Category Archives: review

Brantford news, Interest Groups, review

Looking for Jane: Thursday Night Book Club

The Thursday night book club read ” Looking for Jane” by Canadian first time author Heather Marshall. The book is based on the real Jane Collective, an underground network of courageous individuals who provided safe abortions in the late 60’s, 70’s and 80’s in Canada. Marshall says it is really a book about motherhood.-” a story that has a solid foundation in the historical facts surrounding underground abortion networks, the post war era maternity homes system and forced adoption mandate in Canada. The story is told through the eyes of three fictional women whose experiences come from 2017,1971 and 1980.

This book puts a very personal and sometimes very emotional face on the relationships between mothers and daughters, motherhood itself and the struggle for “the right to choose.” It brings the advocacy of so many women in events such as the 1970 Abortion Caravan, the clinic raids and the support for Dr. Morgentaler to life. The book group found it well-written, informative and emotional. The discussion was thoughtful. Given the situation in the USA today it is also very topical. This is a piece of Canadiana worth remembering. As usually happens in our group the discussion broadened into other0 issues of the day!

Brantford news, Interest Groups, review, What's new

Dining Out: Rangoli’s in Brantford

The Dining out Group likes to stay close to home in the winter months so we were delighted to learn about a new East Indian Restaurant in Brantford called Rangoli’s.  The colourful art on the wall is  joyful, as is the music.  The food was delicious (a few of us were grateful for a dish of yogurt to cool down the tandoori dishes)!  We recommend this restaurant for its good food, relaxed atmosphere, lovely setting and charming staff.

Brantford news, Interest Groups, review

Thursday night book club discusses McBride’s Heaven & Earth Grocery Store

January Book Club Review:

The Thursday Night book club started the New year discussing James McBride’s book, The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store.  This book received mixed reviews during group discussion.

The book starts with the discovery of a body in a well in the contemporary town of Pottsville Pa.  (This storyline is not completed until the last few chapters of the book).

The reader is then taken back to the 1930’s where we are introduced to a multitude of characters who inhabit Chicken Hill a “suburb” of Pottstown.  Each individual has a separate story with their own issues, struggles and feelings.  Yet, each “short” story, with lots of tangents and back stories, is integrated to the main story line which is about a mixed -race community and how the people interact with each other and unite together in common purpose when it is needed.  There is no main protagonist and no central story line.  Despite race, religion and class there is a community.

McBride’s uses a blend of literary and historical fiction (Pottstown, Chicken Hill and Pennhurst Asylum are not fictional places) and humour to address black/white racism and antisemitism.  His  purpose through the book is to “humanize” the complications of discussing race in America, the task of understanding other people, and offering the suggestion that it is possible to jump over the differences that separate us.  This is a message novel – “every act of being is a chance to improve the world”.

Too many characters, too many sub plots, too slow moving or an accurate illustration of a diverse community with unique individuals who chose how to let themselves be known and seen by others in  a common cause?