Sunday, May 09, 2010

WoWO Book Club Meeting and The Love Ceiling

On Friday night we had our fourth Women of Washington Oaks (WoWO) Book Club meeting. Sadly it was a tough week for the WoWO's and several tragedies hit some of the women of the club. Some managed to make it, and I'm very glad that they did but for those who couldn't make it this month, we missed you greatly... Here is to quick healing and our loved ones being in a better place.

To those of us who were able to attend we discussed The Love Ceiling by Jean Davies Okimoto.

Rating: 2.5 Stars
Publisher:Endicott & Hugh Books
Format: Paperback, 320pp
We won copies of this book from BookMovement.com, this is a fabulous site for book clubs, it's a great resource and they have lots of great giveaways! So thank you very much to Pauline from BookMovement for notifying me that I won the books and hosting the giveaway. A big thank you goes to Jennifer Justice at Endicott & Hugh Books for sending the copies for the group to read.
The Love Ceiling Synopsis (From back of book):
After the death of her Japanese American mother, sixty-four-year-old Anne Kuroda Duppstadt finds the courage to confront the toxic legacy of her father, a famous artist and cruel narcissist. When a former art professor invites her to his island art studio, she begins pursuing her lifelong dream to become an artist in her own right. But the needs of her family tug at her heart. Her thirty-two-year old daughter s love life is falling apart, and Annie s husband, facing retirement, struggles with depression, leading her to conclude, There is a glass ceiling for women...and it's made out of the people we love.

The Love Ceiling draws readers into the soul of a universal theme for women: the pull between family and creative self-expression. It is the story of a daughter, a wife, a mother and grandmother, and a journey into creativity.

Being that we won the copies of book, the WoWo's were very excited to read the book and discuss it and really wanted to love the book. But sadly several of us (4 to be exact) had trouble getting through the book, and started to skim to the end or completely stopped reading all together.

The story was a nice story but several of us felt that some of the story lines went too far and others didn't go anywhere at all.

Some of the favorite characters were:

  • Sam
  • Lena
  • Martha Jane

The discussion was very light on this book and although Peggy had a lot to say about the book, no one else could really answer the questions posed due to having trouble following the story or not being able to finish. I believe this to be mostly due to not being able to related to the characters and what they were going through. The storyline was not bad, however many of us felt that it was a bit dry at times and it was hard to hold our interest.

As we always try to do, we had something book related at the meeting. Since the book has painting as a major element of the history of the main characters, this time we had a canvas and paints. The WoWO painted the picture below, inspired by the love ceiling's front cover with our own WoWO twist:

It's the WoWO boat! Sorry Tricia that I wouldn't let you do your sun with dark sunglasses ;) This painting is now hanging in the basement where the WoWO's meet to discuss the books we read. And here is a picture of some of us working on the painting:

from left to right: Myself, Louise, Linda, Peggy, Tricia (Photographer: Lori)

The Book fits the following Categories/Challenges for me:

  • Hogwarts Reading Challenge
  • RYOB Challenge
  • Monthly Mixer Mele Challenge
  • New Authors Challenge

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