Larocque and Roll

Book club verdict: The Englishman’s Boy October 29, 2004

This is going to be short and sweet, because even though it’s surprisingly early for a Friday night, I’m tired and going to bed.

The verdict was a general “meh” feeling. While none of us actively hated the overall books (there were moments that made us see red), we felt that there wasn’t really any build up. Normally, you have an introduction, a build up, and a climax, but this book went straight from intro all the way through to the climax. As well, there were a great many cliches, such as the gruff but loveable old guy, the crazy rich guy, and the psychopath.

My feeling was that the story ended poorly. That is to say, I would have been happy if it ended badly or happily, yet this book drifted off. The narrator was wimpy all the way through, and it had a suitably wimpy ending.

This led to a discussion about Canadian lit in general, and award-winning Canadian lit in specific. That it’s dull and heavy and depressing - and that’s not something that Canadians are known for. Really - it’s like we’re a nation of agnsty teenagers: “Oh, I’m all happy and funny and laid back on the outside, but if you read my book you’ll see that I’m deep and sensitive and complex!” Pshaw.

Next up: Life of Pi, by Yann Martel.

Book club verdict: Lamb September 14, 2004

We giggled. We chuckled. We roared with laughter until the tears pour down our faces. In short, we very much liked the bulk of this book.

However, we were disappointed and let down by the ending, and the latter part of the book in general. K thought the book should have ended at a different part, and R thought that too much time was spent on two of the magi and not enough on the third. Plus, Mary (the Virgin) irritated her.

I didn’t finish reading the book, but I agree that too much time was spent on the middle of the book and not nearly enough time was spent on the ending. I thought that the ending was rushed compared to the rest of the book - yeah, we know what happens, but he could have spent more time on it.

After we got the critical stuff out of the way, we spent another 45 minutes looking up our favourite quotes and passages (ask me about Lot’s Wife, and when I stop laughing, I’ll tell you what it means to me). Then we played LotR Trivial Pursuit again, except that this time, K and I were on a team against R, who’s game it is. Then we watched an episode of Farscape (”Scratch ‘n Sniff”) and called it a night.

Book club verdict: Wicked August 29, 2004

Just back from book club. The unanimous verdict of all members (the three of us) was that of profound disappointment. There were so many plot points left undeveloped, and so many opportunities to tie things together were ignored. It was flat and unengaging, and there was very little that got us excited enough to want to keep reading [I've typed that sentence three times, three different ways, and it still doesn't sound right].

The discussion took us slightly over 45 minutes. The rest of the evening was spent playing Lord of the Rings Trivial Pursuit, at which the host thoroughly rocked mine and the other member’s asses.

The next book we’ll be discussing is Lamb by Christopher Moore, which I’ve read but it was long enough ago that I’m sort of fuzzy on some of the plot.