John Harding's Gothic mystery stimulated much discussion among our avid readers. One of our regulars due to work commitments had not read the novel so the rest of the group had to very carefully circumvent discussing the novel's conclusion. Discussion was sufficient to encourage her to take a copy to catch up this read.
Our readers generally felt that Harding had created a dark, bleak menacing atmosphere well. There was much discussion about how asylums have been used to confine people, especially women, who did not conform to the social norms of the time and how these people appeared to have no basic human rights whatsoever. There was also much mention of the recency and even in some cases, the contemporary continuation, of this practice of isolation in the case of refugee boat arrivals. One of our readers who is associated with today's health industry and thus accustomed to processes and guidelines of accountability and duty of care was horrified by how people could be just 'disappeared' into an asylum. There was was much discussion about the cruelty of the 'modern methods of rehabilitation' espoused in the novel.
As
The Girl Who Couldn't Read had a prequel, there was much discussion about whether reading it would have cleared some of the mystery surrounding Jane Dove but possibly ruined the twist in the tale's tail. Our readers are still keen to read
Florence & Giles and there was much animated conjecture about what dastardly deeds Jane Dove concealed in her past thus resulting in her 'hiding' in the asylum.
Our readers spoke of Doctor John Shepherd's strong sense of intellectual superiority and how this smugness led to his downfall. Several readers commented on a variety of situations where, despite his cleverness, he left himself vulnerable. These 'mistakes' lulled our readers into a false sense of security about him leaving them ripe for a nasty surprise. Our readers talked about how, despite the fact they knew Shepherd was a 'bad egg', his treatment of his 'fiance' had taken them completely unawares and physically shocked them.
Our book clubbers spoke of how maybe the staff running these asylums were probably more qualified to be inmates than many of their patients. Both Dr Morgan and Nurse O'Reilly were considered as prime candidates for institutionalisation. There was talk about how particular personality types were attracted to organisations where they were encouraged to indulge their unhealthy appetites.
Jane Dove despite having dark secrets still seemed to have the support of our readers who were quite satisfied with the book's conclusion. Readers felt that there were sufficient clues as to her reading competency and that staff just often ignored the simple obvious by accepting a less credible explanation. John Shepherd utilised this concept in his deception - 'I had always found that the extraordinary lie is the one most likely to be believed.'
Overall despite this novel not being the preferred genre of our book clubbers, they had enjoyed the read and it proved a good stimulus for discussion.
Our next read takes us back to the 1880s and the bleak coalfields of New Zealand's West Coast settlement at Denniston. It'll be interesting to hear about our readers' experiences of this book. The damp wintery conditions we experienced recently could prove a fertile background to reading this novel by Jenny Pattrick if they return as predicted.
We'll meet to discuss
The Denniston Rose on Thursday 6 August at 6.00pm at Mackay City Library.
