Unless by Carol Sheilds

There is a review by the Guardian reviewer  Blake Morrison 'Hell hath no fury' which reads so much more into this book than we did.  It sees the novel as a quiet scream against the female ouvre, a feminist novel but not a strident one.  We didn't read it as such.  Most of us just saw it as a novelist writing about a novelist, introspective and navel gazing.  Although the language is beautiful and skillful, the story was not engaging enough for most of us.

Words used to decribe it:
concited, navel (novel) gazing, uncompromising, gloomy, beautifully written, disjointed, unengaging

Marks out of 10
Between 3 - 8 (only one 8)

Next Book

A Gentleman in Moscow

by Amor Towles

Venue

at Carolyn's

 January 17th 2019

Christmas dinner at Chelsea Arts Club 

19th December

Villette by Charlotte Bronte

Villette, was Charlotte Bronte's final novel and possibly her most autobiographical.   Lucy Snowe, leaves England, fleeing an unspecified family trauma to a French boarding school in the French town of Villette.  Watching the romance between Dr John and Gineva Fanshawe brings to Lucy the heartache Lucy has tried to escape.  

This novel is considered to be one of the most insightful fictional studies of a woman's consciousness in English literature.  We thought, as a group, it was a difficult read and most of us didn't finish it despite having nearly 3 months to read it!  

Words used to describe it:
long-winded and over-elaborate, boring, endless, tedious, boring and null - Ummm not good ones!

Marks out of 10 
between 3 - 4 

Next book

Unless by Carol Sheilds

Next meeting

16th November at 126 Harbord St

Dietland by Sarai Walker

I wasn't at the meeting so can't comment on this book.  Sorry.
But there is a really good review by the Guardian here

Next book

Villette by Charlotte Bronte