by Katie,
Jo Becker lives an average life. Getting older
with her husband after their children are grown. When an old friend
reenters her life,
she is reminded of her youth and risks ruining her current world.
A
coworker gave me this book. She was the one who recommended "The Art of
Hearing Heartbeats." The copy of my book has book club discussions in
the back. Here are two we could answer.
1. One
of the notions Miller returns to throughout the novel is the fracturing
of identity, and the disparity between past and future
selves.
On page 11 she notes, " The impossibility of accepting new versions of
oneself that life kept offering. The impossibility
of the
old version's vanishing." What does she mean by this? How dose this
relate to Jo's experience in Cambridge? How does it contribute
later to her attraction for Eli?
2.
After Eli's confession Jo has to make a series of difficult choices.
She could have shielded Daniel from the knowledge that she had been
prepared
to commit adultery, but to do so she would also have had to shield Eli.
Should she have turned Eli in to the authorities? Should she
have
confessed her romantic intentions with Eli to Daniel? What should Jo
have done? What do you think the author believes Jo should have
done? What would you have done?
Hi Nancy,
ReplyDeleteHope all is well. Things are going as best as they can with all of this covid nonsense. I hope things are going better where you are with this pandemic.
I enjoyed this month’s novel. It drew me in and never dragged. I enjoyed the back and forth between present and past. I felt Ms. Miller handled that style well. I think I will answer the easier part of my questions first. From a real-world prospective, if Jo hadn’t turned Eli into the police, she could have been held for obstruction of justice. Had the police found evidence that Eli was the murder without Jo and then discovered Jo had known, she would have been charged for not relaying what she knew. I would have turned him in as well. While the lack of evidence kept Eli from going to jail, Jo did what was legally required of her. One could argue that going to the police would expose Jo’s potential affair and therefore might keep her from going to the police. However, I believe Jo reveling her potential affair on her own and not by police force will ultimately keep her marriage afloat. The police could have found evidence against Eli, learned that Jo knew about his crime, and then exposed her potential affair. Daniel would have been more devastated learning that not only had his wife been prepared to have an affair but she also lied to him about it. Lies like that can destroy marriages. As a minister, I believe that Daniel will eventually come around and forgive Jo.
Jo’s plight of aging and coming to grips with aging hit very close to home for me. I fear that I may not handle middle to old age well. After treating elderly patients for years, the one common comment from them is always: “Don’t get old.” They say it as if we have a choice. I think that we all create an image of ourselves and then as we age our body changes without our self-perception keeping up. Then one day you look in the mirror and go, “Oh! When did this happen?” I believe this is what Ms. Miller is saying when she writes “the impossibility of accepting new versions of oneself…” It makes me nervous. I hope I am able to accept aging gracefully. I believe many novels have been written with this underlying theme. Protagonist is aging and runs into someone from the past. They long for what they once were. Jo is facing this crisis. The girls are adults now and do not need their mommy as much as they use to. What she perceives as her “usefulness” is changing and what is left for the future may seem a lot more limited. Eli is merely a reminder of a time when the future was still so far away.
I hope this was not too much seriousness given the nature of current events. I, myself, have been escaping the chaos through trashy vampire novels. Zombies and vampires seem a whole lot less intimidating than current affairs. I also tell myself that sitting on the couch reading a book is setting a “good example” to my kids even if the book content is drivel. Ha! How are Michelle and Sam doing? I hope everything went well and that she is recovering smoothly. I look forward to hearing from you.
Much love,
Katie
Hi Katie,
ReplyDeleteI can certainly relate with you about escaping into trashy novels I feel like I’ve been hiding out for the past few weeks. All went well with Michelle’s surgery and she is back home recovering well, so much thankfulness there. It was an anxious time for us all but I was so proud of Sam and his unwavering support of her, he was amazing.
I have been hermitting at home doing lots of preserving and cooking and generally trying to distract myself from all the turmoil going on in our world. Our area has been cover free for a while now however hotspots are flaring up in other parts of the country. I can’t see an end to this sadly.
I enjoyed at times and found myself frustrated at others with our novel this month. I found Jo to be such a selfish character that I found it hard to like her.
Who just takes off from a marriage for months with no warning?
She lies to everyone, makes up an entire new life and then
she goes back home , and then leaves again!
It seemed she was always a restless person, and not wholly satisfied with her life at any stage.
I felt sorry for Daniel, he seemed to always be the forgiving one.
To answer your question, yes I believe she should have turned Eli in, even though that would expose her intention to have an affair. Maybe, she wanted that to happen, maybe that was the excitement she needed. I felt she was always looking for an element of danger in her life.
I have been thinking about your comments on ageing and I have been dealing with this a lot lately. I don’t know about accepting and ageing gracefully, that doesn’t seem to be working for me. I feel like I rage around part of the time and then feel sad at other times.
Tomorrow I am having afternoon tea with two friends I have known for about 45 years [gasp] and I do know when we get together we still feel like teens and laugh at stupid stuff we did, and then probably spend time listing ailments haha.
I don’t know if I ever miss my younger self or wish for that time again, but I know I miss desperately at times my kids as little ones. When I look back at old movies or photos of them it makes my heart ache that those little people are gone. Love their grown up selves to bits though.
I keep hearing bad news out of the US, and keep hoping you Franklin and your family are safe. Such scary times for us all.
Love Nancy