Praise for The Island of Missing Trees was plentiful in this month's sessions, with a large majority of readers claiming to have fallen in love, quite unexpectedly, with a Fig Tree. Though most readers were a bit taken aback by the unusual narrator to begin with, they quickly warmed to her voice and her wealth of knowledge.
There were, however, a few readers who simply could not get past the talking tree. Though some pushed through and managed to get to the end, despite not liking the book at all, others gave up and put this book in the 'did not finish' pile. There were a few readers who thought it focused too much on the ‘hot’ topics of the day - migrants, trauma, mental health, the environment, and our careless treatment of it– and not enough on the heart and soul of the characters.
For most readers, however, this was a story that had everything they could ask for in a novel. They felt that the use of the tree as narrator was a clever way to impart knowledge about the natural world, and a way to give the reader a full picture of the story as it unfolded. The fact that the tree is neither Greek nor Turkish, (indeed, not even human), made it a truly bi-partisan observer.
Several readers mentioned that they now have a new appreciation of trees, and spoke about how much they loved reading about the natural world and the interconnection between plants and animals. A few even felt guilty pruning trees and bushes in their gardens after reading the book. Everyone agreed that the book made them think deeply about the parallels between humans and the plants and animals we live side by side with. A plant’s ability to sense encroaching dangers and to change their growth habits accordingly reminded us of our own tendency to protect ourselves by turning inward or shutting down when we are threatened physically or emotionally. The comparison led to a discussion of our various reactions to trauma. Often our worst habits, compulsions and avoidances are simply protective responses that keep the pain of being human at bay, but which ultimately make things worse.
We loved the analogy of families being like trees with entangled roots and individual branches jutting out at awkward angles and of family traumas being like the resin that drips from cuts in the bark, trickling down generations and settling and coagulating in cracks. The visual image of trauma flowing past some cracks and settling in others was a graphic illustration of the fact that some family members seem deeply affected by generational traumas while others remain unmarked by it.
On a more hopeful note, we were grateful to learn that resilience could also be passed on and that descendants of trees scorched in bushfires developed ways to withstand future blazes. Some readers had examples of families who had been through hard times and who produced many members who were made of tough stuff.
The efforts Kostas made to keep his fig tree alive in an unfamiliar and unsuitable habitat made us think of the extra protection and support migrants need to settle in a new environment. Most of us had never heard of burying a fig tree and were fascinated by the process. We loved how the author drew parallels between the burying and unburying of the tree, and the burying of secrets, and the unburying of bones. We talked about the difficulties of uprooting yourself and planting a new life in a different culture, about how the first generation struggle with the loss of leaving everything behind and the second generation take on the trauma. The tree itself took on its own migration.
A few readers knew about the history of Cyprus but for most of us this part of the book was very illuminating. Many found it hard to relate to the hatred that existed between the Greeks and the Turks and that people who were once friendly neighbours could never be spoken to again. That Defne’s mother would cut off her own daughter and threaten another one with the same fate if she ever saw her sister was unimaginable to us. We concluded that we were very lucky to live in a country that had not ever been torn apart by civil war but understood that first nations people might feel similar unresolved trauma to the Greeks and Turks.
Most readers loved Yusuf and Yiorgos and wished we had heard more of their story – how they had met and how they had overcome the prejudice to become lovers. Their murder was shocking, and some readers were moved to tears, however others felt somewhat removed from it because we knew so little about them as characters. We all wanted to visit the tavern and sample the delicious food in the beautiful environment they had created.
All in all, most groups loved the book finding it educational and thought provoking.
We look forward to next month’s sessions.
Happy Reading!
Britt, Laura, Vicky & The Riverbend Team
Classics Feedback by Laura - Brideshead Revisited
Most readers very much enjoyed our first book of the year, Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited listing the wonderful descriptive prose and the complex web of characters and plot developments as the main attractions. However, there were a minority of readers who were irritated by what they saw as the vacuous lives of the characters, the constant religious references, and the lack of believability of some of the scenes.
We talked about the fact that upon publication the book was criticised in literary quarters for not focusing on the more fashionable topic of the working-class man and for being too adulatory of the upper classes. There is no doubt that both the author and his narrator, Charles Ryder were infatuated by the world occupied by people like the Flyte family. As the son of a publisher, Waugh was not a member of the upper class and his hopes of being accepted by them were dashed when his brother was sent down from the elite Sherburne College for sexual misbehaviour. Evelyn was forced to attend a less prestigious school which he believed prevented him from being accepted into the better colleges at Oxford. Despite this Waugh went on to befriend many aristocratic people who lived in large country houses and in many ways the book is an elegy for the traditions, values, and way of life of these people which had begun to die away after the second world war.
Not everybody liked Charles Ryder, the narrator and central character of the book, finding him colourless and a bit emotionally shut down. Many had him pinned as the ultimate social climber whose attraction to Sebastian and the Flyte family was more about what they represented - beauty, luxury, wealth, tradition and social standing – than who they were as people. Although some readers cut him some slack due to the early loss of his mother and his upbringing up by a distant father in a dull and lifeless home most of us felt this didn’t excuse his callous treatment of his wife Celia and their children. However, we thought Charles was the ideal narrator who by not being vibrant and interesting himself could better observe and tell the story of those who were. Only someone who has not been raised on sumptuous foods or surrounded by magnificent art and architecture could convey the joyful experience of being exposed to it for the first time as a young man. Descriptions of fresh strawberries, cold champagne, plover’s eggs and beautiful country houses filled with priceless art would have been absorbed like a drug by a population who had been subjected to food rations for years and who had watched their historical buildings being destroyed by the blitz. We were sure they were a huge part of the book’s commercial success when it was published shortly after the war.
Many readers loved the character of Sebastian and we found his trajectory from beautiful, quirky, charming young man to a sick and prematurely aged alcoholic heart-breaking. Readers advanced many theories for his decline. Some said it was his repressed homosexuality which could not be tolerated by his religion (or any religion in those days) that sent him to drink. Others blamed a dysfunctional family dynamic – his father’s departure, his mother’s shame at being deserted, his lack of purpose as the second son or spare, the hands-off parenting practised by the aristocracy and his mother’s attempts to control his every move. Another contingent simply believed that he was born an alcoholic who didn’t get the requisite help. Mostly we saw a 19-year-old who refused to grow up, who was still attached to his Nanny, his teddy, the pursuit of pleasure and getting his own way and concluded that a mix of a mix of factors both genetic and environmental were at play.
We talked about the nature of the relationship between Charles and Sebastian and whether they were lovers or merely romantically attached friends. Some readers were very interested in this question and others thought it didn’t really matter. What was interesting was that same sex attraction was clearly a thing among the upper classes that attended Oxford in the 19330’s and Waugh himself was romantically linked with quite a few young men before going on to marry twice and have seven children. We thought it quite brave of him to incorporate an arguably gay relationship into a novel in 1945 particularly when one of the parties to that relationship was clearly based on himself.
We spent a lot of time talking about Lady Marchmain. Many readers initially blamed her for all the trouble in the Flyte family and branded her a religious fanatic and control freak who alienated people with her rigid beliefs. However, over time, some realised that this view of her was a bit simplistic. When we tried to pinpoint exactly what she did that was so wrong we struggled a bit. Perhaps trying to curtail her son’s drinking by having him supervised and followed when he was away from home was a tad controlling but most readers did not think it was the cause of Sebastian’s compulsive drinking and she didn’t seem to exert undue control over her other children. Removing all access to alcohol from Sebastian when he was at Brideshead was a not so unwise alternative to letting him drink himself to an early death under her nose. Others thought she should have arranged help for his addiction, but we weren’t sure that had Sebastian been offered rehabilitation therapy he would have taken advantage of it. A few readers thought she should have simply turned his remittance money off forcing him to provide for himself and grow up, but we all agreed how hard it is to deny support to someone who is still a child in so many respects. The balance between looking after someone and letting them make their own mistakes is a difficult one to strike particularly when the stakes are so high. Many blamed her fervent religiosity for everything that was wrong with the Flyte family but couldn’t really say why. Others thought that her shame and pain at being abandoned by her husband would have been great and she might have needed her faith to get through it. After discussing all this quite a few readers thought Cordelia’s assertion that ‘when people wanted to hate God, they hated Mummy’ might have some merit as did Cara’s observation ‘that Lady Marchmain was a good and simple woman’ who had been loved by a man (Lord Marchmain) who had not grown up and who instead of hating all the illusions of his childhood that had not come to fruition, hated his wife instead. We remarked how often in literature mothers get the blame for their children’s unhappiness when the father has been equally if not more remiss.
Julia was an enigmatic figure for some readers. We wondered why someone so beautiful and wealthy would want to marry Rex but we could see why she was attracted to his drive and ability to get what he wanted and his many points of difference from her own family. The fact that he was unconcerned with society’s conventions and was prepared to marry a catholic whose father had run off with his mistress also helped. Not many readers thought the marriage would last. As for her second love interest, Charles, we couldn’t understand the attraction and were not surprised when she broke off their engagement. A few readers believed her explanation that she could never be happy in a marriage that was not blessed and accepted by God ( or more accurately the catholic church) but most thought that was just an excuse to get out of a relationship with a boring and not very nice man who saw her brother every time he looked at her. We hoped she found fulfilment and purpose nursing soldiers in Spain.
Religion is omnipresent in the book and Waugh himself said the theme of the novel was the operation of divine grace on a group of diverse but closely connected characters. Since many people who liked the book found the religious references to divine grace mystifying and totally unbelievable, we concluded that it didn’t matter if a reader’s interpretation of a book did not accord with the author’s stated intent. A book gains its life in the mind of the reader and this one could easily be enjoyed as an absorbing tale about an upper-class family and their friend set during a time when the world was undergoing great change.
However, many readers were very interested in the religious aspects of the book and the role faith played in the lives of Charles and the Flytes. One reader came up with the interesting theory that the character of Nanny Hawkins represented religion or God in the story – always present and offering unconditional love and support from the beginning right through to the end of the story.
By choosing an agnostic as narrator we thought Waugh initially encouraged the reader to view the catholic faith as a complex game with interminable rules that produce ridiculous outcomes. Questions such as who can marry who and who can get to heaven are all dependent on fulfilling sets of criteria that even the staunch Catholics can’t agree on. Cordelia, Bridey and even Lord Marchmain’s mistress Cara all have their views on these manmade laws. Many readers identified with Charles as he watched on in horror as the priest was brought to Lord Marchmain’s death bed against his wishes and some believed that Lord Marchmain’s sign of the cross was an attempt to make the priest go away rather than a genuine acceptance of the Lord’s forgiveness. However, for quite a few readers, the theme of faith became more developed from this scene onwards and it was one of the most moving in the book. They felt that witnessing this genuine sign by Lord Marchmain started Charles on the way to finding a belief in God and the novel ends with him returning as an army captain to a dilapidated and repurposed Brideshead where his day is cheered by saying a prayer, ‘ an ancient, newly learned form of words’ before the flame in the Chapel. The reference to Charles’ conversion is subtle and many readers missed it, but for Waugh, who converted to Catholicism in his thirties and for whom the book was at least partly autobiographical, it was important that his narrator find peace in a belief in God.
Perhaps one of the most interesting religious theories we discussed related to Sebastian and his struggles with alcohol. Although he describes himself to Charles as a half heathen, Charles noted that he always ‘took mass’ and some readers believed that he had the most simple and unquestioning faith of all the Flytes. When he tells Charles that you can believe something just because it’s a lovely story he is talking about the beautiful parts of religion. The great art and music, the romantic stories, the colourful ornamentation of churches with their stained-glass windows. However, he was unprepared for the more difficult aspects of his faith namely the need to forgo self-gratification sometimes and put others first. As Sebastian’s life moves away from the pursuit of pleasure and beauty and he learns to deal with suffering and care for someone other than himself he is drawn closer to God until he finds some kind of peace as a lay brother in a monastery. We remembered Cordelia saying that Sebastian had a vocation to religious life but hated that he had it and we wondered whether drinking alcohol was his way of blocking out the voice of an innate spirituality that demanded that he give up his childish life of pleasure and turn towards more meaningful things. One reader observed that one of the most enduringly successful addiction programs - alcoholics anonymous -has a religious underpinning.
For many readers their favourite characters were those who provided the humour. We loved Charles Father’s glee at refusing Charles any financial help when he ‘ran short’ and thought it was pretty good parenting since Charles, with all his faults, at least distinguished himself from the other characters by working and supporting himself throughout his life. We thought Cordelia with her novenas for her pet pig Francis Xavier, and her collecting five shillings to buy African God daughters was like the court jester who illuminates the truth with her funny observations. Rex Mottram’s attempts at conversion and his bemusement at not being able to buy his way into the Catholic church, Bridey endlessly pondering whether he should be a Jesuit, a soldier or a politician while earnestly collecting matchboxes and Celia’s ruthless socialising all provided lighter moments and showcased Waugh’s brilliance as a satirical writer.
Whether we read it as a gripping family saga or a deeply reflective religious novel, Brideshead Revisited generated lots of interesting discussion over a range of topics and almost everyone was happy to have read it. As usual we learned and laughed a lot about literature and life.
Review by Chloe - Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett
by Chloe Townson
We all know the old adage don’t judge a book by its cover. It’s an adage I often repeat when recommending Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries to others. Which, when I describe the book, seems counterproductive. When one looks upon this cover they think ‘cosey’. They think fluffy, low stakes, light-hearted fantasy. Which… okay, this book isn’t not that. But nor is it entirely that, either.
Emily Wilde is an efficient, prodigious professor cursed to live in a time where women are not given the same respect as men — especially in an academic field. She is forced to work alongside Wendell Bambleby — the same age, but already tenured. To Emily, who is not good with people, the overtly charming Bambleby is an annoyance she’d prefer to be without. She’s glad to be out of the office and in the field without him — only to have him show up on her doorstep anyway.
Set in a world where Faerie are proven real and their existence is accepted among humanity, Emily has made it her priority to write the first ever comprehensive Encylopaedia of Faeries and, unfortunately, she cannot do it without Bambleby’s introduction. She grudgingly accepts his help (though he gets in her way more than he helps), and soon discovers that Bambleby is not all that he appears to be.
Yes, this is a story set in a cold climate. There’s a cottage and warm fires and homely food, and at times you will laugh out loud at the interactions between Emily and Bambleby. The story is cosey, in so many ways. But there’s darkness, too. The Faerie are not cute and sparkly. They are dark, and they don’t care at all about humanity or their suffering. Humans, to these Faerie, are pets or mere amusements. If this story is a field of flowers, be prepared to stumble across a few thorns.
I was surprised by how much I loved this book. I fell in love with the characters — so well-rounded and fleshed out and who now live in my head rent-free. I loved the landscape and the setting, I loved the plot, which will only thicken in books two and three. For those who don’t like to start incomplete series, you’re safe with Emily Wilde - there’s no cliffhanger, and the bows are mostly tied up neatly. You can be satisfied by the end. If you want more, though, you need only be patient.
Riverbend Bookclub Reads - October
RIVERBEND READERS + KNITS & NOVELS
THE EULOGY
by Jackie Bailey
It’s winter in Logan, south-east Queensland, and still warm enough to sleep in a car at night if you have nowhere else to go. But Kathy can’t sleep. Her husband is on her blocked caller list and she’s running from a kidnapping charge, a Tupperware container of 300 sleeping pills in her glovebox. She has driven from Sydney to plan a funeral with her five surviving siblings (most of whom she hardly speaks to) because their sister Annie is finally, blessedly, inconceivably dead from the brain tumour she was diagnosed with twenty-five years ago, the year everything changed.
Kathy wonders – she has always wondered – did Annie get sick to protect her? And if so, from what?
In writing Annie’s eulogy, Kathy attempts to understand the tangled story of the Bradley family: from their mother’s childhood during the Japanese occupation of Singapore in World War Two and their father’s experiences in the Malayan conflict and the Vietnam War, to Annie’s cancer and disability, and the events that have shaped the person that Kathy is today. Ultimately, Kathy needs Annie to help her decide whether she will allow herself to love and be loved.
DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE
BABEL
by R.F. KUANG
Oxford, 1836.
The city of dreaming spires.
It is the centre of all knowledge and progress in the world.
And at its centre is Babel, the Royal Institute of Translation. The tower from which all the power of the Empire flows.
Orphaned in Canton and brought to England by a mysterious guardian, Babel seemed like paradise to Robin Swift.
Until it became a prison…
But can a student stand against an empire?
An incendiary new novel from award-winning author R.F. Kuang about the power of language, the violence of colonialism, and the sacrifices of resistance.
THE TEACHER LIBRARIAN BOOKCLUB
PICTURE BOOK
TWO DOGS
by Ian Falconer
Dachshund brothers Perry and Augie are home alone and desperately want to get outside and have a good time. Augie is the cautious one, the worrier; Perry is pure joy and excitement. When they finally manage to open the back door, mischievous adventures begin! Soon they're diving into the swimming pool, digging an enormous hole, and more! Will all return to normal before their owners come home?
This witty and utterly heartwarming story plays perfectly off the exquisite illustrations. These are Ian Falconer's first all-new characters since Olivia, and Two Dogs is sure to equally capture the hearts of readers everywhere.
Perfect for fans of imaginative dog books like Bark, George and A Ball for Daisy!
JUNIOR FICTION BOOK
HOW TO BE… THE NEW PERSON
by Anna Bradford
Delightful and insightful story from the author of the Violet Mackerel series Hazel Morrison has a secret habit – pretending to make videos about everyday things. Eight important tips for successfully buttering toast! Putting your hair in a ponytail: a step-by-step guide! But when her family move to the outer suburbs, Hazel has to cope with starting at a new school where she doesn’t exactly feel welcomed. A school project inspires her to create a real video – a how-to guide for being “the new person” . . . because everyone, sometime, will meet one, or be one!
MIDDLE FICTION BOOK
A WALK IN THE DARK
by Jane Godwin
A gripping and suspenseful rite-of-passage novel about five teenagers and one night that will change them all, from award-winning author Jane Godwin. 'It's just a walk in the dark. What is there to worry about?' That's what the head teacher, Johan, says. And so the Year Nines from Otway Community School set out on an overnight hike, with no adults. But doesn't Johan know that a storm is coming? When five teenagers head in to the forest that late afternoon, none of them is aware what the night will bring. Each will have to draw on their particular strengths to survive. Each will have to face the unknown, battling the elements, events beyond their control, and their own demons. It's a night that will change everything. Set in the lush rainforest of Victoria's Otway Ranges, A Walk in the Dark is about friendship, trust, identity and family, consent and boundaries, wrapped in a compulsively readable, suspense-filled adventure. Five head into the forest, but will all five make it out?
Riverbend Bookclub Reads - September
RIVERBEND READERS + KNITS & NOVELS
HORSE
by Geraldine Brooks
A discarded painting in a roadside clean-up, forgotten bones in a research archive, and Lexington, the greatest racehorse in US history. From these strands of fact, Geraldine Brooks weaves a sweeping story of spirit, obsession and injustice across American history. Kentucky, 1850. An enslaved groom named Jarret and a bay foal forge a bond of understanding that will carry the horse to record-setting victories across the South, even as the nation reels towards war. An itinerant young artist who makes his name from paintings of the horse takes up arms for the Union and reconnects with the stallion and his groom on a perilous night far from the glamour of any racetrack. New York City, 1954. Martha Jackson, a gallery owner celebrated for taking risks on edgy contemporary painters, becomes obsessed with a nineteenth-century equestrian oil painting of mysterious provenance. Washington, DC, 2019. Jess, a Smithsonian scientist from Australia, and Theo, a Nigerian-American art historian, find themselves unexpectedly connected through their shared interest in the horse - one studying the stallion's bones for clues to his power and endurance, the other uncovering the lost history of the unsung Black horsemen who were critical to his racing success. With the moral complexity of March and a multi-stranded narrative reminiscent of People of the Book, this enthralling novel is a gripping reckoning with the legacy of enslavement and racism in America. Horse is the latest masterpiece from a writer with a prodigious talent for bringing the past to life.
DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE
THE STARDUST THIEF
by Chelsea Abdullah
Inspired by stories from One Thousand and One Nights, The Stardust Thief weaves the gripping tale of a legendary smuggler, a cowardly prince and a dangerous quest across the desert to find a legendary, magical lamp. Neither here nor there, but long ago... Loulie al-Nazari is the Midnight Merchant: a criminal who, with the help of her jinn bodyguard, hunts and sells illegal magic. When she saves the life of a cowardly prince, she draws the attention of his powerful father, the sultan, who blackmails her into finding an ancient lamp. With no choice but to obey or be executed, Loulie journeys with the sultan's oldest son to find the artefact. Aided by her bodyguard, who has secrets of his own, they must survive ghoul attacks, outwit a vengeful jinn queen and confront a malicious killer from Loulie's past. And, in a world where story is reality and illusion is truth, Loulie will discover that everything - her enemy, her magic, even her own past - is not what it seems, and she must decide who she will become in this new reality.
THE TEACHER LIBRARIAN BOOKCLUB
PICTURE BOOK
THERE’S NO SUCH BOOK
by Jessica Dettmann + Jake Minton
There's No Such Book is a funny and heartwarming that will resonate with anyone who has experienced the frenzy of Book Week.
It's the night before the Book Week parade and Ellie announces that she needs a costume by the morning. Mum, who is taken by surprise, desperately tries to piece together a costume from what’s lying around the house …
They went into the bathroom.
‘Hmm,’ said Mum. ‘Don’t I remember once reading you a book about a monster whose skin looked like it was made of bright green towels?’
‘No,’ said Ellie. ‘There is no such book.’ Ellie heads to bed only with Mum's promise that she’ll have a costume sorted by the morning. Mum stays true to her word, but perhaps not in the way that Ellie was hoping.
JUNIOR FICTION BOOK
HOW TO BE PRIME MINISTER AND SURVIVE GRADE FIVE
by Carla Fitzgerald
Imagine your dad gets the top job but isn't exactly up to it. Then he sneaks off on holiday, leaving the country without a leader. What would you do? When Harper's dad becomes the prime minister of Australia he's terrible at it. He was thrust into the top job after a heroic boogie-board rescue of two kids (and a labradoodle) from a shark attack, but surviving government is proving hard. Their family is a laughing stock, and Dad disappears to a 'conference' - but he leaves his phone behind. With her little sister, Lottie, Harper must secretly take his place and decide on a new policy by the end of the week. She finds herself torn between ideas - should she ban plastic bottles? Or make weekends longer? Can she prove a kid can lead the country better than a grown-up?
MIDDLE FICTION BOOK
ANSWERS IN THE PAGES
by David Levithan
Donovan is excited to read The Adventurers, the new book Mr Howe has assigned his class. But before he can dig in, his mother gets her hands on it--and she is not excited by what she reads. Soon the whole town is freaking out about whether the book's two main characters are gay, and Donovan is caught in the middle. Rick and Oliver are the two main characters in The Adventurers. They're trying to stop an evil genius from acquiring the Doomsday Code and destroying life as we know it. Meanwhile, Gideon and Roberto have been paired up on their own book project, which draws them closer and closer together... With Answers in the Pages, bestselling author David Levithan delivers a bold, fun story about taking action (whether it's against book censors or killer alligators), being brave (in love and in adventure), and standing up for what's right, no matter the circumstances.
SECONDARY FICTION
THE STRANDED
by Sarah Daniels
A gripping, near-future thriller - The Hunger Games meets Station Eleven. Welcome to the Arcadia. Once a luxurious cruise ship, it became a refugee camp after being driven from Europe by an apocalyptic war. Now it floats near the coastline of the Federated States - a leftover piece of a fractured USA. For forty years, residents of the Arcadia have been prohibited from making landfall. It is a world of extreme haves and have-nots, gangs, and make-shift shelters. Esther is a loyal citizen, working flat-out to have the rare chance to live a normal life as a medic on dry land. Ben is a rebel, planning something big to liberate the Arcadia once and for all. When events throw them both together, their lives, and the lives of everyone on the ship, will change forever . . . Complete with love triangles, betrayals, and fights for freedom - this is the unmissable YA debut of 2022.