Last night, Lowestoft Library Book Group met for their November meeting. This past month we read The Wandering Falcon by Jamil Ahmad. As you know, I don't do book reviews. Even if I wanted to do book reviews, I couldn't for this one. I found myself just reading the words and not taking in any of the story. Nothing really stood out to capture my imagination and keep me gripped to the plot. That's a bit of a lie. The first chapter was good, and so were the last two chapters. But everything in between seemed to pass me by.
The only bit that really interested me was towards the end, when a couple were getting married, and the groom came into possession of a bear. The wedding party walk from town to town, and the bear dances and walks with them. When the husband and wife get into their house, the bear comes too. The husband seems to love the bear more than his wife, so she takes her revenge. The husband trains the bear by hitting it with a stick. The wife puts nails into the stick, which causes the bear to get injured whenever the husband hit it. Because he loves the bear so much, he threatens his wife and tells her that whatever happens to the bear will happen to her also. So she will eat whatever the bear eats, but if the bear isn't hungry, she will go without food. She eventually runs away and gets sold as a prostitute.
The only bit that really interested me was towards the end, when a couple were getting married, and the groom came into possession of a bear. The wedding party walk from town to town, and the bear dances and walks with them. When the husband and wife get into their house, the bear comes too. The husband seems to love the bear more than his wife, so she takes her revenge. The husband trains the bear by hitting it with a stick. The wife puts nails into the stick, which causes the bear to get injured whenever the husband hit it. Because he loves the bear so much, he threatens his wife and tells her that whatever happens to the bear will happen to her also. So she will eat whatever the bear eats, but if the bear isn't hungry, she will go without food. She eventually runs away and gets sold as a prostitute.
The book group discussion focussed on the social and cultural differences between England and Pakistan, where the book is set, such as the way they treat women and children, and how killing and disemboweling is a normal way of life. I vaguely remember the negative treatment of women in the book, and obviously the word 'disembowel' is going to jump from the page. But I was unimpressed with the whole thing, so I can't really say much more.
The meeting last night was fairly hurried, as we had to leave by eight, giving us only an hour to talk.
Next month there won't be a meeting, as it would fall on Christmas Day and I don't think anyone would fancy that. So we have two books to read before our meeting in January; The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths, and The Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld. Some cheery stuff to read over Christmas!
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