Here’s what happened at book club…
Well Ladies, that was quite the meeting!! Seems those political based books get the juices pumping! Of those of us who managed to finished the book the opinions were all over the place (surprised anyone??). Lets start with what we did agree on… the subject matter – the resistance movement in South America in the 1970s/80s – was thought provoking and very interesting as an historical event that few of us knew much about before now.
At least one of our group loved the book and thoroughly enjoyed the reading of it. Some of us found the telling of this story to be a bit tedious with way to much detail. As there were no book club questions available, our group rose to the occasion and provided Peggy with some great thought provoking questions for us to discuss. Oh! the prizes helped of course. We’ll provide the questions a little later in case other book clubs would like to use them but here are some of the discussions that were triggered:
- There were some varying opinions on whether taking the children from their father and involving them in the resistance movement was selfish of Carmen’s mother or an act of motherly love. One of us wondered if Carmen’s mom kept the children with her to provide for a better ‘cover’ as part of the resistance – a very interesting theory for which a valid argument was made.
- Some wondered how it was possible to go from one country to another so often and so easliy, take flying lessons, etc. while being watched and followed.
- Upon learning that Carmen is now a Canadian actress and screenwriter some of us questioned her motives for writing the book at all. Was it to promote her career or perhaps the telling of this story as well as other Latino stories Carmen’s way of combating the stereotypes and continuing the fight. In either case watching an interview of Carmen as a woman in her 40s was quite interesting. – good thinking Peggy!
- An interesting discussion arose about what we each feel passionately about and how we would know when it was time to stop fighting for it. And is there, in fact, anything we are willing to fight to the extreme for?
….. now what would our meeting be without getting a little sidetracked??? At some point we had a heated discussion about Stephen Harper and a few possible scenarios of dealing with him, the $100,000 spent this year on air travel for one local politician, funding for non-profit groups and the challenges of balancing the needs & rights of all children in school… oh yes lets not forget the Naomi Bars!!! What??
Any discussion of book club at Peggy’s would not be complete without talking about the grub. What a spread! We had the most delicious soup with quesadillas and homemade cheese cake – veggies, dips, chocolate …. mmmmmm. Oh yes all served with wine and fancy drinks. Wonderful.
Another great evening with an extraordinary group of women. Lucky us!
Something Fierce Book Club Discussion Questions
