Families
leave us with a lifetime of dusty memories.
Can we respect their
significance and move past their sentimentality sated with love?
17 Bookers gathered to discuss this novel by the bestselling
author of twenty-four books published in more than twenty languages. A Diane
Chamberlain book is about relationships and her background in psychology provides
knowledge of what makes people tick and she uses that skill to create diverse
and multi-layered characters. In The Silent Sister the protagonist,
Riley MacPherson, is the only one trustworthy in a large cast of players, each
with individual agendas, motivations, and secrets. Ms. Chamberlain uses the
prologue to let us in on the big secret that drives the novel by strongly
hinting that Riley’s sister Lisa, who she thought had died twenty years ago,
was alive. As the story unfolds, secrets are revealed, which gradually leads us
to completing the puzzle, answering who, why, and when for each character.
If you take the elements of story
and the characters involved, it’s staggering to list how many subjects are
touched on in his wonderful novel. We have a musical prodigy accused of
murdering her violin teacher whose father and friend, both ex U.S. Marshalls
skilled at making people disappear, help fake her suicide. We have a brother
who’s a mentally troubled Iraq war veteran living like a hermit on the edge of
a family owned trailer park who says, “It’s not my mind that’s sick…it’s my
soul.” We have a mother’s best friend, who turns out to be more than a friend
to a father, and a sister who finds out she’s a daughter and her biological mother
is part of a lesbian couple who have two adopted children. And the list goes
on, but in spite of all the twists and turns, the novel is “parceled out so
skillfully, that disbelief remains until the satisfying if not entirely
plausible ending.”
Our discussion revolved around what
overall message the author tried to communicate to the reader. Was it family
secrets, relationships, or what lengths we would go to protect our family? We
talked about why Frank felt the need to pay Tom $500.00 a month for years to
keep the secret that Lisa was alive since Tom stood to lose as much if not more
if he revealed his part in the suicide plan. The question of why Danny was so
angry with Lisa revealed conflicting opinions. On one hand, he felt deprived as
a child because his parent’s world revolved around Lisa’s music, and even after
her so-called death, his mother fell into a deep depression, keeping Lisa at
the forefront of the family even after she was gone. Another theory centered on
his age at the time of Lisa’s death…he was old enough to feel the full impact
of her loss and to doubt his importance within the family unit. I forgot to ask
the question that had been bothering me, and as it turns out, the answer is in
Chapter 18. Who was the woman in the prologue watching as the police tried to
remove the yellow kayak from the frozen river? The answer is subtle, and the
author wishes she had been clearer as she’s asked that a lot, but it was
Verniece. We discussed the importance of the pendant as it tied the story all
together, and whether or not the violin teacher’s wife ever found out the
truth. And, as always, we shared personal stories related to families and
relationships and even talked about a “suppressed desire party”….who would you
be? I can see the party-planners’ wheels churning already.
On the business side:
ROOM, the movie, is
due out in the fall. Emma Donoghue began drafting the screenplay even before
the novel published. We’ll be able to see the story of a little boy, Jack,
growing up with his mother in a locked room and we hope to be able to witness
this as a group. Details to follow.
Pulitzer Prize winning
author of Olive Kitteridge, Elizabeth Strout, will release My
Name is Lucy Barton on January 16, 2016 where a simple hospital visit
becomes a portal to the most tender relationship of all – the one between
mother and daughter.
We discussed Geraldine
Brooks’ new historical fiction, The Secret Chord, about the most
famous boy harpist, King David. On the recommendation of Patty Evans we’ve
chosen it as our January selection.
COLOR CODING SYSTEM
WHITE: LIGHT READ
PINK: MODERATELY
CHALLENGING
RED: CHALLENGING
November
10th
The Nightingale by
Kristin Hannah
RED
Home
of: Melanie Prebis
Reviewer: Bernie
Crudden to spearhead the project with Pat Faherty, Kay Robinson, Sandy
Molander, and Mary Jacobs
December
8th:
Our
Souls at Night by Kent Haruf
PINK
Holiday Brunch,
Bonnie Magee, Food Czar
Home
of: Jean Alexander
Reviewers:
TBD
January
12, 2016:
The Secret Chord by
Geraldine Brooks
RED
Home
of: Rebecca Brisendine
Reviewer:
Patty Evans
February
9th:
Winter
Garden by Kristin Hannah
PINK
Home
of: Daryl Daniels
Reviewer:
Jean Alexander
March
8th:
TBD
April
12th:
TBD
May
10th or Wine & Cheese
evening meeting
May 17th: Backup
date
A Man
Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
PINK
Home
of: Bonnie Magee (tentative)
Reviewer:
Jean McSpadden
Happy Reading,
JoDee
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