He Drown She in the Sea by Shani Mootoo

January 6, 2006

Location:   Louise's home
Members:  Virginia, Françoise, Louise, Carmen, Bea, Marvel, Wilma, Gisela

Finally at our twelfth book club meeting every person enjoyed the book. We will have to wait to see if having a choice of three books has given us the opportunity to find something that everyone enjoys or if it was just a darn good book!

Some comments that were made throughout the evening regarding the book follow:
The mixture of the cultures – Indian/west Indian and the interrelations throughout the book and the suspense made it a great read. I loved it!

I found it hard to get into but once my interest was piqued I found it intriguing. The author had wonderful descriptive powers this was a testament to her writing. It is great to learn of new authors.

Loved the stories of taxis and wine tasting. He was a dignified gentleman who started out as the egg man and built himself up to a man of culture. He was a wonderful gardener. The mystery of him having to figure out where she was after the swimming incident was great.

Loved to read about the strength of the mother and the wonderful people of the village. The mother’s garden was what started him off – she was the guiding light. She tried to explain the class system to her son. Loved the gentleness of Harry and his willingness to take on new adventures. Liked his descriptions of the sightseeing. I loved the book.

I was intrigued by the title and reading about the Tsunami like flood and how and him Mom could withstand anything together. The first and the last paragraph of the book were connected beginning with the strength of him and his mom and ending with when he and Rose came up from the bottom of the sea. Shows they survived and could now have freedom together. It was a pleasure to read about the culture and to see how we have our freedom.

A little difficult to get into but I enjoyed the history of the culture. Both Rose and Dolly were ahead of their times – very independent, strong assertive women. I enjoyed it, it was interesting.

I really enjoyed it, it was a great read and refreshing to have a new author.



Respectfully submitted by Marvel on January 26, 2006

House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III

Bookends Inaugural Meeting 
Monday January 12, 2004

Location:     Louise's home
Members:   Virginia, Francoise, Louise, Bea, Carmen, Louise P., Joanne, Marvel,Wilma, Gisela

Louise chose the book and had two points that she wanted to discuss

1)    What would you have done if you were in Colonel Behrani’s shoes?

2)    She felt that we were all descendants of immigrants and wanted opinions on   

        this because the family in the book was originally from Iran and moved to the US.

A very lively discussion ensued.  What a great book to provoke discussion.  Everyone had an opportunity to speak and many opinions were expressed.

Some comments that were made throughout the evening were:

“This book is like a freight train speeding along.

A comparison was made by two participants to “A Fine Balance” by Rohinston Minstry

The book was unsettling

The book was riveting

It made you re-establish your morals

What a moral dilemma

The epilogue was bizarre!!

Perhaps if two women were left to deal with the situation the outcome would have been completely different [instead of macho men protecting their women folk] ”

Overall I think that the book was well received.  It was “black”, it was unbelievable at times and you just wanted to shake the characters – how could they let that happen??? But it certainly garnered a very lively discussion.

The next “Bookends”  meeting is scheduled for March 5 at Bea’s house.  The book that we will discuss is “Girl with a Pearl Earring” by Tracy Chevalier.