sense of injustice at her mother’s less than acceptable parenting, she still feels responsible for her care when she begins losing her memory. Now all Antara has of her past is her own memory, which in Doshi’s unsentimental writing style, is not totally reliable in itself. For this reason Antara is never able to reconcile her un-challenged thoughts and feelings and therefore unable to forgive or accept her mother’s wild behaviour: in the commune; with various men; begging on the street.
“It is a story that starts of slowly but quickly gathers momentum until the pages of toxicity between mother and daughter cannot be put down. It’s a bit like watching a train wreck, horrifying but you know you won’t look away. It is addictive and compelling and a truthful, unglamorous account of love, memory and dependency. If you appreciate literary studies of human nature, try this one out.” – Rachel
✚ “I had been trying to come up with the word that best describes Burnt Sugar and lo and behold there it is on the cover as Fatima Bhutto calls it: “taut, unsettling, ferocious”. I would agree with all three, but especially ‘unsettling’. It wasn’t a book I was compelled to pick up to find out what was happening next as it meant I would have to experience a certain level of discomfort and yes feel unsettled. It’s a real slow-burner of a book especially compared to The Shadow King.
“Antara was a distinctive female character who revealed so much about herself I was left feeling like I was encroaching too much on her life. I almost feel relieved that I’ve finished it if that makes sense? Amazing writing and I would not be disappointed at all if this one took the Booker win.” –Suzy
—-
Published 2020
Hamish Hamilton
240 pages
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