Jennifer McVeigh ~ The Fever Tree

This month the group ventured into romantic fiction with The Fever Tree. The group enjoyed many descriptive aspects of the book …the Karoo, the farmstead, the ship in the storm and the diamond mines of South Africa, especially as they knew little about this time and place. They like the way an innocent and impressionable young women, with few options in life, eventually becomes tougher and savvier, and the evolution (revelation ?) of Edwin’s character. We discussed the attraction of wolfish men, Frances’s refusal to adapt, the trainability of a zebra, the political manipulation around smallpox, and the mystery of Nurse Clara. The negative issues raised were that some felt the romance clichéd and, although it was based on a diary, the plot seemed taken from Somerset Maugham’s The Painted Veil and reminded others of Tess of the D’Urbervilles.

People thought it a good read if not a great book with scores ranging from 6-8 with an average of 7.5.

The Leopard ~Tomasi di Lampedusa

The group agreed there was much to like and much to discuss about Lampedusa’s Italian classic. People liked the lyrical evocative writing and its use of irony and humour such as Prince Fabrizio’s crunching up of the metaphorical toad …with only its claws left. They liked the centrality of Benedico, the dog, like the Prince begins with a frolic in the Garden and ends by being discarded as moth-eaten relic and the way it captures social and political change with the decline of the aristocracy. For some having a limited understanding of Italian history made some of the elements hard going. The group also discussed the limits and burdens of privilege, the response to change with some reflecting on current issues of Brexit, family dynasties, happiness and how you assess your life. In summary it was thought a literary classic that was also entertaining and though-provoking.

This is reflected in the score ….7.8 out of 10.