Discussion of "Butterfly Burning"

We met June 5th to discuss Butterfly Burning.

In attendance were:

Dave & Mary
Darryl & Barbara
Jeremy
Alice
Susanna
Catherine

Of these, Four of us had finished the book, the rest of us read somewhere between a third to half the book.

Prior to the meeting, we had a poetry reading from Darryl Hand. The selection was a poem by Anne Sexton, a Pulitzer prize winning poet, who died by suicide in 1974.

"Butterfly Burning" really brought out some lively discussion about women, and the roles of women in society, both in Africa in the 1940s, and in the US today.  Much discussion centered around the role of privilege, and around role models, for women.  One member specifically stated she was uncomfortable saying everything she felt from the book, due to concerns about the reactions of the men in the group.

This book was pretty much universally disliked by the group.  Some found the writing overwraught, and felt there were excessive use of simile and metaphor, so much so that the book was difficult to get through.  Others did not like the dark themes and the basically unrelieved tragedy.  One member described the book as a "perfect tragedy", having no relief from the suffering of the main character.

One member talked about having to re-read sections more than once, as he felt he missed something in the story and had to go back and re-read to understand what was going on.  At the end of the novel, he thought the main character had been murdered by her boyfriend, missing that her death was actually a suicide.

Several members indicated they would not have read the book on their own, but despite not liking the book especially, they were glad they had read it.

The discussion of this book was lively, with good participation amongst the members.  The discussion ran well over the allotted hour.

Following the discussion, a fair bit of time was spent talking about what the future reading of the club should look like, with most folks apparently agreeing that we should read "outside our comfort or familiarity zones", but that a lighter read between the heavier books would help folks enjoy it more.

With some debate, we settled on "Gone Girl", by Gillian Flynn, as the next novel.  It is a recent mystery/thriller, from which a movie is being (or may already have been) made, so should provide a somewhat lighter, easier read than other books we have been reading.  We also decided to read "Guns, Germs, and Steel" after Gone Girl, which will add a non-fiction book to our reading topics.

At least one member expressed their positive opinion about selecting books one reading cycle ahead, so we will continue to do so going forward.