The Postmistress - Discussion by Susan part III

On the tale of two letters - the one the postmistress intercepts from Will's landlady on his apparent missing status - and the letter Frankie takes from Will after his death. (Q9) The postmistress, Iris, was so regimented and dedicated to the rules of her job that I was surprised when she even hesitated much less opened the letter and then did not deliver it. I do think she spared Emma the period of not knowing - from the time Will was missed by his landlady until the arrival of the official letter of his death, Emma went from hope of hearing from her husband, straight to some definite news, skipping that period of uncertainty. (Q10) For Frankie, the encounter with Will and the resulting letter in her possession was a personal experience rather than a job-related journalistic one, so on a personal level she wanted to deliver the letter herself, but after meeting Emma was not able to go through with either giving her the letter or telling Emma about Will's last night, which I thought was very uncharacteristic of Frankie. In the end she did act like a journalist again, not want to be a part of Emma's story, just an onlooker.

Is life just a series of random events or does everything happen for a reason? (Q11) At first this story seemed random, but of course after all the story lines came together it now seems that one event led to another, cause and effect. I have often said 'everything happens for a reason' (usually after something bad happens, trying to see the silver lining) and now that you have made me think about it, I do believe this is true. (Q13) For example, after losing his first patient, Will's feeling of failure (instilled early by his father), he answered the call of the girl on the radio and followed his desire to try to prove himself once again in a bigger theatre, helping the masses of injured in Europe - with so many people who need him, he is bound to do some good to make up for what he considers a failure at home.

(Q14) Historical novels give us a different perspective of war and history than we had in the textbooks in school, a personal viewpoint of the times and places. And of course since there always seems to be a war going on somewhere, we can use these past experiences of people and war to apply to today. (Q15) Otto wisely refuses to tell the townspeople that he’s Jewish out of fear. Jews were being persecuted in Europe, there are prejudices worldwide, so why not err on the side of caution.

(Q16) The request for the certificate of virginity was just strange to me, especially in the early 40s, I don't know why Iris even thought of doing that and actually went through with it. I imagine the doctor had a great story to tell for years after that. (Q17) Frankie is surprised to find Americans calmly going about their lives while war rages in Europe. Out of sight, out of mind. Sure there is a war going on in Europe, sure there were daily radio stories about it, but there was a whole ocean between here and there, just turn off the radio, and all will be fine here, either complacency or a coping mechanism.


~posted by Susan of patchwork reflections

The Postmistress - Discussion by Susan part II

One of the Jewish refugees tells Frankie about his story of escape, ending with "There is no God. Only us." The question of faith had to be front and center in the minds and hearts of these desperate people running for their lives, being persecuted because of their religious belief. Wartime and questioning faith go hand in hand, starting with, "How can God allow this to happen?" and ending up separating out devout believers and discouraged previous believers forced to be nonbelievers. (Q-5) I don't think that the decisions Iris and Frankie made in regard to Emma had so much to do with faith as with protection and softening the blow of bad news.

(Q-6) This "last summer of innocence for the United States before it was drawn into WWII" could be compared to the summer of 2001, when no one would have believed American would be attacked on 9/11 and subsequently war declared. The difference is in the novel the Americans are apprehensive of just such an attack, well at least Harry was on the lookout!

(Q-7) The background of the characters is something I did not think about before reading this question (one of the perks of discussion questions), but now that their various backgrounds have been pointed out, it does not necessarily change my opinion of them. The fact that Emma was an orphan makes me think that she probably felt abandoned when Will left for Europe, it probably brought up some old feelings of helplessness. Knowing that Emma was an orphan probably made Will want to take care of her and protect her, which worked out fine until his own demons surfaced. After losing a patient, feelings of failure instilled early by his drunken father surfaced and drove him to the war where he thought he could make up for his failures and losing one patient by saving others. The fact that Frankie grew up in a city makes her strong and worldly, with daily opportunities to interact with different types of people, which could have been a major factor in shaping her personality into the woman she became.

(Q-8) The individual stories of people and the affect war has on each one is what Frankie is telling, making it easier for her listeners to identify with the victims, the fact that they were listening to a story about a real person, sometimes hearing their actual voices from the disk recorder, brings the horror of war home faster than hearing news of entire cities being bombed or statistics of total death count, as I said earlier, leave that for the history books. Like Frankie's listeners on the radio, we as readers of this story are similarly affected by her style of storytelling and war reporting.

This discussion has made me appreciate the book much more than when I first read it, I enjoy the process and dissection and learning.

~posted by Susan of patchwork reflections

The Postmistress - Discussion by Susan

I picked up this book, The Postmistress, at our local library, at first drawn by the beautiful cover - the old tattered letters, the beautiful dried rose. Then on further inspection I read this recommendation: "A beautifully written, thought-provoking novel that I'm telling everyone I know to read." - Kathryn Stockett, author of The Help. Having just finished (and loved) The Help, I took this recommendation very seriously.

The Postmistress is about 3 women whose lives come together in the fate of a letter, the postmistress of Franklin, Massachusetts is Iris James, in the same little Cape Cod town is Emma Fitch the doctor's wife, and then reporting from London is Frankie Bard, a journalist delivering daily broadcasts over the radio on the war in Europe.

At first I had a hard time getting past the randomness and getting caught up into the story, actually wondering at times why it was titled so - as the story seemed to be more about Frankie than Iris. But as is usually the case, the lives of the different characters collided and resulted in a moving story.

Like a quilt there are many connecting threads that bind these different people together, the daily broadcasts from London delivered by Frankie and listened to by Iris, Emma, and Will; the daily letters written between Emma and her husband Will and delivered by the postmistress Iris; the shared experience by Iris and Frankie of keeping a letter from Emma; the fact that the letters stop brings these three women together.

All the pieces of this patchwork story are woven together - the smaller pieces of the quilt are the many letters that pass through the hands of the postmistress, all the people of the small town, the desperate voices of the refugees on the disk recorder, the love stories between Iris and Harry, Will and Emma.

I can picture this quilt story, with the smaller pieces becoming filler around the prominent central story lines - the 3 women and the 3 key letters, sewn onto a background of underlying fear and danger of war. The pieces are all intertwined and connected by the distinct voice coming through the radio, the voice that makes everyone stop and listen and pay attention, (Q-1) unlike today's news broadcasts that are scripted and rehearsed and canned, only feeling real when something like 9/11 happens and the news has to be reported spontaneously as it happens.

Frankie's sometimes emotional voice paints a picture of the war that is moving and scary and very real to her listeners. (Q-3) The fact that she is a woman makes the people on the other side of the radio - her listeners - perk up and listen, her woman's perspective, her female voice so different than all the other reporters gives her the advantage of catching their attention.

(Q-2) Frankie tells just a little part of the bigger picture or story going on, it would be impossible to tell the whole story at that point in time, that would be something for the history books to attempt down the road.

The author paints a picture of the radio as a focal point in the home or post office, with people gathering around for the news, this is part of our history, the history of technology. (Q-4) The quaint way the news and mail is delivered in this story may make you wish for simpler times, but in reality today's instant delivery of news and information is, I believe, much better - progress.

(discussion of questions 1-4 here, remainder will follow)

~posted by Susan of patchwork reflections

The Help - Discussion by Susan

Unbidden images of Gone with the wind popped into my head and played out at first while reading the stories of Aibileen and the other black maids, until I found them reading the classics and discovered that some were even college educated. I have to stop and think, this is in fact 1962, almost a hundred years since the slaves were set free. So what has happened in 100 years? According to this story, the subservient slave labor is alive and well, except these black women are employees instead of property.

This book was written from the perspective of several different characters, each taking turns to narrate a chapter or more - just like in House Rules. Does this style of writing have a name? Once again I found myself engrossed in the story, only to have to look back at the beginning of the chapter to see who was doing the story now. A little frustrating, but overall I like the different perspectives it provides.

I really enjoyed this book, it is funny and sad and serious and suspenseful and totally believable. As I am sure the author intended, I found myself rooting for the maids and abhorring their white bosses. For such an oppressing topic, it was a thoroughly great read.



~posted by Susan of patchwork reflections

The Help - 2nd set of Questions/Answers by Susan

Aibileen is my favorite character - she didn't hold grudges, tried to see the good in things, and especially tried to teach her 'white babies' self-worth and confidence and character. My least favorite was Hilly - I don't know what her problem was, except maybe she wanted to be in charge of everything and everyone. Minny was a hoot! I would root for her to tell her boss what she was really thinking, but of course that always got her fired, so she would try real hard to hold her tongue. The Terrible Awful Thing she did was a funny story, don’t think about it too much - gross - but in the long run, worth it! She definitely had enough reasons to mistrust white people.

Racism is definitely taught, handed down from generation to generation - I still see it today, living in rural Appalachia where rebel flags and rednecks rule.


~posted by Susan of patchwork reflections

The Help - 1st set of Questions/Answers by Susan

My long wait on the 'hold' list at the library is over! I finally received my copy of The Help a few days ago and couldn't put it down!

Discussion on the first set of questions:

On Minny's mama's advice or rules - just reading them makes me sad and mad and shake my head, that there was a time that people were treated like this and that mothers had to teach these rules to their daughters. Minny followed her mother's advice pretty well, all except for the sassing of course! Minny's strong personality lost her quite a few jobs over the years. She sure knew how to cook though, and I would get hungry just listening to what she was making, fried chicken, pork chops, biscuits, all except for the chocolate pie, I would have to pass on that!

When I was reading Minny's many uses for Crisco, I thought to myself - I need to write some of these down! My favorite one was - lights get cut off, stick a wick in it and burn it like a candle.. and after all that, it'll still fry your chicken.

Like Minny, Skeeter also had a strong personality. She knew what she wanted to do and did not want to compromise her goals or beliefs to please others. Skeeter went off to college and accomplished what she set out to do, bring home a degree, instead of what her mother wanted her to come back with - a husband (albeit both would have been nice, too). Skeeter eventually sacrificed a lot - her place in society (Jr. League, bridge club), marriage to the senator's son, all of her friendships, and even her hometown, but she had the satisfaction of doing the right thing, and ultimately her dream of moving to New York City to become a writer was her reward.

Skeeter wanted to be a writer and had to start somewhere, so she scoured the newspaper ads which were separated by gender - the female jobs paying much less than the male ones. The separation of the ads has changed, but men still make more money than women in many jobs today.


~posted by Susan of patchwork reflections

House Rules - 4nd set of questions/answers

1. Jacob cannot stand sudden loud noises, bright lights, etc. The prosecutor knows this and purposefully crumples paper at the end of her opening statement which has the expected effect of freaking Jacob out.
2. Theo runs away to visit his father, hoping to have someone to talk to about all that is going on and his involvement in it. Before he can even say anything, his father offers him a quick fix by handing him money. This is so absurd even for a teenager that Theo bursts out laughing, probably thinking how wrong he was to come and how wrong he was to leave his mother, the only parent who ever cared about him. On the trip back Emma and Theo spend some much-needed alone time together.
3. Even in families that are not broken by divorce, the father often is not involved in the day-to-day activities of raising children, so the line, "You’re either a father twenty-four/seven or not at all" is not true in my opinion, though it would be great if it were like that.
4. After all is said and done - the fact that Jacob says he would do it all over again speaks volumes. He would endure all the emotions and trauma of court to have it come out favorably. But also by saying that, Jacob admits to not learning anything from the experience, that if only he had made it clear from the beginning what his involvement was, or if only he had called the police at the moment he found the body. But the "if onlys" would mean no trial, no story, no book, so just glad that all is well that ends well.

~posted by Susan of patchwork reflections

House Rules - 3nd set of questions/answers

1. Jacob cannot stand hair hanging down loose, so in order to avoid a reaction, people who know this about Jacob will wear their hair up with a ponytail holder.
2. The story is written from the perspective of several different characters - at first I liked this because I get see what everyone is thinking, like you said - from different perspectives - but then I found myself just reading through without looking at the title (person's name) of the chapter or section, and have to turn back to see who is talking now, so it is kind of distracting.
3. Both Theo and Jacob do things to try to have a "real home" (mostly Theo, with his breaking into other people's homes to pretend he is part of their family). I think he wishes he had a normal brother, but most of all a father which would complete the family and make things more normal.
4. Jacob says being on the other side of dead isn’t that different from having Asperger’s. He is at the time sitting beside (shoulder to shoulder) with the dear departed Jess. He is thinking that she has gone to another place, like he goes to another place when he is having a meltdown or just needs to space out to get away from all external stimuli.
5. Mark is a suspect in the death of Jess, his girlfriend until Jacob is presented as a more likely suspect. That happens because Emma sees on the news where Jess is found, her body covered by Jacob's quilt. Maybe this is just hindsight, but I believe Emma should have questioned Jacob more before calling the police, should have asked him specific questions - she knows more than anyone else how to get information out of her son.
6. Jacob obviously needs the accommodations provided to him by the school and court in order to be able to function in those settings, to put him on a more even playing field with everyone else. I think it is fair to request these special accommodations to allow the one with Asperger's to interact with his peers instead of just labeling them 'special ed' and isolating them.
7. Jacob is taken to the police station and questioned, he has already been tricked into this Rich who told Jacob he needed some help solving old cases. Rich offers Jacob some old Halloween candy, but Jacob says it is not gluten-free, "Do you have any Skittles?" Luckily for Rich there are Skittles handy, so the questioning can proceed.

~posted by Susan of patchwork reflections

House Rules - 2nd set of questions/answers

1. Tea bags are mentioned a few times in the story. Theo likes tea and he makes his mother, Emma, a cup of tea when she arrives home after leaving Jacob locked up in jail. This reminds Theo of the cup of tea he had at Jess's house the last time he saw her.


2. I don't think Theo has it worse than Jacob, he will grow up and move out of the house and which will end the constant daily interaction with Jacob.


3. Of course Emma loves both of her sons equally, but cannot give Theo as much attention as Jacob, obviously. I empathize with Emma, it would be great if she could spend more time with Theo, but she can only do so much…


4. Krazy Glue is used to get fingerprints off of objects.

~posted by Susan of patchwork reflections

House Rules - 1st set of questions/answers

Hi all, Susan here - a newcomer to Book Buddies - thanks for welcoming me into your club! I am a follower of Bonnie's Books and when she posted about this online book club it sounded like fun and House Rules sounded very interesting. I got the book and read the first 1/4 per Bonnie's instructions. Then on to the questions - wow, just like in school, it's been a long time! The questions highlighted my lack of retention. (Note to self - look at questions before reading next time.) Okay, so this is still fun, I like the teacher - I mean Bonnie! - and here is my first set of answers:

1. Jacob really hates the color orange, it stands for hazard or danger.


2. In the opening scene, Jacob has been murdered because he stole the sneakers of his brother, Theo.


3. Why would anyone want to be friends with kids who are nasty to anyone, especially people like Jacob (or me).


4. Jacob's list of 12 things he can't stand are logical to a point, they are things that upset order, invade his space, over stimulate him, or are hurtful, but I am puzzled about even numbers - what is wrong with them? Let's see, things I can't stand - arguing, clutter, waiting.


5. I like the five rules of the house, especially #1! Rules don't always work in every situation - there are always exceptions, which is something that has to be learned and probably hard for Jacob to rationalize.


6. Emma works at home writing an advice column now, she used to be a textbook editor.


7. Before becoming a lawyer, Oliver traveled around working as a farrier's apprentice.


8. In the book, all Monday food is green, all Tuesday food is red, all Wednesday food is yellow. I don't know what Thursday is yet, but Friday is blue - I remember Theo saying (or thinking) that the only good thing about Friday food being blue is the blueberry pie. For the life of me I cannot think of another blue food! Eating by color sounds like fun at first, but after thinking about it, it might be hard to come up with some foods. Green is easy - beans, peas, lettuce, broccoli. Red - tomatoes, spaghetti sauce. Yellow - lemon pie, squash, corn. I am getting hungry now!


9. Movie quotes: What we got here is a failure to communicate (Cool Hand Luke); You talkin' to me? (Taxi Driver); Snap out of it!(Moonstruck); Heeeeer's Johnny (The Shining); Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain (Wizard of Oz).

~posted by Susan of patchwork reflections