Comments from the De Soto Book Discussion Group regarding our July 2014 selection:

How It All Began
by Penelope Lively
Below is a summation of the members' reactions to this work.

Penelope Lively's How It All Began takes one random event in the life of one person--the mugging of a healthy but elderly widow--and explores the tumble-down effect that event has on the people connected both directly and indirectly to her: family, friends of family, friends of friends, and a student she was tutoring in a class she taught as a volunteer.  Readers get an intimate glimpse into all these varied personalities and the results of this one random event on their lives.

All the members thoroughly enjoyed the book, which was a light read after the past few months' selections. Discussion focused on the personalities of the characters and the right- or wrongness of decisions they made in the aftermath of the mugging.  Should the widow's daughter have followed through on her love for her mother's student, whom she meets when he comes to her house for tutoring while her mother is staying there for recuperation?  Who is truly evil, the mugger who robbed one person or the grasping solicitor and the amoral financier?  How do the widow and the retired professor differ in their approach to old age?

How It All Began makes for an interesting and relaxing approach to some timeless human questions.

Comments from the De Soto Book Discussion Group regarding our June 2014 selection:

Needle in the Bone
by Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg

Below is a summation of the members' reactions to this work as reported by Leslie Nord, who was standing in as facilitator for Janine Myers.

· They were all glad to read the book even though it was not an “enjoyable” book due to subject matter. They thought it was a wonderful story (although the writing was not very good). It was hard to get into at first, then got really good, but the ending was not strong. The present tense was hard to follow at times, it did not flow.

· One member had the Jewish man as a professor in undergrad and graduate school both. Despite his strong accent she never had any problem understanding him. She liked him a lot. The undergrad students were not interested in his history, but the grad students were.

· They all commented that there were a lot more camps and a lot more people were killed than they realized.

· We talked about how survivors of intense trauma survive – They felt that the key is to not “keep the pot stirred” by ruminating about it. It is good to talk about it, but then let it go and think positive and move on with your life. They thought it was easier for the men to move on once they moved here because it was so much nicer than what they had experienced. It was amazing how they learned to trust people again – although we felt they did lose faith in God, law enforcement and the ability of government to protect you. We talked about how only the strong survived the concentration camps.

· Major themes were that we need to understand what happened with the Holocaust – and what people are able to do under a stressful situation.

Comments from the De Soto Book Discussion Group regarding our May 2014 selection:

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption
by Laura Hillenbrand
Below is a summation of the members' reactions to this work.

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand, author of Seabiscuit, is the amazing true-life biography of  Louis Zamperini, who overcame a wild childhood to run in the 1936 Olympics, survived his bomber's crash into the Pacific Ocean, survived more than 6 weeks on a life raft, and then managed to come out alive from the Japanese POW camps at the end of World War II.

When asked what they remembered most from reading this incredible account of Zamperini's life, they commented:

"The cover--'survival, resilience, redemption'";
"Our hero should be God";
"Billy Graham";
"skateboarding in his 80s";
"When he said as a POW, 'I'd rather be back on the raft.'"'
"The calmness and beauty on the raft when he was at death's door";
"That he was able to figure out when the raft should reach land, the 46th or 47th day";
"The good that came from the rest of his life";
"That it wasn't boring, I felt like I was there."

Comments from the De Soto Book Discussion Group regarding our April 2014 selection:

The Ashford Affairby Lauren Willig

Below is a summation of the members' reactions to this work.

The Ashford Affair by Lauren Willig, like Kate Morton's The Forgotten Garden, structures its narrative around a woman in modern times searching for answers surrounding her family history. The story shifts back and forth between early 20th-century England/Africa and modern-day New York City as the granddaughter attempts to untangle the mystery of her orphaned grandmother, who was brought up by her uncle and aunt who favored their own children and resented the task of raising this offspring of bohemian parents.

The group thoroughly enjoyed the story, which contains elements of both mystery and romance. The discussion delved into the personalities of the characters and how the culture of the times as well the micro-culture of family impacted their choices. Some areas in the plotting left room for speculation and members all had theories about these areas. Everyone said they would highly recommend this novel and appreciated reading something a bit lighter in tone and substance after the first quarter's selections.

Comments from the De Soto Book Discussion Group regarding our March 2014 selection:


Mary Coinby Marisa Silver

Below is a summation of the members' reactions to this work.

Mary Coin is a fictionalized narrative of a real photograph taken during the Depression by photographer Dorothea Lange. The iconic image titled “Migrant Mother” becomes the novel’s title character, Mary Coin, while photographer Dorothea Lange is rendered as the character Vera Dare. Tying the brief encounter of these two women together across several decades is a third character, Walker Dodge, a social historian who is also researching his family’s past. While much of the narrative parallels the true events surrounding the photograph, Silver enhances and expands this moment in time with fictional details that let the truth behind the image come to life.

Stand-in facilitator Leslie Nord reported the book group members’ responses:

Most did not realize that the book was based upon real people, or that the book was based on a real photo, although some remembered studying the photo in school. We talked a lot about what was true and what wasn’t – that the woman in the photo (Mary Coin) was real and the photographer Vera was real. The third character, Wade Dodge, was not. That part of the story was fabricated. Everyone liked the main character, Mary Coin, and felt she was a very strong and passionate woman. Most were disappointed with the ending because it was not a happy one for Mary. We discussed how in real life she did find happiness with her third husband who had a good job as a bank administrator. The book had a better ending for Vera and they wished the author had done the same for Mary.

They all liked the book and found it a good reminder of how difficult the depression was. This led to different discussions of the time period and similar books such as Grapes of Wrath. One member had relatives from Oklahoma who had similar stories of moving to California to find work and how horrible the conditions were. One member’s daughter uses the photo to teach her middle school students about the time period.

Some felt the book bounced back and forth too much between time periods and felt that was confusing. We all agreed the main theme was the strength of women and American motherhood – that it is a ‘woman’s book.’ We talked about how she would have done anything to provide for her children. We talked about similarities with Sand Castles [The Sand Castle Girls by Chris Bohjalian], but they preferred this story since the Sand Castles story was so tragic. They agreed there was some similarity to The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, although most felt Henrietta should have been compensated more so than Mary. We talked a lot about how Mary’s photo was one of hundreds taken by the photographer of migrant workers and settled on the fact that since no one else was compensated there was no reason to single her out.

Comments from the De Soto Book Discussion Group regarding our February 2014 selection:

The Sandcastle Girlsby Chris Bohjalian

Below is a summation of the members' reactions to this work.

This fictional account of the Armenian genocide of 1915 when 1.2 million Armenians were systematically eliminated proved extremely timely for today’s events in that part of the world. The book provided rich fodder for discussion, including how the plot is structured around a “photo.” Other points of discussion were the nature of atrocities like genocide and what immigrants sacrifice culturally when they flee their homeland to survive and begin a new life in another country. Most members felt the female characters were not truly realistic for the time and place but did allow the historical events to be portrayed vividly. All the members were shocked at their lack of knowledge of this genocide. One member later told me she has learned an amazing amount of geography from the book group selections.

Comments from the De Soto Book Discussion Group regarding our January 2014 selection:

Please Look After Momby Kyong-Sook Shin

Below is a summation of the members' reactions to this work.

Please Look After Mom provoked a lot of discussion in the book group as members were able to look at the situation from both perspectives, as children and as mothers.  The story begins as the adult children begin a search for their mother who became separated from their father in the Seoul, Korea subway station.  When the father realized his wife had not followed him into the subway car, it was too late to get off. When he did make it back to the point of separation she was gone.  As the days become weeks without finding their mother, the children and the father reflect on the mother's life and their own relationships with her.  Love, guilt, and regret intermingle with the memories producing a panorama of emotions in each of them.

All the members liked the book.  Some of the comments were--"It kept my interest"; "It was different"; "I liked that it was told from different perspectives"; "It was really hard to read but held my interest"; "I think I could have written this book"; "It riled up a lot of emotions in me"; "Lots of emotion, guilt, regrets"; "I did not like the husband."  In fact, every member expressed a dislike for the husband and admiration for the mother who managed to feed and raise five children on almost nothing in post-war Korea.  Several members did find the narrative structure difficult as two sections used the second-person "you" where, in English, a writer would have used the first-person "I."  All agreed they were sometimes confused as to who was narrating some parts.

One member expressed amazement at how often the group's discussion led her to experience a much deeper view of each book.