Book Autopsy:

A Book Discussion Program with Marylu and Marcy

Wednesday, May 22, 2013, at 7:00 PM

participants will read and discuss

Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier: Book Cover

Remarkable Creatures

by Tracy Chevalier

and

The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue: Book Cover

Stolen Child (April's selection)

by Keith Donohue

Please join facilitators Marcy and Marylu for an interesting discussion. All are welcome!

Copies of the book are available at the Circulation Desk.

If you watch any contemporary crime drama, you know the importance of an autopsy, but what exactly is a "book autopsy"?

Questions to be asked:

--Are the characters believable?  Do they follow a full arc?  Do they make a fundamental change in their nature or do they force a change in their environment?

--Does the plot deliver?  Is it consistent?  Are parts too slow?

 --What parts of the book are confusing?  What are the best written parts?

--What is the author trying to say, if anything?

--How do our cultural upbringings affect how we read the book/like the book?

Library Journal on Remarkable Creatures
In early 1800s England, unmarried women of the upper classes were often relegated to the fringes of society, where they could find a polite way to spend their days; those of the lower classes had even fewer options. This work, based on a true story, portrays two women from these diverse backgrounds who share a fascination with fossils. Mary Anning is an impoverished girl with a gift for finding prehistoric skeletons along the coast, which also interest genteel spinster Elizabeth Philpot. She recognizes Mary's talent as she also understands the enormous implications of the specimens uncovered, for this was before Darwin, when the concept of extinction was unknown, and it was blasphemous to consider that some of God's creatures may have been flawed. Over time, both women strive for scientific credibility, love, and financial stability, with varying degrees of success.
 
Publishers Weekly on Stolen Child
In interlocking chapters of scintillating prose, Donohue tells the tale of Henry Day and the two people he becomes after being snatched at age seven by changelings. One of them takes his human life, convincing almost everyone that he is the real Henry; meanwhile, the boy becomes one of the changelings, dubbed Aniday and initiated into their magical twilight world. Paris's and Woodman's impressive readings make Donohue's beguiling tale even more vivid: Paris uses a remarkable range of accents and pitches for changelings of various European backgrounds, as well as giving us the smart, soulful Aniday, who can't quite accept his new life. Meanwhile, Woodman illustrates the changing sound of American conversation from the '50s to the '70s, and his nuanced tones make one sympathize intensely with the second Henry Day, who is ever fearful of discovery and unable to relax into his own new life. Both readers manage to sound like a full cast without any sound effects, brilliantly illuminating the fantastic, detailed world Donohue has created so that the story will linger in listeners' minds for a long time afterward.

 

 

04/23/13