Modern “dance was a
visualization of divinity, a way for dancers to realize that they were not in
their bodies – their bodies were inside of them.”
Sixteen-years old Louise Brooks embodied the
spirit of the Denishawn dance company noted for freeing the “human body from
the ugly, crippling, unhealthy clothes that prevailed around the turn of the 20th
century.” She was a maverick in every aspect of her colorful life.
17 met at the home of Bonnie Magee co-hosted by Rosemary Farmer. Barbara
Creach, recovering from her “Alabama arm-twisting” led the discussion of this
month’s selection. The author, a Kansas-native, imagines the life of the Wichita
matron, Cora Carlisle, the thirty-six-year-old chaperone who accompanied future
silent film star Louise Brooks to New York City in 1922. Cora’s story takes
precedent over that of her larger-than-life fifteen-year-old “charge” as we
discover the real reason she is interested in escorting her to the Big Apple
where Louise is enrolled in dance school. Cora lived in a Catholic orphanage in
Manhattan until she was seven and she yearns to learn about her parentage. She
finds time to seek out the information she desires in spite of watching over a
precocious, sexual, beautiful and brainy teenager and discovers the missing
link in her life as she is liberated in a way she could not have imagined. The
five weeks they spend together transforms their lives forever. Cora represents
the history of women’s rights in the 20th century, applauding the
end of prohibition, championing birth control and racial equality. Louise stood
alone in a crowd – she was striking, extremely talented, self-absorbed, and
self-destructive – a victim of abuse, an unwanted child of a mother who lived
her dream vicariously through her daughter. She flew in the face of morality
with the bravado of a street savvy professional no doubt begging for someone to
love her for herself rather than a means to an end. Readers are introduced to
the rich history of the 20’s, 30’s and beyond – from the orphan trains to
Prohibition, flappers, the onset of the Great Depression, and the movement for
equal rights and new opportunities for women. We learn how rapidly everything
changed from fashion and hemlines to values and attitudes and what a difference
it all made for those who lived in the midst of this tumultuous climate. Through
their unconventional and brash war of wills relationship, Cora and Louise
provided the other a sense of belonging, mutual respect, and unconditional love
neither had experienced.
Our discussion included the sad relationship between Louise and her
mother, Myra, who viewed her daughter only “as a limb of her own body”
resenting Louise for “throwing away more than she (Myra) ever had.” We talked
about the contrast in preferred reading materials between the star and the
chaperone – Louise preferred German, Arthur Schopenhauer, nicknamed the
Philosopher of Pessimism, whose thinking praises beauty and compassion and was
one of the first to write extensively about sexuality. There was no God in his
world – the original sin is the crime of existence itself…we are nothing but a
set of desires (our desire to stay alive or have sex) or drives (heartbeats or
the need to reproduce.) His opinion of marriage – getting married is like
grabbing blind into a sack of snakes and hoping to find an eel. Cora preferred The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton,
winner of the 1921 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. It is a love story on many
levels and a documentary of a culture – the elite rich society of New York –
set in the 1870’s detailing how they buried their own dreams and deepest
desires behind a greater need to be accepted and approved by their own
“reference” group as “people are chained to separate destinies” true of the
rich and poor alike. We examined the oddity (to our generation at least) that
Lysol was promoted through advertising as a feminine hygiene product also
useful as a means of birth control. We talked about the necessity that the
secrets within the Carlisle family be held forever – the ramifications of their
discovery would shatter too many lives – and for what purpose? We discussed how
much of Louise Brooks’ behavior would be considered scandalous today – most
agreeing in light of the escapades of celebrities such as Tiger Woods, Woody
Allen, Monica Lewinsky, Richard Nixon, Penn State sex abuse scandal, U.S.
Olympic gymnastic team doctor, Supreme Court Justice, Clarence Thomas, New York
governor, Eliot Spitzer…to name a few – Louise Brooks self-medicating drinking,
affairs, marriages, etc…might not even make The Enquirer. I did have a “peeve”
with the 79 times “fine” was used by the author…I’m letting go!
The ending of the book reminded us we are not just one person
identified by a moniker, but an accumulation of the “hats” we’ve proudly
worn.
COLOR
CODING SYSTEM
WHITE: LIGHT READ
PINK: MODERATELY
CHALLENGING
RED: CHALLENGING
December 10: Show up with the
Christmas spirit in your heart – the one that causes the weary world to look
beyond what confronts us daily and for a little moment forget the things that
are small and wretched. I’m in charge. No book to buy just enjoy a dusting
of Ho Ho Ho and bring one pair of warm and fuzzy tootsie covers to exchange
(Christmas themed or fun slippers or socks) in a gift bag, no tag.
Home of Jane Shaw
Program:
JoDee Neathery
Bonnie Magee will again coordinate the food and beverage.
January 14, 2020: The
Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell by Robert Dugoni
Sam always saw the world
through different eyes, born with red pupils he was called “Devil Boy” by his
classmates: “God’s will” is what his mother called his ocular albinism. His
unique condition, his mother’s devout faith, coupled with his father’s
practical wisdom and his two other misfit friends makes for an entertaining
read.
PINK
Home
of Beverly Dossett
Discussion
Leader: Ann Ireland
February 11: Sold
on a Monday by Kristina McMorris
A scrawled sign peddling
young siblings on a farmhouse porch captures the desperation sweeping the
country in 1931. A struggling reporter snaps a photograph which changes his
life with consequences he never expected.
PINKISH RED
Home
of Daryl Daniels
Discussion
Leader: Rokhshie Malone
March 10: The
Roots of the Olive Tree by Courtney Miller Santo
A debut novel set in a
house in an olive grove in Northern California, a touching story bringing to
life five generations of women, including an unforgettable 112 year-old
matriarch determined to break all Guinness longevity records – the secrets and
lies that divide them and the love that ultimately ties them together.
PINK
Home of Patty Evans
Discussion Leader:
Katherine McDonald
April 14: Beloved
by Toni Morrison
In honor of the late
Nobel Prize laureate’s finest achievement which stares unflinchingly into the
abyss of slavery transforming history into a story as powerful as Exodus and as
intimate as a lullaby…filled with bitter poetry and suspense as taut as a rope.
RED
Home
of Jean Alexander
Discussion
Leader: TBD
May 12: TBD
Home
of TBD
Discussion
Leader: TBD
Summer read: TBD
We are born from the same artist that
created sunrises, sunsets, and rainbows corroborating that different shades of
life make the painting more beautiful.
Happy Reading,
JoDee
