December 17, 2003
Book club novel idea
West High students tackle tough topics
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Motive, love, lust, intrigue, tragedy.
Those were just some of the topics touched on Thursday afternoon by members of the West High School Book Club as they discussed "Bel Canto" by Ann Patchett.
Ten students discussed, debated and dissected the plot, characterizations and twists of the complex book, published in 2002. Finding the antagonist of the book that ranges from terrorism to a prolonged hostage situation to the transcendence of art kicked off the afternoon's discussion at the Horizon Books Shine Caf‚.
"I want to know how the government knew which were the real terrorists and which were the hostages," said Liesel Unger, an 11th grade student at the school.
As each question flowed around the table, students listened to each other politely, threw out and rejected theories and wrestled with themes large and small. They deconstructed motives of the various characters, analyzed the love affairs that sprang up and agonized at the book's ending.
Although the author blatantly wrote on the infamous page 13 that all the terrorists die, some students said they were shocked and horrified at the novel's ending. A few admitted to tears, adding that they had blocked out the ending as they plot developed and the characters became real.
"All the terrorists had so much potential, she builds up this potential in all these people," said Melanie Jacobs, an 11th grade student. Governments all dehumanize terrorism, like they build up this bad stuff about terrorism but their main purpose was to make a better country but they all got shot."
The West High School Book Club is loosely led by language arts and humanities teacher Margaret Goeman. The students approached Goeman last spring about creating a book club and the program started this fall. Meeting weekly, the students have discussed "The Poisonwood Bible" and "East of Eden" and plan to tackle "The Life of Pi" next. Students and Goeman suggest books and the club votes on what to read. The club is also planning a movie night to watch "East of Eden" and compare it to the book.
"I'm interested to see if the movie is better or worse," Jacobs noted.
Participants have both read and discussed their books in chunks, meeting multiple sessions on one book. Or, like with "Bel Canto," they read the whole book over a few weeks and discuss it at one meeting. Sometimes the increments can be very challenging to avid readers, who find it nearly impossible to put a book down halfway through.
"That's the hardest part, if we agree to go halfway through, it's so hard if you've read ahead to keep your mouth shut at the meeting," Goeman said.
The extracurricular reading has helped Jennifer Zobel in one huge way.
"This has helped build my vocabulary a lot because I never really liked to read," said Zobel, a tenth-grade student. "I started attending halfway through 'The Poisonwood Bible.'"
Ground rules of courtesy drive the group and differences of opinion abound though students agree to disagree. Last week the discussion veered into nature versus nurture, original sin or a blank slate and the fundamental nature of right or wrong. Tense topics with strong opinions on all sides, the discussion remained civil and grounded in mutual interest.
"Disagreements make it more interesting," said Unger.
Watching her students, as most of the participants are current or former students, tackle these subjects is deeply satisfying to Goeman. Seeing their eyes sparkle about a book, occasionally guiding the energetic discussion and hearing them clamor for more is a slice of teacher heaven, she noted.
"Oh, Lord, this is so much fun, this is a teacher's dream," Goeman said. "They're the ones who have the lead and it's been really fun to watch them grow as a group."