October's read was Evergreen Tidings from the Baumgartners, by Gretchen Anthony, with Endurance, by Alfred Lansing, up next for November. This month we were treated to Mrs. Anthony joining our Zoom discussion, and the entirety of the group found her to be a fantastic speaker and addition to the conversation. Thank you to Susan, for doing all the much needed behind the scenes work to make Mrs. Anthony's appearance happen! And thank you to everyone who joined in via Zoom, and continues to join in month after month, it's wonderful to still be able to hold book club meetings, despite these trying times.
Here we go~
Violet Baumgartner has
opened her annual holiday letter the same way for the past three
decades. And this year she's going to throw her husband, Ed, a truly
perfect retirement party, one worthy of memorializing in her upcoming
letter. But the event becomes a disaster when, in front of two hundred
guests, Violet learns her daughter Cerise has been keeping a shocking
secret from her, shattering Violet's carefully constructed world.
In
an epic battle of wills, Violet goes to increasing lengths to wrest
back control of her family, infuriating Cerise and snaring their family
and friends in a very un-Midwestern, un-Baumgartner gyre of dramatics.
With varying degrees of intensity, the protagonist in this book was unanimously considered to be tough to take. A few members were completely puzzled and put off by Violets conduct and ultimately set the book aside a handful of chapters in, unable to bring themselves to finish. Most hung in there to the end of the read, still citing Violet as unpleasant, but hypothesizing that she seemed to need an exhaustive amount of control within both her life and the lives of those in her immediate circle, which drove her to be the challenging character that she was. It was mentioned that at the very end of the book, upon the discovery of some insightful clues, Violet showed some vulnerability that gave her a bit more of a real, multidimensional role, even endearing her to us in a small way. It was said that the cast of characters were relevant and believable, noting that everyone, to some degree or another, knows a Violet. And if you have a Violet, her best friend would have to be an Eldris. And she would have to be married to an Ed, and the two would most likely raise a Cerise... otherwise Violet wouldn't endure.
Mrs. Anthony took all of our conclusions, questions, and comments in stride, sharing that she's had an enormous amount of feedback about the book, Violet in particular, and understands she is a polarizing character. She added that if Violet were a real person, she'd like it that way! She recounted for us that Violet in particular had been a voice in her head for years before finally coming to the page in this novel, and although she considered "toning her down" many times throughout writing the book, she ultimately decided against it, feeling a nudge of encouragement from her late father, and also a need to be true to who Violet had developed into in her mind... come what may. Mrs. Anthony talked at length about her personal writing process and all that it entails, which was enlightening, if not eye-opening, to learn about. I think we all agreed that being an author isn't at all an easy field of occupation, and came away from the meeting with a lot of common respect, esteem, and affection for Mrs. Anthony.
Food for thought: It was stated that characters are a major contributing factor of any book, and that if the characters aren't quite right and/or agreeable, the general overall like or dislike of the book as a whole suffers for it. One member disagreed, saying instead that one distasteful character couldn't possibly have enough sway to tank an entire books standing. What do you think? Comment down below!
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"
Would we
recommend this to a friend to read?
"NO"
Rate the
book 1-4 stars with 1 being the lowest rating:
2 stars
