A Meeting with a difference

There were few members available at the previous meeting. The books that were offered were themed and related to death and dying, mental health dementia and Alzheimer's.  It was decided that each book would be read by one or two members of the group who would then provide a view at the next meeting 

The books were: When I Die by Philip Gould; My left Foot by Christie Brown; Iris by John Bailey; Unquiet Mind Kay Redfield Jamison;  Still Alice by Lisa Genova. 

Philip Gould a friend of Tony Blair and lauded as being the brains behind New Labour was diagnosed with terminal cancer. It is a story about his death and dying and affirmation of his life. Charles described the book as stirring, annoying and self indulgent st times.  The book he felt ebbed and flowed depending on his own mood and the mood of the writer.  Charles felt that it was a bit of an eye opener where New labour politics had been considered as rough, tough and not ethical. However, the personalities involved in the movement came across as spiritual and soft. He was intrigued by the book and enjoyed it. He found it interesting from the beginning of the end. 

Christy Brown was born with cerebral palsy to a poor working class Irish family.  It was a family with much love and warmth but not money.  His mother ensured that he was included and provided with every opportunity.  He taught himself to paint by using his left foot which he could control. The story was moving and no more so when his mother used the money that she had been saving hidden in the chimney as intended, to purchase a wheel chair despite the fact that they were more impoverished due to the sudden death of their father.   This meant that his siblings took him out and he could join in with the other children playing football having races and just generally having fun. The Dr from whom the wheelchair was purchased gave him a place at her school where he continued with his painting and writing.  He was desperate for love and relationship and marries.  He became a celebrated Irish writer which includes this book, the autobiography of his life.  It was an excellent read which celebrates inclusivity and disability.  In 2014 are we any closer to an inclusive society? 

Iris Murdoch a celebrated author developed Alzheimer's .  Her husband dedicated himself to her welfare despite her decline. The members of the group who read this said they did not find that it was particularly well written but described the devastation that her illness had on their existing life style. Her condition did not seem typical.  She did not want anyone to know about her condition and she gradually wanted less and less contact with friends.  Their world closed in and they became very isolated. There were some tender moments when Iris wanted to go for a swim, and her husband took her for their last swim together in the river.  She did write beautifully and led at times a somewhat racey life, with a few affairs but her forgiving and adoring husband forgave and defended her reputation.  There were precious moments of lucidity which acted as a cruel reminder of what was lost.  Overall, it was viewed as a poignant love story of dedication and adoration and provided a sad and vivid account of the creeping isolation and squalor that this condition can create.

This book is an autobiographical account.  It explains using humour a prose the first hand experience of the roller coaster of manic depression. This condition as with most mental health conditions is little understood.  Kay's father had the condition and he was a successful meteorologist which meant that the family travelled around frequently during her childhood until they settled in Washington DC.  Her early experiences of the manic side of this condition occurred when she was in teens when she seemed to revel in them.  She was prescribed lithium, which was successful in managing her moods and making them more consistent, however she craved the highs.  She became a psychiatrist and progressed to a Doctorate .  The book was written sensitively and humorously described some of he manic experiences.  One of her big regrets is her concious decision not to have children due to the genetically derived mental health condition which she did not wish to transfer to any children. 

Lisa Genova self published this novel on the internet.  It describes the story of a Harvard PhD Professor of Neuroscience and her diagnosis of early onset Alzheimer's.  This could not be more contrast to Iris as her husband is in denial and is not sympathetic.  The member of the group who read this found it a harrowing read.  Her first awareness of the disease was when she was out running on a route that she ran for many years she suddenly found that she had no idea where she was in what should have been a well known place. This was one of the symptoms and was diagnosed and sought a second opinion. She eventually tells her husband after a while and expects him to accept it. She goes into melt down when he doesn't . She needs to tell the children, and it is her daughter is whom she gets close to even though there is a view that she could do better.  This is a successful family who have a healthy lifestyle that has been lauded as preventing Alzheimer's  and challenges the advice given but also chillingly shows that we are no neare understanding or managing this condition effectively. It is a must read. 

The books on offer were:

The Reluctant Fundamentalist - Mohsin Hamid

Bring up the Bodies - Hilary Mantel

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man - James Joyce

The Spirit Level - Richard Wilkinson and Kate Picket

The book that the group chose is the Reluctant Fundamentalist 

The Lacuna - Barbara Kingsolver

About the Author:Barbara Kingsolver is an American novelist, essayist and poet. She was raised in rural Kentucky and lived briefly in the Congo in her early childhood. Her work often focuses on topics such as social justice, biodiversity and the interaction between humans and their communities and environments. The Lacuna is Barbara Kingsolvers first novel for fifteen years for which she won the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2010. 

The plot takes us  us on a journey from the Mexico City of artists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo to the America of Pearl Harbor, FDR, and J. Edgar Hoover. "The Lacuna" is a poignant story of a man pulled between two nations as they invent their modern identities.  The story evolves from the letters which had been securely stored of Harrison Shepherd, a son of an American Business man and a Mexican good time girl.   Harrison spent most of his early childhood in Mexico and was educated in the US.  Indeed the novel is in two distinct books. He returned to Mexico and developed friendship with Frieda Kahlo and Diego Rivera.  His friendship with Frieda is lifelong. Harrison goes to work for Lev Trotsky and develops an interest in Aztec Art.  The artist Frieda smuggles her own paintings out of Mexico via Harrison when he leaves to settle in the mid west and becomes a successful novelist. The story focuses on the rise of McCarthyism and the routing out and persecution of those who were deemed to be a threat to US security by having Communist associations.

Most of the group enjoyed the subject of the first part of the book regarding life in Mexico and they extended their interest into watching the film Frieda as the artist.  Some of the group considered Harrison as a bit of a non character, his journals are descriptive as if observing from a distance but not taking part.   Frieda fantasises about him, and in later life his secretary, who recovers the journals and writes his story after his death, is in love with him and is truly besotted but this is not acknowledged or even recognised by Harrison Shepherd.  Only a few picked up on the fact that he was homosexual, it was skilfully and slowly revealed.  Most of the group enjoyed the book however it was felt generally long.  Some of the plot was considered a bit far fetched such as his relationship with Trotsky.   Some of the group commented on the apparent paranoia regarding Communist infiltration in Us at the time that was driving McCarthyism and how district ice and brutal that this regime was.   

Kingsolver herself describes a 'lacuna' as a gap, and a writer fills the gap that is created where there are some facts but the full picture is missing. A novelist will fill the ' lacuna' to complete the story, this is what Kingsolver has done in The Lacuna, using beautiful language, skillful story telling through the development of strong characters. She does just that.

The next read is: 

When I Die by Philip Gould 

 

The Strangest Man - Graham Farmelo

About the author:  Graham Paul Farmelo (born 18 May 1953) is a biographer and science writer, a By-Fellow at Churchill College, University of Cambridge, U.K., and an Adjunct Professor of Physics at North Eastern University, Boston, U.S.A. He is best known for his work on science communication and as the author of The Strangest Man, a prize-winning biography of the theoretical physicist Paul Dirac, He lives in London.

Dirac was a much lauded physicist, he had an extremely difficult child hood and became extremely introverted. He was treated differently and very severely by his father.  Dirac believed he was a failure.  Rob said that the story did not go too much into physics.   Many of his lectures on atoms  being attended by 1,000 s of people. There has to be beauty in equations to attract this level of attention.  Mary could not read beyond the first hundred pages.  Two other people thought that it was an incredibly boring read. Charles a physicist and talented engineer lauded the fact that electronics came from his theories, and the greatest and most recent is the Higgs Bosun.  

Dirac was on the autistic spectrum. He did not communicate freely and retained the belief that you do not start a sentence unless you know how to finish it.  Amongst his colleagues was Einstein. Dirac was known among his colleagues for his precise and taciturn nature. His colleagues in Cambridge jokingly defined a unit of a "dirac", which was one word per hour. His achievments are feted around the world but there is no recognition within GB that reflects the significance of his theories.

The choices that Gaynor and Tom presented are:

The Street Sweeper - Elliott Pierman

The Lacuna - Barabra Kingsolver

The Fifth Witness - Michael Connelly

A Spot of Bother - Mark Haddon

The Continental Op - Dashiel Hamnett

About the Author : Dashiell Hammett was the author of detective novels based I the 1920 s and 30s. He created  'Sam Spade ' 'Nick and Nora Charles' and of 'the Continental Op'.  He wrote creelays as well as being a political activist.  He grew up in Philadelphia and Baltimore and held several jobs before starting work for the Pimkerton National Detective Agency, where he became an operative between 1915-22.  He had a short break when he was enlisted to serve in World War 1 in the Motor Ambulance Corps.  Due to contracting Spanish flu and later tuberculosis, he spent most of his Army career as a patient.  

He returned to the Agency and later became disilusioned by the agency's activities during the union strike breaking. 

The Continental Op is the dispassionate fat man working for the Continental Detective Agency, modelled on the Pinkerton Agency, whose only interest is in doing his job in a world of violence, passion, desperate action and great excitement.

Mike described the book as a book of short stories and found it a comfortable read.  Rob said that he felt the book was two dimensional, lacked depth. It pictured clearly the era and felt it similar to watching a Humphrey Bogart film and enjoyed the language.  He felt that a private detective working with police may have been a bit far fetched.  Mike said that he had never read any of his other work and the Americanisms had put him off reading any more.  Some people found the language sometimes difficult as it was dated, circa '20s-30s. Imagined Cagney or James Robinson Justice and expected to read about the 'hoods'!  Cathrine did not read it all but read the last story completely, there was some gender stereotyping in the characterisation of the secretary.  The writing was exciting of its time and she watched 'The Maltese Falcon' which was amazing.  All said that they could visualise being there, the darkness, the shadowy world, and an example  of the dated language was' San Diego was gay and packed as I got off the train. '  The stories have lasted the passage of time to and were of course the earliest detective novels.  He packed a lot into one chapter.   Karen said that it was one of the greatest detective stories of its time, she found it interesting and hugely entertaining, as a story, however society has moved and it could be compared with NCIS or CSI 50 years on. 

All remembers these stories as radio plays and thoroughly enjoyed them,. Good Choice a quick read.

The choices for this week are:-

Graham Farmelo - The Strangets Man

Alan Sokal and Jean Bricmair - Intellectual Imposterz

Tom Bingham - The Rule of Law

Mark Mazower - Inside Hitlers Greece

Charlotte Higgins - It's All Greek to Me

The Choice was the Strangets Man.

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