May Book Club Notes

On May 13 the club met to discuss Bitter Sweets by Roopa Farooki. Seven members attended and we had fun talking about the various characters, their lies, and the consequences of those lies extending over three generations of a Bengali family. The story took place in Bengal and London.

A few of the quotes we examined were:
"I loved him too much not to hate him now"
"She'd rather be unhappy with the memory of true love, than happy with a real, breathing love."
What replaces true love once it's gone (if not hate). Shona says "emptiness." "..tears where for the coldness of her own unhappy heart."
"Dermot likes her for her intelligence, unlike Parvez who liked her inspite of it."

The issues we covered were bigamy, homosexuality, lies, dysfunctional family, denial, Asians living in London, playing a part rather than living your life, adultery, incest, and mother-daughter relationships.

Comments from readers on Amazon (mixed reviews):
"...unashamedly funny, sharply observed, but also perceptive and tender in its exploration of ethnic difference, family values and relationships..."

"The problem is, it isn't good." "..downright annoying.."

"So this is chick lit for sure."

Anyway, we all enjoyed it and had fun talking about it.

Join us on June 10 at 6:30 pm for a viewing of a movie based on a book by W. Somerset Maugham. The movie stars Naomi Watts and Edward Norton.


Val