A Strong Reaction

Here’s something to think about: Can you actually like a book while despising all of the characters in it? We had an interesting discussion of The Emperor’s Children at last night’s book club meeting as we struggled to see redeeming qualities of the book.

Most people in our book club go a long way to give a book a fair chance. I can only remember one time in the club’s history when someone said, “I can’t find even one good word in that book” (referring to Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles, which most of us loved). He and his wife dropped out of the book club soon thereafter.

But as people started to read the current book, it seemed that the overriding sentiment was a hatred of the principal characters, three rather spoiled brat kids who had all attended Brown together and were now trying to find their way in the world. The other characters didn’t have a lot of redeeming qualities either.

Although I must say that Booty, a boy with no social skills whatever, elicited the most discussion as we debated whether the end of the book had him committing suicide or not. My husband actually liked Booty a lot, comparing him to Ignatius P. Reilly, the famed hotdog salesman of The Confederacy of Dunces.

We also talked about entitlement as it pertains to many of today’s young people who feel society owes them something. There’s Marina, who has been writing a book about children’s clothing for 8 years since graduation while being supported by her parents. There’s Danielle, the most established of the three, who proceeds to have an affair with Marina’s father. Then there’s Julius, their gay guy friend, who has not managed to get beyond a temp agency in between his many failed relationships and snorts of white powder.

One person’s question of “Why did she write the book?” remained largely unanswered. Someone else commented that it could have benefitted from a better editor.

What we have realized over the book club’s 12-year existence is that there is nothing more boring than everyone coming in and saying, “I loved the book.” Ho-hum. Instead when there is a mixed review, we have a spirited discussion, constantly reminding ourselves that the goal is never to get a 100% approval rating.