(Book #18) My daughter Frances helped me make several Indian dishes to host this book– we made kachumbar salad, green chutney, samosas, chicken byrani and a rice pudding with pistachios for dessert. I purchased the naan. Chicken byrani was chosen as the main course because Rushdie references byranis of determination and I was determined to finish reading this book despite how much it tried to thwart that accomplishment. A new member joined us tonight, Rosalie, who was invited by Marcia.
Most of the members did not like the book, Sharon went on record as hating it, many didn’t finish it. Our new member Rosalie and I were the only ones to have anything good to say about it. Though the book is dense and often frustrating, the story is a good one and the imagery is rich. Probably our longest topic tonight was about truth in memory, narrative and history. The narrator admits that a date he has given in the book can’t be historically accurate but he will leave it that way because that’s how he remembers it.