On Thursday, July 7, our book club, “Atlantis” met to discuss The Long Song by Andrea Levy. This novel made the short list in 2010 for the English award, the Man Booker.This was the second work on Jamaica which the author, a native of Jamaica herself, has published. What an invigorating, delightful time we had during our book club hour! Something that makes our book club unique is the fact that we do “stick to the book” during the discussion…not our lives, not our families, not the economy, not “what we are doing, will do, or have done”. We talk strictly about the literature! Many who have been in other book clubs have told me that this feature is what makes “Atlantis” book club so different and refreshing.
While a lot of our discussion about The Long Song centered around the devastating conditions of slavery on the sugar cane plantations in Jamaica in the mid 1800s, we also talked about the general state of all women, not only in Jamaica, but also in the United States during that time period when our country was expanding westward with the advent of the new transcontinental railroads, as well as the introduction of the telegraph and numerous industries. That led us to talking about other types of slavery, such as existed in the sweat shops with underage children in NY in the early part of the 20th century. Hence, one can see that our discussions lead from one challenging topic to another.
Come join us on Thursday, August 4, for our discussion of Parrot and Olivier by Peter Carey, another Man Booker nominee of 2010. Already a two time winner of the Man Booker, Carey is known for his incredible mastery of the English language. He is a talented wordsmith indeed. -Nan
Comments are closed.