BAWDESWELL BOOK CLUB

At our August meeting we discussed IF NOBODY SPEAKS OF REMARKABLE THINGS,   by  JON MCGREGOR

The remarkable thing about this novel is the beauty of the writing.  From the opening lines ‘the city it sings’ – much of it is more like poetry than prose and it is worth reading for this alone.

The plot itself is fairly light.  The main story focuses on the residents of an ordinary street in a northern town on a summer day –it is a slice of city living as many of us have experienced it – children playing in the street, students packing up their rooms, families eating breakfast, neighbours lighting a barbeque, coming ins and going outs.  Many of the characters are only referred to by their descriptions – ‘the girl with the square glasses’ or the ‘man with the scarred hands’, which underlines the anonymity of our modern lives.   Information is revealed slowly like layers unwrapping a piece at a time in a way that is compelling and small everyday dramas unfold.   Overshadowing this is a sense of foreboding at the event the novel is leading up to which will briefly bind all the characters together.  

I loved this novel for the language and the descriptions and the ‘everyday’ness of it.  If your idea of a good read is a fast-paced thriller, this is probably not for you.   It is a ‘love it or hate it’ read and you will know from reading the first paragraph whether you want to curl up in an armchair with it or put it back on the shelf.

Chrissie Pickard

The Book Club meets in the Workhouse on the first Thursday of every month at 7.30 pm and welcomes new members.  We mostly obtain books from the Library so there is not the expense of buying new books each month.  During September we are reading The Various Haunts of Men by Susan Hill.  This will be discussed at our next meeting on 4 October 2007.  The book for discussion at our November meeting, on 1 November, is On Beauty by Zadie Smith.