The Reading Group Reads...
The Cement Garden by Ian McEwan
LOVE IT OR HATE IT (both extremes were represented in our Reading Group this
month), this is a disturbing, surreal and thought-provoking novel which tackles
uncomfortable topics.
We are led through the lives of four siblings, in the Sixties, as they lose both parents - first their authoritorial father,then their mother. In order to avoid being taken into care the children bury their mother in a trunk of concrete in the cellar. Implausible? Certainly, but it is McEwan's clever use of prose which makes the whole scenario seem not only possible but perfectly reasonable and logical. The children, Julie,seventeen, Jack, fifteen, Sue, thirteen and Tom, six, left without parental influence, pass the long, sultry summer days in their own ways,simultaneously becoming emotionally closer and more and more isolated from reality. It is the developing incestuous relationship between Jack (the moody and morose narrator of the events) and Julie which eventually leads to the inevitable ending of the story as the adult world crashes in on the children.
Besides much animated discussion of this dark tale we also saw the film of the book - a 'first' for our Reading Group! This, we agreed, gave the story a softer and more sympathetic treatment. All in all, we passed a lively and interesting evening.
The next meetings will be: Wednesday 2 August 8pm at 15 Mill Hill to discuss Harnessing Peacocks by Mary Wesley.
Wednesday 6 September at Yule House, 41 Lower End to talk about Therapy by David Lodge.