The Book Club [Kindle Edition]

I bought this book after reading a review of it in the newspaper. I liked the sound of the plot- a book club united by a secret. Unfortunately though, the book didn't live up to it's promise- the plot meandered pointlessly up dead ends reminiscent of the more annoying features of Stieg Larrson. There were regular meandering discourses on the sins of capitalism and the Dutch political elite, which I skipped through without losing the thread of the book. Another negative was that the characters were not engaging- it was hard to feel strongly about any of them. I think in the wake of the Millenium trilogy, publishers are looking for authors to translate to reproduce their success, but I would give this one a miss. The one saving grace was that it was short- I did get to the end as I was interested enough to want to know what the secret was, but even this was something of an anti climax.

This confident and intelligent second novel doesn't make allowances for the slow of thinking. It has been translated from the Dutch language by Paul Vincent, and offers most intriguing and revelatory insights into the everyday lives of the several overbearing doughty burghers of a rural Dutch community.

Tentacles of influence and power spread from their communication technology; remarkably far reaching effects of decisions made by members of The Book Club past and present are gradually disclosed. Not the kind of 'The Book Club' novel that has been published before; romance, family history and friendships are on a different more erudite and masculine level here. Morality is definitely on another plane. This may be short but it is not a light read.

In the meetings of the Book Club that the reader is allowed to attend I was amused to see how cleverly the members distracted and diverted the conversation away from the real issue that we were waiting to hear about; the chosen book, and how they showed off their scholarship and made autocratic decisions. There is only one female member Gabrielle and she is almost considered an honorary male. These meetings are top quality set pieces of interactive narrative.

Surprisingly intellectual arguments are waged, in sometimes slightly disembodied conversations - the scene is not always set with care. Occasionally awkward turns of phrase remind you that you are reading a translation. Randolph is the alpha male, his wife Lisa rather dippy and garden orientated. Theresa their reluctant daughter (`did she actually love her mother? She doubted it') is married to John, an older man who clearly has his finger on the pulse of world affairs. Lucius, the book shop owner and newly besotted cat lover, digs about; Victor the journalist returns to the town of his childhood just before the now popular author Ruth Ackerman nee de Winter, returns to give a talk about her memoir/novel. It is Theresa who slowly emerges from her cosseted cocoon to face up to her family's past.

Hornets nests are being disturbed and nerves are fraying, as possibly the lid is about to blow on a decades old scandal which may un mask as felons some of the local, well regarded, dictatorial `male masters of the universe'.

The last chapter is written so beautifully that it lifts the rest of the book; the words are so touching, accessible and immediate.

I found this a strange and challenging read but I feel the better for having tried it. I certainly feel more well informed about Holland and the Dutch, gaining knowledge of other's lives, which is one of the pleasures of reading for me these days.