A Fine Balance

     

by Rohinton Mistry

This month we read A Fine Balance, a historical fiction novel which takes place in India in the 1970's. During this time a state of emergency was in effect for about two years, as declared by Prime Minister Idira Gandhi. The emergency gave her ultimate power and it is interesting to see how her power effected the different characters in the story.

We all remarked at how lucky we are in this country to have running water 24 hours a day and clean, indoor restrooms. We also appreciate the rights that women have in this country, although we realized that has come a long way since the 1970's.

There are so many fine balances in life, but this book seemed to focus on the fine balance between hope and despair. When things get bad in life (as they did so many times in this story), as long as the characters had hope for the future, they could carry on, despite their despair. But when hope was lost for one character, the despair had nothing to balance it.

In the spirit of the book, our meeting spot was The Himalayan Kitchen in Salt Lake City. Their food was wonderful and the nan was amazing. Excellent service as well.

The Shoemaker's Wife

     

by Adriana Trigiani

This month's book is a touching story of a man and woman who grew up in the Italian alps and met in Italy coincidentally as teenagers, then found each other many years later in America. Their lives cross paths many times before they finally affirm their love for each other and marry. Their struggles in coming to America and building a life are not unlike so many others who fled to America in the early 1900s.

Our meeting spot was appropriately an Italian restaurant in Bountiful - Robintino's.

The Birth of Venus

     

by Sarah Dunant

This month's book was an interesting story about the life of a girl in 15th century Florence. With so many twists and turns we all found this book to be very unpredictable which added to its appeal. And we loved learning more about the history of Florence.

We met at Bistro on Main in Bountiful, formerly Sego Lily Cafe, a cozy little restaurant with a delicious selection. 

Queen Hereafter

     

by Susan Fraser King

Our book this month was Queen Hereafter, a wonderful account of Queen Margaret of Scotland. Margaret led an interesting life and her piety and charitable acts make it easy to see why she was deemed a saint after her death. The only disappointment for some of us was the ending, some thought it a fairly dull ending.

We met at Arella Pizzeria in Bountiful and enjoyed some delicious pizza. We ordered several pizzas to share and they were all delicious! The Arella (Italian) soda was delightful.

The Dante Club

     

by Matthew Pearl

Our book this month was The Dante Club, a great book for Dante lovers.

We met at Market Street Oyster Bar in downtown Salt Lake City

The Swan Thieves

     

by Elizabeth Kostova

Our book this month was Swan Thieves, the story of an artist whose obsession with someone from the past eventually leads to his own unraveling. This book club member was unable to finish the book in time for the meeting so skipped out so as not to ruin the ending. I will rely on comments of others to fill in the details of the meeting.

The restaurant this month was Gourmandise, a French bakery in Salt Lake City serving gourmet soups, salads and sandwiches and an array of delicious pastries for dessert.

The Invisible Bridge

     

by Julie Orringer

There was lots of discussion about this month's book with less digression than most meetings. We all liked the different perspective on WW II, from a Jewish Hungarian rather than what we read in history books. We were interested to hear WW I referred to as "The Great War" (easy to forget they didn't know WW I would be followed by WW II).

When Andras started his life in Paris a couple of us found that our willing suspension of disbelief was stretched a bit thin with Andras' connections in Paris - him meeting Klara through Madame Gerard after hand-delivering and posting a letter to her from Hungary, and the connection between Klara and Novak, the same man he met on the train to Paris and later worked for. In such a large city as Paris, we found these coincidences to be a bit incredulous, but nonetheless we still enjoyed the story.

In terms of Andras and Klara, we could all understand why it took so long for her to tell him the truth about her history. She had to be sure she could trust him and she was justifiably afraid she might endanger herself by revealing her secret. Back in Hungary, we commented on the differences between the Levi family and the Hasz family but found it interesting how the war leveled the playing field so that even the privileged were subjected to labor camps and imprisonment.  

We also commented on how slowly news traveled during the time this story took place, versus the instantaneous communication we enjoy today via the internet. Its hard to imagine waiting 3 weeks for a reply to a letter. How difficult it must have been for people to know the truth during the time this story took place, since most news sources would not print the truth so it was only by word of mouth.

We all came away from this book feeling very lucky to be living in America where we enjoy so many freedoms that we sometimes take for granted. Even on a bad day when it feels that things are not going well, at least we are not fearing for our lives or those of our loved ones. The amount of uncertainty surrounding the lives of the characters in the story was staggering, it must have been a very stressful time to be alive.

Our venue this month was Mazza Cafe, a wonderful middle-eastern eatery with many delectable dishes. The dinners were presented so well on the plates that took pictures of all of them!