After a long hiatus that allowed us to participate in Summer Book Club and Let's Talk About It, we came back to discuss When We Were the Kennedys by Monica Wood. Kristie, Carole, Betty, Shirley all braved the cold and joined Kathleen, who hosted.
Everyone enjoyed this book, a memoir of a particular period in Wood's childhood. Carole remarked that in many ways, it reminded her of Richard Russo's Empire Falls, which we read in the fall for Let's Talk About It. And indeed, both stories revolve around life in a Maine mill town, so there were a lot of similarities. Betty mentioned that she had previously read the book in a bit of a rush, and was very glad she'd had to return and reread it, as she enjoyed it much more on the second go. Both Kristie and Shirley grew up in the shadow of a mill, so both had much to share on that aspect of the book.
When we talked about the appeal of this memoir, one word that recurred was "warmth". Wood's portrayal of her close-knit family and community was warm and sweet without being sentimental. Betty commented on Wood's utter lack of malice in her portrayal of her family and friends, which probably accounts for much of the warmth. Everyone agreed it accurately captured a bygone period in our history, when children were free to roam their neighborhoods unattended and adults tried to shield them from some of the harsher truths of life.
Kristie and Shirley, both of whose fathers worked for the mill in their respective communities, reminisced about what it was like to live in a mill town. The first thing both mentioned was, not surprisingly, the smell. Kathleen mentioned having been in the Rumford/Mexico area recently for sports events, and how the mill looms over the entire community--the smell, the size, the lights and noise of it. Kristie and Shirley both said it was the same in their hometowns, but also talked about how you grew accustomed to the mill's presence and took it for granted.
We talked a bit about how Wood was surprised to learn her father, and those of her friends, didn't actually own the mill they spent some much time working in; Kathleen remembered thinking something similar as a child. Shirley told a story about a new smokestack going up at her father's mill, and how her family called it "Daddy's chimney". We also discussed Wood's mother, the despair she must have felt at losing "her best friend" and fear of having to be the breadwinner and raise her children alone at a time when single-parent families were certainly not the norm. Shirley put it very succinctly: her role was cut out from under her. We all admired the mother's determination to hide this despair from her children as much as possible, and talked about whether things might play out differently today, when children are exposed to much more. (We thought no, she still would have tried to keep up a brave front for her children.)
Finally, there was discussion about the landlords, the Norkuses, and their very tight hold on the past. Even in a town of immigrants, their refusal to assimilate marks them out as different and causes them to be feared by the children. Their inability to let go of the past makes them a tragic couple in a story full of tragic events.
February's meeting will be hosted by Kristie, and we'll discuss Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner; March's meeting will be hosted by Jen, and we'll discuss Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita.
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