Loved our East of Eden book club chat! We could have probably gone on for hours, there was so much to unpick with this one!
I think I had a very similar reading experience with That Old Ace in the Hole a few months ago. It wasn't the best Proulx but I really enjoyed it anyway. Even though it didn't read super smoothly, I can appreciate her wanting to give her characters space to just exist on the page, rather than have a specific narrative purpose. I think this is something that would have annoyed me a few years ago, but now I'm learning to enjoy it. I keep raving about one of her other novels, Barkskins, but it's just sooo good! I think you might really enjoy it. I need to read The Shipping News already. It's sat on my shelves for long enough!
I loved reading your East of Eden reflections - how funny we both read it this month! It is the perfect bookclub book, I have so many thoughts. I also felt such a challenging writing a review for it, as so much is going on. It is definitely highly flawed, I would agree, but ultimately really fun to get invested in. Cathy and her potential is nuance as to what she represents is something I have been thinking about constantly - i definitely think it’s there. She was so much fun - initially her characterisation horrified me, it was dripping in misogyny, and by the end I loved her and thought she was softened alot intentionally by Steinbeck. I also have so many thoughts about Lee - what did you think of him? I am equally super interested in Grapes of Wrath now!
Also appreciated your Martyr! review! It’s been raved about alot this year, I really want to read it. PS - how did you get hold of the US cover in the UK? The UK cover makes me want to hurl - and for that reason alone I have not read the book yet because I refuse.
Loved our East of Eden book club chat! We could have probably gone on for hours, there was so much to unpick with this one!
I think I had a very similar reading experience with That Old Ace in the Hole a few months ago. It wasn't the best Proulx but I really enjoyed it anyway. Even though it didn't read super smoothly, I can appreciate her wanting to give her characters space to just exist on the page, rather than have a specific narrative purpose. I think this is something that would have annoyed me a few years ago, but now I'm learning to enjoy it. I keep raving about one of her other novels, Barkskins, but it's just sooo good! I think you might really enjoy it. I need to read The Shipping News already. It's sat on my shelves for long enough!
I loved reading your East of Eden reflections - how funny we both read it this month! It is the perfect bookclub book, I have so many thoughts. I also felt such a challenging writing a review for it, as so much is going on. It is definitely highly flawed, I would agree, but ultimately really fun to get invested in. Cathy and her potential is nuance as to what she represents is something I have been thinking about constantly - i definitely think it’s there. She was so much fun - initially her characterisation horrified me, it was dripping in misogyny, and by the end I loved her and thought she was softened alot intentionally by Steinbeck. I also have so many thoughts about Lee - what did you think of him? I am equally super interested in Grapes of Wrath now!
Also appreciated your Martyr! review! It’s been raved about alot this year, I really want to read it. PS - how did you get hold of the US cover in the UK? The UK cover makes me want to hurl - and for that reason alone I have not read the book yet because I refuse.