“She may be 104 years old, but Ona Vitkus is on a mission and it’s all because of the one-in-a-million boy.”
10 Bookers, masked and in muted celebration of the joys of the holiday season, bowed to the restrictions and guidelines enforced by the coronavirus pandemic, met at the home of Bonnie Magee limiting our attendance to 12 in order to practice social distancing. Forced to forgo our usual Christmas celebration with food and spirits, we settled into the Covid-19 version of Ho-Ho-Ho Bookers to discuss this heartwarming tale of love, loss, and friendship emphasizing most likely the story of our lives never starts at the beginning, and as Ona pointed out, didn’t they teach you anything in school.”
Our consummate discussion leader/reviewer, Jean Alexander, mirrored the loveable and sometimes crabby, Ona Vitkus, in costume, body language, and attitude. Ona’s story told us of her birth in Lithuania and the migration to the U.S. at four; the tutor, Maud-Lucy Stokes, who turned her “melting-pot” language into proper English; her foolish mistake at fourteen joining the circus and “kanoodling” with a Russian boy of all people. Ona returned home, pregnant and knowing she was incapable of raising a child, placed her baby with the woman whose rooms smelled of ink and lavender, the woman who had no use for a man, but longed for children, the woman who would fill her child with science and literature, her tutor. After a miserable marriage, a stint as an executive professional secretary, retirement and another two decades as an old crab, Ona Vitkus sat down with an eleven-year-old Porter boy with a tape recorder, a Boy Scout with no first name that conversed in three voices, a boy that counted things and whose vocabulary blew the doors off the other kids, but he couldn’t name another boy in his scout troop. He was the type of boy “who wore you out just by existing.” She sat down with the boy to help him earn his merit badge and shared her long-held private secret with him because she trusted him…he cared about this one-hundred-and-four-year-old lady who was auditioning to be a statistic in the Guinness Book of World Records. Ona and the boy were each other’s chance to accomplish what should have been improbable if not impossible.
We all liked/loved the book and admired the character development as most were flawed and human. We discussed the difference in Quinn the musician, Quinn the husband, and Quinn the father; the relationships between all the characters and the effect their decisions had on the lives of the others. The author chose not to name the boy but rather use this literary device to “mask” a character’s identity so the reader cannot attach a personality, a social background, or ethnic group…it’s used in most cases to signal the character is having an identity crisis in the midst of evolving. With no name the focus was on building and uniting the families. Ona was the link to the boy for both grieving parents. One of the elements of an excellent storyteller is when the reader doesn’t see the writing, only the images and events being built with words. Monica Wood has this down to a tee. It’s a book whereby every character is trying their best to live their lives after the bottom has fallen out from under them. The last chapter was poignant and brilliant…it tells us of the boy’s last day on earth, the joy he felt for completing Ona’s interview on tape and his quest to add music to the end of it by recording bird sounds then asking his father to use his magic and remix the sounds as a melody. The boy’s heart was frail, but it was full that day. When the crow took a piece of the tape to build its nest, Ona’s story and the boy would not be interrupted by death, but they would enjoy a front row seat for the continuation of life.
The boy was a list-maker. 10 was his number so if Bookers made a list of what our book club means to us – in one word – what would be on it. Here’s what we had to say: Growth, Fun, Friends, Camaraderie, Direction, Sharing, Understanding, Togetherness, Knowledge, Respect.
Bookers “floored” me with an outpouring of love and thanks. My gratitude pours out for this family I didn’t know I had. So, I’m finishing up the minutes wrapped in my beautiful shawl, with a Scotch and a handful of pistachios and those yummy, dried mango…you know me so well and I am touched and wordless…that’s a first! We make a life by what we give, and you all have given me such joy and it’s an honor to be part of this! Tears might be gathering in the corners!
On the business side:
I wanted to give you an update on Bookers who have been in our thoughts and prayers. Melba reports she and Layton are staying safe and encourages us to mask up and social distance. She hopes to make it to another meeting soon. Rosemary is getting stronger but being very cautious. Mary Wensel has undergone 11 rounds of chemo and the scans show the tumors continue to shrink and she feels the Pinnacle spirit and prayers. Cherry is getting stronger and is managing the pain better. She thanks everyone for their love and support. As of yesterday, Daryl reported she’d passed all the tests for the transplant, insurance has approved the donor’s cost, and she’s now waiting for the donor’s timing to schedule the procedure. However, when I got home, I received another message from her saying the final results of her bone marrow aspiration came in. She has the “mother” of all mutations and the oncologist made the call to do more treatment. The transplant will not succeed unless this is eliminated. She’s not certain what’s next – taking it day by day. Barbara Creach’s husband could use our prayers as he continues to battle Stage 4 prostrate cancer. 2020 continues to be a triple-decker sauerkraut and toadstool sandwich with arsenic sauce!
A decision on January Bookers will be made at the appropriate time. Keep posted.
Note, the selection committee has chosen a book to fill April 2021 slot. See below.
Local author, Jim Willi (resident of Spanish Shores) has recently published his debut novel, The Frogman of Cedar Creek, paperbacks are available at Bookish and on Amazon along with the e-book. If there’s anything you want to know about our little neck of the woods, it’s in this book. It’s entertaining, well-researched, local color, fast-paced mystery.
WHITE: LIGHT READ
PINK: MODERATELY CHALLENGING
RED: CHALLENGING
January 12, 2021 American Dirt, Jeanine Cummins
RED
Literary novel that reads with the intensity of a suspense tale. Stephen King guarantees you cannot put it down with a perfect balance of terror on one side and love on the other.
Discussion Leader: Rebecca Brisendine
Home: TBD – Debbie Yarger has offered to host.
February 9: Olive Kitteridge & Olive Again, Elizabeth Strout
The author, described as a master at animating the ordinary, won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for Olive Kitteridge featuring an indomitable, compassionate, unpredictable retired schoolteacher in a small coastal town in Maine. Strout weaves a tale in thirteen linked stories, a vibrant exploration of the human soul that will make you laugh, nod in recognition, wince in pain, and shed a tear or two. This is a revisit for Bookers as thirteen reviewers offered their opinions of each story in November 2009. Ms. Strout thought she had put Olive to bed, but the eternal cantankerous character kept begging for more press so Olive, Again was born.
PINK
March 9: The Dutch House, Ann Patchett
PINK
A story about the interminable bond between siblings – a brother and a sister who grow up in a fairy tale – huge house, loving father, and caring staff. The only thing missing is their mother who fled the pressure of managing the household when they were young.
April 13: The Book of Lost Friends, Lisa Wingate
Historical novel set in the tumultuous era of Reconstruction, 1875, Louisiana. Three young women search for family amid the destruction of the post-Civil War South and a modern-day teacher learns of their story and its vital connection to her students’ lives. Based on actual “Lost Friends” advertisements that appeared in Southern newspapers after the Civil War as newly freed slaves searched for loved ones who had been sold away.
PINK
May 11: People of the Book, Geraldine Brooks
PINK
An Australia rare-book expert is offered a job of a lifetime – analysis and conservation of a priceless book, one of the earliest Jewish volumes ever to be illuminated with images. As she begins to unlock the book’s mysteries, the reader is ushered into an exquisitely detailed and atmospheric past tracing the book’s journey from its salvation back to its creation.
Summer Read: Clementine, The Life of Mrs. Winston Churchill, Sonia Purnell
PINK
A long overdue tribute to the extraordinary woman who was Winston Churchill’s closest confidante, fiercest critic and shrewdest advisor. Later in life he claimed that victory in World War II would have been impossible without the woman who stood by his side for fifty-seven turbulent years.
Discussion Leader: Beverly Dossett
Home of Beverly Dossett – fingers and toes crossed!
Happy Reading,
JoDee
