We met to discuss Spill Simmer Falter Wither on 7 July.
In attendance were:
Dave & Mary
Jack
Darryl & Barbara
Suzanne
Overall we found this book a very interesting read. Among the points made:
The writing itself was generally felt to be superb. The story line was interesting and held our readers attention very well. Some finished the book very quickly, in a couple of days.
Some comparisons to The Strange Incident of the Dog in the Night Time were made, though there was disagreement about whether any of the suggested similarities hold up under scrutiny.
Some of our group conjectured the main character in this novel was autistic or perhaps suffers from Asperger's syndrome, accounting for some aspects of his social awkwardness. Others thought his difficulties stemmed perhaps from the way he was raised, and blamed the father for isolating him. One line of reasoning was that his command of language seemed quite strong, he was a reader, had a broad knowledge of plants and animals. On the other hand, he did not seem competent with regard to operating or maintaining his vehicle.
Some discussion focused on what seemed an absurd amount of time he was able to drive about in a deeply rural setting, in the modern era. One hypothesis is that the novel is not set in "the modern era" but rather in some earlier time. One point made is that we, as a group, have very little awareness of the available rural landscape outside our immediate United States locations, so its hard to be reliably certain the time-frame was not plausible.
Some side discussions occurred regarding the incident where he left the dog on the side of the road and drove away. Both mothers present in the group said they had, in fact, put a child out of a car and threatened to leave them (note: neither actually did leave them!), when the child was non-compliant or combative. Both reported this approach seemed to resolve the immediate behavior issue, but that they felt guilty about it, or questioned whether that was the "right thing for a good parent to have done".
Several readers mentioned they were still ambiguous about what happened to the main character at the end of the novel. Most readers agreed there were many surprising reveals in the last section of the book.
There was some discussion of the role of rage in the main character, and the extent to which some of his actions were fueled by anger or rage. Some discussion focused on his apparent difficulties initiating action outside his habitual day-to-day activities.
Overall this novel was very well received among our group.
Our next select is Neil Peart's Ghost Rider, with the meeting planned for 11 August.
That will be followed by
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card, meeting 1 Sept
The Satanic Verses by Salmon Rushdie, meeting 20 Oct
The Vegetarian by , meeting 17 November.
We are seeking a holiday-themed selection for the December timeframe, so please consider making suggestions in this area. Last year during the holidays we read (and enjoyed!) L Frank Baum's "Life and Adventures of Santa Clause".
