Book Buzz discussion

Hi everyone,

This is just a reminder that our next book club meeting is tomorrow (Fri. Nov. 19, from 2:00-3:00pm) on Jitsi. We will be discussing Misconduct of the Heart by Cordelia Strube. If you would still like to register, you can do so here:

https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/toronto-i...

I don't think I could have summed up this book more succinctly than Brett Joseph Grubicic, who describes it as "an astringent and delightful but also harrowing and grim comedy built atop a solid block of despair." (https://www.thestar.com/entertainment...)

Sometimes the jumps between comedy and tragedy were so sudden it felt like emotional whiplash. In one scene I found myself laughing aloud as Pierce dons the chicken (rooster) costume to promote Chappy's "Chicken Month", while Stevie watches him with anxious motherly pride, worrying about what might happen if the local homeless woman "Jesus Christ's son" shows up to headbutt him; then only a few sentences later I'm cringing as Pierce recounts how Stevie hit him as a child. In the next chapter we find Pierce in the hospital, still wearing his rooster costume (sans head), due to another horrifying Afghanistan flashback triggered by a boy who tried to light his rooster tail on fire. This scene manages to be simultaneously profoundly dark, comic, moving and hopeful at the same time: Pierce unleashes drug-induced anger towards his mother (undeniably deserved, as throughout the novel we learn that Stevie was a truly awful parent), all while flailing about in his rooster feathers, until he breaks down with remorse over his failure to succeed in even the simplest task as a promotional sidewalk mascot, and asks his mother to hug him.

I felt deeply for both Pierce and Stevie, and wanted them to overcome these traumas weighing them down and keeping them apart. Even as their own anger and stubborness at times seemed to keep them spinning around in circles, by the end I felt like there was hope of a new beginning for both of them. What did you think? Was this book ultimately hopeful? Did you find it funny as well, or was the humour outweighed by the dark themes and cynical observations? I'd love to hear your thoughts below.

If you'd like to read more reviews of the book, I've created a discussion guide that can be accessed at the following link:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1P...

Hope to see you Friday on Jitsi!