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May 2011 Book of the Month: As Meat Loves Salt

A monthly discussion on varying themes guided by our members. (Book of the Month discussions through December 2011 can be found in this section too.)
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Vanessa
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Currently reading: The Farm at the Edge of the World by Sarah Vaughan
Interest in HF: The first historical novel I read was Katherine by Anya Seton and this sparked off my interest in this genre.
Favourite HF book: Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell!
Preferred HF: Any
Location: North Yorkshire, UK

Post by Vanessa » Fri May 13th, 2011, 8:36 am

Yes, I would say that rape is more about power.

Did anyone notice the significance of the initials on the ring Jacob found in the box at the end? CF & JC - Jacob's initials were the same as Ferris' wife's. Jacob Cullen and Joanna Cooper. I wonder if that was on purpose?
currently reading: My Books on Goodreads

Books are mirrors, you only see in them what you already have inside you ~ The Shadow of the Wind

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Madeleine
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Currently reading: "The Whitstable Pearl Mystery" by Julie Wassmer
Preferred HF: Plantagenets, Victorian, crime, dual time-frame
Location: Essex/London

Post by Madeleine » Fri May 13th, 2011, 10:50 am

I got pretty early on that Jacob killed poor Christopher; I'm beginning to wonder if maybe he was suffering from schizophrenia, as he keeps describing the Voice.....only read about 70 pages so far so probably too early to jump to any solid conclusions - he is certainly one disturbed individual and must have been suffering from some sort of psychosis - he was quite prepared to kill Zeb after he fell from the tree.
Currently reading "The Whitstable Pearl Mystery" by Julie Wassmer

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Ludmilla
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Post by Ludmilla » Fri May 13th, 2011, 12:56 pm

[quote=""Vanessa""]Did anyone notice the significance of the initials on the ring Jacob found in the box at the end? CF & JC - Jacob's initials were the same as Ferris' wife's. Jacob Cullen and Joanna Cooper. I wonder if that was on purpose?[/quote]

I think it was... it rather adds to the emotional impact, doesn't it? I think there were a lot of subtle details like this in the book.

Re rape being about power, I would agree. This happens time after time when invaders conquer. The choice for many women -- and it doesn't really feel like choice -- is whether they'll be persuaded to cooperate by violence or by changing their allegiance, starting life over with a new protector. I think the point of the mutilation of the women by Cromwell's army described in this book -- beyond an act of bloodlust during war -- is first to punish and secondly to judge them so no man, Loyalist or Puritan, will have them.
I couldn't quite get my head round Caro/Jane either. There were quite a few loose ends, weren't there? I think I'll be thinking about this book for a while.
I didn't know how to interpret Caro/Jane either. There were, indeed, a lot of loose ends, which reminds me, what did everyone think about the poisoning incident? Are we meant to conclude Jacob was the poisoner?

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Madeleine
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Currently reading: "The Whitstable Pearl Mystery" by Julie Wassmer
Preferred HF: Plantagenets, Victorian, crime, dual time-frame
Location: Essex/London

Post by Madeleine » Tue May 31st, 2011, 9:09 am

[quote=""Vanessa""]I'm half-way with this book. I'm finding it interesting but not sure I'm enjoying it as I thought I would. I really enjoyed the author's second book, The Wilding, but the storyline of this one isn't really grabbing me.[/quote]


I'm about 2/3 of the way through now and beginning to see how many pages there are til the end - finding it quite heavygoing and it's just not doing it for me! :o
Currently reading "The Whitstable Pearl Mystery" by Julie Wassmer

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Brenna
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Post by Brenna » Tue May 31st, 2011, 3:25 pm

[quote=""Madeleine""]I'm about 2/3 of the way through now and beginning to see how many pages there are til the end - finding it quite heavygoing and it's just not doing it for me! :o [/quote]

Yeah, I stopped about halfway through although I read the last chapter just to see how it ends. At least we can say we tried :rolleyes:
Brenna

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Madeleine
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Currently reading: "The Whitstable Pearl Mystery" by Julie Wassmer
Preferred HF: Plantagenets, Victorian, crime, dual time-frame
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Post by Madeleine » Tue May 31st, 2011, 3:54 pm

[quote=""Brenna""]Yeah, I stopped about halfway through although I read the last chapter just to see how it ends. At least we can say we tried :rolleyes: [/quote]

I'm beginning to consider giving up too....however over halfway through now so I may speed read the rest of it; it's well-written but a bit like walking through mud! :(
Currently reading "The Whitstable Pearl Mystery" by Julie Wassmer

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Vanessa
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 4378
Joined: August 2008
Currently reading: The Farm at the Edge of the World by Sarah Vaughan
Interest in HF: The first historical novel I read was Katherine by Anya Seton and this sparked off my interest in this genre.
Favourite HF book: Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell!
Preferred HF: Any
Location: North Yorkshire, UK

Post by Vanessa » Tue May 31st, 2011, 4:30 pm

After enjoying the beginning, my interest wained a little in the war bits but then I ended up really enjoying it.
currently reading: My Books on Goodreads

Books are mirrors, you only see in them what you already have inside you ~ The Shadow of the Wind

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Madeleine
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Currently reading: "The Whitstable Pearl Mystery" by Julie Wassmer
Preferred HF: Plantagenets, Victorian, crime, dual time-frame
Location: Essex/London

Post by Madeleine » Wed June 8th, 2011, 11:47 am

Nearly finished this now, will be relieved to close this one! I just don't care about any of the characters, I don't even find Ferris that likeable, in fact I'd quite like to slap him!
Currently reading "The Whitstable Pearl Mystery" by Julie Wassmer

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Margaret
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Post by Margaret » Thu June 9th, 2011, 6:54 am

While I didn't find the characters likable in the sense that I would be happy to go back in time and meet them personally (horrors!), I did feel sympathy for them. Jacob is so trapped in his resentment, his hair-trigger emotions, and his impulsive nature, and so yearning to be loved, I did feel sympathy for him, and I was rooting for him to develop some self-control.

I was also very interested in how the Diggers movement came about and fell apart. It's amazing to think that people actually did that. Reading this novel made me realize how complex history is. It's not just shaped by people with educations and official power; it's also shaped by the chaotic and ill-advised efforts of people at the bottom of the heap to take their lives into their own hands. In a way, Jacob is like the Diggers movement as a whole: impulsive, badly organized, doomed to failure, more selfish than altruistic - but admirable in one narrow sense, which was their determination to try for some kind of happiness rather than just settling for lives of misery and oppression.
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Amanda
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Post by Amanda » Thu June 9th, 2011, 9:02 am

[quote=""Madeleine""]Nearly finished this now, will be relieved to close this one! I just don't care about any of the characters, I don't even find Ferris that likeable, in fact I'd quite like to slap him![/quote]

I agree with you. I was ready to finish the book and move on.

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