The Paris Review - Capote Interview

Hello!

This is the link to the Paris Review's interview with Capote. It made me love him even more!

http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/4867/the-art-of-fiction-no-17-truman-capote

See you all tomorrow,

N

Oryx and Crake

This month’s book was Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. This was Priya’s choice – hosted at the inner city home of Greg and Chez. It was an intimate affair; present: Marnie and Nicole (Marnic), Greg, Chez and Priya. Priya provided paneer, roti (aka chipati but we’re trying to alliterate here) and rice.

Ratings for the book were as follows: Marnie 7, Nicole 8.5, Greg 8, Chez 8.5, Priya (whilst “trying to be objective”) was 10. Marnie found it a book of two halves. Initially thinking, “how will I get through this?” she found the latter part of the book riveting. Nicole enjoyed the book because of Atwood’s ability to craft a story around a far-out concept. Greg, while iffy about the structure, particularly enjoyed the character Crake, whom he felt accelerated the story. While Chez enjoyed the book, she found the science “sometimes unconvincing” but on the whole, sound. She found science and technology an interesting tool used by the writer to explore the weaknesses of humanity. Priya found Atwood’s writing a particular strength (she owns every Atwood book!).

Oryx and Crake is an interesting book as it essentially ends with the climax. For those who are interested in reading further on this post-apocalyptic journey, Year of the Flood is the parallel story. Priya, perhaps you will choose this book for your next book club! An interesting part of our discussion was the timing of the book. Marnie and Nicole estimated that it was at the end of the 22^nd century. Priya and Chez (the scientists among us) postulated that this book was staged much earlier – at the end of this century. Greg thought it was set around 2250.

Priya, though a new member of Marnic, hosted an excellent evening – it was a pity others couldn’t have been there.

Kite Runner

Rebekah chose Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini for book club. Its title is a reference to the Afghani passion for dueling kites, which is an integral part of the plot. Rebekah, Nicole, Georgia, Maite, Paul, Lona, John, Greg, Chez, Marnie and Anne were present. Jonny's presence was sprinkled throughout the evening and Priya skipped it to go to the premiere of Harry Potter. Daniel was called to work at the last minute but did leave his comments and a score. Rebekah served up a lovely platter of healthy nibbles to satisfy even our fussy lactose intolerant/gluten intolerant contingent, of which there is one. Nicole.

Hosted at the Prasad's, Rebekah's evening saw the highest scores yet to hit book club. It is fair to say that Kite Runner, while not considered "high brow", was a crowd-pleaser. Our hostess with the most-est scored the book a perfect 10. She loved the style of writing, the roller-coaster plot - it was her book equivalent of Titanic. Nicole found it a compelling and emotional tale, scoring an 8.5. Georgia scored the novel a 9, finding the author's effective writing style a particular strength. Maite found it gripping, giving a score of 9.5. Paul referred to Hosseini's masterful story-telling; though not a "massive" novel. Paul too scored 9.5. Lona really enjoyed it - he loved the escalating emotion, sometimes finding it emotionally exhausting. Lona, like Rebekah, thought it deserved the perfect score as well. John considered it a captivating story and wonderful read - another 9.5. Greg enjoyed the simple story-telling, but did not enjoy the dream sequences which were peppered through the story. Still, he scored it a 9.5. Chez commented similarly on the dream sequences, but otherwise enjoyed it - another 9.5. Marnie also gave it 9.5, particularly enjoying the characterisation - especially Baba - and catching a glimpse of an earlier Afghanistan. Anne scored the book a 9, finding the story-telling captivating.

Many of the group commented on the vivid characters in the novel. While Hassan was the most popular character, Amir drew conflicting emotions - at the end he showed real heroism, contrasted with his earlier cowardice. Redemption was considered by the group the most powerful theme of the novel.

An highly-enjoyed text Rebekah!

PS. For those in absentia: Daniel 8, Priya 7.5.

PPS. For those who arrived early, the other text was rated as follows. Paul 6, John 7, Marnie 7, Anne 7, Nicole 6, Greg 6, Chez 5.

Announcement: Jonny has declared himself "on a break" from bookclub. Jonny, would you consent to your mother deed-polling your name? She thinks that Ross may well be a better fit.

Always the Outsider

For Anne's book club round, she chose something we had not done before - an autobiography. Always the Outsider was written by Colin Amery, someone who Marnie knows, and who later agreed to come to our book club night with his wife Yvonne. Held at Anne's home, book club members who were able to make it were Marnie, Nicole, Greg, Chez, and of course Anne. Colin and Yvonne both provided great insight into the creation of the book. It was an enjoyable night, with Anne welcoming both book club members and guests with a beautiful spread. We plan to further discuss the book at a future book club meet as several of our members who have read the book were not able to make book club on this evening.

Norwegian Wood

Andy chose Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami, translated from the original in Japanese. This is Andy's "favourite book in the whole world...ever". This evening was held at 87 with Andy providing a nice spread.

Present were: Andy, Nicole, Paul, Marnie, Chez, Greg, Priya, Georgia, Anne and John. This book was received well by most members. Priya gave it the lowest score - a 6. She found the story quite deep for a male author but commented there was "too much death". John and Nicole finally arrived on 7 as their scores. John found it very readable, though sad in parts. Nicole found it an enjoyable read but at times found some of the language florid (...perhaps something more to do with the translation from Japanese to English). Paul most enjoyed its quirky aspects, especially the narrative, and said he was more satisfied at the end of the book than he thought he would be at the start. Paul gave it a 7. Georgia and Marnie gave it an 8, both commenting on how they particularly enjoyed the strong character portrayals. Marnie seemed to demonstrate a personal connection to the zany Midori. Anne, Greg and Andy all rated the book with a 9. Anne enjoyed characters, the strong emotions evoked (for example the melancholia and love of music) and the strong "rites of passage theme". Greg thought it was an amazing book...a gripping read - simple and poetic. Chez gave the book a 10, being unable to cite any weaknesses.

Fiesta: The Sun Also Rises

Daniel was the host of our Fiesta: The Sun Also Rises (by Ernest Hemingway) evening, which was held on 14 April.  It was held at 87.  The book is a classic, recognised as one of the greatest in American literature.  It is often chosen as a text for university literature studies...part of the reason why Daniel chose it. It's set in 1920s post WWI Europe and is a commentary on ex-pats living there at the time.  Present were: Anne, John, Marnie, Paul, Andy, Jonathan, Greg, Nicole, Chez, Rebekah, Daniel and Priya - our new member.

Most people gave the book a fairly good rating; Anne, John, Chez and Rebekah being the exceptions. (Rebekah had not finished the book and so her rating was provisional.) Anne and John each gave the book a 5, both commenting it was dull. Chez and Rebekah rated it 5.5. Chez thought much of it was mundane. Priya awarded a moderate 6.5. Greg rated the book 7; both Marnie and Jonathan gave it a 7.5. Jonathan considered it of great style - restrained, complex - and portrayed beautiful scenes. Marnie thought it was well written and found book II, when the protagonists went to the bull fights in Spain, enthralling. Daniel and Andy both awarded the book an 8, Daniel enjoying Hemingway's skillful juggling between the various scenes and themes. Andy considered it beguiling. Nicole...the perfect score, loving especially the stilted dialogue.

American Gods

Our American Gods (by Niel Gaiman) evening was held at Paul and Maite's place on the 3 March.  Again we were treated with a spread of ethnic foods to nibble on throughout the evening.  Present were: Rebekah, Lona, Maite, Paul, Chez, Anne, Nicole, Greg, Marnie, John and Georgia...a good turnout. The book engendered some very lively discussion - and on some issues, divided the room. In one camp was Paul, a Gaiman fanatic.  In the other, Marnie, who thought the book sadly lacked a good editor. 

This is how everyone viewed it in a nutshell. Lona said he imagined the novel as a movie, saying "everything worked".  He scored the book a 9. Greg thought the digressions added to the richness of the book, and enjoyed it as a commentary on America, giving it an 8. John got drawn in "despite the genre", scoring it an 8. Anne thought the descriptions were brilliant, giving it a 7. Georgia enjoyed the diversity of characters but found it in some places disjointed. Georgia gave it 6.5. Nicole admired the telling of classical stories in a contemporary setting, scoring the book with a huge 9.5 - her favourite so far. Chez liked the digressions, but thought there were some parts of the story-line which were unnecessary. Chez gave the novel 6.5 - still higher than Oscar Wilde! Maite enjoyed the mystery aspect, but thought it was not that well structured in places and may have worked better as a collection of short stories. She commented that it was like a soap opera in parts.  She scored it a 7. Marnie thought that he was, overall, a good story-teller but abhorred his "gratuitous horror" ie. his progressively decaying undead wife. Marnie scored it a 7, "loving the ending". Rebekah hadn't finished the book but had really enjoyed what she read, giving it an 8. Unsurprisingly, Paul gave it the perfect score - 10 - finding the book transported him...."it was ambitious"..."by far the most layered book we've done so far".