Drown - Junot Diaz

The East End Book Club met last week at Sarah G's house on Friday night.  The turnout was on the low side, with illnesses, birthday celebrations, and even forgetfulness perhaps generated by concussion (sorry Lorraine, had to say it! :)

The food and drink choices had some obvious connections to the book - tostadas (fried plantain) from Steph, pastelitos de carne (meat pastries), and some alcoholic drinks.  Despite joking about bringing a plate of hard drugs, Anna instead went the more legal and sensible choice of homemade macaroons (drug-free as far as we know).

The book discussion was detailed and varied.  Reactions ranged from "uncomfortable read" to "amazing read".  Topics under discussion were the narrative voices (who was the narrator of each story?), whether or not the book was ultimately depressing or hopeful, the positive and negative character traits of the various characters, the theme of forgiveness, and role of misogyny in the book.

An interesting New York Times Article looks at the role of sexism in Diaz's other writings and may put the questions of his intentions to rest.   But really, was Yunior the narrator of most of the stories?  Who was the drug dealer, and who was Aurora's "boyfriend"?  The jury's is out.

Looking forward to the next meeting - November 25 at Sarah McQ's house.  Time and address will be emailed out.  The next book is Chappy by Patricia Grace.

August Summary and October meeting

The first meeting was fab (of course!).   Lots of time was spent getting to know each other better through our reading histories, and by discussing the book.  Turns out The Babysitter's Club was highly influential reading - who knew?  Many people had read, were reading, or wanted to read The Life Changing Magic of Tidying up.   And many of us have fond memories of reading The Chrysalids in high school - but it's not on the curriculum in Boston apparently.  
Persian Chocolate cake, dates and bread, Swiss Chalet fries and sauce, Iranian kebabs, and pistachios were all foods with book connections.  Time was spent discussing Ali as a character (how good or how evil was he really?), the concept of memoirs (limitations of seeing only through the writer's lens),  major changes experienced in Iran during and after the Iranian Revolution, and the concept of choice (in both religion and feminism).  Oh, and the takeaway questions to those still reading...."Did Marina process her experience enough before writing this memoir?  Would the memoir have been more or less effective if she'd had alot of therapy FIRST?  Does that fact that writing WAS therapy for Marina make the book more or less meaningful for you as a reader?"

Our next meeting will be at Sarah G.'s house on Friday October 14 at 7:30 pm.  We will discuss Drown by Junot Diaz.  It is a 1996 book of short stories by the Dominican-American author who later rose to wide acclaim with the 2008 Pulitzer prize winning novel The Brief and Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao.  He is also the author of This is How You Lose Her.

Curious about our reading list?  Here is a selection of the books sent in by our members.  And  Here is the link to our survey to help us choose the final 8.  The final book list was decided by the survey, and here is the email sent out with the reading list:

Ok, the results are IN! Get your library card or credit card ready to stock up on some good reads for the year. Selections were made by combining the percentage of YES and OK answers for each book and then ranking the results.  When ties ensued (and there were ALOT in the 77% range), the category was considered (No more than one memoir, sci fi, classic, translation, etc).  I've had alot of fun already researching the books and following your responses, can't wait to actually talk books.

Meeting 1 - Prisoner of Tehran (100%)

Meeting 2 - Drown (77%)

Meeting 3 - Chappy (85%)

Meeting 4- Snow Child (77%)

Meeting 5 - The Girl who was Saturday Night (94.3%)

Meeting 6 - Ready Player One (85%)

Meeting 7 -How to Make Love to a Negro without Getting Tired (77%)

Meeting 8 - Birdie (85%)

Happy Reading!

First Meeting!

Countdown to the first meeting!  Tonight we will be discussing Prisoner of Tehran.  If you missed us, please check out the Iran Quiz, and Icebreakers.  The ANSWERS to the Iran quiz may also come in handy if you're ever a contestant on Jeopardy!.  

We will be discussing SOME of the following questions (found on The Unputdownable Bookclub's website):

1. Did you find Marina’s “character” relateable? Did you feel connected to her journey?
2. How would you feel if your way of life changed overnight? Would you protest against the changes, like Marina did?
3. How did you feel about Ali? Were you able to like him or did you see him as a monster?
4. Why do you think that Marina’s family and friends never asked her about her experience in Evin?
5. How did you feel about Marina choosing to marry Andre, despite the high risk of being returned to Evin?