Following the way of thousands of other avid readers out there, my friends and I have decided to set up a book club of our own! Still in its formative stages as yet we are struggling to choose our first title. So far it's a toss up between 'Home' by Marilynne Robinson(winner of the Pulitzer Prize for 'Gilead') and 'The Brief Wonderous life of Oscar Wao' by Junot Diaz.
'Home' is the story of Jack Boughton, a prodigal son returning home. A man who is an alcoholic, can't hold down a job and has a love hate relationship with his father. His father is a staunch traditionalist who both strongly disapproves of and fiercely loves his son at the same time. Throw in to the mix the homecoming of Jack's sister, Glory who has equally made a shambles of her life and the fact that their father is dying and you've got a very moving book all about family life, death, love and faith.....I can't wait to get reading!
'The Brief Wonderous life of Oscar Wao' ,which won this years Puliter Prize for Fiction, is a very different kettle of fish. It tells the story of a boy called Oscar, described as a 'ghetto nerd', Oscar lives in New Jersey with his Dominican-American family. He is grossly over weight, keeps falling head over heels in love and dreams of being the next Tolkien. Now picture Oscar's sister Lola, a punk who wants to run away and his over bearing mother Beli, who has her own stories to tell and we have a family truely worth reading about! The book brings us through generations of the family and accross continents telling us of his mother Beli's past in the Dominican Republic and Oscar's present day dreams and struggles to fit in in suburban america.The book promises to be undoubtedly funny, full of energy and unforgettable...we shall see..
I'm off to present both my choices to the others in the group and will continue my blog with details of our choice, why we made it and of course our impressions of the book we read.
No comments:
Post a Comment