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University of the Third Age |
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Chelmsford |
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Book Reviews |
| These reviews were originally
published in the Chelmsford U3A Monthly Newsletter
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“1984”
by George Orwell - June 2009 We
discussed 1984 by George Orwell at our June meeting; the previous Monday
being the 60th anniversary of the books publication. The
group was divided on whether they “enjoyed” reading the book.
However we all agreed that it was a very important book and we
had a fascinating and lively discussion. |
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“The
Purple Hibiscus” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - July 2009 The
Book Group met on Monday 20 July when we settled down to discuss our
“Book of the Month”- “The Purple Hibiscus”. This is
the young Nigerian Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s first novel. She shares
her time between The
novel proved to be an insight into Nigerian homelife and conditions. It
is well written and the characters well drawn.
The surroundings were extremely colourful as were the characters. The discussion was brisk and all members enjoyed the book so much that it was agreed to discuss the author’s next book in the future. Sheena
Fraser |
| “Last
Orders” and “Tomorrow” by Graham Swift – August 2009 The Book Group met on
Monday 17 August to discuss two of Graham Swift’s books, ‘Last
Orders’ and ‘Tomorrow’ Both books are set in the
south-east, covering a period from WWII to the 1990s and focus on family
and close relationships. They generated a lively discussion about how
well Swift had dealt with these issues.
It was generally felt that ‘Last Orders’, set in Bermondsey
and the road journey to Margate, was the more successful, and of course
has been made into a successful and star-studded film. Jenny Moir |
| “Mary
Barton” by Elizabeth Gaskell – September 2009 The Book Group met on
Monday 21/9/09 to discuss Elizabeth Gaskell's book Mary Barton. |
| “A
Thousand Splendid Suns” by Khaled Hosseini – October 2009 The Book Group met on
Monday 19th October to discuss “A Thousand Splendid Suns”
by Khaled Hosseini. A Thousand Splendid Suns The
book of life under Taliban rule Is
used as a reminder of just how cruel The
conditions, the poverty, the suffering they endure We
must remind ourselves and we must make sure That
the innocent survive, to live a good life To
enjoy the freedom to which we all strive This
book has opened my eyes Let
us be honest NO MORE LIES WE
DO NOT LIVE IN A HIVE OR COCOON THIS
WORLD IS FOR ALL RIGHT UP TO THE MOON Edna Addy |
| “Winston’s
War” by Michael Dobbs – November 2009 The meeting of the Book
Group on Monday 16 November produced what some members said was one of
the best, if not the best,
discussions that the Group had ever had!
The subject of this lively discussion was ‘Winston’s War’
by Michael Dobbs. The book is described by
the author as “unashamedly a novel, not a work of history”. However,
the author’s “novelisation” is based on certain factual events
occurring during a very dramatic period of British, and world, history. This mixture of fact and
fiction does leave the reader at times uncertain as to the accuracy of
the ‘factual’ content. The period covered goes from
1st October 1938, when an “in the wilderness” Winston
Churchill met a young Guy
Burgess ( then a BBC journalist but also a Russian spy) to 10th May
1940, when, with Britain now at war with Germany, Neville Chamberlain
was forced to step down as Prime Minister and Winston Churchill
was appointed in his place. The author explores the
relationship between Churchill, Chamberlain and Burgess with a blend of
imagination and compelling facts, though, as the book’s title implies,
his principal character and ‘hero’ is Churchill. Other familiar
characters appear also, such as Lloyd George, Harold Macmillan and
Clement Attlee, along with many others. Book Group members were
able to make their own personal connections with this period of history
and also made comparisons with political events of the present time.
Not all of us would, of our own volition, necessarily have chosen
this book to read but, as was said, one of the advantages of belonging
to a book club is that you are led to read books that you might not
otherwise read but from which you nevertheless gain a great deal. Robert Charleston |
| "Minaret"
by Lisa Aboulela – December 2009 The book of the month for
December was "Minaret" by Aboulela.
This book came highly recommended and was indeed short-listed for
the Orange Prize. As usual, opinions were
many and varied. The majority of our group found it interesting,
giving us an insight into the life of a Sudanese Muslim refugee young
woman in The differences voiced
were about the depth of the writing - some finding it rather shallow and
passive, while others were more sympathetic.
On the whole it was considered an informative read. |
| “Cold
Comfort Farm” by Stella Gibbons – January 2010 The book discussed in
January was “Cold Comfort Farm” by Stella Gibbons published in 1932
when the author was 30. As
usual members of the group expressed diverse opinions though all seemed
to agree that it was a very interesting and enjoyable read, containing a
wealth of strange characters and situations. Cold Comfort Farm is
situated in A distant relative, Flora
Poste, comes to stay and proceeds to make sweeping changes to their
primitive life style, handsome Seth goes to Ann Blackbeard |
| The
Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry – February 2010 The Secret Scripture by
Sebastian Barry (Costa Book of the Year 2008) drew a mixed response from
members of the Book Group at the February meeting. “A wonderful and
moving book.” “Not my kind of book.” “Lyrical and poetic.”
“Depressing.” Most
people, however, finished the book though some found the surprise ending
unconvincing. Set against the
background of political and social unrest in twentieth century Most group members
preferred Roseanne’s poetic account to that of Dr. Grene and were
shocked by the cruelty of her treatment and the system, which allowed
this to happen. While some found the novel depressing and harrowing
others felt that it was a testament to the triumph of the human spirit.
All agreed that it is a moving and beautifully written book. Ros McGonagle |
| The
Moonstone by Wilkie Collins – March 2010 We
discussed The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins at our March meeting.
The Moonstone was published 1868 and was serialised in Charles
Dickens weekly magazine. The
Moonstone is widely regarded as the first modern mystery
and suspense
novels. T. S. Eliot
called it "the first and the best of modern English detective
novels ", and Dorothy
L. Sayers described it as "probably the very finest
detective story ever written".
It contains a number of ideas that later became classic features
of the twentieth-century detective story: ·
English
country house robbery ·
An "inside job" ·
A celebrated, skilled,
professional investigator ·
Bungling local constabulary ·
Detective enquiries ·
Large number of false suspects ·
The "least likely
suspect" ·
A rudimentary "locked
room" murder ·
A reconstruction of the crime ·
A final twist in the plot Franklin
Blake, the gifted amateur who eventually solves the mystery, is the
first example of the gentleman
detective. The novel was very
popular with the group and is probably the first book we have read that
everybody enjoyed. |
| “Half of
a Golden Sun” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – April 2010 This
month our choice of “Half of a Golden Sun” caused great discussion
and differences of opinion. The
book, the second by the young Nigerian women, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
proved to be rather different from her previous work “The Purple
Hibiscus”. The
theme of the novel is the Biafran conflict and its suppression by the
north i.e. The
story, from the viewpoint of the Biafran, the Igbo, pronounced Ibo, people
told of the hunger, starvation and complete brutality of the civil war. The
Igbo were the considered intellectuals and the better educated. The Igbo
because of the coastline had been open to the arrival of Christian
missionaries while in the north, i.e. The
writing, for me, was most descriptive – the poverty, cruelty and
desperation were only too real. However the sounds and smells, both
pleasant and unpleasant were more than real.
The characters, on the other hand, were stilted and unbelievable.
The men, in particular, were shallow and stereotyped. Nevertheless
the book was a good, if somewhat sombre read. The futility of war, the
horror of civil war and the seeming indifference to their plight by the
world was also in evidence, while the complete certainty of victory
sustained the Igbo. The
group remembered the Biafran conflict with great clarity, television
bringing the horror and suffering into our sitting rooms in the late
sixties -
Ethnic cleansing in action! Sheena Fraser |
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“The City of the Beasts” by Isabel Allende – May 2010 At
our meeting in May to discuss “The City of the Beasts” by Isabel
Allende all grandparents agreed: the
grandmother Kate in this book is extremely unpleasant and irresponsible,
certainly not the best person to accompany her 15-year-old grandson on a
perilous mission into the Amazonian jungle.
But once the adventure gets underway and because Isabel Allende
is writing the story, things soon get magical.
Book group members were divided in their reaction to this –
does the magical fantasy add to or detract from the main story, which is
about the very real plight of the indigenous people of the Amazon, as
well as a youngster’s development from confused teen to responsible
young man?
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“Rumpole
and the Reign of Terror” by John
Mortimer – June 2010
This month's book was Rumpole and the Reign of Terror by John Mortimer which is part of the series of Rumpole of the Bailey books by the same author. A TV series was also made from the books. The hero of the book is Horace Rumpole a criminal defence barrister who vehemently believes in the Rule of Law, Magna Carta and trial by jury. The plot of the book concerns Dr. Khan, a Pakistani doctor, who had been accused by the authorities of terrorism, albeit with fabricated evidence and was unable to clear his name as he was imprisoned without trial and without his defence team ie Rumpole being given any evidence to fight the charges. The 'evidence' had been provided by a spurned lover who, by coincidence, happened to be a member of the criminal Timson family who had provided Rumpole with a steady income for many years. The only way forward was for the Home Secretary to be 'convinced' by Rumpole that a trial was the proper course of action which he was able to do when Rumpole discovered information about the Home Secretary's past which would have destroyed the politician's career had it been made public. Rumpole agreed to keep this information secret in return for a fair trial. The subplot to the book was that Judge Bullingham(nicknamed 'Mad Bull' by Rumpole) had taken a fancy to Hilda Rumpole (She Who Must Be Obeyed) and was wining and dining her , hoping one day to prise her away from her husband. At the same time Hilda was writing her memoirs in the box room which caused considerable consternation to Rumpole. The courtroom scene enabled Rumpole to display his talents as an expert in cross-examination and Dr. Khan was, of course, found not guilty. The author is openly anti Tony Blair and his government's decision to incarcerate alleged terrorists without trial and the introduction of Asbo's that criminalised many thousands of people again without trial. The group generally found the book an entertaining and easy book to read which dealt with a very serious subject in a humorous manner. Although it was an unlikely tale and contained many coincidences, it did not detract from the overall enjoyment of the book. Some members did wonderif blackmail of the Home Secretary was the correct course of action for a barrister to take in order to obtain his Client's rights or does the ends justify the means? John
Raynham |
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“Digging
to America” by Anne
Tyler – July 2010
The
book group met on Monday 19 July to discuss Digging to The
Digging
to The two families keep in touch and have many parties and get togethers which are described in great detail. Sometimes there was too much detail and it was best to skim over some parts of the book. Some members felt that the book was tedious in places especially the binkies (dummies) saga and some felt the second half of the book was better than the first. The dialogue between Maryam and Dave made the book more interesting particularly at the end of chapter 7. There is some humour in the book for example when Maryam gets her cycle helmet stuck and when Maryam was talking about Dave and why she turned down his marriage proposal! Two
of our members, Jenny and Andy lived in The book in places was enjoyable because Anne Tyler is very good at making her characters come alive so you can really feel their emotions. Kay
Raynham |
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“Joy in the Morning” by PG Wodehouse – August 2010 The
book this month was Joy in the Morning by PG Wodehouse who was a
prolific novelist, playwright and lyricist. During his writing career of
over 70 years he wrote 96 books, 15 plays and the lyrics for 250 songs.
Joy in the Morning managed to produce polarised comments from the group
and whilst for the majority it was a highly entertaining, humorous and
light- hearted read, the minority found it difficult even to finish the
book. This
book, in a series of books involving the two main characters Jeeves and The
plot involves Bertie and Jeeves visiting Steeple Bumpleigh, the home of
fearsome Aunt Agatha and her husband Uncle Percy, to assist Boko
Fittlestone in his attempts to marry ‘Nobby’ Hopwood. At the same
time Bertie requires help from Nobby to extricate himself from his
liaison with Florence Craye. Edwin, Agatha’s youngest child causes
mayhem whilst ‘Stilton’ Cheesewright endeavours to arrest Bertie.
The story, of course, descends into farce with a happy ending. Although
the book was set in the 1930’s and was published in 1947,
Wodehouse’s command of the English language and his comedic talents
made it an enjoyable read today. John
Raynham
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