“The fam’ly be loyal each to the
other, always and ever.”
17 gathered
at the home of Bonnie Magee to discuss this month’s historical fiction novel
set in the tumultuous era of Reconstruction, 1875, Louisiana and Louisiana,
1987. Many thanks to Beverly Dossett for leading the discussion and detailing
the journey of three young women in search of family amid the destruction of
the post-Civil War South and of a modern-day teacher who learns of their
stories and the vital connection to her student’s lives – past and present.
Welcome new members, Georgia Updegrove and Susan
Davis. We hope you will join us again! Bookers is now a subgroup of Clubster
and the invitations to join have been sent. For the moment I’ll be posting the
upcoming events on the site but I’m not sure about the minutes. Stay tuned.
Daryl Daniels has been promoted to outpatient status
as of April 7th but still returns daily for I.V. antibiotics and
steroids. She “feels good and is working on regaining her strength.” Bookers is
sending prayers that this trend continues and we’ll see her out putzing in her
front yard soon.
Malakoff’s own bookstore, Bookish, 211 South Terry,
will be celebrating their one-year anniversary and the National Independent
Bookstore Day on Saturday, April 24, 2021 from 10:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.
It’s an honor to be included in the fun-filled day with free lattes and
cappuccinos, give-a-ways of $100.00 gift card or free coffee for a year, an
additional 20% off entire purchases all day and a presentation and meet and
greet scheduled for 1:00 p.m. with yours truly discussing Life in a Box and
A Kind of Hush.
Lisa Wingate based her novel on actual Lost Friends
advertisements originally written by newly freed slaves searching for loved
ones who had been sold away. They scribbled messages in makeshift classrooms,
kitchen tables, and in church halls then these missives carried on the wings of
hope were sent forth on steam trains and mail wagons, on riverboats, and in
saddlebags of mail carriers. In their heyday the ads, published in a Methodist
newspaper, circulated to over five-hundred preachers, eight-hundred post
offices, and over four-thousand subscription holders. The spark igniting this
novel came from one of her fans who also volunteered with the Historic New
Orleans Collection, suggesting there was another piece of history Lisa should
know about.
The novel is unfortunately poignant in our world today
where human trafficking is on an unimaginable scale, but also celebrates the
resiliency of the human spirit; the power of friendships sharing a common goal;
how it’s possible for a genuine sisterhood to develop between two at opposite
ends of the social spectrum; families lost and found, the impact of words and
the power of reading. The plot could have been the familiar cliched tale of an
energetic educator on a mission to save the underprivileged, but this one
differs as the teacher learns as much from her students as they do from her.
The parallel storylines in alternating chapters show how Hannie and Benny share
scars from their past, each remarkable women taking the risks needed to improve
the world for the present and future generations. “It’s when you’re honest
about (your scars) that you find the people who will love you in spite of your
nicks and dents. Perhaps even because of them.”
This novel evokes the battle cry of those dedicated to
public service, the “starfish story,” where a man is walking on the beach and
sees a young boy throwing starfish back into the ocean. He’s doing so because
if he doesn’t throw them back, they’ll die. The man says, “Don’t you realize
there are miles and miles of beach and hundreds of starfish…you can’t make a
difference.” The young boy listened, picked up another starfish and threw it
back into the surf, smiling he said, “I made a difference for that one.”
Our
discussion:
Most of the critical reviews came from the pace of the
story – “slow” and could have been a lot shorter especially in the “Texas”
segment. We had a few who had not read the book and some that had not finished
it yet. The alternating chapters in different voices appealed to most but there
was some confusion trying to keep up with whose story was being told. Also, the
ending was questioned as the embattled teacher within a divided community was
never completed, instead a potential love affair filled the last pages. And,
suddenly at the end, an entirely new character is introduced – Benny’s baby
born when she was a teenager and placed for adoption. Does the authenticity of
comparing the parallels of the storylines – giving a baby up for adoption to
the legacy of families torn apart by slavery – ring true?
We discussed the symbolism used in the novel – the
three African glass beads signify loyalty and truth with the hope that even after
a long time apart, family will fill the string with beads and become whole
again, in this world or in the next. The significance of three beads might be
tied to a reference in the Bible, “a cord of three strands is not quickly
broken;” the church where the main characters hid was their safe haven; and
ladybugs as prophesies of good luck served to unify the prologue where Hannie
Gossett tells her story and in the epilogue where LaJuna, the five-time-removed
great granddaughter of Hannie Gossett, recites the names of the lost siblings,
mother, aunt, and cousins and when they were found again. Ms. Wingate also
employed the dragonfly in “Before We Were Yours, to show that
anything is possible. Bugs add depth to stories!
We talked about the characters…and on that note I
asked the gang to guess the number of characters in this novel with the closest
winning two prizes. We ranged from 160 to 275 – the answer 113 – the winner
Debbie Yarger, her prize was the honor of leading the review of next month’s
Bookers’ book, and a cute pair of cozy slippers she can put on while preparing
for her debut. She thought I was joking – I wasn’t…but we’ll team up to tackle
this challenge. Thank you for your willingness…albeit laced with a little
trickery!
We discussed how classrooms still “segregate” today as
in this book noting that the kids with money or athletic talent were siphoned
to a swanky prep academy, the troubled kids to an alternative school and the
rest were in Benny’s classroom – “swamp rats and hicks on one side, black
students on the other, and in no-man’s land in the middle, a cluster of others
– Native Americans, Asians, punk rockers and nerds.” Benny Silva, first-year
schoolteacher in a rural area, faced an uncooperative school board and
classroom bent on creating as much havoc as possible – both had her in their
grips until she found a way to inspire the class in an unconventional manner
instilling a sense of pride and excitement in her students – her efforts
deserving of a standing ovation. Benny and Nathan’s storyline, although both
loaded with emotional baggage, was predictable, not adding much to the plot
other than providing a “feel-good” “hit them with the happy-ever-after ending
wand.” We thought the choice of the novella, Animal Farm, written
in 1945 as the book Benny’s class was to read odd at best and wondered what
possessed the author to choose that one – it was most likely the only book
available for this school or was it so we’d remember it and talk about it? Mission
accomplished. There were hosts of favorite characters including Granny T,
LaJuna (both smart and sassy), Moses, Hannie, Aunt Sarge, Gus McKlatchy,
Nathan, Elam Salter and most disliked the sheriff who harassed Benny…out of 113
this is just a snippet. We decided Gun Barrel City needs a Cluck and Oink
restaurant as in the book – maybe next to WHaus…HA! Loved Judge Gossett’s
library and the ingenuity of Robin Gossett using the billiard table to hide her
important papers. We wondered if there was a “real” book of lost friends or
just the posted ads….?
In year 11 (Sept. 2014) we read and re-enacted The
Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd with the central metaphor – flight
and freedom – exploring sweeping social issues such as abolition and women’s
rights. The novel challenges the reader to appreciate how each character found
their wings – a way to break the chain of bondage without lowering their
expectations or compromising their goals. It’s set in a Charleston plantation with
protagonist, Sarah Grimke, the middle child of ten whose father was a Judge on
South Carolina’s highest court, struggled with the inhumanity of slavery and
the inequality of women but didn’t know what to do about it. Highly recommend.
On
the business side:
WHITE: LIGHT READ
PINK: MODERATELY
CHALLENGING
RED: CHALLENGING
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.
Discussion Leader: Debbie Yarger
Home of Jane
Shaw
June
8(bonus month)The
Second Mother, Jenny
Milchman (BookTrib book)
A young woman loses her baby and after months
of mourning her child and drowning her pain in alcohol, her husband wants to
separate and go their own ways. She decides to start anew and takes a teaching
position in a small school on a remote island in Maine.
Discussion Leader: Jane Shaw
Home of Pat Faherty
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: Patty Evans
Home
of Beverly Dossett
“For the hundreds who vanished and the thousands who didn’t, may your
stories not be forgotten.”
Happy Reading,
JoDee
