Date: 27 January 2019
Location: Essie
A houseful of Happy Bookers gathered for a spirited discussion of this novel by Barbara Kingsolver which was followed by an even more spirited eating of Essie’s food. Most of the readers enjoyed this story which places fictional characters in a real world New Jersey community living lives which are historically consistent with events that actually occurred over a span of more than one hundred years. The story is told by following the families living in the same house in two different centuries. Somehow, none of these people ever did serious maintenance or repair to the structure (which was rather poorly built in the first place) and the house was falling apart by the second century. Thus the title of the book. Many storied lives were also coming apart just to make things interesting.
The book is constructed by jumping forward and backward in time between chapters, and some readers found this off-putting, or at best, confusing. Others thought this an interesting twist which kept one on their toes, but it did make reading difficult for those of us who tend to read in fits and starts. Only Bob went on record as disliking the book, so much so, that he put it aside in disgust – but he admitted to not being a Kingsolver fan in the first place.
Kingsolver does a good job of placing her characters squarely in the society of their times and therefore (in her view) of the political climate that influences their personal lives. For our group, this became the kernel leading to most of the discussion. Politics, both fictional and real, was the leading topic for the remainder of the evening – until we adjourned for food. Bob was observed to enjoy the food part of the meeting.
—Gary