Moloka'i by Alan Brennert

From the Timely and Timeless book discussion group on June 25, 2013.

Well we registered a first today.  From the 9 votes from those in attendance today, we gave Maloka'i  a perfect 5/5.  It was a lively discussion touching on the characters, both fictional and non-fictional, and the arc of the story about our heroine, Rachel.  Since Robin lived with her family in the Pacific rim, she brought a great perspective to the story and had printed several pages of research to share.  Tim had more insightful discussion points and there was great participation among the group.   Several other titles were presented for follow-up reading about this time period in Hawaii.  Check with Robin.

Many thanks to everyone for hanging in there with our last minute venue change.  I love meeting at the Library and really appreciated that Laura could be with us today.

Coming up:

July 23 - The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver - at the Oriental Buffet at Noon

This is an inventive and interesting novel.  There are a lot of discussion points.  Among the challenges for this Georgia family - consisting of the Baptist minister father, his wife and their four daughters - are adapting to several forms of deprivation, cultural misunderstandings and attempts at religious indoctrination of the indigenous people. The story is told from different points of view and keeps us on our toes.   Ms. Kingsolver does not ask us to subscribe to their individual beliefs.  What she does so masterfully is to give us food for thought.  The premise of following the family's trials and the dogmatic father's interpretations of his role in this African country was captivating to me.  I can't wait to hear what our discussion will produce next month.

August 27 -   The Postmistress by Sarah Blake - at Los Tequilas at Noon

Published in 2010, this novel is receiving a lot of buzz in the Book Club community.  The New York Times gave this review: 

"…a book that hits hard and pushes buttons expertly…the real strength of The Postmistress lies in its ability to strip away readers' defenses against stories of wartime uncertainty and infuse that chaos with wrenching immediacy and terror. Ms. Blake writes powerfully about the fragility of life and about Frankie's efforts to explain how a person can be present in one instant and then in the next, gone forever."

Happy reading.

--Susan