The Free-Range Bookclub
Bookclubbers without boundaries in Nelson, New Zealand
White Noise – Don DeLillo
READ FOR BOOKCLUB
Chosen by Sophia
A satire in which Jack Gladney and his family endure an airborne toxic event after an industrial accident
☁ “Jack Gladney is a professor specialising in Hitler studies who is consumed with the idea of his death. His fourth wife Babette and his four children lead mundane lives, spending pages performing everyday tasks in a typical Californian town.
Before the mundanity gets too much there is an event which shakes the family: the airborne disaster of Nyodene Derivative that invades their town and forces their evacuation. Jack’s previous obsession with death is justified as all the family face their own mortality in different ways.
Life and death are the central themes of the book and are treated philosophically. Jack, Babette and the children glean much information from media and books and freely discuss topics and and ideas that might be considered unusual for a typical American family.
Only a catastrophe gets our attention. We want them, we depend on them. As long as they happen somewhere else. This is where California comes in. Mud slides, brush fires, coastal erosion, mass killings, et cetera. We can relax and enjoy these disasters because in our hearts we feel that California deserves whatever it gets. Californians invented the concept of life-style. This alone warrants their doom.
The book is full of excessive consumerism, conspiracies and family woes in a tone that we felt almost normalises fear and disasters. We were reading into every sentence and coming up with various meanings. Even the title is perfect, relaying the everything but the nothingness that is poignant to people living in fear. Despite its serious subject matter, the satirical, post-modern style gave it a light-hearted feeling, as did the characters who had many thoughts and opinions, some logical, some crazy, but nonetheless ideas which were easy to connect with.
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Published 1985
Viking
326 pages
Huckleberry Finn – Mark Twain
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Chosen by Suzy
A young boy named Huck sets off down the Mississippi River on a raft in search of freedom and adventure
☁ Inspired by many of the author’s own experiences as a riverboat pilot, this book tells the story of two runaways — a white boy and a black slave — and their journey down the mighty Mississippi River. Among their adventures are encounters with a family involved in a feud, two scoundrels pretending to be royalty, and Tom Sawyer’s aunt who mistakes him for Tom.
Although it is now regarded by many as one of the greatest literary achievements America has produced, when the book was first published it scandalised teachers and parents who thought it would corrupt young children with its depiction of a hero who lies, steals, and uses coarse language. Even more recently, the condemnation of the book has continued due to the use of ‘N’ word and it continues to appear on schools’ banned lists. At at the same time it is praised for its strong point of view, skilful depiction of dialects, and confrontation of issues of race and prejudice.
Right is right, and wrong is wrong, and a body ain’t got no business doing wrong when he ain’t ignorant and knows better.
Before this bookclub meet, most of our last readings of Huck Finn was as a child and left only happy memories. With this re-read however, it was the terrible racism that stood out to us. Though it’s important to remember Twain was highlighting an issue of the time and not expressing his own opinions in the writing of this story. The seriousness of the story but also the carefree humour were more evident this time around, and we all felt a new connection to the book.”
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Published 1884
Chatto & Windus
366 pages
Pride And Prejudice – Jane Austen
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Chosen by Jo
A classic that tells the story of Mr Bennet’s five unmarried daughters and the events that unfold when Mr Bingley and Mr Darcy move to town
☁ “Pride & Prejudice was written off and on over more than 15 years before finally being accepted for publication in 1813. Featuring a story of social manners among 18th Century gentries, Pride & Prejudice was the most popular of Austen’s works.
In it, the Bennetts fret over the fate of their five unmarried daughters. For if Mr Bennett dies before any marry, the property and his assets will transfer to a male relative leaving his wife and daughters homeless and penniless. In the opening pages the Bennetts are pleased to hear of that a ‘gentleman of fortune’ has moved to a nearby estate.
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.
The gentleman, Mr Bingley is introduced to the Bennetts along with his friend Mr Darcy. The daughters are paraded infront of them, social gatherings are held, romance is encouraged, and as expected there are many dances, proposals, love interests, miscommunications, rejections and get-back-together agains.
Though produced in the Romanticism era the youthful passion usually strewn about the pages are more restrained in this example of the genre. Instead Austen emphasises a balance between reason and emotion and therefore a contrast between the expected and what eventuates.
The story primarily focuses on Catherine Bennett and Mr Darcy, the latter who assumes a lack of money or social status disqualifies people from marrying or finding love. However Elizabeth is a keen observer of people and makes it known to her suitor that everyone, irrespective of their status or their flaws deserves love, clearly demonstrating that the two major themes of the novel make up the book’s title.
By you I was properly humbled. I came to you without a doubt of my reception. You showed me how insufficient were all my pretensions to please a woman worthy of being pleased.
The freerangers had all read, partially read or watched TV adaptations of this classic, but it was nice to read it together and delve a little more into it. It’s easy to roll the eyes in regards to the gender stereotypes way back when, but it was refreshing to realise that the author was acknowledging societal bias in some way.
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Published 1813
T. Egerton, Whitehall
228 pages
Nip The Buds, Shoot The Kids – Kenzaburo Oe
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Chosen by Rachel
Nip The Buds, Shoot The Kids tells of a group of boys from a Japanese reform school who are evacuated to a remote mountain village during wartime. They are forced to cope with hostile villagers, fight a breakout of the plague and endure horrendous conditions while constantly wanting for sustenance.
Like The Lord of The Flies, the boys must establish a method of survival, with their childish demeanours clashing with the requirements for adult decision making. However, it is the adult villagers who succumb to savagery more than the boys who are simply trying to survive. The title refers to the extents to which the villagers try to control the boys, nipping a bud of one of the boys to keep the rest of the group under control.
Time doesn’t move at all, I thought in irritation. Like a domestics animal, time doesn’t move without human beings’ strict supervision. Like a horse or a sheep, time won’t move a step without grown ups’ orders. We are a steady state in the stagnation of time.
☁ “This book is gut-wrenchingly raw and darkly truthful, so much so it is almost too much to bear. But this is a book designed to test one’s nerve and, after all, such atrocities were all too common in WWII, so I appreciated it for its honesty. Plus, I want books to stir up the deepest emotions in me, good or bad and this certainly does that. You’d struggle to find a story more grim and beautifully written than Nip The Buds, Shoot The Kids. It was haunting and incredibly moving and I think it will stay with me forever.” – Rachel
☁ “This book is filled to the brim with misery which to me was made worse by the age of the group of boys. They were afflicted by various calamities – violence, rejection, isolation, plague, death etc and I have to say I felt totally aggrieved by the end at having suffered through such awful subject matter. The writing may be admirable but it was a grim book for me and I can’t say I would recommend it to anyone.” – Jo
Published in Japanese 1958
Translated into English by Maki Sugiyama 1996
Grove Press
189 pages
Back Booker 2003
The 2003 Man Booker shortlist was another where we thought there was a stand out winner, however the judges didn’t see it the same way.
Oryx & Crake is a life-changing book. Margaret Atwood not only has a hugely creative imagination, she is a visionary. Perhaps that’s the advantage of reading this book a few years down the track, when some of the grotesqueness in the story is actually beginning to penetrate real life. We cannot stop talking about this novel or the characters. We are blown away by the moments of reality Atwood is able to select, then grow and further fictionalise, only for snippets of those predictions to make their way into reality. For that reason, it would definitely have been our pick for winner had we been Bookerthoning in 2003.
Interestingly, after reading the entire shortlist, we felt there were a couple more books that fit this visionary branding, which made the other three finalists pale in comparison. It was a year of opposites for us, visionary vs good.
The other two on our visionary list were Vernon God Little and The Good Doctor.
Vernon God Little is a grounding story about school shootings and raises many issues around gun control, violence, religion and cause and effect of events in the US. Its satirical vernacular is cutting, and to be honest we don’t begrudge it the win.
The Good Doctor focuses on the South African psyche, especially what the people have put up with and how much more they can take. All of this consideration is led by Frank Eloff, a young doctor working in a basic rural hospital, and his experiences and observations are affecting to say the least. Again, it could have won and we would have been okay with it.
Brick Lane (Bangladeshi woman living in London), Notes on a Scandal (female teacher has an affair with a male student) and Astonishing Splashes of Colour (woman loses a baby and maybe her sanity) are good reads and worth the investment of time – don’t let us put you off them – but to us they were in stark contrast to the other three outstanding nominations.
Best book 1st-6th: Suzy:
Oryx And Crake
Vernon God Little
The Good Doctor
Brick Lane
Notes On A Scandal
Astonishing Splashes of Colour
Best book 1st-6th: Rachel:
Oryx And Crake
The Good Doctor
Vernon God Little
Brick Lane
Notes On A Scandal
Astonishing Splashes Of Colour
Suite Francaise – Irene Nemirovsky
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Chosen by Suzy
The story of the mass exodus from Paris on the eve of the Nazi invasion
☁ “Suite Francaise is the first two parts of a planned five part novel about the Nazi invasion of France and the mass exodus in which families and individuals were thrown together in circumstances beyond their control.
“Irène Némirovsky was a Ukrainian-born writer living in France pre war. She fled Paris and the Nazis in 1940 to a small village where she began writing this work. Ironically it contained content of which she herself would fall victim to only two years later, for she was Jewish and was eventually arrested and sent to Auschwitz. She died there, aged 39, never seeing the completion of her novel. The handwritten first two parts were hidden in a suitcase and her daughters took them into hiding and eventually into freedom. Sixty four years later, the pages were published.
But what is certain is that in five, ten or twenty years, this problem unique to our time, according to him, will no longer exist, it will be replaced by others…Yet this music, the sound of this rain on the windows, the great mournful creaking of the cedar tree in the garden outside, this moment, so tender, so strange in the middle of war, this will never change, not this, this is forever.
“The first part, A Storm in June, opens in the chaos of the 1940 exodus from Paris. Those fleeing share the harsh demands of survival—some trying to maintain lives of privilege, others struggling simply to live—but soon, all together, they are forced to face the awful truth of displacement.
“In the second part, Dolce, the complex life of a German-occupied provincial village is detailed. Co-existing uneasily with the soldiers billeted among them, the villagers—from aristocrats to shopkeepers to peasants— cope as best they can. Some choose resistance, others collaboration, but all reveal the very essence of humanity.
“Because of the real life nature of the story, this book feels less like a novel and more like an experience. It is emotive and graphic and portrays the startling reality of many Parisians with tenderness and sympathy. This cleverly constructed and honest story was a hit with all the freerangers.
Written 1940s
Published in French 2004
Translated into English by Sandra Smith 2006
Vintage
434 pages
Novel About My Wife – Emily Perkins
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Chosen by Jo
The lives of a London couple unravel after the wife survives a train derailment and notices a man following her.
☁ “Novel About My Wife is the story of a couple’s complicated relationship from the husband’s perspective. It’s a meander through his mind; his recollections with no chapter breaks. He is madly in love with her; she is nearing forty and pregnant.
“Though life should be settling into family life, Ann is perturbed by the strange smells and noises the home emits. Plus a homeless man seems to be following her.
“Novel About My Wife is Tom’s effort to understand this woman he has been so blindly in love with, and to peel back the past to discover what the real threats in their lives are.”
That first pregnancy is a long sea journey to a country where you don’t know the language, where land is in sight for such a long time that after a while it’s just the horizon – and then one day birds wheel over that dark shape and it’s suddenly close, and all you can do is hope like hell that you’ve had the right shots.
☁ “The tension builds slowly in this well-written, thought-provoking novel. Can we really rely on our narrator? There are many gaps and questions left unanswered in this book which adds to the mysterious allure for me. The worsening mental stability of Ann tightens the tension even more and the unexpected ending had me pondering for days – proof to me of a good book!” – Jo
☁ “The story of an unhappy man and his even unhappier wife – dismal but beautiful. Cleverly written and full of simple detail that I wanted to question or second guess on every page. Characters are expertly drawn and evoked much care and sympathy from me, but also a little bit of suspicion. There are clearly a few things going on and I wanted to examine every piece of new information. Loved the twists and turns along the way.” – Rachel
☁ “I felt uncomfortable reading this book. I found some characters’ behaviours yuckily relatable. But it does pull you into the story beautifully and despite reading it years ago I can still easily conjure up many mental images from the pages. Emily Perkins you are a treasure and FYI I miss The Good Word a lot.” – Suzy
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Published 2008
Bloomsbury
288 pages
The Sea, The Sea – Iris Murdoch
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Chosen by Suzy
Charles Arrowby retires to the seaside to write his memoirs but is constantly under visitation by ex-lovers and friends
☁ “Published in 1978, The Sea, The Sea is the story of an eventful summer late in the life of Charles Arrowby, a famous man of the British theatre. He is the loveable, despicable anti-hero of this book.
“Having retired to a tower by the sea to write his memoirs, he is instead side tracked by a constant stream of visitors but more importantly by his own mental wanderings, imaginings and delusions. His focus becomes his childhood sweetheart Hartley and reclaiming her attentions while destroying her current relationship.
“This satirical look at the lengths to which this inconsistent, contradictory man will go to satisfy his egotistical cravings is Shakespearean in its drama. The freerangers discussed his many personality markers. We adored Arrowby! We despised him! We worried sick about him! We agonised over Hartley’s safety! Each page provoked new sentiments and proved to never be predictable.
Jealousy is perhaps the most involuntary of all strong emotions. It steals consciousness, it lies deeper than thought. It is always there, like a blackness in the eye, it discolours the world.
“Despite his kooky behaviour and self-delusional thoughts, or perhaps because of them, Arrowby made everything anomalous and outrageous, but somehow expected and acceptable too. His ability to manipulate everyone, including the reader, is thrilling, and we agreed reading this book was like being on an emotional rollercoaster.
“The other stand out personality in this character study was the turbulent sea. A moodiness was instantly created, with the tower on the cliffs and the frothing sea, that injected so much energy into the novel, aping the turmoil in Arrowby’s life.
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Published 1978
Chatto & Windus
502 pages
2010 – Character Development
As in any good story, characters come and go, they fall pregnant, they embrace new friends and they introduce ideas and thoughts often contrary to our own.
We have all of this bookclub, and like good literature, we wish it was all laughs and consistency but yes, people come and unfortunately go and there is little one can do about it, except to embrace change.
And we are definitely embracing at the moment, absolutely hugging it out, for we’ve had a few changes in our membership and so move forward into an exciting new chapter of our story.
We have said goodbye to one of our founding members, Nadine, who has crossed the Strait and settled in Wellington with her family. Also Ros has returned to her native homeland of Great Britain.
It’s not all doom and gloom however, for we were very happy to welcome the lovely Jo, who joined us mid 2009 and has quickly became firmly entrenched in Bookclub ethos.
We are sticking with four weekly meets and again have a varied schedule ahead of us. War stories, children’s books, feminism readings, American greats and even horror are all on the cards this year. What a line up!
The Sea, The Sea – Iris Murdoch
Novel About My Wife – Emily Perkins
Suite Francaise – Irene Nemirovsky
Nip The Buds, Shoot The Kids – Kenzaburo Oe
Pride & Prejudice – Jane Austen
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – Mark Twain
White Noise – Don DeLillo
She Came To Stay – Simone de Beauvoir
Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell
Coraline – Neil Gaiman
2009 – End Of Year Thoughts
We were back at our old favourite Stoneridge this year for Sunday lunch and agreed it had been a diverse year as far as bookclub reading goes.
One thing was for certain though, Xas was loved and adored by us all. There were a few other characters who struck chords with us too, the sweet Anne of Green Gables and Frankie from The 10pm Question.
Book of the year:
Nadine: The Vintner’s Luck
Jo: The Vintner’s Luck
Suzy: The Vintner’s Luck
Rachel: The Vintner’s Luck
Runner up:
Nadine: The 10pm Question
Jo: The 10pm Question
Suzy: The 10pm Question
Rachel: Oooooo…!!
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