Shirley’s Comments (group member since Apr 13, 2020)

Shirley’s comments from the Our Little Group SSSH group.

I read Slaughter House 5 a couple of years ago too Helen, think we read it at around the same time. Excellent book.
I agree, it’s so good having the time to read again.

I’m not sure I noticed humour in the book, satire yes but nothing made me laugh especially. I’m also wondering now about Maurice’s credibility; apart from the unexplained need for a child, would he really have blurted out that whole confession to Theo at the end, even if only the plagiarism?
Still an excellent read despite my concerns.

Yes I will definitely read more Boyne too.
I don’t think I’d call that a happy marriage, think he only married for a baby maker. I think he was believable as a character, we only have to look around at our world leaders for real life examples of opportunists and psychopaths being successful in their fields. The need for a child seemed like a sticking point though, not sure how believable that was, as Boyne didn’t really delve into Maurice’s reasons for wanting a child. Also the ‘King Kong’ ending was a bit of humour that I think Boyne couldn’t resist, how likely would it be to have a cell mate on a par with Henry James?

Four stars, a rip-roaring, fast-paced page turner, worth it if only for the Gore Vidal chapter - sounded so like him. Loved it.

Hi Helen, I read that about six months ago, funnily enough. It’s an interesting one, classic science fiction full of moral questions. Great put it up!

Yes perfect sense, I just didn’t get that feeling from this book, I’m glad you did.

I found a lot of those ‘nuggets of wisdom’ a little bit wishy washy, similar in depth to the sort of ‘inspirational’ quotes you find repeatedly shared on Facebook. I think we both came at this book from different angles.

Yes I agree Helen it’s not clear wether he put the diamond in the sea on purpose or whether it dropped from the little house before or after he went back; an act of providence perhaps. It’s nice to think that he went back and did it on purpose out of love for Marie Laure, but I don’t remember him having any knowledge of the stone. Suppose he could have gone back to retrieve the house and accidentally found it. Either way we are kept hanging, one more lost memory in the midst of war.

Spoilers Alert

I think I was probably expecting too much from this, I suppose I was thinking of David Niven in 'A Matter of Life and Death' or even better Jimmy Stewart in 'Its a Wonderfull Life'. The blurb made me think I was in for a beautifully poignant tear jerker that made me feel happy to be alive, (something I generally do feel anyway) but even more so. After meeting the first person in heaven, I thought ok that's just the first maybe things will get a bit deeper as we go on but I felt progressively disappointed with each encounter. The blue man in fact had very little if any influence on Eddie's life since it was Eddie who had unknowingly halted his! The captain, yes fair enough an interesting part of the story, the events in the Philippines being pivotal to the story. Ruby... really could have been any one of a million different people who was some how vaguely responsible for the surroundings in which Eddie's life was spent. Marguerite... yes obviously the person he had loved the most, but who really had very little to say to him! Finally the little girl Tala, again a good choice but also a revisiting of the Philippines, and very flimsy chapter.
Albom explains at the beginning of the book that it is dedicated to his uncle to express how even an 'unimportant' life matters, but really let's just hope poor old uncle Edward isn't reading this in the afterlife. He would perhaps be a little perturbed to discover that he, like Eddie, had potentially killed two people - a fact that he was oblivious to during his life.
I'm also a little confused by the heavenly set up too, does Eddie actually have to hang around for eighty odd years in some sort of purgatory to wait for the little girl on the pier or does he actually get to float off with his wife? Also the announcement that the whole point of his life had been to protect the thousands who had played on the rides on the pier, was this not something he would already have been aware of? He took his job very seriously, even though it was a reluctant choice of occupation, but he clearly loved children so no great revelation really.
I realise this is a bit of a negative review, but I did think it was a sweet little story, just that potentially it could have been a lot more. It all felt a bit thin and pointless.

...and another thing. The ending was so ridiculous, to believe that that character would choose to do that at that stage of the plot seemed like sickly romanticism and trite, and also made me wonder why he hadn't had the courage to do that many years before. It just wasn't well thought through, almost like the ending a primary school child would stick on the end of a story. 🤗

I don't usually look for a twist either, but if you remember you told me there was a twist in this one before I'd started reading. On the page of reviews at the beginning of the book there is also a comment from the Daily Express stating there is a big reveal at the end. So I think that would suggest that most people reading this will be looking for the 'twist'.
Demoting to two stars, the more I think about this book the less I like it.

Just finished, let me know when you’re all reading or if you want to read. Plenty to discuss 😳

There was no twist. It was obvious what was going on! Just became frustrating that the plot continued to roam off in all sorts of unnecessary directions to continue to put you off track. The ending then just seemed like a disentangling of useless knots and tricks which had been employed to cheat the reader.

It was alright! Surprise ending not really a surprise. Sorry Sarah, just didn’t find it that thrilling, but can see that it is cleverly put together. I hadn’t completely worked out how it all came together in the end but once I’d figured out the basic premise it was just a matter of seeing how, after trying to lead us down the garden path, Bussi would lead us back up. This process felt a bit tedious. Maybe just not my genre 😕

Yes I was the same Sue, a lot that I read more than once, but I was reading other things at the same time because it was just too technical for me to get a good flow going.

Sarah, you will cry.

Again, please don't read this until you have finished the book, I must get this down straight away.
I've just finished reading the book, I think it is probably one of the best things I read in years. It is so thoroughly absorbing that I felt compelled to read it at a fairly slow pace, not wanting to miss one thought, phrase or inference. It is a book full of joy and beauty but also shows painfully explicit horrors of war, how Doerr has balanced these threads is simply incredible. It is no surprise that it took him ten years to write, the responsibility to accurately portray his characters and the millions of people they represent must have been an enormous burden, but one I think he has managed to perfection.
There are many themes we could discuss, I was especially intrigued by the meaning of 'Light' from the title. Light could have a range of interpretations; light from the electromagnetic spectrum, including radio waves, which continually swirl around us, light that comes from knowledge that is built inside a 'brain locked in total darkness', light that is God's truth of the 'quick-fading spark' of any creature or light that is the unseen love between all of us no matter our beliefs or alliances.
We could also consider how the aggressors of war can also be victims; the horrors inflicted on Frederick, Jutta and others, how Werner is haunted by his deeds in the East. Or we could look at the myth of the Sea of Flames, how the fantasy of survival is suggested by its possession and how Doerr manages to make this fantasy succeed in his plot.
Well that's really just for starters, I could talk about this one all day long. I think I'm slightly overwhelmed by its beauty, it's so full of complex little insights, observations and endless empathy, each character, however minor, seeming so well fleshed out that you seem to know them intimately from the outset.
I think it is a beautifully crafted work of art, dug out of our history -a real diamond.

That’s ‘total’ not ‘toasty’!

The first half I did find a bit slow I’m afraid, the mundane events of the first two hundred pages didn’t really build much tension for me and it wasn’t really until the were leaving for Munich that things began to heat up.
Actually even after they got to Munich I was a little disappointed that there wasn’t a bit more action. I also found myself wondering why Harris had used two fictional protagonists if he wasn’t really going to get them to do anything more dramatic than pass a piece of paper between them in a bar! What I did think was far more interesting was the side story about their friend, the Jewish girl (sorry forgotten her name), I thought that could have been utilised more, but perhaps that would have altered the plot too much.
Although I think this is a valuable historical novel that shines a light on Chamberlain’s foresight, motivations and political ability, I’m sorry that I wasn’t as gripped or thrilled with it as I have been by Harris in the past.

There’s a lot I agree with you about, I also read Fatherland a few years ago and remember it being totally enthralling, a speeding page turner. I also think Harris’ motivation to rewrite Chamberlain in a new light were commendable, he’s been derogatorily labelled the appeaser ever since but Harris has smoothly shown how he was really playing for time. There were also lots if little historical comments that were clarification for me too; the enthusiasm for Chamberlain amongst the German population, the plot to assassinate Hitler (which I didn’t realise was at this particular time), the observations about Hitler’s personal presence (a grubby little man) etc. I have complete faith in Harris’ historical research and I’m sure he covered every day with toasty accuracy. Having said that I did consider that perhaps this attention to detail, almost by the hour, might have been the reason I didn’t enjoy the book as much as I was expecting.
TBC