Latest Book Review: ‘When God was a Rabbit’ by Sarah Winman
Spanning four decades, from 1968 onwards, this is the story of a fabulous but flawed family and the slew of ordinary and extraordinary incidents that shape their everyday lives. It is a story about childhood and growing up, loss of innocence, eccentricity, familial ties and friendships, love and life. Stripped down to its bare bones, its about the unbreakable bond between a brother and a sister.
The book club generally enjoyed this book, for its lighthearted tone, ability to amuse and make us laugh out loud and for basically being an "easy read". We particularly enjoyed the first half, when the main characters are children. The description of that childhood particularly resonated with some of us, for example in the freedom they enjoyed to go out and play, the football pools and we all thought the author captured childhood innocence and expression really well.
We felt the book let us down a bit in the second half as the children became adults. It became more serious and less believable and lost its amusement factor. The book provoked some discussion about more serious topics - child abuse/grooming, the restrictions now placed on children and the lack of outdoor play they enjoy unsupervised, brother/sister relationships and guilt.
All in all though it was a thumbs up - we all felt it would be a good holiday read for this summer if you manage to get any relaxing time on a beach! Overall we rated it 6.5 out of 10.
About Cromhall Book Club
Do you love reading? Do you fancy meeting up and chatting about a great read?
At Cromhall Book Club the emphasis is light-hearted and good fun. Group members take turns to choose a book and host a meeting at their house with drinks and nibbles to discuss it.
Meetings are usually on the first Wednesday of each month - see the calendar for details of upcoming dates.
If you are interested in joining Cromhall Book Club, contact Lisa Bryant at or Angela Kerr on 01454 261137 or 07855 398878.
The club is currently full, but don't let that stop you reading!
The group's book selections are published on this page to encourage you to dip in or catch up in your own time. Members also publish reviews (see above) to guide your reading choices further.
Feel free to email through your own comments on the books back to the group using the links above.
Cromhall Book Club will be issuing top tips for great Summer holiday reads and thoughtful Christmas present ideas.
They're also looking at ways of distributing books they've finished with to the village - watch this space!
All Time Favourite Reads
The book club members enjoy scoring books out of 10 and justifying their score.
They asked themselves which books they had read and would rate 10 out of 10. Answers included ‘The Thorn Birds’, ‘Little Women’ and ‘Lord of the Rings’ but click here to see which contemporary books they recommend!
At Lisa's house, 7 Drews Orchard, Cromhall (next door to Moira)
The book will be 'Salmon Fishing in the Yemen' - I believe the author is Paul Torday. Although we are aiming to keep Book Club to the first Weds of every month, we are making an exception in June as the first Weds is the week of Half Term and Jubilee celebrations so people may be away/busy. Hope this is OK - we'll be back to normal in July.
For those who were at the book club at Angela's house (reviewing When God Was A Rabbit) I did say that my book choice would be 'Wonder' as this appealed to me, so I hope no-one has been out and purchased it now my choice has changed to Salmon Fishing....! (but if you have bought it - can i borrow it?!). The reason for the change lies with our hope to hire Cromhall cinema in September to watch a film of a book we've read. Salmon Fishing has just been made into a film (out next week) so should be out on DVD by Sept for us. Hope the timing works...
Do you love reading? Do you... Read more >>
Email:
Sarah Hall's house, Post Office Cottage, Townwell
I'm thinking of suggesting River of Time by Jon Swain for something a little different (it's non-fiction). However it's not a recent book so if too many people have already read it or just aren't keen (I don't think it's a light-hearted read!) then I'm happy to choose something else...
Do you love reading? Do you fancy meeting up and chatting about a great read? The emphasis is light-hearted and good fun.
For more information please email Lisa Bryant below.
Email:
Books the group have read so far include:
Book Review: ‘The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox’ by Maggie O’Farrell
In the 1930s it was possible to commit difficult, rebellious and unconventional women to an asylum on the authorisation of a single doctor. These women were only released when the institutions closed down under the ‘Care in the Community’ Act in the 1990’s. Maggie O’Farrell has used this regrettable social history to create a powerful, outrage-inspiring and disturbing book.
Esme is institutionalised in the 1930’s for … well, that would be telling…and 60 years later is released when her asylum is closed. A series of events brings her to the home of her grandniece, Iris – a business woman with a complicated love life who had she lived in
Esme’s time may well have suffered the same fate. Secrets, especially of betrayal, are revealed slowly through the narrative voices of Esme and her older sister Kitty, now suffering from Alzheimer’s. The reader joins Iris on a kind of detective hunt for her family’s true story.
Some of the book club members thought that jumping from Iris, Esme and Kitty’s stories disrupted the plot’s flow and most members agreed they would have liked greater depth to the characters. This said, the plot was engrossing and the ending unexpected. We felt it was a good book club read as it inspired a wealth of discussion around issues such as: social repression, mental health, family relationships and revenge.
On average, it scored 6 out of 10.
See also
• Thornbury Library
• Yate Library
• South Gloucestershire's Mobile Library
