Author: Tess from the Library
Ventnor Library Reading Group
Monday, 18th February, 2008 at 10:01 am, Isle of Wight
The Ventnor Library Reading Group met again in the St. Boniface Arms to discuss Ben Elton’s First Casualty and Chimananda Ngozi Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun …….The group will be reading Markus Zusak’s, The Book Thief next.
Chimananda Ngozi Adichie - Half of a Yellow Sun
..a bit slow to start but once it had …really gripping ..
.. what a tragedy …I had forgotten so much about the Biafran war, all I remember is the pictures of starving children …
…I found the writing deceptively simple, it lulled you into thinking this a story in the tradition of the African oral storyteller, but of course it is more complex than that …
..I wonder if it would have been better if the author had opened with the year and then explained where the society and the characters had come from …how it had disintegrated … how thin the veneer of civilisation is …
I thought the characters were finely drawn ..although I only really connected with them in the latter half of the book ..perhaps I am more open to thinking of the African condition being one of adversity and not so cosmopolitan .. how simplistic of me …
Ben Elton First Casualty
…. I had to stop myself expecting a comic novel..
….I was irritated by some inaccuracies but I suppose they were forgivable because it is quite a good read ..
….I can’t say I was much impressed ..perhaps it suffered from Elton’s reputation as a comic novelist ..
….having read so many fine novels of the first world war which were outstanding, such as Birdsong and All quiet on the western front, I can’t say I was that impressed – however they can’t all be great! ..
… I thought the characterisation a bit glib but actually it was quite well written ..
…the blurb had warned about disgustingly realistic action – an overstatement. However the discussion of the treatment of conscientious objectors was interesting …
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