Anyway, for those who are interested in seeing how it went, I've posted some of our conversation here, slightly edited for typos, sequence, and spoilers.
The full transcript is available at the chat room for those who've signed up for the chats, and anyone else who wants it can email me at bettysbooks@gmail.com . I'm not posting the whole thing here because of spoilers, and I'm too lazy to post everything!
Hope you enjoy these bits, and please do join us for future chats. Nominate the books you want to read if you're not interested in the current ones!
A very big thank you to Bumbles and taaza as well, for joining me in the book chat! I enjoyed the chat with both of you very much!
Bumbles: I was just curious how each of us came to decide to pick it up and read it to begin with.
Bumbles: I mean - obviously some may have done so specifically for this chat - but it was probably on their TBR pile anyway - how did it draw your interest?
taaza: It was recommended to me by someone who saw my wish list on paperbackswap.com that had reading tastes v. similar to mine. She thought I might like it...and she was right!
Bumbles: I read a review about it in the paper. I totally thought it was going to be about something else entirely - but I enjoyed it anyway.
Betty: LOL! To be honest, I had heard people talking about it. I wasn't interested in reading it myself, but when I saw it in Borders, on the buy 3 for the price of 2 pile, I thought I'd try it
Bumbles: Ah - the good old bargain buy!
Betty: LOL! How could I resist?
taaza: It was also on my TBR for a couple months...I was actually about to read it, and I saw the posting on the BC forums about Betty's chat and I thought: "What good timing is THAT!"
Bumbles: See - I thought it would be a book about this old guy in a nursing home with Alzheimer's and what it is like see things through his eyes. I guess in a way it was but that was not the primary goal.
Bumbles: Instead it is about someone struggling with getting older and how the past can carry him through it all. I did like it Betty - it was a very different style.
About why we liked it:
Betty: So you both liked it? Usually it's harder to discuss a book you like, LOL! but let's talk about why you liked it
Bumbles: I liked being transported to a world I knew very little about.
Betty: What do you mean, different style? style of writing? telling the story? plot?
Bumbles: Who hasn't wanted to run away with the circus after all?
taaza: I really liked how the author spun the story through Jacob's flashbacks, it was very well integrated with the main story. Really held my interest throughout.
Bumbles: I guess style of telling the story - not really a flashback but how Jacob was truly re-living his past but thinking it was the present
Bumbles: Like taaza said!
Betty: I don't know much about the circus, never really had them here in Malaysia, not like the ones the book described anyway, but I loved the TV series Carnivale, and this book reminded me a little about that show
Bumbles: And she did a great job of involving you with the characters - I haven't read it in 4 months and they stick with me still.
taaza: Even in the nursing home, you could just feel the sharpness of Jacob's mind...he still was feisty and intelligent at 90-something...I admired his strength of character as much in the nursing home as I did when he was in his youth.
Betty: Oh yes, I notice that too, about the way she spun the story, and at the beginning, you're not sure whether you're with the memories or the old Jacob
Betty: She changes from flashbacks to the present so seamlessly you actually get a little disoriented!
Bumbles: Betty - I think that's why it was effective - drawing you into the life of Jacob so you got a sense of what it must be like to alternate confusingly from past and present
About the character Kinko:
taaza: Oh yes, all the characters are so memorable....even Kinko and Camel, too.
Bumbles: What was Kinko's dog's name? That showed the true human side of Kinko - how he was so nasty to others to protect himself but underneath he loved deeply
taaza: I have to say, WFE made my list of my top 10 fave books of 2008, and it was probably in my top 5.
taaza: Queenie was the dog's name, I believe...
Betty: Yes, I think so too, I really liked Kinko....he reminds me of someone, a literary character or a movie character, but I can't remember who exactly....
About our favorite parts:
Bumbles: My favorite part of the whole book was when he gets into a fight with the new guy bragging to the ladies about watering the elephants
taaza: I loved that part, Bumbles! It really showed Jacob's "feisty" side!
Betty: Bumbles, why was that part your favorite?
Bumbles: Betty - that was my favorite part because of the humor and it made me want to shake that other guy and tell him to listen to Jacob - it also drew Jacob closer to the nurse because of the scene he made and that was a nice experience for him to find someone on his side so to speak
Bumbles: Because I felt that Jacob was so lonely trapped in the nursing home Betty: LOL! Would you really have shaken him if you were there in real life? It made me wonder, because I'm also a lil bit like Jacob, if someone is so obviously lying, I'd want to challenge them and prove to everyone they're wrong
Bumbles: I wanted to defend Jacob to that cocky SOB
Betty: But I don't do it sometimes, because I don't want to embarrass them or to make a scene, and especially when it comes to the older folks, you let them have their happiness, you know...
Betty: Like the nurse was saying
Bumbles: That's why I'm not a nurse in a nursing home :0)
About relating to the book:
Bumbles: The book touched me as I read it because we had a family member living out the end of her life in a nursing home at that time
taaza: I felt so bad for how his family just forgot about him on the Sunday visits, or when they were there said senseless stuff and didn't seem to make an effort to get to know the "real" Jacob
Betty: Oh Bumbles, I'm sorry about your family member, but I think that's part of the wonder of reading books that we can relate to
Bumbles: Very true Betty
Betty: Don't mind me asking, but how old are the 2 of you? You don't have to tell if you don't want to, but I was wondering, because this book shows us the frailty of old age, and I just wondered if anyone ever thought about growing old
Betty: taaza, yes I felt sad that his family forgot him too, and I can relate with that for my grandfather
taaza: The nursing home really hit home for me too...my mom is struggling putting father in (Alzheimer's). It's a hard decision.
Betty: My grandfather had 4 wives (it was ok back in the days), and he had too many children to count, he died a couple of years ago, at the age of 98, but so few of his children (and his grandchildren) were still on good termswith him
Bumbles: See - I find it interesting that we each just kind of randomly came across this book but yet it was a story that touched us very specifically in relation to things in our own lives
About growing old:
Bumbles: I also think it is interesting Betty that you saw the frailty of old age yet I saw the toughness of Jacob
taaza: I think that the author may have meant to show the both the frailty v. the toughness of Jacob's character.
Betty: I think I see the frailty of the body as more frightening.... I'm impressed with Jacob's feistiness and sharp mind at his age, but somehow because I think in my own case....I tend to develop my mind more than my body
taaza: LOL...I know the feeling Betty, my mind is definitely sharper than my body at this stage in my life!
Betty: And I think when I get old, I'd probably be a sharp old woman trapped in a body that won't let me go on the adventures I want!
Bumbles: Yes taaza - I agree she was showing both parts - weak vs. strong
Bumbles: Betty - that is exactly what happened to our family member! She was 98 as well and was only in the home for physical reasons - her mind was bright as ever. She didn't really get the whole Internet world so I hope thatif we are lucky enough to see that age we can still travel wherever we'd like online! Even to chat with you in Malaysia, Betty!
About cruelty to animals:
taaza: The cruelty to Rosie really saddened me...but I think the author was really true to form. Circus animals were not treated in the best way in circuses of that time. Some of the things they did to Elephants back then was heart-wrenching.
taaza: That really bothered me...but I think circus animals were more commonly maltreated back then.
Bumbles: Well - I didn't like it. I think it showed an unpleasant side of history - men with power abusing those they need to or want to to get where they felt they needed to be.
Betty: I don't know, I would've thought that working in a circus with animals, they would actually be kinder towards animals than regular people
Bumbles: Betty - for them the circus was a job and the animals were the free labor to be worked until they dropped - like they tried to do with Marlena's horse - Jacob loved the animals because his career choice had been veterinary.
About the twist at the end:
Bumbles: Was I the only one who totally didn't see the twist at the end?
Betty: Bumbles, oh me too!!
Betty: I actually went back to the beginning to see how I came to the conclusion I did at the beginning!
Bumbles: Oh good - I usually pride myself on figuring things out - that one snuck right up on me
taaza: I didn't see the twist coming....I though it made for a great ending.
Bumbles: I think that's why I enjoyed the book so much
Betty: That Sara Gruen is one sneaky author! LOL!
Bumbles: Betty - I did the EXACT same thing!
taaza: I went and read the beginning, too after I read the conclusion, Betty! I also wanted to see how it came to that, like you said.
About the author's writing:
Bumbles: She seems to do meticulous research
Betty: She's a really talented author, really.... the way she sneaks up on you, the seamlessness of the flashbacks....
taaza: Her style of writing really gripped me...I don't know quite why or quite how to describe it, though.
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