Meeting Report: August 2022

The DCBC met on Sunday, August 28, 2022 to discuss August's book: Portrait of a Thief, by Grace D. Li (selected by Ashley).

Attendees were: Ashley, Miriam, Jessy, Sarah, Paige, and Lauren. 

“This was how it always went. Museums overlooked colonialism, conquest, a history of blood, until it was laid in front of them, until violence was met with violence.”

― Grace D. Li, Portrait of a Thief

Portrait of a Thief is a wannabe literary heist novel in which five Chinese-American university students are enlisted by a wealthy CEO in China to steal back the five remaining zodiac heads from the Old Summer Palace in exchange for an irresistible $50 million. They ineptly plan and execute only two of the five heists (how they managed that many defies comprehension) before walking into a situation on their third where they know they are going to be caught.

“How to make this life their own, how to love a country that had never belonged to them.”

― Grace D. Li, Portrait of a Thief

For a heist novel, Portrait of a Thief is absurd, but without the awareness of its absurdity. Bumbling college students trying to pull off five art heists with no clue how to do it and even failing their way to success a couple of times had the potential to be really funny if the author had leaned into the absurdity, but this book takes itself far too seriously for that. Because there are serious themes of diaspora and cultural identity and the meaning of art and the impact of colonialism to be discussed, none of which, for a work of literary fiction, ever get examined to a satisfactory point.

“What's wrong with wanting everything?

Nothing, as long as you know how to get it.”

― Grace D. Li, Portrait of a Thief

Too many irrelevant descriptions of the sky. Too much overprivileged young adult angst. Not enough plausible heistiness, depth of thought or plot, or differentiable characters. This was an interesting premise, but which ultimately and disappointingly fell flat. Portrait of a Thief attempts to grapple with concepts of art, power, colonialism, etc. but doesn't quite get beyond surface level, probably because there was a sky that needed to be gazed at with indefinable yearning.

The Verdict:

Taken from the average DCBC member ratings on Goodreads who had marked the book as read and rated at the time of this writing:

Portrait of a Thief: 2.0 stars

Thank you to Ashley for hosting, and to all of the attendees for such a lively discussion!

Next Month: September 2022: Comfort Me with Apples, by Catherynne Valente (selected by Miriam)

And always, the full book list for this cycle can be found here.

Reading Retreat Report!

From July 20-22, we had what is hopefully our first annual summer reading retreat! Attendees were Miriam, Sarah, and Jessy. We hope that more people will be able to join next year! We had a delightful cabin in Pinetop-Lakeside, and we got to read among the trees.

It was so nice to get to read with no interruptions, and to get to talk about books with each other as we went.

We also took turns cooking vegan meals. Here's a full account:

Day 1
We arrived in the late afternoon. After an excursion to Safeway, we spent a few hours reading.
Miriam finished Certain Dark Things, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. Sarah finished Mort, by Terry Pratchett AND Comfort Me with Apples, by Cat Valente (our September book!). Jessy was working on a book, but it was also her turn to cook. She made some tasty vegan sausages with roasted vegetables!

Day 2
This was our full day of reading (no driving) and we made the most of it! We started with some yummy french toast, and tofu scramble, courtesy of Sarah.

Miriam finished The Bodyguard, by Katherine Center and also The Hacienda, by Isabel Cañas. Sarah finished Ring Shout, by P. Djèlí Clark. Jessy finished The Daughter of Doctor Moreau, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. Miriam made lunch, which was soyrizo tacos with refried beans!

That evening, we headed to a restaurant for dinner.

Day 3
This was our last morning reading in the trees! We had to check out of our cabin at 10am, so we had leftovers for breakfast and then read until the last possible second before heading out. Sarah finished The Kiss Quotient,by Helen Hoang and Jessy finished They Never Learn,by Layne Fargo. Miriam had sore eyes from reading 500 pages on the previous day, so she didn't finish any books. On our way home, we stopped in Globe for lunch and some thrifting. Over all, this was a fun little retreat and we hope to do it again next year! We also hope more of our members will be able to join us!

Book Ratings

The following are the star ratings for each book completed by one of us on this retreat. In the case that more than one of us had read the book, the rating is the average from among those people.
Certain Dark Things: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Mort: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (3.5)
Comfort Me with Apples: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4.75 and we can't wait to talk about this one in September because it's WEIRD)
The Bodyguard: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Hacienda: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Ring Shout: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Daughter of Doctor Moreau: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Kiss Quotient: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4.5)
They Never Learn: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Meeting Report: June 2022

The DCBC met on Sunday, June 24, 2022 to discuss June's book: What Comes After, by Joanne Tompkins (selected by Ali).

Attendees were: Miriam, Sarah, Jessy, Ali, Lauren, and Annabelle. 

“We didn’t know how to think of ourselves.”

― JoAnne Tompkins, What Comes After

What Comes After was a decently written novel in which a pair of teenage boys are dead--one at the hands of the other and one via suicide. Their parents are grieving in their own ways when a pregnant teenage runaway who knew the teens before their deaths shows up, and in getting to know each other, begin to make a life in the aftermath. There were a number of issues that we discussed, including how a number of characters and chapters could have been better developed. The story alternates between Isaac, the Quaker father of the murdered teen Daniel, Evangeline, the pregnant runaway, and Jonah, the teen who committed suicide after killing Daniel (Jonah's chapters are naturally out of chronological order from the other two perspectives). Lorrie, Jonah's mother, whose own perspective may have been valuable, does not have any chapters from her perspective, so we don't learn about what she is going through. She is also, sadly, somewhat relegated to a caretaking role, when she makes an appearance on the page to assist Isaac and Evangeline with events in their lives. 

“I’m not sure where you’re coming up with this stuff, but here’s the deal: Every mother screws up her children one way or another. It’s up to you whether you stay that way.”

― JoAnne Tompkins, What Comes After

Likewise, Daniel, Isaac's son, is portrayed one-dimensionally as the rather cliched attractive and popular jock who is also entitled and a bully to other kids, notably Jonah (who idolizes Daniel). We discussed a couple instances of homoerotic tension between the boys that Jonah looks back on in his chapters, which unfortunately do not seem to go anywhere. How do Jonah and Daniel feel toward one another? Is Jonah's adoration of the more popular boy one-sided? How are toxic masculinity and internalized homophobia affecting how the boys relate to one another? We don't know, because this is not explored at all. Surely there must be a reason for including it, though, no? Such an exploration may have added another layer of complexity to the motivation(s) Jonah ultimately had for ending Daniel's life, which we also concluded seemed flimsy (Daniel bragging to Jonah that he raped Evangeline, when Jonah had feelings for her, intensity of such feelings aside).

“When two people love each other, it shouldn't matter whether it seems strange or wrong to anyone else”

― Joanne Tompkins, What Comes After

Evangeline, being one of the main three perspectives in the novel, is one of the strongest characters. We had a good sense of what her background, feelings, and motivations were pretty consistently throughout. The one area we discussed where we do not have a clear sense of her choices is when she sees an obstetrician for the first time and she decides she is going to keep her pregnancy. Despite being from Evangeline's point of view, she doesn't have any internal thoughts on the page where she weighs her options. She doesn't consider whether or not to have an abortion*, nor does she reckon with the consequences her decision to keep the pregnancy could have on her future life, in terms of educational and career prospects, earning potential, and so forth. Perhaps a teenager wouldn't consider those things, but absent also are any conversations with adults in the novel who might point such effects of teenage motherhood out to her. Evangeline's pregnancy narrative arc ultimately gets a happily-ever-after ending, which is sadly anomalous in the real world, particularly for someone of Evangeline's socioeconomic background. 

*My further thoughts are that while acknowledging authors are free to tell the stories they want to tell, representation in art/media/culture at large matters, this novel is another instance in a long tradition of not showing a character choosing abortion and thus contributing to perhaps a broader attitude in which abortion is not normalized and therefore an unnecessary service, and a happily-ever-after ending to an unintended pregnancy in a teenager wholly unprepared for the realities of single parenthood in a society that provides no guarantees of support contributes to the erosion of reproductive rights and a false belief by too many that reproduction is just not a big deal. Is this the whole story? Obviously not. Just something to keep in mind in the years to come. 

“Some hearts are stronger than others. I think every heart knows when it's had enough, don't you?”

― Joanne Tompkins, What Comes After

A large part of Evangeline's happily-ever-after is Isaac, who shelters her and ultimately takes her and her baby in at the end of the novel. Isaac's Quaker beliefs and practices were some of the most interesting and unique aspects of the novel. They also contributed at times to Isaac's more frustrating moments. Isaac deals with most of the difficult feelings he experiences in the Quaker fashion of sitting in silence. The idea in Quaker meetings to only speak and break the silence when divinely inspired to do so. The result is Isaac doesn't open up to the other people in his life, which he realizes at one of the turning points of the novel has contributed to some of the difficulties in his past relationships (in his marriage to his ex-wife, which had ended before the novel starts, for example). Isaac therefore does show some beginnings of personal growth by the end of the novel, letting Evangeline into his house and him imagining taking down the fence between his yard and Lorrie's as metaphors for him opening up emotionally. 

I'm not even going to talk about Rufus (or the other animals in this book), because even though I know we're being emotionally manipulated, I still just can't. Go give your nearest dog or cat a hug.

Thank you to Miriam for hosting, and to all of the attendees for such a thought-provoking discussion!

The Verdict:

Taken from the average DCBC member ratings on Goodreads who had marked the book as read and rated at the time of this writing:

What Comes After 3.0 stars

Next Month: August 2022: Portrait of a Thief, by Grace D. Li (selected by Ashley)

*No book or meeting for July!*

And always, the full book list for this cycle can be found here.

Meeting Report: May 2022

The DCBC met on Sunday, May 29, 2022 to discuss May's book: Anxious People, by Fredrik Backman (selected by Paige).

Attendees were: Paige, Miriam, Sarah, Jessy, and Ashley. 

“That's the power of literature, you know, it can act like little love letters between two people who can only explain their feelings by pointing at other people's.”

― Fredrik Backman, Anxious People

Anxious People was a "whimsical" and "playful" novel in which a "hapless bank robber accidentally takes hostages." Backman creates twelve fully-developed (and of course highly anxious) characters whose lives are woven together in ways that were sometimes surprising and sometimes not so surprising, but still a joy to read about.

“We don't have a plan, we just do our best to get through the day, because there'll be another one coming along tomorrow.”

― Fredrik Backman, Anxious People

We also had an impromptu viewing of the first episode of the Anxious People TV series (Netflix), because why not?

“We need to be allowed to convince ourselves that we're more than the mistakes we made yesterday. That we are all of our next choices, too, all of our tomorrows.”

― Fredrik Backman, Anxious People

The TV series made some different choices than the book, with some characters missing, others added, and a change-up in the order the story is being told. We absolutely could not get over the running visual gag of Jack's hair, which was a fun addition to accompany the change in medium.

“It's always very easy to declare that other people are idiots, but only if you forget how idiotically difficult being human is.”

― Fredrik Backman, Anxious People

We also learned that "how's tricks?" is a common British expression, meaning "how are things going?" The exact origins of this phrase are all over the place, with "trick" being a nautical term, or from card games, or referring to sex work. The internet is chaos and we may never know.

In any case, after much digging, I did manage to find enough of an excerpt of Folk med Ångest in Swedish that I was able to translate the real estate pun. "Hur är läget?" means, "how's it going?" in Swedish (I think a more literal translation would be something like "how's the situation"). "Läget" also means "the location." So in the original text, the real estate agency is called Läget. Because location, location, location! Translated into English, the name and reason given for it ("Because when you buy an apartment, you want to buy from someone who knows all the tricks, don't you?") are evidence that translator Neil Smith was deeply committed to giving us a real estate pun in some form.

Thank you to Paige for hosting, and to Miriam and Ashley, whose Goodreads reviews helped me remember what we talked about (because I started and then forgot to take notes)!

The Verdict:

Taken from the average DCBC member ratings on Goodreads who had marked the book as read and rated at the time of this writing:

Anxious People 4.5 stars

Next Month: June 2022: What Comes After, by Joanne Tompkins (selected by Ali)

Looking Ahead: *No book or meeting for July!* August 2022: Portrait of a Thief, by Grace D. Li (selected by Ashley)

And always, the full book list for this cycle can be found here.

Meeting Report: April 2022

The DCBC met on Sunday, April 24, 2022 to discuss April's book: The Love Hypothesis, by Ali Hazelwood (selected by Tiffany).

Attendees were: Tiffany, Melissa, Paige, Miriam, Ashley, Kristyn, Jessy, and Sarah. 

“I'm starting to wonder if this is what being in love is. Being okay with ripping yourself to shreds, so the other person can stay whole.”

The Love Hypothesis is a fun and light little romance novel that deploys the 'fake dating' trope in a STEM-academic setting with often hilarious consequences, because it's a romance novel, and what else would we expect? Fortunately, both characters are given plausible motivations for participating in their fake dating scheme.

“Olive,” Dr. Aslan interrupted her with a stern tone. “What do I always tell you?” “Um . . . ‘Don’t misplace the multichannel pipette’?” “The other thing.” She sighed. “ ‘Carry yourself with the confidence of a mediocre white man.’ ”

Ali Hazelwood's academic background shone through in the text, making (at least most of) the Academy-linked plot points believable for us.

“Expiration dates are for the weak.”

Quite a few of us may have related pretty hard to Olive's wearing her contact lenses past their expiration date. 

“I’m going to kill you,” he gritted out, little more than a growl. “If you say another word about the woman I love, if you look at her, if you even think about her - I’m going to fucking kill you.”

Those who had read it also compared The Love Hypothesis with its fanfic twin, a Reylo* alternate universe fic, and identified some other character parallels for us and where the two diverge, plot-wise.

Thank you to Tiffany and Kyle for hosting and to Kyle for toiling away in the kitchen to make such amazing homemade snacks while we discussed our book! And of course to Rey From Star Wars for gracing us with her presence!

The Verdict:

Taken from the average DCBC member ratings on Goodreads who had marked the book as read and rated at the time of this writing:

The Love Hypothesis 4.6 stars

*(Rey/Kylo Ren from Star Wars) 

Next Month: May 2022: Anxious People, by Fredrik Backman (selected by Paige)

Looking Ahead: June 2022: What Comes After, by Joanne Tompkins (selected by Ali)

And always, the full book list for this cycle can be found here.

Meeting Report: March 2022

The DCBC met on Sunday, March 27, 2022 to discuss March's book: Rage Becomes Her, by Soraya Chemaly (selected by Jessy).

This meeting was a SMASHING success, with Miriam, Jessy, Ashley, Emily, and Sarah attending. 

This book inspired some great discussions of our personal and familial experiences. Rage Becomes Her resonated with each of us, with agreement that it was tough to read at times, given the subject matter. Several of us could only read it in small doses and needed to take some deep breaths to calm down before re-engaging with the world! Our primary critiques were that Rage Becomes Her is heavy on facts, but lighter on analysis for balance, as well as being a lot of information that we pretty much already know. If anyone is not familiar in the ways in which society is biased against (in the best of times) and actively harms women (in the worst), Rage Becomes Her should be required reading. 

We concluded with a homemade rage room in Jessy's yard--thank you to Miriam for the photos and videos, and again, thank you to Jessy for putting this together and making sure we were safe doing it!

The Verdict:

Taken from the average DCBC member ratings on Goodreads who had marked the book as read and rated at the time of this writing:

Rage Becomes Her 4.2 stars

Next Month: April 2022: The Love Hypothesis, by Ali Hazelwood (selected by Tiffany)

🎵 We Had a Marvelous Time SMASHING Everything! 🎶

03/27/2022

    I'll leave the recap to Sarah, but today was very cathartic! Thank you, Jessy, for hosting and providing most of the smashing materials and the PPE!

Photos

The Setup:

Jessy, pre-meeting, ready to RAGE!

Temporarily satisfied with our smashing of the patriarchy:

Videos