It’s certainly cooled down these past few days, feeling more like autumn than spring. But after one day of rain and one day of chilly, high winds, today is promising to be calm, bright and refreshing. I’ve got a cup of steaming chai and a delicious date bar on the coffee table in front of me, and I really can’t think of a better way to start my day.
My “Friends” book club is meeting virtually tomorrow evening to discuss The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley. This mystery/thriller is set in an exclusive remote hunting lodge in the Scottish Highlands, where a group of adults in their mid-thirties who have known each other since their university days are booked to spend three nights spanning New Year’s Eve, but before their stay is over, one of them will be a murderer and one of them will be dead. This story is told from various points of view, including the gamekeeper, the manager of the lodge, and several of the guests, which can work if done well, but can often lead to too much repetition. Unfortunately, I felt this was the case here. And I would say that at least the first third of the book was made up of various members of the party rehashing their pasts with others in the group, these internal monologues that didn’t seem to move the story forward. Once something actually happened, it picked up, but I wish Foley had taken the writer’s Golden Rule to heart and did more “showing” and less “telling”. Still, the ending was interesting, and I’m pretty sure it will lead to a good group discussion.
That’s all for today. Get outside and enjoy the sunshine!
Bye for now…Julie
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