All but one had finished the book in time for Tuesday night. Some of us had read it a few months earlier. While that often has a dampening effect on the discussion, it didn’t for this book. The author had made enough of an impact to keep us all engaged.

The book is a translation from French. I will say I noticed a couple of times where a passage felt awkward and I wondered if it was because of the translator. Still the story and the characters were significant and engaging. It was a worthy read.

There are several themes. One, an overview of a few philosophical perspectives, threatened to bog the reader down at first. Really, though, if philosophy isn’t your thing, you can skim through some of that and still get a lot from the book. If you happen to be a philosophy junkie, though, you’ll see several parallels and even how some of the characters emulate the lives of a couple of people.

In general the main takeaway is the damage stereotypes do to your quality of life; how most people are judged and therefore judge based on their world view. The book was a challenge of sorts to step away from those habits and see what life might have to offer.

I liked it. In fact, after looking up a little of the philosophy, I may go back and read it again to catch the second layer of what the author intended. I suspect the book will continue to unfold no matter how many times one goes back.

—

Next month’s book is Still Alice by Lisa Genova, Ph.D. I have a feeling this one will be hard.