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BillieJean posted 6/15/2011 20:58 PM

What do you guys think of this book? I am in a book club and it is my turn to pick a book.

So far we have read :"Look Again" , "The Help" , "Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet" , "A Discovery of Witches" , "Room" and "On Folly Beach".

I'm pretty attached to both movies and book that I enjoyed growing. I read this book for the first time when I was the age of the kids in the book. Maybe that's why I enjoyed it so much. I haven't read it in a long time and the girls in the club have never read it.

We are allowed to pick any book we want and all the other books are fairly new. I was worried that it might not be as good as I remember.

Do you guys think it is a good book club book? Would it be a good discussion book?

[This message edited by BillieJean at 9:23 PM, June 15th (Wednesday)]

FatherofFour posted 6/15/2011 21:09 PM

I just read that book last month. Here's the problem I see with it: despite it being a pinnacle book of Western lit, it has not aged well. The characters are largely one-dimensional. The plot is highly underdeveloped. And, through no fault of its own, it's become a cliche.

The last critique is the same problem all ground-breaking books face. Heck, it's hard to read Lord of the Rings now and remember that Tolkien isn't cliched, he created the genre. LotF is in the same boat.

Red Sox Nation posted 6/16/2011 02:29 AM

Perhaps it has been copied too much. The cliche of the bogeyman invented in a child's imagination, shown from the child's perspective.

I think it's interesting, in that we seek to protect our children from a dangerous world. But nothing could be more dangerous than children being around other children without supervision.

However, it's been done far better than Golding did it in more recent years.

For a book club? I would avoid it. People have strong reactions. It's not particularly informative. It doesn't always make sense.

Threnody posted 6/22/2011 14:01 PM

I made my book club read The Tale of Despereaux one year. They rolled their eyes and complained. And then when our actual meeting rolled around, they discussed the BOOK for the first time ever in 3 years of doing this, instead of talking about husbands, mortgages, and shoe sales.

I also made them read several pieces of classic Japanese literature. I think many were surprised at how much they liked the genre.

I'm no longer in that book club, but they are now reading the Hunger Games series and really enjoying it, from what I understand. They're comparing it to other young adult fiction and even adult fiction they've read in the past, and the discussions are reportedly top-notch.

My point is, don't be afraid to try something new and different. Sticking to the high school required list or the Oprah book club isn't going to give your group much to discuss, IMO, because they'll have too much information right at hand via Google to cover their butts if they don't actually read the book.

[This message edited by Threnody at 2:01 PM, June 22nd (Wednesday)]

neverendinghurt posted 6/22/2011 15:01 PM

This was required reading when I was in school, we read it in third year which meant I was about thirteen at the time.

Yes, it is a great book for discussion.

ETA: I haven't read it since I was thirteen but I do remember a lot of class discussion about it. I also remember it being a book that the boys enjoyed far more than the girls.

[This message edited by neverendinghurt at 3:03 PM, June 22nd (Wednesday)]

NaiveAgain posted 6/22/2011 19:06 PM

We just read When Rabbit Howls for our Psychology Book Club, and it went over quite well. There were two members that had a hard time with some of the material because of personal issues, it is about a woman that was abused as a child and developed multiple personalities (and supposed to be non-fiction).

While some of the reading is disturbing, it is also fascinating and gives a view into the inner workings of how a multiple personality-disordered mind may work, and it actually left me with more questions than it answered.

Needless to say we had excellent discussions on it...

Clarrissa posted 6/25/2011 22:43 PM

I haven't read Lord of the Flies since HS. I personally didn't like it then and I don't want to read it again. In fact I told my English teacher it was so boring it could put an insomniac to sleep. I only finished the book because it was required reading.

NA, I also read When Rabbit Howls. I thought it was very interesting, especially since the "patient" decided to remain unintegrated. In other books with this subject (Sybil, The Minds Of Billy Milligan, The Three Faces Of Eve) the goal was always to reintegrate the personalities into one "new" personality. With Rabbit, she/they decided that she/they could function well enough as she/they were.

The one question I was left with was: if the "facade" was just that how did she decide to seek help?

aesir posted 6/26/2011 03:40 AM

I read Lord of the Flies in Jr. High, and found it to be a highly accurate description of Jr. High as soon as the adult supervision was removed. So did the guy locked out on the window ledge.

BillieJean posted 7/3/2011 17:30 PM

Thanks for all the responses. I didn't know that this thread was still going or I would have responded sooner.

I decided not to go with Lord of the Flies. When ifirst brought he idea up to my book club they were all like " Oh, cool so it's like Lost"

I figured it would be compared to the show and fall short in their eyes.

When at the book store last week I came across a book that had an interesting title and decided to go with it, even thought I knew nothing about the book at all.

The book I chose is called "Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter" by Tom Franklin. When I bought the book, the girl at the counter told me it was a great book and a must read. Anyone heard of it?

teach5 posted 7/6/2011 11:30 AM

I see you already picked one, but I would recommend The Book Thief.

StillGoing posted 7/6/2011 12:00 PM

I read Lord of the Flies in Jr. High, and found it to be a highly accurate description of Jr. High as soon as the adult supervision was removed. So did the guy locked out on the window ledge.

I not only made it off that ledge but I learned valuable climbing skills.

Hunger Games was awesome, whoever mentioned that.