This week, seven of us got together to talk about The Descendants by Kaui Hart Hemmings. Six of us read the book, and four of us saw the movie. We spent a lot of time talking about how the two differed. I didn't see the movie, but most of the people who did felt that the characters were better developed in the book. Apparently the relationship between Sid, the daughter's boy friend, and Matt, the dad, makes more sense in the book than it does in the movie.
There were a lot of interesting pieces of this story that could be interpreted in different ways. As a result, The Descendants is a good book for a book group to discuss. It's still not my favorite, but I liked it a lot more after talking it over.
Next month we'll read What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty.
Half Time Report: I'm about half way through The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano. Going into the book, I had the impression that it was the story of two poets, acting as detectives, and looking for a missing poet. At the mid point, I think that I have four lost poets, and I'm not sure who the detective or detectives is or are. Am I the one who is lost? I'm not sure. I went so far as to pull out Nicole Krauss' book, Great House last night when one of Bolano's poets went to Israel, because it felt like the two authors had some strangely overlapping characters. I think that's not the case, but I'll keep reading to find out. There's something about Bolano's tone in this book that I am really liking.
Still Listening to: The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
No comments:
Post a Comment