November/December Yellow Raft on Blue Water Michael Dorris Discussion recapped by Fran

Our "holiday" meeting was held last night at Melissa M’s home in Alameda. A waiver of our females-only rule was granted to permit attendance by Popoki, who after introducing himself to everyone, observed the proceedings from the vantage point of Susan K’s lap.

Non-feline attendees were: Melissa K, Anne-Marie, Susan K, Laura, Christina, Susan T, new member Robin (class of '91 and also new to the East Bay and new to the California Bar), Fran, host Melissa M, and a special guest appearance by Corty, President of the Wellesley Alumnae Club. Corty lives in the South Bay which would not by itself interfere her regular attendance; however, she normally has rehearsals on Wednesdays.

The discussion of "A Yellow Raft In Blue Water" by Michael Dorris was led by its chooser, Christina, and got off to a roaring start with an energetic debate of the question "How could this book have been written by a man?" With a laudable resistance towards accepting facts at face value, several members suggested that perhaps it wasn't -- either Michael had had help from his wife, Louise Erdrich (author of The Beet Queen, Love Medicine, and The Bingo Palace) or perhaps Louise had simply written it herself and permitted it to be published under Michael's name. Unfortunately this intriguing possibility must remain pure conjecture in the absence of any supporting evidence.

The discussion ranged far and wide after that. Criticisms of Raft included comments that it was difficult to visualize the characters as Indians, not white people, while acknowledging that this may reflect our own biased perspective rather than any failing by the writer. Others pointed out the emphasis on the women's looks: skin color, and even more so, hair - length, texture, and style, for both male and females. Some felt the book failed to sufficiently address issues related to Native American culture, while others felt that the vivid portrayal of poverty, lack of educational opportunities, and the closed nature of reservation life did so very effectively. Still others felt that the mother-daughter relationships were (rightly) the focus of the novel. Finally, some praised the wealth of vivid detail concerning sights, sounds, and smells in the novel, while others felt an excess of mundane detail overburdened the narrative and drew attention to the writing at the expense of the book.

The structure of the novel was widely praised: although the technique of showing different characters' perspectives on the same set of facts is not unique in literature, most people seemed to believe Dorris had been particularly successful here in rendering a natural unfolding of "truth" that gives the reader a very forceful experience of gaining an understanding of the characters.

Everyone was deeply impressed by the characters' difficulty or inability to communicate with others, including one another. As women, their serious lack of classically female skills in bonding and consensus building was striking. It was suggested that this, too, perhaps could be seen as a function of the restrictions imposed by poverty and lack of education, as well as their status as women in their culture. At the same time, these women demonstrated an impressive ability to make choices for their life paths, which, whether right or wrong, were made without fear of flouting convention.

Another powerful message of the book concerns the damage that family "secrets" cause: silence about incest, illegitimacy, etc. has repercussions for generation after generation. This message was underscored by the irony of the fact that when Ida and Christine did attempt to communicate, they were not believed: No one (including we as readers) believed Ida's claim she was an aunt; Christina was truly gravely ill, although neither her husband, her mother or her daughter believed her. Rayona, in contrast, shares her secrets with Evelyn and discovers "I said it all out loud and the world didn't come to an end." (p. 106), thereby, perhaps, breaking free of the cycle.

Unanswered questions:

(1) What is the significance of the title? After a lot of thought, I think it may be a symbol of survival and hope. (Water, the age-old symbol for life, the raft for survival...?). Test this against the descriptions of the lake and raft on pp. 58 and 88 and see if you agree. To those who speculated on the meaning of the two primary colors, and asked where red fit in, note that Father Tom's swimming trunks are red. Signifying shame, maybe? (A la apple in the Garden -- or is this overreading?)

(2) What happens to Rayona? Michael Dorris's suicide deprives us of the possibility of a satisfying answer, unless Louise can help us. (It was suggested that The Beet Queen tells the story of Rayona had she followed a different path).
 
 

October Geek Love Katherine Dunn Discussion recapped by Christina

Wellesley Book Group Meets Weird

How many degrees of deformity exist between ourselves and the madding crowd?

Using a family that deliberately creates deformed children as a means of economic survival, Katherine Dunn twists and turns ideas of "normality," sexuality, family dynamics, and economic survival in her strange, but compelling novel, Geek Love.

In its six-month (!!) meeting, the Wellesley Book Group met at Fran’s gracious home. We discussed the different ways Dunn used weirdness in character and plot to challenge every day attitudes about what is considered normal. In few books does the main character, a dwarf, sleep in cupboards with her baby, insist to the nuns that her daughter's tail not be removed, and adore her flippered brother who lives in a tank, controlling everyone and everything around him.

In a burst of creative catering, Helen was the first among us to make our evening's snacks match the book's theme. Among the array of goodies she spread before us were miniature, or "geek," bananas, whose delicious taste belied their startling appearance. Yes, Katherine Dunn, we hear you.

The consensus among the nine of us -- Anne-Marie, Fran, Melissa M, Melissa K, Susan T, Helen, Laura, Christina, and new member Louise (Welcome!!) -- was that this book is startling and powerful. Regardless of how some of us disliked it, none of us were indifferent to it.

We agreed that character development was strong enough to enable most of us to suspend judgment, in particular of parents who deliberately created deformed children to keep an aging carnival going, to suck us into the story. However, some of us skimmed the book as a way of dealing with the horrors and fears of mutilation, cruelty, sadism, and deformity.

We wondered about the meanings of some of the names. Belatedly, a little off-line research reports that:

1. Geek: A simpleton, a dupe, a person who is socially inept or boringly conventional or studious; or, an assistant at a sideshow whose purpose is to appear as an object of disgust or derision.

2. Iphigenia: Daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnaestra, who was sacrificed to appease Artemis' wrath at Agamemnon, who had killed one of her hinds.

3. Electra: Iphigenia's sister who saved her brother Orestes from the murderer of Agamemnon and later helped him avenge their father's death.

4. Miranda: Daughter of Propsero. One of the five satellites of Uranus, who was personification of heaven and ruler of the world, son and husband of Gaia, and father of the Titans, the Cyclops, etc.

5. Olympia: Olympian: resembling or suitable to the gods of Olympus; majestic, aloof, incomparably superior.
 
 

September A Civil Action Jonathan Harr Discussion recapped by Fran

Reactions to September's book, A Civil Action, could be roughly divided into two broad categories, category I being members who are lawyers (two of us), who were appalled by Jan Schlictmann's incompetence, and category II those who aren't (the rest), who were appalled by our legal system. Discussion centered around the issues the book raised, more than the technical merits of the book itself. In particular, we talked about the gamesmanship that pre-trial discovery involves, and the value of an adversary system in general, and its effectiveness for "truth-seeking" and justice-dispensing. There are obvious shortcomings in both areas, i.e., the inefficiencies of the system and its failure to adequately compensate deserving plaintiffs, some of whom are not even able to get in the door of the courthouse because they can't afford a lawyer, can't find someone to take the case on contingency, and so forth. We also discussed ethical issues for attorney/client relationships and the flaws in the contingent fee system (conflicts of interest re settlement and so forth).

Overall, (speaking as one of the lawyers) I tried to convey my reaction that the book dealt with problems that are admittedly not unique, but which the book made to seem much more typical than they are. That may be cold comfort to some, who feel these things should NEVER happen.

We also talked about ways in which the system could be improved, and came to no real solution. After the meeting, I wished that I had brought up methods of alternate dispute resolution (ADR) that are MUCH more commonly in use now than they were at the time this book was written: including not only arbitration (binding or non-binding), ENE (early neutral evaluation, which means the parties sit down early on in the case and "put on" their case before a hired "neutral" --either a retired judge or a highly experienced practitioner -- and get a frank evaluation of the merits, as an aid to settlement), and, my favorite, mediation. These are not alternatives to filing a lawsuit, but are alternatives to pursuing the lawsuit to trial. In my not-so-vast experience, these are most effective when pursued after at least some pre-trial discovery has occurred, and the parties have had a chance not only to learn more about one another's cases, but also to "feel the pain" of litigation. ENE is often unsuccessful because it takes place too early on. Mediation, with a good mediator, can be tremendously effective, and in the Woburn case, would have been ideal, in my opinion. Mediation is being used more and more in all kinds of cases. To give you some idea, one of the best mediators in San Francisco, who charges $6,000 per day, is booked solid until Christmas. The cost may seem high, but it is not when you weigh it against the cost of trial.
 
 

August Jennie Gerhardt Theodore Dreiser Discussion recapped by Christina

Labor Day has come and gone, so if you had any plans to wear white shoes to the next book group meeting, puh-leez reconsider.

On a more serious note, a moment of silence for Princess Diana, whose "fairy tale" was truly Grim, and who was beginning to find her way as a woman learning raising her voice for humanitarian issues. She will be missed. Many thoughts to her two sons.

On another serious note, a small, but vocal group of us discussed the troubling issues -- poverty, seduction, greed, "unwanted" children, rigidities of class, and social cruelty evoked so powerfully by Theodore Dreiser in Jennie Gerhardt. Anne-Marie, Fran, Melissa K, and Christina met at Helen’s spacious, gracious abode. There, we noshed and gnarled over Dreiser's unrelenting exposure of what happens when human frailty is enmeshed in unforgiving social and economic structures. Fran circulated a list of thought-provoking questions, which kept the discussion rippling along, albeit with many expressions of frustration and sadness that circumstance should leave us so powerless. Not unlike feelings expressed at Nine Parts of Desire discussion.

On a lighter note, we proved for the record that a group of five only (but Wellesley women all) does not lack for ideas or the willingness to articulate them.
 
 

July Women's Ways of Knowing: The Developing of Self, Voice, and Mind Mary Field Belenky, Blythe McVicker Clinchy, Nancy Rule Goldberger, Jill Mattuck Tarule Sorry, I no longer have the recap

 

June Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden Lives of Islamic Women Geraldine Brooks Sorry, I no longer have the recap

 

May Angela's Ashes Frank McCourt Sorry, I no longer have the recap