Virgil Wander by Leif Enger

December’s book club selection was Virgil Wander, by Leif Enger. For a frosty Tuesday evening, we had a great turnout with an excellent discussion! Many thanks to those who braved the cold!

Virgil Wander tells the story of a Midwestern movie house owner, appropriately named Virgil Wander, who is "cruising along at medium altitude" when his car flies off the road and into icy Lake Superior. Virgil survives, but his language and memory are altered and he emerges into a world no longer familiar to him. Awakening in this new life, Virgil begins to piece together his personal history and the lore of his broken town, with the help of a cast of affable and curious locals--from Rune, a twinkling, pipe-smoking, kite-flying stranger investigating the mystery of his disappeared son; to Nadine, the reserved, enchanting wife of the vanished man; to Tom, a journalist and Virgil's oldest friend; and various members of the Pea family who must confront tragedies of their own. Into this community returns a shimmering prodigal son who may hold the key to reviving their town.

Several group members offered that they felt the beginning of the book was difficult to settle into, noting that its first few chapters were a bit slow and monotonous. Most agreed that it at times also became difficult to keep the cast of characters straight throughout the novel. Though it wasn’t unanimous, the majority of the group found the aspect of kites and kite flying an interesting and charming addition to the story, some wondered aloud if the stated appeal was really for the kites, or instead for Rune, an endearing character featured in the book. Lastly, it was evident that the group very much likes Mr. Enger’s writing style; he seems to have an endless arsenal of extraordinary adjectives, and it was mentioned several times that his first novel, Peace Like A River, was a superb read and comes highly recommended.  

At the end of every book club discussion we ask three questions and track the average answers:

Would we recommend this to another book club for discussion?
"YES"
Would we recommend this to a friend to read?
"YES"
Rate the book 1-4 stars with 1 being the lowest rating:
2.8 stars (it mostly scored 3 stars, with a couple 2 stars mixed in)

The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah

This week our book club came together in force to discuss the novel The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah.  We really had a large group and a good discussion.  I believe that this month was the final meeting for the last holdouts of our summer residents, as well, so we say goodbye to them until next spring! Don't send us photos of warm sunshine and the beach, please! Well, maybe just a few...

The Great Alone is a novel set primarily in Alaska in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The story follows Cora and Ernt Allbright and their daughter Leni as they learn how to survive in the Alaskan wilderness.  It also follows their story as they cope with Ernt's Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and domestic abuse. The plot takes place over a period of approximately 12 years as Leni grows up and struggles to develop her own life. The book provides a remarkably vivid portrayal of life/survival in Alaska in the 1970s and a dark image of a family battling violence from within.

Our discussion group seemed to agree that the book provided an excellent perspective of life in Alaska in the 1970s. The remoteness, the hardship, and the weather were prominent features of the story while the PTSD and domestic abuse plot lines somehow seemed to play a more minor role. Indeed, during our discussion, the majority of the concepts discussed were focused more around Alaskan life and difficulties while the domestic abuse angle wasn't even raised until later in the period. While most members agreed that they liked the book, several commented  that they felt "let-down" by the ending because if seemed contrived and predictable. But, the general consensus was that if you wanted a book that provided an authentic image of life in Alaska 40 years ago, this is a great option.

At the end of every book club discussion we ask three questions and track the average answers:

Would we recommend this to another book club for discussion?
"YES"
Would we recommend this to a friend to read?
"YES" (but it wasn't unanimous)
Rate the book 1-4 stars with 1 being the lowest rating:
3 stars (the ratings varied among the members from 2 stars to 4 stars)

Welcome & Kingdom of the Blind by Louise Penny

Welcome! We're excited to start on a new journey with a blog for our library book club! A few months ago we had a request from a patron that we create a way of sharing the discussion and general opinions of our Library Book Club with others. And the concept of the Perham Library's Book Club blog was conceived. We're hoping that we can make this page useful and interesting  to those wanting to follow our monthly book club and its ongoing selection of titles for discussion. We intend to make a post every month following our book club gathering to summarize the book and the general discussion. We'll also make periodic posts to share information on special book club activities or to collect reading suggestions, or to vote for items to be included on the upcoming reading list.  We're looking forward to hearing people's comments and suggestions, too.

As the inaugural post for this blog, I'm including some thoughts on the book that our group discussed last week:

Kingdom of the Blind is the 14^th novel by Louise Penny in the Three Pines/Armand Gamache mystery series.  It was a slight departure for our book club because we don’t often choose to discuss mystery or crime fiction. The book follows Chief Superintendent Armand  Gamache of the Surete du Quebec as he is coping with being suspended from his job for allowing a supply of opioid drugs to enter the country. The  dual story line starting with an odd bequest naming Gamache as an executor for the will of a complete stranger while at the same time, Gamache races to track down and retrieve the shipment of opioid drugs before they are introduced onto the streets.  

Our book club members’ primary comment regarding this book is that they found the book confusing (“like walking into someone else’s conversation”). While many of our book club members said that they enjoyed the vivid friendships, the underlying sense of integrity and the ingenuity of the story, they felt that the author assumed that all readers were already familiar with the series story lines and characters and therefore assumed that everyone would understand the backstory without explanation. It was agreed that many of our club members would probably have enjoyed the book more if they had read some of the earlier books in the series and a couple of the members said that they were planning to go back and read the series. On the other end of the spectrum, several people said that they weren’t interested because they thought the book had too many characters and too many twists and turns at the end of the novel. 

At the end of every book club discussion we ask three questions and track the average answers:

Would we recommend this to another book club for discussion?  
“NO” (unless you start at the beginning of the series)

Would we recommend this to a friend to read?
“YES” (but it is recommended to read the entire series and not start in the middle)

Rate the book 1-4 stars with 1 being the lowest rating:
2.75 stars (the ratings varied from 1 star to 4 stars)