The Offing

St Just Monday Morning Reading Group 25th November 2024.

The Offing. Benjamin Myers.

There were quite a lot of varying opinions about this book. Several readers thought it was wonderful, especially the descriptions. Others found the descriptions overblown, with too many adjectives. Some said they enjoyed the book as a read; one said there wasn’t much story to it. Another thought the book ‘hackneyed’, did not engage with it particularly, and considered Dulcie to be a caricature.

The comment was made that the post-war atmosphere seemed to reflect the 1920s rather than the 1940s. We did wonder precisely what it was that induced this impression, and there was a suggestion that the author started off with the book set in the aftermath of the First World War, and then changed it to the Second. Or, maybe it was because Dulcie appeared much as a 1920s character. We spent some time discussing the author’s depiction of the countryside, which feels ‘old-fashioned’ – one reader said that it seemed like a more naive time, in a saddening fashion – and how we decided that the descriptions were in fact accurate to the era.

We also talked about the idea of the narrator setting off on his own, at age sixteen, with a backpack and nowhere fixed to go, and we ended by agreeing that young people have always done this – various examples were cited. This led to a discussion about the hazards to and protection of young people in that time and in this one.

In the end we agreed that this was an interesting book, though not a controversial one.

Wonderful, evocative, immersive.

Loved this quiet, gentle book about the unlikely friendship between an old lady and a 16 year old boy. It's a lovely, if rather sugary, story told with wonderful poetic prose that's a joy to read.