Sonya Hartnett's 'Golden Boys'

For the month of November, Cityside Book Club will be reading Sonya Hartnett's Golden Boys which was shortlisted for the 2015 Miles Franklin Literary Award.

 

 

Peter Pierce from The Australian wrote this about this rather disturbing read.

 

 

It'll be interesting to hear about people's experience of this novel by an author who has specialised in writing for young adults.

 

We'll meet on Thursday 3 December at 6.00pm at Mackay City Library's Community Venue Room!



 

 



'The Golden Age' resonates with readers

Joan London's The Golden Age really impressed our readers. When some of our readers realised it was a novel set  in the Golden Age Children's Polio Convalescent Home in Perth, they were preparing themselves for a rather bleak read but were rather pleasantly surprised by the light touch used to tell the tale. Readers spoke of the deft way the author wove the stories of the various characters together. People were impressed with the array of characters, the way they were introduced and the way they came to life with a brief sketch of their character and background. Others spoke of the light but respectful way the author handled such a potentially depressing topic.

There was mention that another group had considered Sister Olive Penny's behaviour as being rather implausible for that era but this group boisterously refuted this notion. Rather they believed that this behaviour was indulged in but rather more clandestinely in past times than today.

Readers found the ending a little abrupt and a little strange but in many ways satisfying. There seemed to be a general consensus that Frank's relationship with Elsa was indeed 'The Golden Age' and as such it was a relationship that transcended mere earthly sex. Much hilarity and tangential discussion followed this concept.

Our book club membership stretches across several generations and this span meant there were different experiences of  'polio'. Some remember taking the pink oral sabin on sugar cubes while other younger members have never experienced the vaccine. Some knew of family members or friends who bore some paralysis from polio. One of our members has a medical background and was able to inform the group of what the eradication of polio actually means and why after a polio-free period it is counterproductive to distribute the polio vaccine which is why children today do not receive it. Sister Kenny's role in treating polio patients was mentioned as was the 'iron-lung' and the group found out more as to when, how and why this machine was used and the role it played in the survival of so many polio patients.

A couple of our time-poor members had not finished the novel but the rest of the group were certainly positively impressed by the novel. They seemed to think that a difficult topic had been handled sensitively and well. They enjoyed the array of characters and their stories and the overall telling of the tale. They appreciated how each character was travelling their own difficult road but somehow the Golden Age Children's Polio Convalescent Home provided them all with an opportunity to glow if not shine.

Our next book club selection features the word 'golden' as well but the subject matter is somewhat more tarnished.

We will meet on Thursday 3 December at 6.00pm at the Mackay City Library Community Venue Room to discuss Sonya Hartnett's Golden Boys.

November's here!

We had a great meeting last month but the blog never got a chance ro reflect all the insights revealed. Humble apologies for this!

Hopefully this will not happen this month!

Looking forward to hearing your views on Joan London's The Golden Age at the Community Venue Room at Mackay City Library at 6.00pm this evening!

September's nearly done and October starts on Thursday!

This means Cityside Book Club will be meeting to discuss Harper Lee's Go Set a Watchman this Thursday at the Community Venue at the Mackay City Library at 6.00pm.

Due to the classic status of Harper Lee's previous novel To Kill a Mockingbird, expectations are high for this novel which Harper Lee has described as the parent novel of To Kill a Mockingbird.

Cara Erica from The Guardian writes this about this long-anticipated novel while Michelle Smith in The Conversation posits a variety of aspects of Go Set A Watchman.

Looking forward to hearing our book clubbers experience of Harper Lee's new novel this Thursday!

'The Eye of the Sheep' impresses

Seven Cityside Book Clubbers met to discuss Sofie Laguna's 2015 Miles Franklin Literary Award Winner The Eye of the Sheep.

The title evoked much discussion. Some thought the book would attract a bigger audience with a more attractive title while others thought a title like this intrigued and encouraged readers. Most of our readers would like to know why the author came up with this title and deduced that it had special meaning to the author and, being curious, they were aching to know more detail. Some of our readers were glad that our Book Club Set sticker covered the book cover image of Jimmy Flick and they were able to develop their own version of him.

Some of our readers had had much experience, in some cases personal involvement with children on the autism spectrum and therefore found this book difficult and rather emotional to read. Other readers appreciated and were fascinated by the way the author endeavoured to portray Jimmy Flick's thought processes and concepts of the world. Other readers had great difficulty with the notion of an adult writing from a child's perpective and felt this lack of authenticity. There was much curiosity about how the author came to write this book. Our readers were very interested in whether it was personal experience of a Jimmy or was it extensive empathetic research?

Our readers generally found all of the characters believable. There was much sympathy for Paula and much discussion ensued about how caring for a child like Jimmy Flick usually fell to the mother and how exhausting this reponsibility was. Most of our readers loved the way Paula was portrayed and how Jimmy conceptualised his mother.There was much discussion about why Paula just gave up when Gavin left after beating both Paula and Jimmy. There was talk about how denial of the domestic violence by the victim effectively stymied any possibility of assistance from medical authorities. There was much conversation about the community's role as silent witness to family violence and the way family violence travels down the generations.

The relationship between Jimmy and his father and the longing Liam had for his father fostered much discussion about the need for connection between sons and fathers. In Liam's case the loss of this much yearned-for connection and the denial of this loss did not bode well for his future. His psychopathic behaviour was portrayed in such an understated but nevertheless unsettling manner. The pressure in the foster family furthered discussion about the exhaustion involved in caring for children with behavioural difficulties.

Our readers generally enjoyed the actual expression and style of writing in The Eye of the Sheep even though they found the content and story distressing and difficult. Most of our readers agreed it was a worthwhile read and some were considering re-reading it at a later date because they thought a slower read would do it more justice.

There was much excitement when next month's book was revealed: Harper Lee's second novel Go Set A Watchman. It should be a very interesting meeting when we discuss this much anticipated novel on Thursday 1 October at Mackay City Library at 6.00 pm.

Our next read is Sofie Laguna's 'The Eye of the Sheep'

Sofie Laguna has written twenty children's books, plays, a screen play and one adult novel prior to writing The Eye of the Sheep. Apparently it was one of her earlier plays that begat her 2014 novel which has won the 2015 Miles Franklin Award.



Susan Wyndham, literary editor of The Sydney Morning Herald wrote this about Laguna's prize-winning book.

Looking forward to hearing your views on this modern prize-winning Australian novel.

'The Denniston Rose' discussed

There was much discussion about the bleakness of the physical environment of the Denniston coal mine and the determination needed to survive in these conditions. There was a lot of talk about how the three women Totty Hanratty, Mary Scobie and Bella Rasmussen were the strength and really the founding mothers of the Denniston community. Many mining stories focus on the men but this one seemed focussed on the strength of the women and how the men made the decisions but it was the women who had to somehow ensure that things actually happened.

Rose's mother while coming under fire for her rather hands off approach to mothering could be seen as a survivor of her time who considered her only means of existence was under the wing of a man whether he hurt her (and Rose) or not. She certainly understood men and where they were concerned she generally got her way in the big picture even though in the detail she was somewhat less particular and certainly did not consider collateral damage.

There was a lot of discussion about the community knowing how Billy Genesis was treating Rose but how not one adult spoke in her defence: "No one liked to admit that a child's voice is always harder to hear than an adult's." There was also the excuse that 'Billy's skills were necessary to the community.' Despite being a small child, Rose was very much on her own. There was much talk about whether this was still the case today.

There seemed to be much discussion about many facets of the novel but while Rose's situation merited opinions, the character Rose did not engender a great deal of discussion.

Most of our readers seemed to enjoy the read. One of our readers particularly enjoys books based in historical fact and followed up her read with quite a bit of internet research on Denniston, the coal mining industry there and the incline. One can even experience a virtual ride on the incline which was eventually closed in 1967.

Looking forward to our next discussion on Sofie Laguna's book The Eye of the Sheep on Thursday 3 September at 6.00pm.