The discussion of Love in the Time of Cholera was lively and entertaining.
Three members completed the book, all women:
Mary, Barbara, Shelia
The rest of those who attended the discussion had started the book but read as few as 30-ish pages, to as many as around 200, but did not finish.
Dave, Darryl, Jack, Alice
Jim attended as well but did not start the book.
I don't think anyone in our group especially liked this book.
Some of us found the characters to be unsympathetic. Fermina Daza is viewed as self-centered or self-absorbed, and Florentino Ariza as a womanizing man-whore. There may be some cultural effects in play here. Some of us tried to locate where the novel occurred on the map. Some of us wondered if the open sewage and animal carcasses in the bay were historically accurate.
Shelia reported she watched the movie, and that helped her get through the book.
Some of the LitLover's questions we did not answer, such as the "conflict" between Dr Juvenal Urbino and Florentino Ariza. This group of readers did not see a conflict between those two individuals.
Most of us reacted with ridicule to the "I've remained a virgin for you" line by Florentino. Several of us had viscerally strong negative reactions to some of Florentino's relationships, including the relationship with his ward.
One question indicated the novel explores death and decay. While there were descriptions of death and decay, it was not clear to us the novel "explores death and decay, as well as love". Also, it was not clear to us that Dr Urbino "refused to grow old gracefully".
Despite the lack of enthusiasm amongst our group for this novel, I still recommend Hundred Years of Solitude. I remain pleased with the quality and style of the writing in Love in the Time of Cholera, and plan to finish the book in the next couple of days.
If members have changes to suggest to this summary of our discussion, please let me know!
We had a couple items of club business to attend to.
1. Should books beyond a certain page count be excluded from the suggestions list? (yes, 800 pages max)
We have a couple large novels on the suggestion list, so the question was put to the group whether we should restrict the list to books below a certain page threshold. The decision was made to restrict suggestions to 800 pages or less, and when a book is over 400 pages, we'll meet on that book twice. With that decision, we can plan on the club meeting monthly, instead of varying the time between meetings based on book length as we have done.
2. Should we limit the suggestions list to only those book available as e-books? (yes, require suggestions to be available as e-books)
More than half our members are reading on e-reader devices, but Love in the Time of Cholera was not available as an e-book. The question was put to the group whether we should restrict the list to books available as e-books. The decision was made to accept only books available as e-books on the suggestions list.
3. I requested more commentary from group members to go into the blog.
Some members expressed reservations about sending comments. It is ABSOLUTELY NOT REQUIRED!!... I just think it would be nice if between meetings, we share even a couple lines about our reactions to the selected reading. I think it was Darryl who said it best, when he indicated these comments help him get more out of the novel, either by commiserating with his suffering, or by pointing out alternate interpretations that bring greater insight. (these are my words not his, but hopefully I captured what he was trying to say).
4. We need more (and different) input from members on the suggestion list
A few members have made suggestions for the list, but it would be great if we could get a greater variety of choices, from more of the members, in the list.
I will be working on updating the suggestions list to reflect these criteria over the next couple of days
After some discussion, we settled on Kurt Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse Five" as our next read.
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