Pride of Family by Carole Ione

I can't promise a witty nor detailed post but I want to get down in writing our last meeting before too much time goes by:

Date-- Sunday July 16, 2006

Attendance-- Anne, Paula, Cynthia, Donna, Rachel, Wendy, Manda

Location-- Cynthia and Steven's house in Belmont

Weather-- Hot

Food-- Cheesecake, grilled tofu, corn salad, bean salad, (and more) cooked by Cynthia and Steven

Book discussion-- Donna did not like this book. She found the writing very poor and the author annoying. We all agreed that the narrative was a bit jumbled but Manda brought up the point that the non linear narrative brought more depth to the book and made it more than "just a boring history" (or something along those lines, the quotes are for effect).

Our favorite character was Bebe.

We wanted to know more about Sistonie.

We were not as interested in Frank nor the search for Frank.

As archivists Paula and Rachel were shocked that the author wanted to take home her grandfather's scrapbook about her great grandmother from the NYPL. (Do I have that right, who's scrapbook was it again?)

We liked learning about the intellectual life of Boston in the late 1800s.

Overall we liked the stories in the book and enjoyed learning about the characters but did not think the book was written nor contructed very well. The authors self discovery came across as self absorbed and her story muddled the stories of the other characters. Despite that criticism the individual stories were vivid and the places the stories took place came alive, especially Saratoga.

--Rachel