Date: 27 May 2018
Location: Gary & Peggy
Once again the Happy Bookers bravely ventured out into the wilds of Brownsboro for our meeting at Gary and Peggy’s home. Fourteen of us gathered there to discuss the psychological thriller, The Woman in the Window.
As rarely happens at our meetings, all of the Bookers had actually read the book. And apparently everyone enjoyed it, though some were less enthusiatic than others.
The story centers around child psychologist, Dr. Anna Fox, who suffers from agoraphobia. She drinks heavily, watches old movies, observes and photographs her neighbors out the window, and communicates with others via online chats. She never leaves her Manhattan home — until she sees a woman murdered through a neighbor’s window. Things then begin to get interesting as we learn more about Anna’s history and as the plock thickens.
Some felt that the book was unnecessarily long and rather repetitive, especially in the middle, but most agreed that the twists and turns really kept our attention and had us wondering what was going to happen next. Often when we read a book that almost everyone enjoys, the discussion is fairly short; there was not a lot to disagree about, so we quickly cover the basics of the story and then move off on tangents that have nothing to do with the book itself. It was a little different with this book. There were lots of little details and incidents to discuss that folks found interesting and which helped to keep their interest up.
When the discussions finally ran down, we topped off the evening with a real chicken and pasta feast, thanks to Peggy’s fine cooking. Just as we finished this wonderful meal, a serious thunderstorm rolled in with very heavy rain. Driving home on the narrow, winding, rain-swept road (it really was “a dark and stormy night”) was not pleasant, but Peggy’s wonderful cooking more than made up for it.
—Bob