We met on 21 March, a lunchtime meeting where Moy provided three lovely salads and a rich baked cheesecake, which we thoroughly enjoyed before talking about the March book - The World Without Us by Mireille Juchau. Thanks Moy (and Peter) for unfailing hospitality in your lovely location.
I won't say we got stuck into the book - it wasn't as spirited as that! We mostly liked it, sort of, but found it problematic, with loose threads, themes opened but not explored, characters not fully realised, a bit directionless. Moy liked the book, but reported that her other book group had split 60/40 against/for - with strong feelings for or against. We were not so divided, with more middling reviews - 6/10 from Sue W, 5/10 demoted to 3/10 from Ros!
Still there was quite a bit to like, as an exploration of grief, with a likeable central male character in Stefan. The central idea of the bees as a lead in to global warming worked for some, but unravelled somewhat when explored further. Elizabeth entertained us with stories of her experiences on communes in Australia and New Zealand, someone declared her stories better than Juchau's version of the hippie life! Most of us had read the book fairly easily but won't be recommending it to friends and family.
On to the next book, we decided on the Graham Swift book, Mothering Sunday for May.
To sum up next books are:
April - The Theatre of War - Stella's
May - Mothering Sunday - Jane's
June - TBC - Margaret's.
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