What we thought of the book: William Fiennes had just left for university and was studying as graduate when he became seriously ill. He had to return home and having embarked on his adulthood had had to return to the family home and become a child again. He also had alot of time on his hands and he became reflective. He had never forgotten a book that he had been read as a child 'The Snow Goose' by Paul Gallico which had influenced a young and impressionable mind. The story which spoke of restlessness and longing for change had resonance with his own emotions having had his transition into manhood interrupted by his illness. He began to study birds and maps and planned to follow the path of the snow goose who flew at the same time every year, about six million or so, from their wintering grounds on the Gulf Coast of America up to their Arctic breeding grounds.
He realises his dream and sets off on a four month, two thousand mile journey by plane, hired car Greyhound bus, train and finally a snowmobile. He meets a variety of people whose characters are genuine and quirky, however none of whom are caricatures. He eventually arrives at the breeding grounds and after a long wait experiences the 'invasion' on the snow geese on this tranquil environment. He writes vividly about his impression of thirty thousands geese taking off and landing and describes it as 'the sound of steel being hammered on anvils'. He is inisistant that in this experinece it is the journey that matters and not the arrival which is ironical as when he catches up with the snow geese in Northern Canada where the residents have also been anticipating their arrival then they kill them for food!
On route he is helped by local people who provide him with hospitality and one even asks him, he is a stranger to them, to house sit while she goes away. Many of the local people give him a home when he needed it and there is a reflective meditation on home and what it means to people. He contemplates the theme of the common need for 'home'.
Not every one read the book and some became irritated by the lenghty descriptions. Both Mary and Gaynor felt this intitially and then once they realised that this was not leading to any excitement and that it was a journey, they enjoyed it and went with the flow. The descriptions were detailed and reflective, the length of them irritated some. Cathrine for one did not enjoy this and described it as 'formulaic'. Lorraine only read part of it, as did Steve who felt there was too much about the natural history of the geese. Mary enjoyed the book and especially liked his encounters with some of people he met. Mike particularly enjoyed the description and the encounter on the train.
Overall those who read the book felt it was charming and littered with cameos of North Americans through the mid west and the route north through Canada to the Inuits in the Arctic. Interestingly the further north he went the more trusting of him, as a stranger, the people he met were. However the criticism was that although it was a book that had good reviews it did not will the reader through a journey to a promised ending - perhaps we were taking it too literally and needed to be more receptive to the meditative and spiritual journey that William was undertaking?
The books offerd by Cathrine and Charles were:
Darwins Radio - Greg Bear
Mostly Harmless - Gerald Douglas Adams
Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
The Far Side of the World - Patrick O'Brien
Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy - John Le Carre
The Group chose Heart of Darkness - the next meeting at Karen's.
