GROUP CONVENOR – Christine Wright
We meet on the first Wednesday of the month at 1.00 pm in the Assembly Room at St Austell Arts Centre. If you enjoy reading and discussing the book you have read, come along and join us.
NB This group is now at capacity. Please contact the Group Convenor via the below form if you would like to be added to a waiting list.
Below are details of our recently read books.
September 2024 The Angel’s Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Another very different read which elicited a wide range of opinion!
The story follows a young blossoming author named David Martin set in early 20th century Barcelona. We get glimpses into David’s troubled childhood and difficult teenage years but the book focuses mainly on the challenges and changes of his writing career alongside his efforts to unravel an occult conspiracy.
By the time he is 30, he has spent years writing monthly “Penny Dreadfuls” for a family publishing business that squeezes him for everything they can. The stories he writes demand a steady 666 pages per day (a nod to the devil?). He then finds out he doesn’t have long left to live. Soon after, he meets someone called Corelli who asks him to write a religious text in exchange for lots of money and the additional bonus that his life-threatening disease will be cured (selling his soul to the devil?) There is love interest with Christina and Isabella.
But how much of the story was meant to be real and how much was a figment of the narrator’s imagination was difficult to work out even at the end. It is also a long book and difficult to follow the interplay between the characters. Part thriller, part supernatural chiller and part tragic lost love.
Comments from the Group’s members
“I found the book far too long and I couldn’t remember the beginning by the time I got to the end! I found it very disturbing and it gave me nightmares”
“It is about evil and good, time travel and immortality. Isabella represented light and cleanliness – probably the person he truly loved, Christine whom he professed to love was more of an obsession. A dark and strange tale with a lot of violent deaths.”
“A really engaging beginning with the descriptions of Barcelona. With strong prose and the start of an interesting plot I was looking forward to an interesting, fulfilling story. However, the excitement wore off for me. There was almost too much going on that didn’t meld together as one narrative – the religious and wise theological references and although the gothic plot was diverting it was maybe more fitting the intentions of a crime story. As ever good to read something that provokes thought but I don’t think I would read anything else by this author”
“This is a book I would not normally pick up to read. I have no interest in supernatural stories and struggled to get to the end of this book. The author certainly has a fertile imagination and one scary incident led quickly on to another. Rightly or wrongly, I concluded that it was all in his imagination from the time he moved into the tower house – a lonely writer acting out a story which he churned out for a living.”
“The setting of the story in Barcelona was very real, the author being familiar with many parts of Barcelona. I found it strange that the narrator skipped over the Spanish Civil War and World War II. It seems quite unrealistic that the narrator was not involved in either of these events.”
“In his eagerness to set up scary situations, I felt he overdid the use of metaphors many of which to my mind did not make sense – such as “ I smelt the sour stench of hatred and anger“ and many more where personally I felt he was taking too many liberties in order to create an atmosphere. As an unbeliever in souls of humans, animals or books this book held no interest for me. I find fact far more fascinating than fiction.”
“I really did want to get into and enjoy this book, having been to Barcelona mainly for the Gaudi architecture but after 135 pages I’m afraid I gave up! I was waiting for something to happen, for a story to develop but it was repetitive with agonising detail. Maybe something was lost in translation for this very Spanish writer of gothic romantic novels apparently trying to learn from great authors such as Tolstoy, Dickens or Wilkie Collins. He is fascinated by the creative process of storytelling but for me, this novel was too subjective, too narcissistic”
August 2024 One Day by David Nicholls
This story spans 20 years from 1988 to 2008 and is a story about the love and friendship between Dexter and Emma who meet at university. At the beginning of
the story, they spend their graduation night together but go their separate ways vowing to meet on the same day every year.
The story recounts their lives which follow very different paths. Dexter is popular with women but has a problem with alcohol, drugs and commitment and leads a charmed
life in front of the cameras until he is replaced by younger versions and his career
slides downhill.
Emma, who always loved Dexter but accepts friendship is the only option on offer, tries several relationships, unsuccessfully, with the failed comedian, Ian, and the headmaster at the school where she teaches. None is satisfactory as she really loves Dexter. They meet up on the same day every year and exchange notes on their lives. The plot is a familiar one of two young friends that track each other’s trials, romances and tribulations and finally end up realising they in fact both have a real love for each other finally getting together near the end of the book and having a daughter together. Sadly, tragedy strikes just when everything seems to be going well.
Comments from the group:
“One Day pulls off the difficult trick of being both very funny and very sad. I loved the evocation of 80s student life and 90s laddish culture and Emma’s death is a truly
shocking moment that sidesteps a conventional happy ending.”
“It is a clever funny take with some serious discussion on life in the nineties and the
culture of young folk at the time.”
“For me it made me feel a bit old and I know I would have enjoyed the read more if I
was 25 years younger. I felt the constraints on freedom and expression were
different in my time in the 70s. I pondered the opening quote in the book from Great
Expectations, Dickens’ brilliant setting which gives insight into young peoples’
possibilities”
“This love story, written in a most unusual format, cleverly constructed over two
decades and encompassing the cultural and political events of these times, was
brilliantly handled by the author David Nicholls.”
“The characters were believable and I could not imagine how the story was going to
end which kept me turning over the pages. I didn’t want Emma to end up in a lasting
relationship with Dexter as I feared the worse for Emma if this occurred. However
companionable they were- from my own experience (and the opinion of Emma’s
sister) – the leopard does not change his spots. She may have coped with his future
infidelity but his drinking problem would surely have damaged their relationship.”
“I loved the last chapter showing the development of a good relationship between
Dexter and his daughter and the swing back to the opening scenes reminding us how a small incident can change the direction of our lives. A book I would highly
recommend.”
“I hadn’t read One day before but saw the film – the book was so much better – such
funny detailed writing of human situations and feeling. Nicholls controlled the
passing years capturing their contrasting lives (yet undeniable love for each other).
That contrasting characters often attract each other certainly worked here.”
“I am sure there is humour in the book but it didn’t make me laugh and I found it a
difficult read, depressing and very sad”
“The author doesn’t go into any depth about significant events or emotions but gives
too much detail about the everyday happenings. I was bored with the story and
wasn’t invested in the characters at all. I think the time had passed for them to
actually get together”
Previous Reviews can be seen HERE
We are happy for you to come to a Coffee Morning or one main Monthly Meeting and to attend one individual group (with the exception of groups that require pre-booking and ticket purchases) before deciding whether to join St Austell u3a.
Please always contact the Group Convenor to ensure the session is going ahead.
