This was our book club book selection for October.  (Yes, I’m a little behind).

Have you read it?  I would recommend this book to those who like a thoughtful, philosophical, bare-with-the-plot-but-makes-you-think kind of book.  If you like action and adventure and cliffhangers, this is not the book for you.

But I liked it.   This excerpt might give you a clue as to why:

“Personally, I think that grammar is a way to attain beauty.”  (p 158)

Need I say more?  Okay, one more excerpt:

“…nothing is harder or more unfair than human reality: humans live in a world where it’s words and not deeds that have power, where the ultimate skill is mastery of language.”  (p 57)

I’ve thought about this sentiment many times since I first read it.  Do you agree that it is true?  I do.  Two days ago, the news came on the radio.  The anchor introduced a woman whose daughter was killed by a drunk driver.  That driver had recently been granted bail and the mother was to give her reaction.  Immediately my mind jumped ahead and anticipated a crying mother spewing sentiments of the “it’s not fair” variety, which would be completely normal and right.  I was completely surprised when she expressed her anger and disappointment with the justice system in an incredibly eloquent and articulate way.  I could tell she wasn’t reading a prepared statement, she was speaking on the fly.  “…the ultimate skill is mastery of language.”  To master language at such a time made her plight so much more real and powerful to me and perhaps more impactful to those who could create change in the justice system.

All this to say that the book resonates with me, for reasons far beyond a good story, which, by the way, is also included.

 

This month: The Birth House by Ami McKay.

 

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