Gumbo fest

If you weren't able to make our book club meeting earlier this month, you missed out on some lively discussion and some tasty vitals. Cathy made not one, but two pots of gumbo: a vegan one and an omnivore one with chicken and shrimp. Both were delicious.

Carol made sweet and moist cornbread and I made a savory endive salad with a mustard and maple syrup dressing. And Francine brought some New Orleans pecan-flavored brew: Abita. Not surprisingly, we didn't have many leftovers.

Now for the book. Everyone enjoyed Zeitoun, but some found that the narrative style detracted from the story. Francine criticized the simple language, saying it was "low level." Cathy disagreed, saying that the language fit with the story. I thought that the story could have been told in a long magazine magazine feature a la The New Yorker. Eggers repeated many of the same details throughout the book. Francine agreed, saying it could have been edited more tightly. Mary also agreed. Even though she wasn't able to attend, she wanted to share some of her thoughts on the book. Here they are:

i liked it but i thought (as i have with his previous books) it could have used a good edit. i enjoyed his choice of style of writing it -- kind of like a biblical narrative, simple words and strong images --- and appropriate use of relgious passages. the end was so interesting when he changed voice into reporter/factual mode with the voices of other people in the story (cops, friends).

Tim later read the book and said that he didn't mind the book's simple language. He said that it reflected the fact that "Zeitoun" was essentially the personal story of Zeitoun and the book let us see the events through his eyes. Even though we had differences over the style, we all thought that "Zeitoun" told a powerful story about America.

After reading "Zeitoun," I was disgusted with our country. I thought that Eggers illustrated how much more we, as citizens, have to do to make sure America lives up to its ideals. I'm sure I'm not the only one who thought it was sad that these events happened in our country, not in some faraway land.

I didn't take notes at our book club meeting, so I wasn't able to remember everyone's comments. If you'd like to add your thoughts, please do. Carol has volunteered to hold the next book club meeting. As soon as she sends me her choices and some tentative dates, I'll post them.