Hello March! Our March selection was The Winter of Our Discontent, by John Steinbeck, with French Braid, by Anne Tyler, coming up next for April's discussion. Thank you to everyone who attended the meeting~ we are so thankful for our members, and look forward to seeing you every month!
While I have you, we collected a few more book nominations for next year's reading list during our meeting today! If you were unable to attend the meeting and still have some nominations you'd like included, we're asking that you get those in to Amanda no later than by the end of the day this Friday, March 17th. We'll then get started on getting them organized and ready for distribution at our April 11th meeting~ we plan to cast our votes at the May 9th meeting, where shortly after we'll get a compiled, finalized reading list put together, and away we go!
For any member who isn't able to attend the April and/or May meetings and would like to participate in voting~ Amanda will be sure to e-mail a final, compiled list of nominated books to anyone not present at the April meeting. We can also print out a copy for you at the front desk if that's easier. There will also most likely be a way to cast votes online via a link on the Perham Library's website~ we'll get the final word out about that as May approaches, but you can also always e-mail your votes to Susan or Amanda, and/or call them into the library if you'd prefer.
Lastly, we plan to stick with the same five dedicated categories that we had last year. Those 5 dedicated categories are: Minnesota Author, Memoir, Mystery, Classic, and Young Adult. The remaining 7 slots will being left open for nominations of any genre. You do not have to nominate books into these 5 designated categories (although some of the nominations may naturally be put into these categories based on their subject material), but you will need to plan to vote for at least 1 title out of the 5 dedicated categories when we vote. If there aren't enough books nominated into the designated categories to offer some good variety, we'll add them in!
Without further ado!
Ethan Allen Hawley, the protagonist of
Steinbeck’s last novel, works as a clerk in a grocery store that his
family once owned. With Ethan no longer a member of Long Island’s
aristocratic class, his wife is restless, and his teenage children are
hungry for the tantalizing material comforts he cannot provide. Then one
day, in a moment of moral crisis, Ethan decides to take a holiday from
his own scrupulous standards.
Set in Steinbeck’s contemporary
1960 America, the novel explores the tenuous line between private and
public honesty that today ranks it alongside his most acclaimed works of
penetrating insight into the American condition.
It would be fair to say we all wanted to like this book, being it was a shorter read with an interesting premise. And for a select few, it delivered. Those few members said they thought it was an accurate representation of being human. They liked Ethan Hawley, and could easily believe and understand his different choices and reasoning, even if they personally disagreed with them. They thought all the characters, and the story itself, were plausible, adding that they have a feeling that Steinbeck personally is for the underdog, and it reflects in his writing~ we all agreed that was a positive.
For those who felt this book missed the mark, it was cited that the writing itself, just as in Steinbeck's East of Eden that we read in August of last year, was awkward and disjointed. It was repeatedly pointed out that even though this book was a shorter read, it felt long and drawn out~ wordy. These members found themselves waiting for the book to make it's point. Instead, it felt like a mundane glimpse into one man's very ordinary life with nothing of any value to take away from the story. They weren't at all impressed with the ambiguous, clumsy ending and found themselves fairly disappointed in Ethan by the end.... a protagonist who they initially favored.
What are your thoughts on ambiguous endings? Do you like to be left to fill in the blanks on your own, or do you prefer clear, concise finales? Weigh in down below! 👇
Were you one of the ones who really enjoyed The Winter of Our Discontent? Fans of the book also enjoyed: For Whom the Bell Tolls, by Ernest Hemingway, The Passenger, by Cormac McCarthy, and Mad at the World, by William Sounder. All of these titles are available within the Viking system~ reserve your copy today!
At the conclusion 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?
"NO"
Rate the
book 1-5 stars, with 1 being the lowest rating:
3 stars
