There was a small turnout for the discussion of Roddy Doyle's Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha which was a shame because it's a really stylishly written story of a schoolboy growing up in Ireland, managing friends and watching the growing discontent between his parents. I'm not sure whether it was cold weather, apathy or the 'flu that seems to have been going around that was responsible for the meagre turnout.
Initially I found the book to be a haphazard patchwork of reminiscences without much of a coherent theme. As the book progresses – and Paddy gets older – it becomes more directed and the story and the relationships mature. I thought it was a really interesting storytelling device having the short attention span of a younger Paddy growing into something much more focussed.
The next book is Arthur Schnitzler's Dream Story, the book on which Stanley Kubrick's film Eyes Wide Shut was based. We have two months to find and read this because the next book group date would fall during the school holidays.
As per book group rule 11, there will be an extraordinary meeting on October 1 at The All Nations Hotel.
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