Nancy French hosted the June meeting to discuss The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom. It was a delightful evening weather-wise, so we decided to hold the entire meeting out on the front deck. Ellen Bowes, Kathy Day-Carey, Nancy French, Christe Gillespie, Linda Jenkins, Judy Lee, and Jo Smith attended. We talked a bit about the railroad ties that were on display in front of Nanc's home, of the great sadness due to the loss of Al Bratberg, and did some general catching up on family happenings in the last month.
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| The view from the deck at Nanc's during the meeting |
The Kitchen House was both a tender and horrifying depiction of a time when life was complicated and dangerous. This was a story of a young, orphaned Irish girl, Lavinia, who was brought to a tobacco plantation, put to work in the kitchen house, and raised among a family of plantation slaves.
In general, the feedback on The Kitchen House was positive, but we did have some issues with it, as well. We felt Kathleen Grissom had the makings of a powerful historical novel, but that it fell a bit short. She provided a bit too much melodrama. It seemed that every conceivable tragedy / shocking event that happened in this era was incorporated into the book. This included mistreatment and murder of slaves, the breaking up of families by slave owners, rape, starvation, mental illness, drug use, and spousal abuse. Sometimes, less is more.
In general, the feedback on The Kitchen House was positive, but we did have some issues with it, as well. We felt Kathleen Grissom had the makings of a powerful historical novel, but that it fell a bit short. She provided a bit too much melodrama. It seemed that every conceivable tragedy / shocking event that happened in this era was incorporated into the book. This included mistreatment and murder of slaves, the breaking up of families by slave owners, rape, starvation, mental illness, drug use, and spousal abuse. Sometimes, less is more.
Also, it is always frustrating as a reader when the characters don't communicate and make poor life decisions based on senseless misunderstandings.
Jo felt the book ended way too suddenly. It seemed like the author had a deadline to meet and just stopped writing. Jo read an excerpt from the last two paragraphs of the novel:
The barns were in good condition, and fortunately, a few good horses were left. It was agreed that we could build from them, and in the following years, we prospered after we established our name as providers of reliable horse stock.
Belle, did come to live at Tall Oaks, and together we faced our future. When she died many years later, she was laid to rest in the big-house cemetery alongside her father.
I don't seem to remember what else was discussed, so I guess I'll end this blog entry just as abruptly as the book ended!
July meeting:
Book : Still Alice by Lisa Genova
Location: Ellen Bowes
Date: Thursday, July 9 2015
Time: 6:30pm
Upcoming meetings:
August: The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown
September: Ruby by Cynthia Bond
October: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
November: Movie night to watch To Kill a Mockingbird ???
Books we've read so far:
January 2014 - Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith by Anne Lamott
February 2014 - The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
March 2014 - Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
April 2014 - The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie
May 2014 - The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
June 2014 - Breaking Free by Marilyn Sewell
July 2014 - The Orphan Train by Kristina Baker Kline
August 2014 - The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker
September 2014 - Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
October 2014 - The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
November 2014 - The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman
December 2014 - No book. Holiday gathering.
January 2015 - No book. Watched The Book Thief
February 2015 - The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton
March 2015 - Empire of the Summer Moon by S.C. Gwynne
April 2015 - The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin
May 2015 - The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway
June 2015 - The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom
