What We Thought: The Story Sisters by Alice Hoffman

Readers remarked about how the author’s beautifully written passages in The Story Sisters elicited strong emotions from them. Even though the subject matter was dark and tragic at times the interior lives of the characters shone through the clouds masking reality. Alice Hoffman inspired readers to say that it can be possible to survive misfortune, but not always and usually at great personal cost.

Some had a definite dislike of Annie Story, the sister’s mother because they believed that she could have paid more attention to her girls. Annie was in her own world of denial about her “perfect children” and didn’t notice their atypical behavior until much too late to save them from themselves. Others gave her break and said that children keep secrets and take care of each other. After much discussion readers admitted that no one was to blame for circumstances beyond their control. Ultimately blame was for the person who hurt Elv, starting her on her destructive path.

Everyone liked Natalia, Annie’s mother. She nurtured all three granddaughters in extravagant and loving ways. She celebrated their unique qualities and gave them room to explore. Natalia gave them the gift of vacations in Paris and introductions to her eccentric friends. We all wished for a grandmother like her. Annie had the gift of friendship with Pete, the detective she hired to find her eldest Elv. He became a beloved companion in her later years and surrogate parent to the girls. He was able to come to terms with sorrow in his own life through his relationships with each of them.

Readers said that the fairy tale introductions of chapters and the fantasies of the girls contrasted with the stark reality of their lives. Their escape got in the way of dealing with their trauma. By the end of the book the Story sisters came to terms with each other and were able to work out a semblance of redeemed lives.

“The nature of love had totally escaped her until now. She had thought that if you lost it, you could never get it back, like a stone thrown down a well. But it was like the water at the bottom of the well, there when you can’t even see it, shifting in the dark.”

 -- Alice Hoffman, The Story Sisters

What We Thought: Sunset Park by Paul Auster

Yesterday afternoon's discussion of Paul Auster's Sunset Park was somber and subdued, reflecting the depressive mood elicited by the characters and their life stories. This book evoked strong reactions and opinions about family issues and depression.

All agreed that the author wrote beautifully about difficult and troubled lives. Detailed descriptions of how the characters lived and went about their days and nights were realistic enough to interest everyone. An added dimension was the discussion in depth of subjects that engaged individual characters: baseball trivia, Vietnam, and the World War II movie The Best Years of Our Lives.

The story revolved around sad personal and family events. It portrayed how difficult it was for the younger characters to envision productive and joyful futures for themselves, despite the best efforts and hopes of family and friends. The characters always seemed to choose courses of action that led to a dead ends or sabotaged any hope of moving forward. They attempted to adapt to the emptiness of their lives by living communally and forming a family of sorts. This solution only enabled their aimlessness and in the end led to disaster. Although this quote describes the main character, it could apply to any of the others who inhabited his life in the Brooklyn, NY neighborhood of Sunset Park: "He is only twenty-eight years old, and to the best of his knowledge he has no ambitions, in any case, no clear idea of what building a plausible future might entail for him."

After reading and discussing Sunset Park members of the group agreed that they were ready for an uplifting book selection for the next meeting!

Have you read Sunset Park or other writings of Paul Auster? Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments and join the discussion!

Click here to read a review of Sunset Park from The New York Times.

Click here to see it in the SAILS Library catalog.