The Reading Group
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By Elizabeth Noble
avg rating
1 review
A group of friends, a few bottles of wine and a good book. What could be better? The women who form the Reading Group are as varied as the books they choose to read: Designer-clad Nicole has the perfect domestic set-up – apart from a serially unfaithful husband. Her best friend Harriet’s husband is perfect; but Harriet just doesn’t love him any more. Clare is desperate for a baby – and is wrecking her marriage in the process, while Cressida is terrified she’s pregnant. Susan is watching her mother’s sad, slow decline, comforted by her family; Polly wants to marry again, but will Jack cope with hers? Can they find the answers in the pages of a good book?
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St Just Monday Morning Reading Group 28 December 2020.
The Reading Group. Elizabeth Noble.
The general impression of this book was ‘an easy read’ – a good, enjoyable page-turner, intellectually undemanding and not to be taken too seriously. A ‘holiday read’ or ‘beach book’.
Positive comments were that some readers found the characters believable and engaging; the format was unusual and interesting; the value of women’s friendships was brought out; and some of the problems were well put. Quite a few readers said they enjoyed it when taken as a whole, though they had issues with it whilst reading.
The less positive comments predominated, however. The chief complaint was that, at least in the first half of the book, the characters were insufficiently distinguishable from each other – this did resolve slightly as the book went on. The characters were also criticised as being inconsistent, not properly developed, stereotypical, and particularly as having only one issue each (cheating husband, infertility, mother with dementia, second marriage in later life, unplanned pregnancy, unappreciated husband, family secret). Gender stereotyping of children was also mentioned as being very inappropriate in a book published in 2004 - “ Oh good, plenty of X boxes and snooker for the boys and a room full of Barbies for the girls”.
The other widespread issue mentioned was that the idea of the reading group’s books being tied into the plot, or connected with its readers in some way, failed to materialise. This was an obvious expectation, and so the author was deemed to have fallen short with it. Almost everyone commented on this lost opportunity, observing therefore that ‘the “reading group” format was simply a vehicle for a chick lit novel about the lives of four women and their families’. In fact the phrase ‘soap opera’ was used in several comments.
Lastly, several readers felt that the novel was too long, and occasionally repetitive.
Despite the negative comments, this was said to be an enjoyable book in many ways, about a group of women and some problems in their lives – perhaps the whole ‘reading group’ element of it created a false expectation?
This book was read during December 2020 and the continuing social distancing because of the Covid-19 virus, and so the discussion was not 'live' as usual, but took place via a Facebook group, email and telephone conversations.
