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Welcome to Week 2 of the Online Book Club discussion of The Good Liar by Nicholas Searle. 

I think this book is so different from any other book we have discussed so far. Did you feel that way? I think the suspense and characters are unlike any book I’ve read recently. 

I’m having a hard time picturing Roy. He acts really devious and acts like a much younger man. But, he appears to be pretty old. I imagine him to be very spry, and I think he probably looks a lot younger than he is. Betty seems very nice. She has a really nice family who appear to want to take very good care of her. I think it’s nice that she has Stephen to help her get around. But, I can’t really see what Betty sees in Roy. He doesn’t seem very exciting or overly kind to her. And, it’s obvious, at least to the reader, that he wants her money. 

In the second chapter, Roy makes a comment about wanting the young girl he’s watching to feel fear. I think that whole scene was a big clue to let us know that Roy is very dangerous and has done horrible things in his past. It made me uncomfortable to read about that, but I think that’s why that scene was included in the book. We also get a clue about Roy’s preferences when he’s in Berlin. He goes out to seedy neighborhoods in the middle of the night to find excitement. I think he’s probably engaged in a lot of dangerous behavior in his past. 

I had a hard time with the third chapter. I thought it was a little abrupt to go back in time, and I was a little confused about what Roy and his business partner were really doing. All I really understood is that they got money and then stole it from all of the men who helped them. And, they pretended like Roy died after the robbery. Did you understand more about what was going on? Did you understand the intricacies of the crime they committed? Did you have a hard time jumping back in time, or did you fall right into the narrative? I had a much easier time going back in time for the 6th chapter–maybe because it was farther back in Roy’s life? I thought that chapter was easier to understand. 

In the chapter where Stephen is talking with his supervisor about his research subject, I felt like something was off. When he’s talking about his research subject to his supervisor, he mentions photographs. But, when he mentions his research subject to Roy, he mentions that his subject was born in the 1600s. So, I don’t see how he could have any photographs. Do you think Stephen is researching more than one thing? Do you think he’s looking into Roy’s past? I wouldn’t blame him if he were. I’m dying to know more about Roy because he’s obviously hiding something. 

I think Betty is hiding something, too. I can’t imagine that she’s just completely taken in by Roy. I just think there has to be more to the story. She keeps saying that she needs Roy, which I can’t see that she does. And, she seemed to be watching Roy carefully while they were in Berlin. I think she was gauging his reactions to everything. What do you think she’s hoping to uncover about him? Do you think she knows more than she lets on? Do you think she’s completely fooled by him? What did you think of their trip to Berlin? Why was she so insistent that they go there? At the end of the trip, Roy mentions that he has a friend who would be willing to look at Betty’s money. But, we know that guy’s a crook. I hope she doesn’t fall for that. 

What do you think we learned by the sixth chapter? In this chapter, we see that Roy wanted to open a store in the 1970s that would have “provocative” materials, and we see that he pulls a fast one over on the bank when they were slow to give him a loan. But, we don’t really learn anything about his past that we didn’t already know. We knew he was a thief and wasn’t always nice to women. I really want to know more. 

Do you have any guesses where this story is going? Don’t you wish the first section provided a little bit more answers instead of just a bunch of questions? I just really want to know what’s going on. And, I really want a definitive answer about whether or not Betty sees through Roy. I hope she isn’t swindled by him.

If you’re curious to read a bit about Nicholas Searle and to read about the inspiration for the novel, check out this article from theartsdesk. 

And, check out the video below if you want to hear more from the stars of the movie! 

I hope you enjoyed this section and are excited to read chapters 7-12 for next week! I can’t wait to hear from you in the comments section. 

Welcome to May’s Online Book Club. This month, we’re reading The Good Liar by Nicholas Searle.

The Online Book Club, if you’ve never joined us before, is a book discussion group that takes place entirely online. Each week, I write a new blog post that talks about different aspects of the book, and you can interact directly with me and other readers by leaving your comments. Check back each week and see what new topics we’re talking about.

The Good Liar is a thrilling story about a con man named Roy who sets his sights on a wealthy woman named Betty. Roy and Betty quickly become attached, but everyone in Betty’s life begins to question who Roy really is. As the book unfolds, readers learn more about Roy and long-hidden secrets are finally revealed. 

If you want to follow along with us but you aren’t interested in reading the book, you can always watch the movie version which was released in 2019. Check out the trailer above if you want to get a feel for the movie. Feel free to still leave comments on the blog posts, even if you’re only watching the movie and not reading the book.

Next week, we’ll be discussing the first 6 chapters, so make sure to read those before reading the blog post next week. I hope you’ll check back for the blog post, and I can’t wait to hear from you in the comments section. 

Welcome to the final discussion of The Joy Luck Club.

Did you enjoy finishing the book this week? I thought it had a pretty satisfying ending–did you? I loved how the story ended with such a joyous and hopeful scene. 

I really liked the fact that the last section told more about the mothers. I enjoyed the stories about the daughters, but I thought the stories about the mothers were more interesting and emotional. Each of the mothers overcame so much pain before coming to the United States. It’s like they each lived two totally separate lives. I couldn’t believe the strength each woman had. 

An-Mei Hsu’s chapter followed her life after she left her village to be with her mother. It was unbelievable that her mother had been tricked into becoming a concubine. I couldn’t believe how heartless and mean the second wife was. It was just so cruel that the second wife ended up taking An Mei’s little brother to raise as her own. It was interesting that An Mei found her voice after her mother died, and I liked how at the end of her chapter, she related that she understood what it was like to live life like a dream, so she wanted her daughter, Rose, to be different. Rose ended up discovering her voice, also, when she told her ex-husband that she wanted the house. I liked how both women were able to find power for themselves. 

Throughout the book, I felt like the St. Clair family had the saddest story. Ying-Ying seemed so out of touch with reality, and her depression affected her daughter so much. So, it was interesting to see in her final chapter how strong she had been and how she let herself lose her spirit when she allowed her second husband to marry her. In the end of the chapter, she decides to harness her pain and use it to regain her tiger spirit. And, she will share her story to her daughter in hopes that her daughter will also become more strong. Do you think it will work? Her daughter, Lena, was the one who had a marriage that was based on sharing and comparing and making lists of expenses to share. Do you think Lena will learn to use her strength after she hears about her mother? 

I thought the most interesting thing in Lindo Jong’s chapter was the fact that she used fortunes from a fortune cookie to plant the idea of marriage in her husband’s mind. That was definitely a creative idea. She also mentions at the end of her chapter that she knows she is not fully Chinese anymore, and she wonders what she lost and got back in return after being in America. I think that would be really hard to toggle between two identities. I can’t imagine feeling not 100 percent at home wherever you are. 

In the final chapter, Jing-Mei is able to reunite with her half-sisters. It was hard to read about how Jing-Mei’s mother had been separated from the babies and had hoped to be reunited with them, but I was glad to read that they had been rescued by caring people. I loved how, when they were reunited and were looking at the Polaroid, that they realized that together they all looked like their mother. And, together, they were able to complete the mother’s wish to have all of her daughters in one space. I thought that was really special. 

What were your favorite parts of the last section? Were you satisfied with the journey of each character? Did you wish anything was different about the ending? Would you read more stories about these characters? 

If you enjoyed this book, you might enjoy the items on this list I created. Make sure to tell me if you check out any of the items on the list!

Finally, before you go, check out the video above. It’s a trailer for an Amy Tan documentary that debuted at Sundance Film Festival this year. I love all of the photos that are included in the video clip. And, if you’d like to read more about Amy Tan’s personal life, checkout Where the Past Begins, her latest book. 

I hope you enjoyed this book and are excited to join us again next month as we read The Good Liar. I can’t wait to hear from you in the comments section!

Welcome to Week 3 of the Online Book Club 

Did you enjoy the section this week? This book is definitely emotional, so it’s a little hard to read, but the writing is so beautiful, and the characters are so fleshed out that it’s worth the read. Don’t you feel like these characters could be real people? I like how the characters are so realistic it almost feels like reading a memoir, not a fictional book. 

Did you like reading about the daughters as children and then as adults? It was interesting to see the ways they had changed and the ways they had stayed the same. I think I feel the most for Jing-Mei Woo. In her childhood chapter, she was constantly disappointing her mother. She wasn’t a prodigy in piano, and she ends up embarrassing her whole family when she does that piano performance. Couldn’t you feel her embarrassment as you were reading that part? As an adult, Jing-Mei is still trying to measure up, and she finds herself still disappointing everyone. She tries to embarrass Waverly by mentioning the fact that she never got payment from Waverly’s company for the work she did for them, but Waverly turns it around and says how the company didn’t like Jing-Mei’s work and thought it was poor quality. The chapter does end well with her mother commenting that Jing-Mei would have taken the broken crab, and then she gives Jing-Mei the jade necklace. I felt like that showed after all, that her mother really was proud of her and didn’t wish she was like Waverly. 

Rose’s childhood story was heartbreaking. Her little brother drowns, and she feels like it is her fault. In her adult chapter, her marriage has fallen apart, and her husband is frustrated that she never makes decisions and uses her voice. Weren’t you so glad that she learned to use her voice and made her husband give her the house? I was so proud of her when I read that part. I thought it was a fair request–I hope she’s able to fix up the garden the way she likes it. 

What did you think of Lena’s story. If you remember, she struggled a lot as a child because her mother had hallucinations and was always sad. Now, as an adult, she’s in an unconventional marriage where they keep track of every single expense and are always balancing things out. I think it would be really hard to keep track of all expenses and then balance them with a spouse. I think I would feel resentful for every penny that they spent. Do you think it would be hard to keep track like that? What do you think will happen between her and her husband? Do you think they’ll be able to come to an agreement with each other? Her mother gives her some advice at the end of the chapter–do you think Lena will follow it? 

Waverly’s chapter helped me feel a little more kindly towards her. It was hard to read how scared she was to share Rich with her family, and it was really hard to see how Rich was trying with the family but was doing everything wrong. I felt embarrassed for him. But, in the end, it seems like Waverly and her mother make peace with each other. I like that they are all going to go back to China together. 

Did you enjoy any of the chapters more than the others? Which mother/daughter pair have you enjoyed reading about the most? Do you feel like you can see similarities between all of the daughters? Do they all do similar things? What about the relationships between all of the mothers and all of the daughters? In what ways are they all having conflict with each other?  If you’re curious about why Amy Tan wrote about mother/daughter relationships in this book, check out this article about Amy Tan and her mother from The Chicago Tribune. 

Before you go, check out the video below to see why the movie version of The Joy Luck Club was so important and pivotal in Hollywood. 

I hope you’re able to finish the book by next week. I can’t wait to hear from you in the comments section!

Welcome to Week 2 of the Online Book Club discussion of The Joy Luck Club. 

Did you enjoy reading the beginning of the book this week? It’s a pretty sad story, right from the get go, but I still enjoyed all of the characters and the narrative. 

I feel like this book is a little hard to talk about because there are so many little stories instead of one big story. Did you enjoy the fact that this book is more like a compilation of vignettes instead of one long narrative? I thought it made the reading experience more interesting, but I admit that I had to keep flipping to the very beginning where there was a chart of the mothers and daughters so I could keep the characters straight in my head. 

Which of the stories did you enjoy the most? In the very beginning of the book, we’re introduced to Jing-Mei Woo, and we find out that her mother recently died and left behind a task for Jing-Mei. Her mother has two daughters that she was forced to leave in China when she came to the United States, and Jing-Mei is going to go to China and meet them and tell them about their mother. That was definitely an exciting way to start the book, and it made me want to continue reading. 

The next three stories were incredibly sad. Each of these women had to endure such sad circumstances. An-Mei Hsu was separated from her mother because her mother became a concubine after she was widowed. Lindo Jong had a really sad marriage but cleverly figured out a way to escape it, and Ying Ying St. Clair almost drowns, loses her family, only to be reunited with them at the end of the section. Each of these women had distinct stories, but they are tied together in the fact that they overcame great obstacles, and these past events shaped the way the women interact with their daughters. I can’t imagine the pain that the women lived with every day–it’s a wonder that they were able to be functional adults. One of the quotes that stuck out to me the most in this section came in Ying Ying St. Clair’s chapter. In the chapter, Ying Ying’s Amah says, “Haven’t I taught you that it is wrong to think of your own needs? A girl can never ask, only listen” (p. 70). Isn’t that so incredibly sad? Ying Ying is obviously affected by these words since she says at the beginning of the section that she’s spent her whole life with her mouth closed so her selfish desires wouldn’t fall out of her mouth. 

In the next two sections, we’re introduced to two of the daughters, Waverly Jong and Lena St. Clair. Waverly’s story is different–she becomes a chess champion and an admired member of her family, but at the end of the section, she and her mother butt heads and have a big argument. Her mother wants her to learn the art of invisible strength, but this strength causes them to come in odds with each other. Lena’s chapter is really sad–probably because her mother, Ying Ying’s, section was so sad. Ying Ying has a loose grip on reality, and this really affects Lena’s childhood. Her mom loses a baby, and Lena wishes for a way to help her mother through her madness. Didn’t you find that chapter hard to read? It was really sad to me. I hated seeing how Ying Ying was so depressed. 

Is there any character that you are excited to learn more about? Do you want to have closure about any of the stories? 

Did you know that Amy Tan got a lot of inspiration for the book from her family’s stories? If you’d like to read about the ways her family’s past informed the book, check out this reflection she wrote 30 years after The Joy Luck Club was published. And, if you’d like to see how her family is still informing her work, check out the video link below in which she talks about her latest book. 

I hope you enjoyed this first section and are excited to keep reading! For next time, finish section two, “The Twenty-Six Malignant Gates,” and read all of section three, “American Translation.” I can’t wait to hear from you in the comments section!

Welcome to April’s Online Book Club. This month, we’re reading The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. 

The Online Book Club, if you’ve never joined us before, is a book discussion group that takes place entirely online. Each week, I write a new blog post that talks about different aspects of the book, and you can interact directly with me and other readers by leaving your comments. Check back each week and see what new topics we’re talking about.

The Joy Luck Club is a multi-generational story that tells about four Chinese women who immigrate to the United States in 1949, and then shares how those interact and connect with their daughters who were born in America. The stories of each woman are tender and powerful, making the entire book a must-read. 

If you want to follow along with us but you aren’t interested in reading the book, you can always watch the movie version which was released in 1993. Check out the trailer above if you want to get a feel for the series. Feel free to still leave comments on the blog posts, even if you’re only watching the show and not reading the book.

Next week, we’ll be discussing the first 6 chapters, so make sure to read those before reading the blog post next week. I hope you’ll check back for the blog post, and I can’t wait to hear from you in the comments section. 

Welcome to the final week of the Online Book Club discussion of The Golden Compass.

Did you enjoy the end of the book? Did you stop reading and immediately want to find the next one in the series? I definitely ordered the next one right after I finished reading especially since the version of The Golden Compass I was reading had a preview chapter of the next book, and I really enjoyed that preview chapter. I just have to know what’s going to happen to Lyra. 

The bears had a really important part in this section, didn’t they? I could not believe how violent the fight between Iofur Raknison and Iorek Byrnison was. I certainly didn’t want Iofur to win the fight, but I did think he was a little bit of a pitiable character. I thought it was really sad that he wanted a daemon so badly that he was willing to carry around that doll. That made me sad. But, I definitely didn’t like the way he conspired with Mrs. Coulter, and I didn’t like the way he treated the other bears. Did you think it was interesting that Iorek was able to trick Iofur since Iofur wanted to me a man and not a bear? That definitely worked for Iorek’s advantage. Were you surprised by how bloody Iofur’s death was? I think I would have a hard time watching that scene in a movie or television adaptation. Have you wondered how the bears come to life on screen? Check out this article from RadioTimes to see behind the scenes videos and information. 

Can you believe how smart and brave Lyra is? She’s able to stand up to a bear and is able to trick him into thinking she’s a daemon that would love to become his daemon. She tricks that prisoner, Jotham Santelia, into telling her what she needs to know about bears. And, she makes it all the way to her father, even though she endured so much danger and hardship. She’s a really incredible little girl. 

What did you think about the ending? Were you surprised about all of the things that happened? I was shocked. I can’t believe that Mrs. Coulter and Lord Asriel reconnected in the end, and I really can’t believe that Lord Asriel sacrificed Roger. That was heartbreaking. I thought, throughout the whole book, that Lord Asriel was a hero, but he proved at the end that he would stop at nothing to prove his ideas about Dust. Sacrificing the life of a child to prove a scientific theory is not very heroic. 

Lord Asriel wants to destroy Dust because he thinks Dust is responsible for all of the bad in the world. He believes that if he’s able to find and destroy the place that creates Dust, he’ll be able to end Death. But, after she is betrayed by all of the adults she knows, Lyra begins to believe that Dust is good. So, she embarks on a journey alone to save Dust. Who do you think is right? Do you think Lyra must save the Dust? Is she right to go opposite of all of the adults she’s had contact with? How do you think she’ll do, going alone instead of with all of the people who helped her in the first book? 

What are your final thoughts about the book? Were you satisfied with the story? Were there any parts you would have changed? 

If you enjoyed this book and want to read more like it, check out this list I created. Make sure to let me know if you check out anything on the list. And, before you go, make sure to check out the video below to understand more about Philip Pullman’s writing process. 

Thanks so much for following along this month. I hope you’ll join us again next month as we read The Joy Luck Club. I can’t wait to hear from you in the comments section. 

Welcome to Week 3 of the Online Book Club discussion of The Golden Compass. 

How was your reading experience this week? Did you fly through the chapters because you were already invested in the story and the characters? I definitely felt like I had an easier time reading this second section because I was so connected to the characters already. I really wanted to know what was going to happen to each of them. 

This section was way more emotionally intense than the first section, didn’t you think? I had such an incredibly hard time reading about what the Gobblers were doing to the children they took. I could not believe that they were separating the children from their daemons. I think it’s easy to imagine the daemons as little pets since they take the form of animals. But, when you read the section where Lyra thinks she’s going to be cut away from Pan, you can see that daemons are part of a person, not just a cute little sidekick. I felt completely sick to my stomach during the scene where Lyra finds Tony Makarios. He was so helpless and so pathetic. I could just imagine a boy so full of despair clutching a piece of dried fish because he had nothing else. What did you feel while reading that chapter? How did you react when you read about the “intercision” and the machines the Gobblers had? 

Iorek Byrnison was a really important character in this section. Did you enjoy meeting him? It made me feel good that Lyra had such a powerful ally by the end of this section. She just seems to exposed and fragile–I was glad once she got Iorek on her side. Wasn’t it so cool to imagine a huge polar bear wearing battle armor? 

What did you think of Lee Scoresby? I thought it was incredibly interesting that he was able to fly a hot air balloon. I wasn’t sure how necessary a balloon was going to end up being, but it sure came in handy at the end of the section when they used it to escape from Mrs. Coulter. Scoresby seems to be a little bit of a wildcard character. I’m not sure if he cares about much other than getting paid. I hope he ends up being a trustworthy character. 

Most of the action of this section took place after Lyra was captured and taken to the Gobbler’s laboratory. I was so relieved that she found Billy and Roger at that place, and I was glad that they were all safe. It didn’t take Lyra very long to take control of the place and figure out how to get them all out of it. I don’t think she would have gotten very far without the witch’s daemon’s help. That goose was really helpful. What did you think when they found all of those daemons in cages? I really can’t believe that all of the children were able to escape safely. I thought for sure they were going to be captured again. 

I’m still not completely sure what Dust is. It seems like it has something to do with aging and innocence, and we hear that Lord Asriel is hoping to use it as a bridge between worlds. Do you have more of an idea what it is? 

Finally, the atethiometer plays an important role in this section, and the fake version Lyra creates helps her escape from Mrs. Coulter. Do you think Lyra will be able to get it to Lord Asriel? What do you think he will do with it if he gets it? 

What did I leave out from this section that you really enjoyed? Make sure to leave a comment to let me know if I didn’t mention one of your favorite scenes. And, before you go, check out the video below to see what author, Philip Pullman, thinks of the new mini series adaptation. 

Thanks for following along this week! I hope you’re able to finish Part 3 before joining us next week. I can’t wait to hear from you in the comments section.