Literary Lodge Book Group - Catch-up
So, I've been busy over the last two or three months, getting my shop set and marking GCSE exam papers, and because of this, the blog has been a bit neglected. I am going to making a few posts this week to catch up on everything I've missed, including today doing an round-up on the books we have covered in the Literary Lodge book group.
Brighton Rock by Graham Greene
Brighton Rock begins dramatically from the very first line: "Hale knew, before he had been in Brighton three hours, that they meant to murder him." What follows is a tense and unsettling chapter in which Hale is chased by Pinkie's gang. One of the characters Hale meets on his unsuccessful escape attempt is Ida Arnold, a boozy, but crafty woman who is best summed up by a line where she outlines her values: "Justice, an eye for an eye, law and order, capital punishment, a little bit of fun now and then". Pinkie is initially portrayed as a monster; a psychopath; a young man who cannot see anything other than eternal damnation born out of his Catholic beliefs. The book seems at first a clear opposition between the secular Ida and the Catholic Pinkie; between justice and cruelty; between law and criminality; and between good and evil. We expect to side with Ida in her pursuit of the murderous Pinkie.
However, in Brighton Rock good and evil are not so clearly defined. Brighton is presented as a grey place, half-heroes vs half-devils. We learn that Ida is doing this as much for her own amusement, because it is 'fun', as much as it is about 'justice'. She is also presented as a hypocrite, willing to stay in Brighton's biggest gangster's, Colleoni's, hotel, a man responsible for the death of Pinkie's mentor and father-figure, Kite. In fact, we also learn that it is Hale's part in Kite's death that causes Pinkie to target him. We also see the facade of Brighton - the shiny, flashy Brighton of the tourist areas, the expensively decorated hotel of Colleoni. But when Rose, Pinkie's 'love interest' (a witness he starts a relationship with to stop her from talking) takes him to meet her parents to get their blessing we see a very different side to Brighton. Pinkie and Rose have grown up in a slum, with parents that cared nothing for them. It is easy to see why Pinkie cannot see anything but hell and damnation. Corruption is presented everywhere in Brighton; if Pinkie is a monster, there is little doubt he was made into one by his environment.
We enjoyed Brighton Rock, it took a very different approach to the crime genre, and dealt with some very big ideas, while still being able to present a dramatic and exciting narrative. We felt the presentation of setting and the construction of characters was a particular strong point; they were so well drawn we felt it was possible to come to very different judgements about them. I would definitely recommend this book, if you haven't read it.
The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle
We tackled Fantasy/Sci-fi for the next couple of meetings, the first being an unusual tale by Sherlock Holmes author, Arthur Conan Doyle. You might think, given Sherlock Holmes' obsession with the observable, with logic and empirical data, that Doyle was a highly practical man, not given to flights of fancy. However, he was actually a bit of a fantasist, to the extent that he believed in fairies and was famously taken in by Elsie Wright and Francis Griffiths in the Cottingley Fairies case. So perhaps we shouldn't find it surprising that the Holmes creator should also write a fantastical story about strange creatures and prehistoric people existing in secret in the modern world.
The plot centres around a (somewhat temperamental) zoologist, Professor Challenger, who claims to have discovered a hidden plateau in the Amazon basin, in which prehistoric creatures and peoples still exist. His claims are treated as ludicrous and the Professor has become a laughing stock, which has not helped his temperamental nature. Edward Malone, a reporter who's love interest (Gladys) thinks he is too boring to marry, decides to go on an expedition to the plateau to show her how spontaneous and irresponsible he can be. He is joined by Professor Summerlee, an academic who claims Challenger's discovery is either made-up or a sign of madness, and Lord John Roxton, who likes adventures and shooting at things.
The adventure itself is where the novel really comes into its own. Its drama, exciting plot, and richly descriptive language is thoroughly engaging, and Doyle manages to weave in concerns regarding the effect that exploration and explorers have on these environments, as well as offering reflections on colonisation and responsibility.
We did feel the ending was a little anti-climactic, but we all agreed it was well worth the read for the middle section of the book, which was both enjoyable and thought-provoking.
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