Beartown by Fredrik Backman

 Twelve members attended this book club discussion in February 2020.  This was the last discussion we would have together when CoVid struck.  We were no longer able to gather together in person, but was able to meet in August through Zoom.  

This is the third novel that we have read by this author, having read in the past:  My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry and A Man Called Ove.  A few members have read other books he has written and one member said she just read the sequel:  Us Against You.

We found he did a remarkable job with the characters.  Someone said "he is so good at what he does it almost wears you out as he pulls you in." "He is a Master at Human Behavior!"   How believable the characters are someone said.  Someone also said that there were a lot of characters in the story.  Another said all the characters were overwhelming but then it all fit together.  

Many of us liked the hockey theme in the story.  Someone grew up in northern MN where hockey rules and another had a couple nephews that were goalies.  A member noted we were reading this and it was the 40th Anniversary of Miracle on Ice for US Mens Hockey.  

The story is about community.  It is also a story about how powerful pride can be, but if something happens, how divided it can be, according to a member.  Hate is easy, loving is hard. From Chapter 35:   "Hate can be a deeply stimulating emotion.  The world becomes much easier to understand and much less terrifying if you divide everything and everyone into friends and enemies, we and they, good and evil.  The easiest way to unite a group isn't through love, because love is hard.  It makes demands.  Hate is simple." 

Of course we talked about the characters in the story.  How people gathered around Kevin.  Someone said they liked Amat and his Mom.  They found his character to be strong and loyal.  Kira was a remarkable woman. She wasn't fond of the town, but went because of Peter, found her element when working and yet, loved being a mother and felt torn.  She was a protector of her daughter.  There were also many secrets in the story with these characters.  People weren't always talking.  Benji had an interesting storyline.  He was a bear, a protector of his teammates and Kevin and then when the incident happens he is protective of Maya.   

A member said:  "The book left me sometimes crying, sometimes laughing and sometimes so mad!"  Another said:  "It was a good winter read."  It really was a good read.  Someone said they have read four of his books and each one feels different than they other.   

The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben

Ten members of the Park Grove Book Club were present to discuss this months book.  This nonfiction book was enjoyed by most but at the same time, a few found it hard to read and continue, someone said he could have edited it to a shorter length!  

Peter Wholleben was born 1964 in Germany.  He was a forestor and this book was written in 2015, later translated to English.  Someone said he writes about forests like Jacques Cousteau talks about the inhabitants of the ocean.  He has written other books, including The Inner Life of Animals:  Love, Grief, and Compassion, The Secret Wisdom of Nature:  Trees, Animals, and the Extraordinary Balance of All Living Things and The Weather Detective.  

One member said that when she read the book, she found herself looking to her back yard and what trees she had!  Another member said she loved trees and love the science aspect.  She said it will make her think differently when walking through the woods.  Another member added, that when she needs "to revew my spirit I choose to go to the woods and that is when I feel close to God.  The air is so clean, too."  One member said this was interesting in that, growing up on farm, you had a grove of trees that you would go out and play in.  It was magical. 

The leader shared a video with us Here - it was a Ted Talk from Suzanne Simard who is a professor of forest ecology and teaches at the University of British Columbia.  She has done quite a bit of research on trees.  She helped identify the term "mother tree," a tree that helps her seedlings grow by giving them fungi and nutrients to help them grow.  

The leader also brought in a tree branch and we talked about some of the characteristics we saw, along with some pine cones and where the seeds of the pine cones were.  We also were asked trivia questions from the book, finding some of the amazing parts of the book, fascinating, such as there is 130 gallons of water that goes through a mature beech tree daily, and that, at night when a tree is not photosynthesizing, and using carbon dioxide, it does the opposite, releases carbon dioxide!

Through this book we found that trees have an underground, another world there.  Most individual trees are connected through their root system and interconnections much like an ant colonies.  They are capable of distinguishing the roots of their own species and others.  Trees have scents they can pick up, they can identify insects by their saliva, and then release pheromones that summon predators.  They send chemicals and electrical impulses that travel through the fungal connection, covering many square miles -- "Wood Wide Web."  Photosynthesis is the same for all trees, equalizing the difference between strong and weak.  We learned that Beech trees send 130 gallons a day of water, through it's branches and leaves.  

We see the contrast in the book between coniferous and deciduous forests, and how all are interconnected.  He started out the book by talking about how vital an undisturbed forest and woodlands are to our ecosystem.  He brought up the wolves in Yellowstone and how reintroducing them, brought back there has changed ecosystem, drastically.   One reason he said, why we misunderstand trees is that they are so incredibly slow.  He said, "future forests will continue to live out their hidden lives and our descendents will still have the opportunity to walk through the trees in wonder." 

 

Black forest honey is made from aphid excretionsm, bees use this to make honey, which is sought after!  There are so many things we learned from this book!     

One member who wasn't able to attend wrote this footnote in her message:  William Kent Kreuger quote from two of his books I have recently read: 

Vermillion  Drift p178 "Cork believed that a forest was a living thing and that people who paid attention heard its voice, smelled its breath, and knew its face."

Copper River first paragraph - "Trees when they bend, whispter to one another."

Nice to find these insightful words among a local author!

My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor

The Park Grove Library Book Club meets at 6:30 pm, usually the fourth Tuesday of the month at Park Grove Library, Cottage Grove.  We welcome anyone to join us for the discussion and join our group.

Just a special note to book club members.  Would love to hear your thoughts & opinions on the book club, whether you were at the discussion or not!  Share what you thought about the book.  There is a spot under the post for comments, you can do a few different log-in programs or do it anonymously but feel free to write your name!

UPCOMING BOOKS

November 19
BOOK CLUB SELECTION
Members give 2-3 ideas on a book they would like the group to read.  From that, we choose what we would like to read in the upcoming months.  We will be meeting off site.

December 17
Holiday Party
We will be meeting off site for this event.

January 28
The Hidden Life of Trees
by Peter Wohlleben

February 25
Beartown
by Fredrik Backman

March 24
The Other Einstein
by Marie Benedict

Sept 24 Plot Against America by Philip Roth

Eleven members were in attendance for this discussion of The Plot Against America by Philip Roth.  Philip Roth, born in 1933, passed away in 2018 at the age of 85, received a Pulitzer Prize for his 1997 novel American Pastoral.   

One member said she liked the book, fell in love with the author, watching five of his movies that he has made from his books.  She said HBO bought rights for this novel as a mini series, making six-episode adaptations of the book.  Filming started in 2019, but could find no date alluding to when it will air. Another member said she liked the book, found it interesting and scary at the same time, and found it intriguing how young Philip interpreted what went on at that time.  His writing was very descriptive and helped it come to life.  "I appreciate historical fiction, he did this very well, he took a spin off reality and took it in a different direction.  It could have happened." 

We liked how Philip Roth wrote this as an adult with the view from his youth, using his families names with the story:  Herman, his father, Bess, his mother and Sandy, his older brother.  He even placed the story in the area where he grew up.  Someone said they felt Bess was the heroine of the story, she held the family together, a very strong woman.  She helped Seldon over the phone while he was in Kentucky, able to get him back home again by her husband and Sandy.  

The story struck a chord with some saying that it is scary because of the government climate at this time.  Someone had said they liked the book, but it felt like it has been written in the past few years.   

We talked about Fear in the book.  Fear invaded every Jewish household in the 1940's.  Fear presided over these memories, a perpetual fear.  It is all possible, we can all fear.  The ghost in the basement was true fear for Phillip, along with his stamp collection with Hitler stamp.    Philip's fear ended up sending Seldon and his mother to Kentucky, where Seldon's mother died, something Philip never imagined.   Phillip's mother wanted  to get out of their area, move to Canada, she feared what would happen.  His Dad had faith, he wasn't going let Lindberg and his group bring this fear home, not going to make his family move.  Through out the book, there was fear for humanity.  

Philip, besides wanting to run away, also wanted to help solve problems.  He helped Seldon, although he wasn't happy about it.  He helped his cousin Alvin, with his leg bandaging.  He went to his aunt to see if he can keep his family at home, not be sent to Kentucky.

Interestingly there was a parallel to the Hitler Youth Group, as they tried to spin everything as positive like the OAA (the Office of American Absorption), Homestead 42 and Just Folks.  Someone said, "How fragile our democracy is, and how easy it can be eroded." 

Philip's aunt Evelyn's  husband, the Rabbi Bengelsdorf, believed everything, he thought he was out front, his people would follow, they would be safe.  He was liked and accepted by important people, just look at the wedding.  But he was gullible. 

It really was a good discussion with many thoughts shared and talked about.   There were many twists and turns in the book, characters adding to the dimension of the story, including Earl Axman, Walter Winchell, even Charles Lindberg, Anne Morrow and FDR.  

History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund

Thank you to another member for writing this month's blog.  

Most people found this book difficult to follow because it jumped back and forth in time from the teenage years of the main character, Linda, to her life as a 37-year-old woman.

We focused on 3 main ideas.

1.        The relationship between Linda, Patra and Paul and Paul’s subsequent death.

a.        Linda spied on them when she wasn’t with them.

b.       She wanted to be part of their family because she was lonely.  She seemed to see Patra as a mother figure and a friend.

c.       She did not like it when Leo, the father, returned.   Our group did not like Leo.  He was controlling of the situation, and tried to keep Patra away when he obviously knew Paul was dying.

d.       Linda got along well with Paul and taught him many things about the woods

e.       She was confused about what was happening when Paul was obviously so sick.

f.        We discussed the Christian Science belief system and how it affected the result of the trial for Paul’s death.  It seemed to us that Paul was too young to have his parents allow him to die.  Some in the group pointed out that Paul showed signs of having learned the beliefs already because of things he said and did.  We felt if Patra had been alone, she may have gotten help, since she had visited an endocrinologist about Paul, but never followed through when Leo arrived.

g.       She tried to go for help, get Tylenol for Paul, but in the end she failed to follow through.

h.       She had to testify at his trial, and because she was angry with Patra for blaming her for Paul’s death, she did not tell what she believed, that Patra was a good mother to Paul.

2.       The relationship between Linda and her parents.

a.        Because she began her life in a commune, it is difficult to tell if she was actually living with her birth parents at the time of the story, or if she was “leftover” when the commune split up.

b.       Both parents are distant, although her father spends more ‘quality” time with her.

c.       Linda and her mother do not get along, but she feels an obligation to go back and live with her mother when her father dies.

d.       We could not understand why her parents didn’t keep track of where she was and what she was doing.  She would not have spent so much time at Patra’s if they were more concerned about what she was doing.

3.       Linda’s fascination with the case involving her high school teacher Mr. Grierson and her friend Lily.

Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions by Daniel Wallace

Our July gathering had 13 members ready to give their view about this interesting book.  Those that liked it, thought it was a good summer read, light for the thought!  Someone said if you like tall tales, you would love the book.  One member said, "When I first started reading I was like, what kind of book is this?  Then I liked it and saw where it was going."  Another said she liked it, fun summer read and had listened to it, the reader had a very good southern accent."   Some members did not like it, they commented:  "Surprised that I never heard of this.  I found it frustrating trying to figure out what was real and what isn't.  I just wanted to latch onto something that was real."  "Couldn't get into the book, kept waiting for it to make sense.  Reminded me of my husband as he would make a joke about things!"  "Didn't like the book, thought the second half was better than the first, but would have never read it."  I think the majority of the group did, however, enjoy the book!  Our leader who had selected the book for our group said this "Read it three times!  I selected this book because my teen age son said 'Mom, you have to read this book!'  The second time found the nuances, had to stop and think, saw it in a new light.  The third time, it was a literature experience, did the book do it's job?  I think it did."

One member said "An author who takes on the subject of death and turns it into a fun and adventurous read is very talented."  And one person said, "Fantastic imagination and loved that they turned it into a movie, and was on Broadway too."  Some had seen the movie, and said the movie is different.  One part that was different was at the end, the characters really come when he passes.

A member said, "It made me a little sad that the Dad didn't know who his son really was.  The father liked to joke, didn't like showing his feelings, the corny jokes were his way of connecting.  Another said this "I thought it was sad, many missed opportunities.  The dad could spin webs but couldn't connect with his son."

Stories make us immortal.  Edward wanted to be a big fish in a big pond.    Our parents are larger than life, this was a story of how William viewed his Dad.  Through the tall tales, he got to know his father better.  His dad wanted to be successful, his son wanted his dad at home  He wanted love and acceptance, and attention from his father, to have a serious talk with his Dad, without making it some myth or a joke.  Did he look at it with rose colored glasses on?  He wanted his Dad's story to be good.  We do that sometimes. We look at things and want them to be good, but deep down we know it was not that good.  Edward had made a list that he wanted to pass to his son.  Someone said that through the book the dad/son were dysfunctional and distant at first, but became closer at the end.

There were three different "stories" about William saying goodbye to his Dad. Some felt that the three stories were Edward telling the story and finally at the end William told his version of what happened.  We thought at the end, he was a great man, he did love his son, he loved and respected who you were.  We also talked about there are different ways to look at grief, different ways of going through it.  Someone felt the ending was "very weird," how he swam away!

We did comment that memory gives us different stories.  If you take siblings and ask them to share a story about the same place, each one will share what they see and heard and all will be different.  No two people will remember the situation the same.  It changes a little, when we tell a story.  Memory isn't always reliable.  Truth to one person, is not the same truth to the other.

We enjoyed the jokes, the patient to doctor joke, the stories, the one with the woman who had a glass eye, and talked about the town with the dog that was biting people.  Why?  The dog was fear, they couldn't leave without losing a part of yourself, you weren't strong enough to leave.  The town's name was Spectre, which means ghost!

We had a great discussion and it was certainly a different book!  Many left wanting to see the movie!

The Life We Bury by by Allen Eskens

Sixteen Members were ready to discuss The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens.   From his web page at http://www.alleneskens.com/about-me.php we can read that he has a journalism degree from the U of M and a law degree from Hamline, here in Minnesota.  After his law degree, he studied under a M.F.A. program at Mankato State University, as well as the Loft Literary Center and Iowa's Summer Writer's Festival.  He has since retired after practicing criminal law for 25 years and I think many are glad he did!  We felt he did a great job on the book and many were reading other books he has written!  The Life We Bury was written in 2014.  The Shadows We Hide is a sequel, published in 2018 and someone in the group mentioned that Allen Eskens had said he had to wait awhile to write the continuation of the story of Joe, just like Joe had to "grow up."  It took time and he had to do it justice this way, the characters become real, they have to age.

A member in the group said that they heard him speak recently, and he said that he hopes when you are reading that you find 2 stories, one, the character development and then two, the mystery.  We felt this was not just a mystery it was a novel!  We wondered if there was a movie that would be written from this as we have heard that he is the screen writer for it, but it hasn't been picked up yet.  We found that when we started reading, we didn't want to put it down.  It was a perfect "summer" read, quick and one you could read, almost in one setting as a few almost did!  The mystery was well-written.  One member said she thought she had it figured out, but she was wrong!  She did like the brother's story, and someone noted that Jeremy was the only character based on a real person.  One person, said, though that the story was too dark, it was too hard to read at bedtime. 

We loved that the story was based in Minnesota.  We liked the title of the book, The Life We Bury, and surmised that we, too, in real life, have a story or incident we may have buried, a story that we have hidden.  We felt that the book had great character development, someone even saying that it reminded them of another MN writer style, parallel to "Cork O'Connor stories in  William Kent Krueger's writing."  A member thought back on reading this the first time, she said she read for the "mystery part" and the second time reading, she noticed she read it with the emotions from the characters.  One person said, "How did so many things happen in this story, there was so much, but everything was solved and worked out.  It was a page turner."  Another added to that and said she liked the "inter-weaving" of the story. 

We talked about how bad the mother was, how did Social Services not get involved?  We had a discussion how sometimes families are overlooked in situations like this, as sad as that is. 

What was buried by the characters in the book?  Carl's conviction, he felt he deserved it, does this really happen in real life?  He was ready to kill himself the day this happened.  Joe with his feeling inadequate to help with his grandfather's death.  We felt that Joe would have had help with his grief if he didn't have such a dysfunctional home life.  Lila and her choices she made earlier in her life.  We also talked about these incidents of making them feel "guilty."  Who were the survivors?  Carl with Virgil, Crystal was a survivor, her story was buried, but discovered through Joe & Lila.  Joe and Jeremy with their family life.  Lila, also a survivor.  Someone said, she was accountable, she rose above it, she went the opposite way.  A member said she "appreciated Lila, so impressed with her, with her connecting right away with Jeremy, that is a gift."  So did guilt drive them to bury their stories, their situations?  Did it change them?

Carl stayed alive just long enough to see his conviction thrown out.  We felt that Carl had compassion, he first off asked about Joe, he drew his story about his grandfather out of him.   We talked about the receptionist  and her prejudice -- we all could be like that receptionist!  She couldn't see the other side of what was "preconceived."

Joe was very courageous and brave, a truth-seeker.  He had true character, true strength.  "The scene where Joe was chased into the woods, my heart just pounded the whole time I read that," someone said and a few agreed!  He was a survivor and he left a note behind!  It was a very realistic scene, very well done.  We also laughed about his physical strength, his "bouncer" strength, he wasn't afraid to use it with some people. 

We just felt that the characters were so well developed, you felt like you were right there with them.  Someone said they heard that Allen Eskens, the author, hears a word and has to have that in the book.  He uses an idea box.  So very creative.  Many of us are ready to pick up another book soon!