What a time to be alive. And what an even better time to be in book club. To be honest, this was my favorite group to date and to be fair, it was only the second meeting but man alive was it a delight. We spent about 20 minutes talking about the book and another 90 minutes talking about men, dating, skincare, our new Nuface devices, Woo, politics and determined that two of us went to rival high schools. I’m telling you, this book club is where it’s at. Want to join? Send me your email!
When I sat down to start this book a few weeks ago, I had a hard time getting past the first few chapters so I stepped away, planning to come back to it days later. Then all of a sudden it was the day before book club and I hadn’t touched the book since I’d set it down weeks before. So, I carved out a few hours on Sunday afternoon and read the entire thing in one sitting. All of that say, I think I would have felt differently about this book if I’d read it over a period of time instead of one sitting. It was a bit slow getting started, picked up quickly near the end, then finished almost abruptly. If anything, I wish it was a little more tempered throughout.
Overall, I thought it was a well written, interesting story. While none of us were surprised at who the murderer turned out to be, we all had different thoughts about whodunnit throughout the story. Race plays a pivotal role in this 1960s North Carolina based story so we dove into that a bit last night, as well. Interestingly enough, I was the only reader who had a different vision in mind about the race of the primary family in this story which ended up fueling our main discussion.
Would I recommend it? Yes. Do I understand the wild hype behind it? No. It’s a tragic story about a woman who is outcast and abandoned over and over again throughout her life. Maybe I would have felt differently reading this in a less depressing time. Have you read it? What did you think?
NEXT BOOK CLUB:
In an Instagram Story battle of a lot to a little, The 7 Husbands of Evelyn Hugo won out over being next month’s book over The Alice Network. We meet again June 1, 7pm CST with your favorite beverage and best pj’s to discuss the book and more.
See you then!
