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Original poster

Would we like a fiction Book Club?

162 replies

Unrulysun · 15/02/2011 13:00

So that we could do some feminist analysis of fiction I mean? I was thinking maybe some classics but possibly we all know that Rochester has to be emasculated before Jane blah blah and we'd prefer to do others?

Would anyone be up for it? Would it work? What would we read? Other questions I haven't thought of?

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swallowedAfly · 05/03/2011 09:33

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sakura · 05/03/2011 08:25

yes it didn't, that was the beauty of it. It wasn't a man writing it was it. It wasn't voyeuristic. They escaped pretty soon into the novel. NOt like the Hollywood style plot where the escape is The End

swallowedAfly · 05/03/2011 08:07

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sakura · 05/03/2011 08:02

And then the patriarchal media redefining their brave, life-risking escape as a Rescue . God it was all in there, I'll shut up now Blush

sakura · 05/03/2011 07:59

And I thought she might be using breastfeeding as contraception

sakura · 05/03/2011 07:57

I can't stop thinking about it SaF. WHen I began reading the first few pages I thought it was a bit simplistic, but now I find myself revisiting the scenes in my head and I find it to be a source of real comfort. I think it could be a masterpiece, I'm having difficulty unpacking it all.
ABsolutely, it was a child, that was significant.

I also thought the idea of the second baby actually being the first baby reborn was an oriental concept that I can relate to, and that this was a female-friendly type of spirituality, the kind we were trying to define on the chat thread. I linked this book Liquid LIfe there.

Also the fact that this was one of the only books I've read where the mother and daughter liked and loved each other in adulthood Confused

And the slight hint that the father saw her as damaged goods and it might have been better for him if she had been killed because then his "property" wouldn't have been sullied

swallowedAfly · 05/03/2011 07:42

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swallowedAfly · 05/03/2011 07:29

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sakura · 05/03/2011 07:24

I've just finished reading ROOM by Emma Donaghue. I can't find the webchat, but really felt as though it could be a radical feminist novel as it touched on themes that are always ignored.

I though it gave a voice to the women who have been brutalized by men. I thought the idea of a mother and child's love transcending a rapist's evil got right to the heart of what radical feminism is about. For all their talk of "equal stake in child-rearing" women will never be equal to men in a rape culture that exonerates male violence. BUt never have I read a book that spelled out so clearly that the baby comes from the mother .

MillyR · 04/03/2011 23:28

FB, yes I agree that we are doing any fiction not just feminist fiction. I was just interested in the idea of TBC being seen as feminist, but I shall not discuss it until the potential day of the discussion!

swallowedAfly · 04/03/2011 22:18

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FlamingoBingo · 04/03/2011 17:54

I thought we weren't meant to be reading feminist fiction, per se, but any fiction and analysing it with a feminist eye?

Blackduck · 04/03/2011 16:34

SAF normally I would be with you on the short story one, but I really like these - lots to think about!

swallowedAfly · 04/03/2011 16:33

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Original poster
Unrulysun · 04/03/2011 09:37

Hmmm Milly, interesting. I haven't read it through a feminist lens but it's an assumption I've always made so that'll be fun to test. :)

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Blackduck · 03/03/2011 06:54

Oh oh I second the Angela Carter....
and Proles I am Shock at the fact you haven't read any!

TondelayoSchwarzkopf · 02/03/2011 22:14

Sounds good to me. Smile

Prolesworth · 02/03/2011 22:12

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MillyR · 02/03/2011 21:45

I'm not sure The Bloody Chamber is a feminist book, but the varied opinions of it is probably a good reason to choose it.

Can I suggest 'Woman on the Edge of Time' for a future book?

Original poster
Unrulysun · 02/03/2011 21:14

I appreciate your huge committment to bookclub Tonde :)

I reckon we should do Angela Carter The Bloody Chamber next 'cos:

it's modern
it's feminist
it's called The Bloody Chamber
it's short and you could just do the title story if you had no time
I love Angela Carter
other people have asked for her/it
i need to make up my sodding mind before it's sodding April

then I think we should do Northanger Abbey and then The Valley of the Dolls sounds good. Then we could go back for another older classic and then maybe do Tondelayo's one?

Thoughts?

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TondelayoSchwarzkopf · 01/03/2011 17:44

OK I lied - one more post.
With the sad news about Jane Russell, I got to thinking about Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos and what a great novel it is and how appropriate for feminist fiction - being about semi-prostitution, the value of women, how intelligent women are viewed by society, how much it is about looks and how marriage is a commercial exchange. Plus it is pure fun and very quick to read and extremely witty.

So just sayin' OK.

Now back to poor Lucy and her marine metaphors.

Blackduck · 01/03/2011 11:32

Sorry I have bottled this one. Just started a new job and feeling completely overwhelmed. Plus have a Fasttrack day coming up on Tuesday. Enjoy people......

TondelayoSchwarzkopf · 01/03/2011 10:49

OK - I have 100 pages a day to read until book club so I am signing out of mumsnet till 9pm on 9th.

And I have a job interview on 10th at 9am and should be prepping for that!

If anyone sees me on any threads please tell me to piss off back to Lucy Snowe.

EngelbertFustianMcSlinkydog · 25/02/2011 21:27

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LadyBiscuit · 25/02/2011 21:23

One of my friends once tried to teach me to crochet. Unfortunately I was so drunk a little tipsy so I couldn't understand the instructions.

I used to be able to knit though. But it really isn't like riding a bicycle I've discovered Blush

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