For no particular reason most of the book club members had not finished the book, although one member had finished it and had also read The Age Of Innocence in their reading past.
We discussed the protagonist Adam and thought that he should just have made up his mind and stopped torturing himself with images of what his life might have been like with Ellie rather than with Rachel. Overall we weren't sure who Adam would have been happier with, he seemed to be unhappy with both of them. Maybe this is some of the message of the book that we all have to settle for someone eventually, we all need to make that choice between what we think we want and what is actually good for us. Adam had to weigh up the losses and the gains from both the women in his life to discover which he should spend his life with. We noticed that Adam really loved Rachel's father and often seemed to do things that made Rachel happy purely to make her father proud of him, maybe this had something to do with his fatherless past. Maybe he wanted Lawrence as his father more than he wanted Rachel as his wife?
We also discussed the character of Ellie and the reasons why she behaved in the way she did towards her family, and her relationships with the men in her life. We found it very interesting that both Adam and Ellie seemed to have issues with the safety and security offered by their Jewish community. Adam seemed to see it as smothering and dull, whereas Ellie desparately wanted the love and stability it offered. We weren't sure whether Ellie was jealous of everything Rachel had and that's why she behaved the way she did because she blamed Rachel for having everything Ellie herself wanted out of life.
It was interesting that the author chose to use a Jewish community to compare to the original book's cast of characters from 1920's society. They at first glance seem very different to each other but when you look a little deeper you can see that they are both pretty insular, keeping themselves to themselves. This then made it interesting to watch as Adam met more and more people from outside his own Jewish community who lived their lives in ways that he didn't see as possible.
Overall we gave this book 5 out of 10.
We discussed the protagonist Adam and thought that he should just have made up his mind and stopped torturing himself with images of what his life might have been like with Ellie rather than with Rachel. Overall we weren't sure who Adam would have been happier with, he seemed to be unhappy with both of them. Maybe this is some of the message of the book that we all have to settle for someone eventually, we all need to make that choice between what we think we want and what is actually good for us. Adam had to weigh up the losses and the gains from both the women in his life to discover which he should spend his life with. We noticed that Adam really loved Rachel's father and often seemed to do things that made Rachel happy purely to make her father proud of him, maybe this had something to do with his fatherless past. Maybe he wanted Lawrence as his father more than he wanted Rachel as his wife?
We also discussed the character of Ellie and the reasons why she behaved in the way she did towards her family, and her relationships with the men in her life. We found it very interesting that both Adam and Ellie seemed to have issues with the safety and security offered by their Jewish community. Adam seemed to see it as smothering and dull, whereas Ellie desparately wanted the love and stability it offered. We weren't sure whether Ellie was jealous of everything Rachel had and that's why she behaved the way she did because she blamed Rachel for having everything Ellie herself wanted out of life.
It was interesting that the author chose to use a Jewish community to compare to the original book's cast of characters from 1920's society. They at first glance seem very different to each other but when you look a little deeper you can see that they are both pretty insular, keeping themselves to themselves. This then made it interesting to watch as Adam met more and more people from outside his own Jewish community who lived their lives in ways that he didn't see as possible.
Overall we gave this book 5 out of 10.
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