Bailey's/Orange Women's Fiction Group discussion

This one is our read for February - come and join in!

uh oh! They don't seem to have this book in my library network! time for me to get creative and get it elsewhere. ;)

Can;t find it in mine either.

oh dear ! lets hope some of us get hold of a copy - my library had it surprisingly

My library doesn't have it :(

My library doesn't have it either :(
It does have State of Wonder though.

it looks like not many of us are going to be able to do this one - its hard too know which books are widely available and which arent.

This is an original text from the point of view of a trainee undertaker. The style of writing is very specific in that it is all from one point of view and written as if he is speaking so there is some quirkiness to it. Have almost finished - did anyone else get a copy?

I did and have read it. Lee had a distinctive way of speaking, all those 'but's after he made a statement as if he could not quite trust anything.
It is a shame the book is not more readily available. My library had several copies of both books.

Val wrote: "I did and have read it. Lee had a distinctive way of speaking, all those 'but's after he made a statement as if he could not quite trust anything.
It is a shame the book is not more readily availab..."
yes there is a hesitancy in the 'voice' of Lee that shows his vulnerability and his desperate efforts to be optimistic. Some of the humour is very black but it rang a bell with me having worked for years in critical care. Yes those 'buts' get everywhere dont they!!!

I wonder if it is just not widely available yet in the U.S. My local library is quite large and generally keeps up with new books, especially prize winners.

Diane - my library is usually pretty good but there were no copies of Mateship With Birds - I think someone somewhere assesses the mass appeal of some books and just thinks - er.... no!!!

I ended up ordering a copy online and it just arrived in the mail a few days ago. I am hoping to get to it soon.

oh my what a sad ending!! brace yourselves for the ending.

anybody else finished yet?

Just popping in without reading the previous posts to say that I'm finally reading this one. I'll be back later with my thoughts.

Jessica wrote: "Just popping in without reading the previous posts to say that I'm finally reading this one. I'll be back later with my thoughts."

be good to hear your thoughts Jessica!

Sorry for the triple post earlier. My phone seems to do that in goodreads.

I finished the book a week or so ago and I have to say that I enjoyed it. I found myself feeling bad for Lee due to the circumstances if his life and rooted for him to find some hope and light. He definitely had a unique voice which I feel made the reader like and understand him better.

yes it was a very clear characterisation - the book ends with a bit more uplift but I did find it rather gloomy!

Now that I am on a real computer, I can clean up my duplicate posts. :)

I found Lee to be a very authentic character and though his circumstances were quite different from mine I could completely empathize with his plight.